new metallic paint dried flat

[driger]

my cousin just painted my van outdoors. the paint was a metallic acrylic enamel. the sunny side of the van dried a little flat, the shady side was nice and glossy. how do i fix the side that dried flat? polish it? if so, how?

[dave_demented]

probably what happened was the side that was in the sun was a lot hotter than the other side, and you didn't have a slow enough reducer, so it hazed. im not sure if you can buff it out or not, its worth a shot but i think you might have to re shoot it

[Len]

my cousin just painted my van outdoors. the paint was a metallic acrylic enamel. the sunny side of the van dried a little flat, the shady side was nice and glossy. how do i fix the side that dried flat? polish it? if so, how?

If gloss is all that you need you should be able to polish to get it. You need a buffer, a wool or foam polishing pad and some decent polish. Apply some polish to the surface of the vehicle and use a slowly rotating pad to polish the surface. If you're using Sure Finish Polish you will want to dampen the pad before you start. Using a "good" buffer like the Makita will help do the job properly because it can be used with a slowly rotating pad without loosing power.

If the surface is rough (in addition to being dull) you will probably need to sand it with a fine wet sandpaper to level the roughness THEN polish it. You need to be more careful with metallic paint than with solid colors. If you sand and polish too deeply you could cause the color to change but it would probably still look better than a dull finish.

The problem you are having is one of the reasons that I don't recommend outdoors spraying and, if you do spray outdoors, spray in the shade.

Below is a link to Robert's sanding and polishing tips. While the purpose of the polishing is different the technique is about the same.

Polishing Link

[driger]

it doesn't polish and leave little spots after sanding and polishing. guess it needs to be reshot. moral of the story, do not spray metallic paint outdoors, and keep plenty of paint on hand.

[Len]

Actually I think you could do it if you keep it out of the direct sunlight. Also, next time you paint (a different car) you may want to use urethane, it's more bullet proof.