Frustrated

[Polish Painter]

Painting a dodge intrepid its gold, guy wants it black for his son. I am painting in pieces.
Working on doors repaired a couple of dings and wiped panels with wax and grease remover looking for any slight low spot or ripple.

Painting it black I know everything will show. After my filler work blocked 80, 180. Applied 2k hi-build on filler and a few slight waves/ripples. Probably loaded up the slight wave and slight low spots with primer. You had to look real hard at an angle to spot these.

Well I wetsanded them with 400 grit wet pretty aggressively. Re-wet with wax and grease remover each square foot area hunting for any slight variation of light reflection in many directions. Looked great.

Applied the black sealer as its going on wet and slick I notice two slight waves in the panel. Pretty frustrating !!!!! I am assuming I should have blocked the primer with a courser grit 100/120/180. Guide coated and re-applied hi build and done final sand with 400 wet.

Still dont know how I couldnt find those slight waves by wet checking with the wax and grease remover ???
I told the wife if she hits the lottery I have painted my last car. But I would probably start playing around with it after a while.

[Polish Painter]

At this point should I apply slicksand to the areas that have the slight waves ??
The panel has been wetsanded with 400 and a sealer applied , is that too slick to apply poly primer to ?

[style]

At this point should I apply slicksand to the areas that have the slight waves ??
The panel has been wetsanded with 400 and a sealer applied , is that too slick to apply poly primer to ?

Guide coat that area and reblock with 180 then shoot more primer see how it looks!

[Len]

Yes, I would start by doing what Style said, block sand with a coarse grit then apply a primer that will fix the problem. If the waves are too deep for 2K primer then hit it with Slick Sand.

[tech69]

If nothing pokes out re guide it til something is just about to poke out. This way you level it as much as possible and take off more material that's not needed. If you have 150 that's an even better choice. Some people go with 120 but I think 150 is the lowest I'd go for primer.

[Polish Painter]

If nothing pokes out re guide it til something is just about to poke out. This way you level it as much as possible and take off more material that's not needed. If you have 150 that's an even better choice. Some people go with 120 but I think 150 is the lowest I'd go for primer.

I didnt have any 150 so I used the 120grit on a 17 1/2 inch long block. cross hatching as I blocked. Followed that up with 180 grit. I wanted to look at the reflection with wax and grease remover so I blocked with 400 grit real quick . Still couldnt get a good reflection so I buzzed over that with a DA/INTERFACE PAD with 500 grit.

Then the reflection was nice , straight, flat, smooth. Still thnking I should apply a couple of wet coats 2k hi-build to cover any scratches I might have missed ??
Block that with 400 on a firm block.

I am pretty sure I created these waves by not using a course paper to start sanding the hi build. I used a gray/black foam block to wetsand with 400 grit.

When you guys are blocking your hibuild with 400-600 grit what type of block do you use ? Do you guys always re apply primer after blocking with 120-180grit or do you start sanding with 400-600 grit with out putting on more primer ?

Thanks for the help .

[tech69]

once you put 120 on it you're basically spraying again. You won't have enough primer to get those scratches out and it'd be a pain to deal with that scratch to get paint ready.

If I prime one time the grit I choose depends on the color. If it's a light color I go 220-280 then re-guide coat it with 500-600. If it's a silver or very light metallic I start with 320-400 then again with 600.

