I'm pretty sure my man here is right. The paint store should have given you a mix cup or 2 with your purchase. You want to mix the 4:1 ratio and work quickly(not rushed though). Do not take 600 to the paint. A 1200 is as low as you want to go. You want to either finish off the wet sand with 1500-2000 grit to minimize you scratches. Before you wet sane give the Nason at least a good day or 2 out in the sun.
After the wet sand you wash the car really well and let dry. You will need some 3m finishing compound and apply it with i "believe" a white foam 3m buffing pad placed on the end of an angle buffer(don't know the real name, but paint store can help you with that). Then after carefully buffing the car at 1200-2400 rpm's you want to wash it really good and let dry. Last step is to take a black foam pad and apply the 3m machine glaze and buff for that mirror shine.


Guys, if you see anything wrong with the order that i say please speak up so the kid doesn't eff up the paint based on what i said. I'm pretty sure its the white pad for compunding, and the black pad for glazing. However, check with a paint professional for confirmation.

 

I've been doing sanding and buffing for a long time now,after you clear it,let it dry.Wet sand it with a 1200-1500 grit then a 3000 grit.Then it must be compounded out,that's the only thing that will get the sand scratches out.After compounding it with the white 3M waffle pad,then you will have to glaze it like Tampamax said with a 3M blackfoam pad and a good glaze.I recomend all 3M products,there exspensive but well worth it.After you glaze it you'll want to put a real good coat of wax on it to seal it.Any further questions I'll be glad to help on the sanding and buffing part.

 

Since we've had some really valuable contributions to this thread how bout you help us finish up the basics. I agree with you on the 3m products, as the series i see most professionals use is the perfectIII series. Comes in a black bottle. After the machine glaze what would you suggest as a good top coat for the paint? There are many quality waxes out there, but some may not be the best for brand new paint finishes while others may have an application process that is way to involved for the beginner. So what do you use for the final step...the wax coat? Do you stay with a 3m product, maybe a quality eagle one wet wax product, or maybe even a natural product like Zymol? Is the process for applying the paint job first coat of wax any different than any other time you wax the vehicle?

Oh, i also know that 3000 grit is very difficult to come by for the general public. Where can the 3000 grit be found?
*For those that don't know most paint work can look flawless with a 1500 grit wet sand, compound, glaze, and wax. For the anal retentive, the ones that spend 6K and up on a basic paint job and want a perfect mirror finish without wax, or extremely dark colors(i.e.black) the 3k wet sand is the way to go. Talk about labor intensive though.

 

LOL,labor intensive heard.My job consists of dry sanding,wet sanding,and buffing of RV's at Lazydays.If you don't know,some of these RV's paint jobs are in th upper 70-80thousand dollar rangeso being a perfectionist is worth it.

Off the shelf products,I like Mother's or Mcguire's.I would also recomend aplying it with an orbital polisher and work it in really good.This cuts down on swirls and lays a good protective coat on the clear.Also,don't go using a regular towel to take wax off,most good paint supply stores sell 3M products and micro fiber towels,I get all I want free

I wish I could help about the clear questions but I too am still learning that process.

 

Update: Currently, I just wet sanded down my car, and I'm at 2,000 grit. I washed the dirt off of my car, then use 600 grit to take out those big bumps, stepped up to 1000, then 2000 which is where I'm currently at. Today is Sunday, and I dont know any local automotive paint supplies that are open. The Napa paint warehouse/store on Florida Ave. should be open, yet I'm unsure that they carry thoes 3M pads like you all mensioned, I'll give them a call a.s.a I get done typing.

I remembering seeing a episode on tv, discovery channel, of a Lexus IS300 with a V8 swap. They did some serious sanding and glazing a few hours before it was displayed at the SEMA. This is what came to my thought about this type of clearcoating finish. Clearcoating a car doesnt require all this sanding/buffering, right? It's only required if you screw up like I did???

 

 

Just make sure when you're done sanding with the 2000 you cant see any scratches from the 600/1000. The 1k/2k jump must have taken forever to do. If you've don a good job sanding all the way to 2000, buffing won't be that bad. Just sux when you're done and you see a couple of those 600 scratches you missed. If you haven't buffed a lot before maybe a wool pad would be easier for you (less apt to burn fresh paint).

FWI the Nason clears wet sands VERY easy but air dries SOFT. Be careful with the buffer.
..good luck

 

wet sanding is an excellent idea but if the orange peal is on the bottom as well your gonna sand all day and not get anywhere untill you get to the orange peal or where ever it fucked up. id just sand and start over. i know clear kits are gettin expensive but when it comes to paint sometimes its easier to just save time and start over, just make sure u let it cure or else youll have a chemical reaction and then youll have start all over with paint. just figured id throw my two cents in. (i worked at a bodyshop before napa)

 

Every paint job will require a wet sand and buff if you want it perfectly smooth. I have never heard of a complete all over paint job to come out without any orange peel. Some jobs on vehicles can come close enough to pass the untrained eye as a factory job, but even factory jobs on 500K vehicles have the peel. Hell, even show cars have flaws that go unnoticed to the untrained eye. The sanding and buffing helps to level whatever hills and valleys there are to really bring out the shine of the clear. With your color you would have been just fine stopping at 1500 grit. Something to keep in mind is that when wet sanding you need to keep as much of a contsant flow of water over the place you are sanding, and use a little liquid dish soap in the water bucket that you paper sits in. That helps the paper glide over the surface much better. A little trick you can do to get more life out of your wet sending paper is to let the paper soak in the water at least 15 minutes before you use it. Trust me on that one. You want to keep flushing out the debri with the water where you are wet sanding so you don't end up putting more scratches in the clear than you started with. If you accidently pick up a grian of sand(or even smaller) and rub that on the finish for a while you will never see the destruction until you buff it. That's when you get this really heavy sinking feeling because you know you have to go back and sand agin.

P.S. you didn't screw up as bad as you think you did. You should see some of the paint work that rolls out of the paint booth at you local Econo, fact-o-bake, macco, etc. Working with what you had, and the conditions you were in, i'd say you did pretty darn good for your first time.

 

Being that i'm no paint expert i'd like to understand what you mean when you say, "if orange peel is on the bottom as well your gonna sand all day and not get anywhere until you get to the orange peel or where ever it eff'd up." I have never heard of such a senario and am curious to learn something new. Could you break it down for the village idiot here?

Oh, and what kind of chemical reactions can happen when you wet sand?