Please Rescue a Newbie... correcting home sprayed Clear Coat

**PGBCruiser** · 05-04-2015, 12:14 PM

Hello; and apologies if this has been answered a million times (I did check other threads) Feel free to post links if this is the case. Here's the short story... Florida sun damaging my roof (2002 PT). I sanded the damaged areas, repainted a few coats of base, then sprayed a 2K Clear (4 coats). A neighbor suggested "start where no one can see, then finish where visible." He nailed it. I've got a couple of spots I'm proud of for a newbie; but some serious need for correction on top - gritty feel, definite orange peel.
Do I wet sand, or dry sand to smooth things out (starting grit - final grit?)
I have a Meguiar's MT 300 for the compound, polish phase (introduced to me at Detailfest).
I did take some photos; but lighting distorted the look of the repair.
Thanks!!!
Peter

**PGBCruiser** · 05-04-2015, 06:55 PM

Hello; and apologies if this has been answered a million times (I did check other threads) Feel free to post links if this is the case. Here's the short story... Florida sun damaging my roof (2002 PT). I sanded the damaged areas, repainted a few coats of base, then sprayed a 2K Clear: 4 coats (both rattle can). A neighbor suggested "start where no one can see, then finish where visible." He nailed it. I've got a couple of spots I'm proud of for a newbie; but some serious need for correction on top - gritty feel, definite orange peel.
Do I wet sand, or dry sand to smooth things out (starting grit - final grit?)
I have a Meguiar's MT 300 for the compound, polish phase (introduced to me at Detailfest).
I did take some photos; but lighting distorted the look of the repair.
Thanks!!!
Peter

**PGBCruiser** · 05-04-2015, 07:06 PM

Reposted in "Ask the Experts..." I didn't know how to remove this post; but will check back in case there are replies. Thanks all. I'm new to the forum and I'm learning a ton - THANKS!

**Calendyr** · 05-05-2015, 02:41 AM

You should definatelly wet sand.

Starting with 1500 grit then moving to 3000.

If you can use either Meguiars Unigrit or 3M Trizac sand paper, those will give you the best results.

Once you are done wet sanding, compound the paint then polish.

If you are not sure how to do it, search Youtube, there are 100s of videos about this process.

And make sure to post pictures here

**TFTADetail** · 05-05-2015, 08:34 AM

Do you have any pics you could post so that we could see what it is you're dealing with?

I'm sure the mods will merge this thread with the other one ......

**PGBCruiser** · 05-05-2015, 08:46 AM

Thanks for the great advice... pretty overcast today so I may be able to get a couple of photos without too much light interference. I think I may be good with getting the repairs looking okay (this was a Band-Aid to slow down sun damage, not a pro repaint). Biggest issue will be smoothing the edges where the tape line was. I went pretty thick with the clear knowing I would need room for sanding.
Hope to add pics this afternoon.
Thanks again!

**PGBCruiser** · 05-05-2015, 11:08 AM

resized the only workable picture I could get... too much reflection from garage indoors/clouds outdoors. Hopefully it gives an idea of texture and level (higher than original paint). Have the Meguiar's sanding gear in the shopping cart if you guys think it will help. Thanks again!
PS... this is the worst area; I did much better on the other spot repairs!

Mike Phillips · 05-05-2015, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by PGBCruiser

Reposted in "Ask the Experts..." I didn't know how to remove this post; but will check back in case there are replies. Thanks all. I'm new to the forum and I'm learning a ton - THANKS!

Basically you normally only create one thread per topic. Two identical threads in different locations can cause confusion. For both professional and legal reasons we never "delete" threads on this forum. Threads are either merged or moved, in this case I merged the idential threads you started in my forum group with this one.

No harm no foul just how forums work...

Originally Posted by TFTADetail

I'm sure the mods will merge this thread with the other one ......

Mike Phillips · 05-05-2015, 01:01 PM

You can do either, dry sand or wet sand, just make sure the sanding papers or sanding discs can be used the way you want to use them.

I know some guys like dry sanding but I don't because dry sanding creates paint dust that I don't want to breathe and I don't like wearing respirators or even dust masks so I tend to wet sand instead.

If the tool you're going to use is the MT300 to remove your sanding marks then try to finish out using a high grit paper or disc to make the sanding mark removal process faster and easier as well as more effective.

**PGBCruiser** · 05-05-2015, 02:52 PM

Mike,
first, thanks for merging the threads... I knew I goofed after re-posting; and appreciate your taking care of it.
Second, I'll go with wet sanding... while it seems that I might have a better sense of "when to stop" with dry, I like the idea of avoiding the dust and following your approach. I just purchased the Meguiar's Unigrit 6 Pack with grits starting at 1500 ascending to 3000 (A GREAT DEAL). Hopefully that will make things easier when I pull out the MT300.
Once again, thanks to everyone for all of the help and inspiration.
I learned a ton at Detailfest and here on the forum; time to put it to work!

I'll post pictures when I'm done...

Peter

PS... if there is a quick link on how to feather/blend the edges, feel free to point me in the right direction!