If it's a dark color I start with 320-400 then re-guide coat it with 600. If it's production I usually use a soft pad on a da to do the second round of guide coat sanding w/ 600, especially with the silver. It's important to get those scratches out with your 600,
Some guys only guide coat once straight to 400-600. I like to guide it twice and get it flatter. I use the 10" dura block when doing my wet sanding. The most important thing about blocking is that you have to have the right block. some areas call for a round block, some call for a smaller block, flat areas are for the biggest blocks, and sometimes a soft block. Sometimes the best block will not be the perfect fit for the contours. Sometimes you have to sand with hand pressure on the leading edge of the block, mainly on curves. An example would be my 65 mustang. The top of the fender is flat but where it meets the side of the fender it transitions into a raised point. I'd block the flat area light with a big block and for the area where it transitions into a point I'd use either a round block or a 10" x .5" block and if used the 10"x.5"
I'd probably be using the leading edge of the block where needed. Not sure if that's the best block for that but those are pretty good blocks for situations like that. They'd make that area sharper looking. So basically block in sections use the right block and don't block against a curve, you want to block with it so even pressure is applied. If you decide to block with say a 240-400 and re guide coat it again it's REALLY important to spray/apply your guide thoroughly to ensure you're getting those scratches out.

[Len]

It's a very rare situation that would have us use a DA on a surface that has it's last coat of primer on it. The DA can actually produce waves in the surface.

[tech69]

It's a very rare situation that would have us use a DA on a surface that has it's last coat of primer on it. The DA can actually produce waves in the surface.

LOTS of production shops out here hit it with 220-320 with a block, then guide coat it with a finishing da with a soft pad on low. Mainly for insurance work. Not something you'd do on your car but it's standard for production and worth mentioning. So you say it leads to waves but it gets it flatter than guide coating once with 400-600 and takes about the same amount of time.

This is the standard in many Ca shops for production work and last I checked it was Ca leading the way in the industry.

[Len]

LOTS of production shops out here hit it with 220-320 with a block, then guide coat it with a finishing da with a soft pad on low. Mainly for insurance work. Not something you'd do on your car but it's standard for production and worth mentioning. So you say it leads to waves but it gets it flatter than guide coating once with 400-600 and takes about the same amount of time.

This is the standard in many Ca shops for production work and last I checked it was Ca leading the way in the industry.

For a quick and cheap job this may be acceptable but it's unnecessary and throws additional variables into the process. Definately not something a novice should be doing.

[tech69]

The process of guide coating it twice by hand or da in itself introduces too many variables for a novice but if the color is light and it's well guide coated the second time it works out great. The only thing a novice would have to be worried about is not getting the scratch all the way out. That's the way I do it and the results come out much better than guide coating it once. I'm just sharing my experience.

As far as guide coating with a da.. it's not like I encouraged him to do it, I just said it's an option. It works great for production cause you get to cut it flat with 220 and the da doesn't take much off other than the scratches if you know what you're doing. I'm quite confident in my skills to get it straight before primer and am good enough to know that the job doesn't always require your best efforts. Classic cars are always by hand but for production I can get good results by a da on the second round of guide coating and it comes out better than just acceptable. If that's the case why do it by hand?

[style]

The process of guide coating it twice by hand or da in itself introduces too many variables for a novice but if the COLOR WAS LITE and it's well guide coated the second time it works out great. The only thing a novice would have to be worried about is not getting the scratch all the way out. That's the way I do it and the results come out much better than guide coating it once. I'm just sharing my experience.

As far as guide coating with a da.. it's not like I encouraged him to do it,(THEN WHY THE HELL OPEN YOUR MOUTH,SUGGESTING SOMETHING HERE SOME TIMES ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO DO IT) I just said it's an option. It works great for production cause you get to cut it flat with 220 and the da doesn't take much off other than the scratches if you know what you're doing. I'm quite confident in my skills to get it straight before primer and am good enough to know that the job doesn't always require your best efforts. Classic cars are always by hand but for production I can get good results by a da on the second round of guide coating and it comes out better than just acceptable. If that's the case why do it by hand?

if the color was lite? hes doing a black car...
go throw ice cubes at the sun or something,sheesh sometimes i swear your a troll...

[tech69]

if the color was lite? hes doing a black car...
go throw ice cubes at the sun or something,sheesh sometimes i swear your a troll...

If you spend more time on here in the last two days attacking me than contributing you should only wonder who the troll is around here.