all these problems you're having reminds me of exactly why i decided to have mine painted by someone else. i would have loved to paint the car myself but i'm getting too old for that s**t. besides, with my back problems there's no way i'd be able to do it anyway. mine is going to the trim shop today to get the headliner and vinyl top installed. YAY!!!, finally after waiting almost 3 weeks they'll be able to do it this week.
Before I shot my car, I was scared to death of getting a run or sag in the paint. But I used to visit a couple of the painting sites regularly and one of the posts there made sense to me. The subject was orange peel vs runs, which was worse? One of the more experience painters said he'd much rather sand out a couple runs than go through the work of sanding out an entire car worth of orange peel. It made sense to me, and I noticed that some cars I'd seen, the edges and door jambs still had peel where you can't sand and buff. So I followed his advice and the advice of the House of Kolor tech rep who said to put on one "tack coat" of clear, let it sit 10 minutes. Then put on one medium coat and let it sit 12 minutes, followed by one final "super wet" coat and call it good. I did that and was amazed by the finish. No peel to speak of (a little at the end of the passengers rear quarter) and only one sag about three inches long. I haven't buffed the car yet, but you'd never know by looking at it. Maybe HoK clear is different, but after using it, I'll never use anything else.
I agree... sanding out orang peel... especially on single stage paint, is not fun. Luckily on my 72 I only had a slight hint of orange peel and hardly any foreign objects in the paint sucha as dust (especially since it was painted in a dirt backyard). I agree sanding out runs is a lot easier than orange peel.
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