My first BC/CC panel

DWinTX

Member
Some of you guys have been helping me with my first attempt at painting (outside of painting one engine bay with SS). Thank you very much for that. I'm restoring my 70 Corvette and decided to try a test panel before I do the whole car. I'm using an aftermarket hood on the car, so I thought the stock hood would be perfect. I did it yesterday and I think it went pretty well, outside of nearly getting heat stroke from the 100+ temp and high humidity. I've decided I'm waiting until it cools off a bit before doing the rest of the car. :)

Of course, being my first time, it's far from perfect. I have a fair amount of orange peel and trash. Painting in my little shop, there's just no amount of cleaning I can do that'll keep the trash out around here. Too many bugs, trees, etc. So now I need to figure out how to finish it out. I watched some videos about cutting and buffing. I didn't really understand much about it. I know there are a million things to know if you're a pro, but I'm trying to whittle it down to just what I need.

I watched this video, among others:


which has a good explanation of polishing, compounding and wet sanding. I assume I need to go more aggressive than polishing, but I'm not sure if I need to just compound and polish, or wet sand, compound and polish. I also am not sure what kind of tools I need (rotary vs DA buffer, air vs electric) and what kind of pads, sandpaper, compounds, polishes, I am starting from scratch, I have nothing yet. So can you give me some guidance on that? Part of the consideration should probably be that I'm a total novice, so what type of tools and products are the most idiot-proof.

Here are some pics. I used Cromabase and SPI UV Clear, 2 coats each. I was a little worried about the base. I mixed it for fifteen minutes and could still see some light streaks in it. It didn't seem to be entirely mixing. But it went down nice. I was glad that 2 coats was enough, that stuff is expensive!

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I think a good way to learn is to screw up. If its just a test panel i would tape off 4 sections. I section id do 1000 1200 1500 and stop at 2000. You will probably burn thru in the 1500 stage. The other area start at 2000 and stop at 3000. The other area start at 1500 and stop. And the last area maybe leave it alone. After buffing you will be able to notice the difference in the steps and grits. One way to reduce trash is hanging the panel. When laying flat its like 15-20 sqft of area. Lots of opportunity for things to land on that when spraying in a garage
 
Looks great. You should be proud! I agree on the 3 coats of clear if you plan to cut and buff. If i paint something with no intention of buffing, i do 2 coats clear. That generally gives you your 2 mils coverage. For something i think i may do some moderate cut and buffing i do 3 coats just to be safe. For more of a show car job where i want to be able to cut and buff it super slick, i do 4+ coats
I dont paint for a living, im more of a hobbyist so my methods may vary from the pros. Everything i do is from a "bang for the buck" standpoint.
They make all kinds of fancy DAs now and super expensive trizac sandpaper for the DAs, but you honestly dont need anything fancy. Im still buffing with the same $30 rotary i got from harbor freight 10 years ago.. i wetsand by hand with a soft wetsand block starting at 1500, then 2000, then 3000.
Theres lots of compound systems out there. Im currently using 3m perfect it because thats what i have on hand. I wouldnt say its the best and i think its overpriced but it works. Once i run out i want to try a new system. Use the white cap perfect it compound first on the rotary with a wool pad for initial cut, the move to the 3m white foam pad, i work in small sections. May take several passes, work it till you get rid of all the dull areas and sanding scratches. You can skip the wool pad altogether if you want and just start with the white foam pad. You will probably use more compound because it doeant cut as fast, but you will almost eliminate the possibility of burn through. Then move to perfect it polish in black cap bottle. Usually 2 sessions with that and im good. Use it to remove all swirls left from compound. If its a dark color you may have to go to a 3rd step, super fine polish to remove light haze that shows up in sunlight.
While buffing dont run it dry, you will start to rehaze the area. I use a spray bottle with water and spray the pad occasionally to help keep it wet. Use the sun to check progress. First car i did i worked on all day that looked great in the garage to back it out in the sun for a suprise swirl party.
Its not hard just take your time. And with the foam pads its almost impossible to burn the paint.
 
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Great, thanks for the info guys. What would be the process to add more clear? I won't be able to do it until Saturday, so it will be six days old. I assume I have to scuff/sand? What grit do I use? I need to sand out the existing trash anyway. As long as I'm doing it, is there anything wrong with adding even more coats?
 
Great, thanks for the info guys. What would be the process to add more clear? I won't be able to do it until Saturday, so it will be six days old. I assume I have to scuff/sand? What grit do I use? I need to sand out the existing trash anyway. As long as I'm doing it, is there anything wrong with adding even more coats?

For reclear i sand with 600. Just be be careful on edges, or you can cut through. On edges id use a grey scuff pad. You can add more coats if you like. In theory the more coats the more UV protection. I wouldnt go crazy. I dont believe in unnecessary material thickness if its not needed. Could make it more prone to cracking if flexed but the pros here may can chime in on that.
But yea the process, just scuff and reshoot it.
 
The only reason I want to add more is I'm afraid I might burn through since I haven't done this before.

BTW, how would I know if I did? I had some small packs of 1500, 2000 and 3000 grit paper laying around. I just went out and ran them over a small area on the hood. It got the trash out and looks like it leveled the orange peel. But of course it's no longer shiny. I don't have a buffer or any compound/polish yet so I can't go further. But then I'm thinking, is there still clear on there, or did I go through to the base? I wiped some acetone across it to see if any color came off. It didn't, but I don't know if this Cromabase is susceptible to solvents after curing.
 
Even if you cut and buff with the 2 coats of material on you probably wont burn through, but the concern is no longer having enough clear coat build to protect the job. You generally want 2 coats, so hypothetically, if you cut and buff one coat off, now youre down to one. So thats why i do 3 usually, depending on what im trying to achieve. I cant really describe what a cut through looks like but its very obvious.
Also you dont have to go crazy on the wetsanding, depends on the finish you are trying to get. If im just going for a daily driver finish ill sand just enough to cut the dirt nibs out, and or level any spots of excess texture to match the surrounding areas for uniformity.
 
Break thru most obvious & painful one is you'll see base color in the slurry when wetsanding.
3 coats minimum for fine grit sanding. 4 is much safer, 5's better. Think of all the time it takes to tape, mask, mix paint ect again if needing redo break thru.
 
God, do yourself a favor, strip that vette, right from the start, have epoxy ready 2 gals. Ask me how I know! Also check bonding in the upper engine bay corners at the firewall. Maybe some slicksand and def some guide coat. Those cracks around the headlight openings too. :)
 
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Oh, and don't sand edges with anything coarser than 100 grit, especially the two edges around the wheel openings etc... I recently saw a 71 that somebody stripped with a 36 grit da, they didnt pay much attention to protecting the edges, it was a real mess. They don't know what a can of worms they have opened on that car.
 
SloFut, I did sand the car down to the fiberglass. I did it by hand as I didn't trust myself with a power sander, even a DA, on the fiberglass. Put 3 coats of SPI epoxy on and then 2 coats of SlickSand. Blocked that out and got it pretty nice, but I need another coat or two to finish it out with 400/600 grit and seal it before I spray the color. That's what I did that to the hood.

Eddie, thanks for the tip on the break through. I did not see any color coming off, so I guess I'm good. I actually sanded another small section with just some 2000, then 3000, and it looks like the orange peel is gone. So maybe it's not as bad as I thought. Got my buffer coming this weekend, so I'll do some experimenting like Rooster suggested above.
 
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Not that much of a superman, it was only primer. All of the paint was gone when I got it. But there was 3 or 4 coats of different shades of primer.
 
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