Hazy and dull

[amateur4sure]

My first attempt painting the passenger-side door and cab door...



Notice where I tried rubbing compound in a 1' x 3' area.

What can I use to get this to shine? Rotary buffer? DA? Or start over (sand, prime, paint, clear coat)?

- amateur4sure

[Evan.J]

What did you do in the first place?

A little more background as to what you did to the truck?

[amateur4sure]

What did you do in the first place?

A little more background as to what you did to the truck?

I was hoping you wouldn't ask...

The top of the doors were beginning to fade, so I decided to give it a shot.

1) Sanded old paint;
2) Primed with Duplicolor scratch filler primer (4 light coats)
3) Painted with Duplicolor Pewter Metallic (5 light coats)
4) Clear coat Duplicolor (4 light coats)
5) Next day, wet sanding with 1000, then 2000 grit paper (I did not do an hours-long soak of the paper beforehand)
6) Hand compounding with cloth, buff with orbital (this doesn't seem to bite into the finish enough)

I wasn't expecting a showroom finish, but I wasn't expected this result either.

- amateur4sure

[aim4squirrels]

Did you use a clear coat over the color coat?

In a two stage system, the color coat will be rough and "flat" meaning no shine. It shouldn't have shine, nor should you attempt to make it shine. Any buffing or polishing of the base coat will change the visual appearance to look much like what you've posted.

Adding the clear coat is what brings out the shine, that's the layer you polish.

[Evan.J]

You need to refine the 2000 grit with 3000 grit. Assuming you didn't go through the clear coat you laid down the haze or dull in the sanding mark that remain.

You will need a machine to properly remove the saying marks. Can it be done by hand yes but its not for the faint of heart.

[aim4squirrels]

Ahh, I see you added the clear.

Before you put primer on, did you sand it to bare metal? Self etching primer is meant to bite into a metal surface and bond. If there was any old paint or primer under it, it will eventually wrinkle and look like crap. I learned this the hard way.

Take it to bare metal. Then spray your primer. Then sand your primer smooth and flat. Whatever the surface of your primer looks like, that's what your painted surfaces will look like. If you have drips, runs, rough texture, your resulting paint finish will too. If you hit metal sanding, respray and re-sand. Don't skimp on this step.

Spray the color coat very lightly, so light that you know it will need two or three more coats. Let that coat set (read can, it'll give you the window for applying the next coat), and then do a very light second coat, then a very light third coat, etc. Just until you have everything evenly covered with color. You do not want heavy runs or orange peel in this stage, so only add enough color paint to color the panel evenly and no more.

After it's set, apply the clear coat. You'll want it to go on uniform and wet. Too close to the panel and you get runs, too far and you get orange peel. Practice on cardboard pizza boxes until you find the right distance and arm speed, even if you have to go through three cans to get it down. Trust me, it's going to pay for itself in time saved sanding out the orange peel. Three coats of clear in this manner should be sufficient, but can add more if you wish, just don't rush it and get lazy with your technique.

Let the paint be for a couple days, then inspect your work. Sanding should really be done by machine (the 3M trizact discs are awesome for this, and you'll need a machine for polishing anyway look at a Porter Cable 7424xp), but if you're determined to do it by hand, you at least need a sanding block. Do the most coarse grit in one direction, and remove whatever defects you need to. Then the next finest grit against the grain of the coarse sanding only trying to remove the coarse grit marks, not correcting flaws. Then the next finest against that grain and so on, that'll get you the fastest abrasion of the high points.

The whole panel may not need the most aggressive grit, try finer grits on the parts that don't have orange peel or runs, etc. The finer you go on sand paper, the less aggressive you need to be compounding. Then compound with a machine and a wool or foamed wool pad, (or even a heavy cutting foam pad if you sanded all the way to like 5000 grit) followed by a finishing polish with a foam pad.

If this seems like a daunting task, it is. That's why shops can charge so much for it. The first time you do this, you might have have to start over two or three times to get an acceptable result, and spend a lot more than you want re-sanding and spraying. But, you'll own the tools, and more importantly, the knowledge to do it again, and each time it'll cost you much less and the end result well get better and better. Just remember, the reason you painted it was because it looked bad and you have some pride in your ride. You'll get the result you want eventually, just stay after it.

Oh yeah, last piece of advice, use a quality machine compound, things that say rubbing compound are very difficult to get quality results with.

[amateur4sure]

Thanks for the input...I appreciate it.

