Wet sanding / Buffing clear coat

[zanderk_98]

All -

I have some questions on how to finish off my paint before I mount the buggy body to chassis. I did all my fiberglass repairs & body work last summer. When I was satisfied with the body, I shot 3 coats of polyester primer, allowed final primer to cure for ~4 weeks, & wet sanded to 600 grit. Then I shot 2 coats of urethane base color, allowed to cure overnight, then applied ~7 coats of clear the next day (1st two coats of clear had .015 metal flake mixed in)

I'm a rookie who only ever painted 2-3 vehicles (many years ago) but was relatively happy with my results until the last coat of clear. Don't know if I got tired, or rushing to complete to job, but in my pursuit of a gloss finish, I went too heavy & got some runs/sags in the final clear coat.

Now after allowing the paint & clear to cure over the past 5 months, I'm looking for suggestions on how to repair the runs & buff to a glossy finish. The body has moderate orange peel overall & the runs have fully cured. I suppose hand sanding the affected areas is my only option. I also plan to wet sand the whole body & buff it to really bring out a final glossy finish.

Never done this before so I'm sort of unsure on what to use, how to do it? I'm close & fear I will wreck all the work that ween to get this close... Suggestions?

[Sqrbckguy38]

Clear coat doesn't typically "orange peel", that's in the paint most likely. If you've already sprayed the clear over that, then it'll be a much more difficult task. If it's not too noticeable, and you can live with it, I'd leave it. The runs though are a different story. Wet sand them starting with a very light grit, 400 should be okay. Don't go crazy with the sanding here, your mission is to get the excess clear off, while letting the area around blend back in. It's not easy with metal flake to make it match, but can be done. After the runs are gone, start with 800, then work your way up to 2500 grit. After it's nice and smooth, buff it with some rubbing compound lightly. Then polish and enjoy.
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[surfnc]

zanderk, post some pictures. They will help with advise.
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[woodoctr]

Yeah, pic.s would help.... Just curious, why did you wait 5 months before correcting the coating? A lot of modern high solids clears get hard as a rock to deal with this late in the game.....