Painted, now stuck

[Captainhaak]

Hello, i have a question about buffing. i just painted my 72 Z yesterday and now am a little stuck on where to go...

it is a metallic acrylic lacquer, no clearcoat. any suggestions on where to start? i am getting lost in the 1500 to 2000 grit sand, buffing compounds, buffing machines, jungle. i do not want to mess this up, as i did a pretty decent paint job. thanks for all the help.

[torker]

I am no expert but the only time I used lacquer I clearcoated. The thing I love about lacquer is the ability to wetsand runs and work with it. Is there a reason you are not going to topcoat with a clear enamel? If you leave it lacquer you will be buffing/polishing every year due to oxidation.

[grantf]

It my understanding that if you sand a metallic paint job with no clear you will ruin it. If it is a nice smooth finish let it cure for a week or two then use wax. I could be wrong considering you used lacquer.

[JeffMopar]

If you have grit or dust in the paint you can block sand it out CAREFULLY with the 2000 before you buff it. You cant do too much with the metallic without affecting the way it looks. I didn't use metallic just Acrylic Enamel with out a clearcoat, blocked with 1500 and then 2000 before buffing it out with the Dewalt DW849 buffer and Norton buffing kit from Eastwood. I taped off the edges with 1/4" painters tape and didn't sand the edges at all. Removed the tape after the wool pad and just took it really easy so as not to cut through with the 2 polish pads and was amazed at how quick the paint polished up. If you don't have any grit in the paint just start with the buffer and see how it looks. you can always go back and redo any spots that aren't smooth enough. The attached pic is how the car looks now. I took a couple of days working really slow so as not to screw up.

Jeff

[Captainhaak]

thanks for the help, i went to a local auto paint store today to get some advice and supplies, im going to buff the crap out of it, and hopefully it will come out alright. i did not use a clearcoat because i did not have a clearcoat by the same brand and did not want to risk fouling the paint.

[torker]

If you have a little lacquer left you could spray something and then try clearcoating with a polyurethane enamel clear. You don't even have to wait very long. Lacquer dries really fast. Nice thing about lacquer is you can spray a lot of different paints over it. You just can't spray lacquer over anything else. An enamel clear will really give it a high gloss and it is much tougher than lacquer. Whatever you decide good luck. Hope to see some pics.

[cozye]

Kind of late now, but why the lacquer? Modern base/clear coats are so easy to paint with, more durable, and are glossy as hell right out of the gun. If you spray it right you don't even need to buff? Seems like I see a lot of guys painting these cars with either enamel or lacquers. Is it the expense of a 2 stage that turns guys off ?

[tlorber]

I generally use the 3M Perfect It (buffing compound) with a wool pad after 1500. If you don't have any orange peel on the color coat, you might try just the compound. After that, a polishing compound (turtle wax has worked well) with a random orbit buffer will remove swirls and fine scratches.

[conedodger]

You don't sand metallic. You clear it then sand and buff.