...You will need a machine to properly remove the saying marks. Can it be done by hand yes but its not for the faint of heart...

Yes, I agree. I'm struggling with what kind of machine to get - $50-$75 DA or 90$-$125 rotary buffer...are these decent products that will bite into the finish, unlike the orbital I have?

- amateur4sure

[tuscarora dave]

Ahh, I see you added the clear.

Before you put primer on, did you sand it to bare metal? Self etching primer is meant to bite into a metal surface and bond. If there was any old paint or primer under it, it will eventually wrinkle and look like crap. I learned this the hard way.

Take it to bare metal. Then spray your primer. Then sand your primer smooth and flat. Whatever the surface of your primer looks like, that's what your painted surfaces will look like. If you have drips, runs, rough texture, your resulting paint finish will too. If you hit metal sanding, respray and re-sand. Don't skimp on this step.

Spray the color coat very lightly, so light that you know it will need two or three more coats. Let that coat set (read can, it'll give you the window for applying the next coat), and then do a very light second coat, then a very light third coat, etc. Just until you have everything evenly covered with color. You do not want heavy runs or orange peel in this stage, so only add enough color paint to color the panel evenly and no more.

After it's set, apply the clear coat. You'll want it to go on uniform and wet. Too close to the panel and you get runs, too far and you get orange peel. Practice on cardboard pizza boxes until you find the right distance and arm speed, even if you have to go through three cans to get it down. Trust me, it's going to pay for itself in time saved sanding out the orange peel. Three coats of clear in this manner should be sufficient, but can add more if you wish, just don't rush it and get lazy with your technique.

Let the paint be for a couple days, then inspect your work. Sanding should really be done by machine (the 3M trizact discs are awesome for this, and you'll need a machine for polishing anyway look at a Porter Cable 7424xp), but if you're determined to do it by hand, you at least need a sanding block. Do the most coarse grit in one direction, and remove whatever defects you need to. Then the next finest grit against the grain of the coarse sanding only trying to remove the coarse grit marks, not correcting flaws. Then the next finest against that grain and so on, that'll get you the fastest abrasion of the high points.

The whole panel may not need the most aggressive grit, try finer grits on the parts that don't have orange peel or runs, etc. The finer you go on sand paper, the less aggressive you need to be compounding. Then compound with a machine and a wool or foamed wool pad, (or even a heavy cutting foam pad if you sanded all the way to like 5000 grit) followed by a finishing polish with a foam pad.

If this seems like a daunting task, it is. That's why shops can charge so much for it. The first time you do this, you might have have to start over two or three times to get an acceptable result, and spend a lot more than you want re-sanding and spraying. But, you'll own the tools, and more importantly, the knowledge to do it again, and each time it'll cost you much less and the end result well get better and better. Just remember, the reason you painted it was because it looked bad and you have some pride in your ride. You'll get the result you want eventually, just stay after it.

Oh yeah, last piece of advice, use a quality machine compound, things that say rubbing compound are very difficult to get quality results with.

Very nice post!!

To the OP

I'd try refining your wet sanding to have a smoother surface on which to work on. Work it down to 3000 grit until all is smooth and dull looking. If you're still seeing pits or pockets of shiny clear coat then you haven't quite removed all the orange peel.

Afterwards, work your compound in very small sections at a time by hand to remove the dullness. Overlap your work sections so you have a nice smooth, clear transition from one compounding work section to the next. Repeat this until you get the whole panel compounded free of sanding marks.

The Duplicolor clear shouldn't really be that hard to work with. Worst case scenario, you'll have to redo it.

What compound were you using?

[amateur4sure]

To the OP

I'd try refining your wet sanding to have a smoother surface on which to work on. Work it down to 3000 grit until all is smooth and dull looking. If you're still seeing pits or pockets of shiny clear coat then you haven't quite removed all the orange peel...

Well, that's the thing, it doesn't look like orange peel - hazy and dull, like someone took dry sandpaper to a nice, shiny paint job.

...What compound were you using?

Turtle Wax in a squeeze bottle.

- amateur4sure

[tuscarora dave]

1000 grit is a pretty stout grit for 4 thin coats of rattle can clear. Could it be that you sanded back through the clear into the base coat? It looks like that could be the issue. I couldn't tell by the gallery uploaded photo so I saved a copy and enlarged it in windows photo viewer.

What color was the compound coming out of the tube?

Do you have any white compound or polish? If so, take some and put it on a white terry towel and rub back over the area and tell us if the towel turns the color of the base coat. This should tell the story.