I just got the car back from the shop on tuesday, it looks ok from the right angles but trashy from others. The major problems are orange peel (which covers the whole car) and raise spots from where the guy did some body work. I was wondering is if color sanded the car would it get rid of the raised spots? After the color sanding i would then buff and polish it to get the shine back. Any did this before? Or are the any other solutions?

 

the raised spots will not come out with wet sanding and buffing. That was supposed to be taken care of when he was doing the body work (primer, block sanding). That is why people say the difference between a good paint job and poor one is in the preparation/body work.

Is this a BC/CC (base coat/clear coat) paint job or a SS (single stage) paint job? If a SS paint job then you do not want to wet sand and buff this late in the process. That is done very early in the SS cure stage (24 hrs or so) because of the way the SS is made. I have heard horror stories of people that cut and buffed their SS paint job too late and had to buff it continuously (every season) because of fading...it has something to do with the way the pigment rises to the top as it dries or something...not real sure but anyway.

Also even with BC/CC you should have already cut and buffed it. The longer you wait the harder it is to cut and buff...its still possible but harder and requires more time and work.

I would take it back to him to have it cut and buffed though. If you have never done it then its not a very good idea to try it. It is VERY easy to sand through (especially the high spots) and then you are screwed. Also buffing isnt as easy as you think either (we are not talking polishing that you do with a very low speed orbital buffer and wax) and you can very easily take the paint off the edges.

if you really want to do it then get ready for your arm to fall off.

The key to wet sanding is plenty of water and a nice flat sanding block. Start with 1500 (1000 if he put more than 2 coats of clear on it) then move up to 2000 grit. Most compounds will get 2000 grit out without problems...keep sanding until there are no shiny spots and you know it will be flat then. It is a LOT of work and again I would take it back to him because it should be part of the job. I know if I have trash and excess orange peel I take care of it before I hand over the vehicle.

 

Thanks for all the info. I don't want to take it back to him because this sames to be somewhat his best work. He didn't charge me for labour because he is a friend of the family, i just basically paid for the materials. A few ppl have past here and told me that it looks good but i guess they couldn't see that in a few spots there were runs, orange peel everywhere along with the raise spots.

Infact, this is the second time he sprayed it. The first time he did it, it came out WORST, WAY WORST than this. There was fish eyes, and severe orange peel. Is there anyway to know if it was a BC/CC or a SS? I don't want to ask him because i don't want to offend him you know, damn i'm screwed! lol

 

well if I could see it in person I would be able to tell but not sure about with a pic.

How much did you pay for materials and what color did you get it painted? That will help in determining what it is.

I would just ask him but don't do it in a way that is questioning his skills or anything if you don't want to offend him. I will say this...painting a car is a lot of work (well not the painting part but the getting it to the painting part) and if he did it for free (labor) then he is indeed a good friend of the family.

You can take it to a detail shop and they might wet sand and buff it for you. Probably cost a good bit (over $200 I imagine) but not much more than the tools and materials you would need to do it yourself.

 

I paid about 300 for the materials (halftime, paint and sand paper). I know that the preparation is ALOT of work because i was there when he was doing it. The car is black, with some blue sparkles in it. I am going to take some pics and have them up by tonight for you to see, thanks alot for the help so far tho. REALLY appreciate it.

 

300 seems pretty cheap even for the cheapest BC/CC paint so my guess is that its a SS paint. Do you remember what was on the paint cans or how many paint cans there were?

I would ask him what it is because there is also different kinds of SS paint. There is SS urethane and SS acrylic. you will have to do your own research on those because I am just not familiar with them. I have used SSU one time and I buffed it right after paint. That was several years ago (close to 4 or 5) and the paint still looks good without having to buff it every now and then.

 

Sounds like my Macco paint job came out alot better. I paid $650 and its been paint for about 8 months and it still looks nice. Shines great after a nice buff/wax

 

Yup...looks good dude! lol

Michael

I didn't get a chance to see the paint cans to be honest with you...i only was there for the preparation process.

 

i took some pics of it yesterday evening but i can't get the right angles to show the raises with a camera. I going to try to do it again today...maybe some of these things that i'm seeing are in my mind or something lol.

 

No offense dude but here in San Antonio, Maaco is the one of the worst places to take your car. We have seen so many horrible paint jobs come from them. We have so many jobs from them that looked like it was done by a 4 year old with a watercolor paint set. Then there were some good paint jobs but the masking looked horrible. Looks like you got a good job though.