Quote: Originally Posted by antimatter
Do you do anything to the paint afterwards like use any polishing compounds or anything. Can you tell me how you did you coats (i.e. 1 layer of primer and then 3 layers of black waiting 30 minutes between)
I really think you did a great job especially with the paint. You can do some killer fabrication work and ruin it with a crappy tacky paint job.
Noooo no no no. Think of primer as a last coat of filler only its sprayed on. I usually spray one light coat, then three wet coats allowing a good 20-30 minutes between coats. Let this primer application dry overnight.
Then fill any remaining visible pinholes with a razor blade and spot putty. Apply a very list mist "guide coat" of a contrasting color primer. Let that dry a few hours.
Now begin your sanding with 400 taking care not to sand through on edges etc. Sand until the guide coat is almost gone and no surface imperfections remain. Finish with a light sanding with 500-600 totally removing the last remaining traces of guide coat. Now you have a flawless finish ready for paint.
As with the primer, the first coat of paint is always a light one. If you are using SEM spray texture, spray that on light and even exactly as if it was a guide coat, but you can consider it your first coat of paint. Again, I wait a good 15-20 minutes between coats this time of year. Now I'll spray the next 2-3 fairly wet to get good coverage without runs. Again make sure to allow plenty of time between coats. If you are not using a texture spray underneath, your last few coats will be mist coats sprayed from a distance. Continue until you achieve the desired effect, and make sure you initiate the spray off the part because the can will discharge a few big blobs at first and these will mess with your mist-textured effect.
Thats it its done. Don't ever polish it, wax it, or Armorall it. Just clean it with a damp soapy rag once in a while.
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