How to fix a clear coat with problems...

[BMB]

Hello...For starters I'm no painter...I'm a gun smith…Please don’t burn me because I don’t know squat about painting!!!!…So, here is how the story goes...I decided to be a saint and help my buddy paint his old Honda...Everything went as good as can be expected till we got to the clear coat...Runs, Runs, Runs—AHHH !!!....Finally got a coat on it that could pass for ok but it still has a few little runs...Would it be possible to wet sand the run and buff it with compound and an electric buffer to polish it up??? We have 4 or more coats of clear on it so we have no fear of buffing through the clear and into the color coat...I would rather try and buff than risk screwing up another clear coat…Of course this is no show bike, just a point-A to point-B vehicle so a less than perfect finish would be more than good enough...Thanks...BMB

 

[guest01]

Aint clear coating fun!! you could sand them out maybe start with some 1200 then 1500. You could use some 2000 then if you wanted. then buff with rubbing compound then some finess-it to remove the scratches from the compound. I just finially learned the trick to clear coating. spray on a super light coat. Mine looks terrible after it. let it quit stringing when you touch and put on a little heavier coat. and then a nice coat to finish up. No more runs.

 

[Bornhard]

hey BMB...something I would like to add...when clear coating first thing I recommend doing is to spray a fog coat.
what that is, is a very light, thin & bumpy coat of clear. It won't look good...sort of white & hazy & feels like sandpaper. go around the entire car and then wait a couple minutes. Suppose to wait about 10 minutes, but the time it takes you to go around the whole car, you should be able to go back to your starting point in a couple minutes (if it's warm where you're spraying)

while you wait, adjust your needle.....screw the needle ALL THE WAY tight & then unscrew 4-5 turns....find a panel, or some surface where you can pratice spray and make sure your spray gun isn't pouring it out thick & that your fan is set to spray a 6" fan pattern when you hold the spray gun about 6" from the surface. then walk at a medium pace while you spray down the length of the car. 50% over lap etc etc....

with your problem...my solution would be to block sand the entire car with 600 grit (careful on the body corners) and then try to carefully put a medium coat on. If you block sand with 1500 - 2000 with a lot of runs over a whole car, you might be there for days. (depending on how many & how bad the runs are)

good luck and don't be afraid to pratice to make sure the gun is spraying correctly before spraying on the car.

 

[nooshie]

I've seen this movie. Cut and Buff. If the runs are pronounced enough you can take some of them off with a razor, I wouldn't try to get all of it with the razor, but it will speed up the sanding process. You already know what grit to use and add a little soap to the water it will help carry the solids away. I like the foam pads, they are less likely to burn and don't use the same pad for heavy cutting that you do for finish. When you buff use the edge of the buffing wheel and make little circles.

Good Luck
Nooshie