Dumb paint move!

I shot the exterior of the trunk lid. For some STUPID reason I first put on a light coat of red acrylic (over 800 wet sanded high build primer) and ended up with a mess of orange peel. I have no idea why I did that. Brain fart! I should have stopped, removed it with thinners and reloaded… but I went on and learned once again that you can't shoot your way out of dry or peel with subsequent coats.

The bumper I did at the same time glossed up great and laid flat with only one run on a vertical surface.

So I have to wet sand the trunk lid to flatten it right back to the bottom of the peel and to remove the dust. Would you take it down with 600? 800 or 1500?
How long do I need to wait before I can go at it? Overnight?

If I can get it down flat with no sand-throughs I am tempted to just put clear on it. Good move or should I lay down another coat of red?

I've always let the primer set for 24hrs. before sanding and color coat, so I'd say 24hrs. However you may have trapped the primer and it could take a while for it to go off with the color coat over it before it flashed. At that if you get it sanded a couple coats of color then 3-4 clear coats. My experience is if you rush it, it will turn to s____.

Peter - You're asking everybody here? Don't you get it? We ask you these questions!

This kit - the trailer-and-car combo - is going to be great to see in person some day. FWIW, I think I've bookmarked just about every thread you've started on them.

Thanks guys. I am no expert.... and my paint-body man coach had the unmitigated GALL to spend the winter in Guyana :) leaving me to my own devices and the advices of this board - which thankfully has been a godsend over the years when I made a mess.

Worst case scenario I strip it back to bare and start again. Done that before!

Start with 800 grit and move to 1000 then 1500. You can even go up to 2000 grit if you really want it to shine good after buffing.

At any rate the body section is now masked off fom the boot and cockpit which have been painted. Tomorrow we prime again with high-build and block sand it. Gonna let that boot lid sit a day or two to firm up.

Over the years I have actually convinced myself that I LIKE orange peel!

Nah,
Newt

That sucks Peter. Hopefully you can get it worked out without stripping it back. I gotta ask though. You are spraying in your garage right? Isn't there overspray everywhere?

I'd do the first cut with a relatively aggressive 600, about half way through the orange peel or so. Then go to 800 or 1000, up to 1500. Any scratches that are left after 1500 will machine buff out. 24 hours should be long enough to wait, but recoat it with color before you clear.

First off you have to follow the paint mixing instructions to the letter.

You can knock down that peel pretty quick with 1200 paper, It doesn't have to be totally slick. Tiny shiny spots about this . size will show you're not going completely through the paint and will buff right out.

And don't lose sight of the fact that you're working on a trailer.

JD: IT was technique [poor] not mix. I think I has too much pressure and not enough volume. I adjusted it for the bumper and it turned out fine with the same mix.

Ken: with an HVLP gun I am amazed at how little overspay there is. Most of it stays right on the target (I shoot at about 4-6" from the surface). Sure there is some, and I drape important stuff, but generally it is pretty little.

But Derek.... It has to look as good as Itch or I won't be happy to tow it and park it behind my car!

Followup:

I knocked it down by block sanding 800 wet, followed by 1500 wet. MOST of the peel is gone now, and what is there should flow out with two more coats of acrylic and then clear. I have three small dots, in three locations that I could not get flat wihout going too deep so I am hoping I will be a able to buff them out after four more coats. If not, I'll live with them.

Peter, I was amazed too by how little overspray there is with a HVLP gun. But no matter how I set it all I got was orange peel. Had to go back to my old general purpose gun to finish the job. My HVLP gun was from Harbor Freight so that probably explains it. Fun ain't it?

The gun really does all the hard work, as long as you have the pressures right! Peter, your HF gun is perfect for primer and that's about it. You really do get what you pay for! That's the beauty of single stage paint though - its relatively easy to fix imperfections and anyone can do it!

Yes Jeff, there is a difference in guns. I have all Sharpes. 2 Cobalts ( the cheaper line) I use for primer and basecoat and a Platinum for clear. The Platinum is beteen 3 &4 hundred bucks but it atomizes beter with less overspray. I will use the Platinum for single stage on rare occasions like when I did a TR4 last winter. I really don't like to put color in it though. After that it has to be meticulously cleaned. You don't want a chunk of BRG showing up in the clearcoat of someones new white car!

Peter, I suspect those deeper craters are fisheyes. They are a PITA for sure. Not sure what system you are useing? You refer to acrylic. True basecoat is pretty thin & orange peel is hardly ever an issue. The Clear is where it gets tricky.

I have a pretty good Devilbiss gun and it is imperative that I get the pressure settings right. After re-spray I now have an acceptably shiny, smooth and not too peeled finish [with no dry spots] that I know I can wet sand and buff, or flatten and shoot the clear over.... then flatten that. I know because it is no worse than ITCH when it came back from the shop and I cut and buffed it to a mirror shine.

I spent 4 hours wet sanding the boot lid this morning to get it back to flat..... and I never went through the paint to the primer even at the edges.

Your problem MORE THAN LIKELY was the fact that the majority of high build primers are POROUS. You should have sealed it with a primer/sealer that wasn't porous FIRST, then coated it.

Now, I'm definitely not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but that formula has ALWAYS worked for me, and I very rarely get orange peel. But, then again, it's not like I paint a car everyday.

So, if no one else recommended that above, I would suggest that you follow that recipe, like I said it always worked for me. There are some paint systems out there that don;t require a sealer coat, but I have always been afraid to try them for the fear of what happened to you.

Also, I wouldn;t scoop that off with solvent, I would let it dry, and sand it off. That way you retain so semblance of a smooth surface. Use a DA to get the majority off then block it down and seal it with a sealer and try again.


Good Luck,

B