How many coats of clear before sand and buff?

D

Dwg86

Is 4 coats of SPI clear enough for sand and buff, or should I sand with 600 and shoot 3 more coats?
 
It really depends how heavy you sprayed the clear, and how aggressive you get with the sanding. If you start with 1000 or finer and work your way up, staying away from edges, you should be fine. If you're going for totally flat, 2 or 3 more coats would be the way to go.
 
Unfortunately I didn’t spray it. I made the mistake of hiring It out, never again. He said he put 4 coats on, but he felt the SPI clear was thin paint.
I didn’t have a place to spray it, but I will make a tent in my garage before I let anyone paint any of my cars again.
 

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I though maybe start with 1500 and stat buff with 3M perfect it and black pad.
Here’s my last Jeep I painted and buffed. This is looking at the reflection in the fender.
I’ve never used SPI, and since I didn’t paint it, I don’t know how “thin” the clear is.
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From picture, I'd slick out with 1500 and you will be fine to buff and your option to sand the 1500 with say 2000, 3000 or 4000 is your choice.
Picture looks great, do you really need to buff?
 
Maybe he can just buff if he wants to. When you see that mirror reflection of cars that are so far away with so much definition, its pretty much what you get after you work your ass off buffing.

I originally wondered why you were taking a picture of the silver jeep from so far away. Maybe there are some problems we cant see, but sure looks like a nice job.
 
I need to get better pics when I get home. But here’s what I have. If you zoom in you can see the texture in the paint. The doors are smoother than the cab and bed. I don’t know if they were shot laying flat or vertical. I’m assuming laying flat.
 

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The pictures of the silver Jeep in the reflection is the black Jeep I painted.
 

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So the black Jeep I painted has 4 coats PPG clear. Since I didn’t paint the SPI clear on the Jeep truck, I was concerned about the thickness when the paint shop said it was thinner than what he was used to painting (I supplied the paint)
I don’t have a problem wet sanding a shooting a couple more coats of clear, but if I’m good to sand and buff, I’ll go that route.
 
So the black Jeep I painted has 4 coats PPG clear. Since I didn’t paint the SPI clear on the Jeep truck, I was concerned about the thickness when the paint shop said it was thinner than what he was used to painting (I supplied the paint)
I don’t have a problem wet sanding a shooting a couple more coats of clear, but if I’m good to sand and buff, I’ll go that route.

Some painters are stuck on the idea that high viscosity=high solids, that may not necessarily be the case. I’ve done enough buffing on SPI clears to know that 4 coats has more than enough mils for sanding and buffing.
 
The pictures of the silver Jeep in the reflection is the black Jeep I painted.
That was my point, to get that reflection from something so far away is a pretty nice job. You think the guy might have already done some buffing to make it look that good already?
 
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