I hope I made a mistake sanding my car...

[65fastbackresto]

I sanded it with 180 grit, epoxy primed, then polyester primer. I guidecoated it, and went to 400 grit, and this guide coat is giving me sore arms trying to get off the car. I`m thinking I shoud have guide coated before the 180 sand, and then just regular sanded after the 2nd polyester coat...

Someone help me out here, I just worked my ass off for 3 hours on half a hood thats still showing guide coat...

 

[Monty_Brown]

Off the subject but how did you like the por15??

 

[65Rob]

I sanded it with 180 grit, epoxy primed, then polyester primer. I guidecoated it, and went to 400 grit, and this guide coat is giving me sore arms trying to get off the car. I`m thinking I shoud have guide coated before the 180 sand, and then just regular sanded after the 2nd polyester coat...

Someone help me out here, I just worked my ass off for 3 hours on half a hood thats still showing guide coat...

No you did it right, you guide coat over your high build primer or polyester primer not before. When you say polyester primer I assume you mean Slicksand or something along those lines. The stuff is very heavy and can end up with a lot of texture if not sprayed properly, I'm guessing you don't have it flat yet so the guide coat is in the low spots. 400 grit isn't going to get you anywhere fast hence your sore arms. I knock it down with 220 then spray a few coats of high build primer, move to 320 and final wetsand with 600.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Yes its Slicksand (thanks to Rusty), and I can see a few low spots, but I`m having trouble just getting it off in general. Even in the middle of the hood thats sanded to death you can still see the faint spots of the guide coat and even feel them with your fingers. The sanded part of the guide coat thats left on the car is pretty much even all over (except the obvious low spots). FYI, I dont know if this is an issue or not, but this guide coat has been on the car for like 8 months...

The slicksand layed down real good without much texture at all, I don`t think it was heavy enough coat (2 coats) to start with.

So if I understand you correctly, just backup to 220 grit, sand it off, address the low and high spots, then repray with slicksand, guide coat again? Then block sand with 320.

 

[65Rob]

Yes its Slicksand (thanks to Rusty), and I can see a few low spots, but I`m having trouble just getting it off in general. Even in the middle of the hood thats sanded to death you can still see the faint spots of the guide coat and even feel them with your fingers. The sanded part of the guide coat thats left on the car is pretty much even all over (except the obvious low spots). FYI, I dont know if this is an issue or not, but this guide coat has been on the car for like 8 months...

The slicksand layed down real good without much texture at all, I don`t think it was heavy enough coat (2 coats) to start with.

So if I understand you correctly, just backup to 220 grit, sand it off, address the low and high spots, then repray with slicksand, guide coat again? Then block sand with 320.

I've never had a problem getting guide coat off so that's weird, must have absorbed into the slicksand somehow? Must be hard as stone after 8 months. yeah I would knock it flat with 220, reapply, maybe start with 220 depending on how flat you sprayed it, move to 320, then 400 - 600 depending on whether you're using a sealer before paint or not. I go 600 wet either way but you can probably get away with 400 if you use a sealer.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Yea the guidecoat is hard as a rock, you could chip a fingernail off just trying to pick at it. Its also on there really heavy (i used 2 cans on the car) which may be making it worse.

They make this look so easy on Horsepower TV on saturdays.....LOL

Thanks for the reply, I`m sure you`ll be hearing back from me alot this spring.

 

[65Rob]

You really don't want to leave anything unsanded on the car for extended periods, especially slicksand, it ends up like concrete.

 

[65fastbackresto]

This learning curve is killing me, I need a mentor.

 

[65Rob]

This is a very helpful site, I've been on it for close to 10 years
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

some samples
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17445
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16694
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1945

 

[true65mustang]

that guide coat ill take forever to come off, you either didnt thin enough or didnt spray right. cut down to 180g. what kinda paint you top coating with?

 

[65fastbackresto]

Some sort of base coat clear coat system, I`m trying to keep it simple. I been looking at the Duplicolor paints that are ready to spray, but I`m not sure if I might be giving up quality for conveince in that case.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

The Duplicolor paints are Lacquer, and a synthetic (not acrylic) lacquer at that. I learned all of this the hard way, and after bitching them out after buying 300.00 worth of that stuff for a total repaint, they refunded my money, and let me keep the paint. ( which is still taking up most of one of my cabinets on the wall). I understood that the paint was lacquer, susceptible to solvents, and UV damage. I did not like the fact that I was told that it was acrylic instead of synthetic. Not guaranteed to last much past 2-3 years before color fade becomes evident. Not a good choice on your part.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Thanks for the info on the Duplicolor, I knew it had to have some drawbacks cause it just sounds too easy. Now I see what some of those drawbacks are. This is pretty frustrating when you don`t really know what your doing, but at $50 an hour at a bodyshop, I got plenty of room to screwup and redo stuff, my time is free....