Basecoat Clearcoat immediately or 24hrs later?

[Julio_Arcos123]

If you're going to recoat the fender with base and clear you just need to dull the shine off nothing too crazy. If it's already on 600 and it's a solid color that works fine. 1000 would help it lay down flat
Next time you sand to buff there's no need to sand all the way down to the edges of the panel, it'll prevent from burning the edges with the buffing pad and the orange peel there usually isn't too noticeable. Focus on the area that will be seen, unless it's bad orange peel all over.

As for the gun, hvlp guns don't need much pressure. 20-25 should be enough pressure. You're gage looks like it does go up more maybe the knob right on top of it isn't open all the way double check that.
The droplet size depends on the tip on the gun. Usually 1.4 or 1.3 with euro clear you could get away with 1.2 but idk what your gun has.
Also more pressure will just create more overspray and waste material so check the tip being used first, then check the fan and material knobs. Check your speed while painting, see what the paint does and then change the pressure as needed.
_________________
64 bug (o\ ! /o)

[DerrickfromNC1]

I’m also going to play with my gun settings and concentrate on getting as fine a paint droplets as possible. The pressure regulator/guage that came with the gun only reads 20-22psi when set to max. To my understanding I should be able to set the gun much higher if necessary.

[DerrickfromNC1]

[Julio_Arcos123]

600 is too coarse to buff over and not see scratches after. It may be flat but it'll b a waste of time. If you wanted to kill the orange peel 1000 would've been good for that, unless it was heavy orange peel. Try keeping the coarse grit limited to the area needed
_________________
64 bug (o\ ! /o)

[jspbtown]

[Julio_Arcos123]

Euro clear is a bit more liquidy, it likes to extend itself and takes a bit longer to settle in. Now you know to give it a longer flash time between coats. I usually spray this one a bit faster than other clears and let it lay out during the flash, it comes out great just need to know how to work with what u got.
_________________
64 bug (o\ ! /o)

[DerrickfromNC1]

I just did a combination of shave then sand individual runs/sags with 220 dry. After that I wet sanded entire fender with 600g w/o cutting thru to the basecoat. This removed any texture in the clearcoat leaving a finish that looks like it’s ready to buff to a flawless finish. However I’m afraid that any additional sanding with finer grade(800-1500) and polishing may result in cutting to basecoat.

[jspbtown]

Yup....lots of different approaches out there for sure. I am just a hack, but have painted maybe 10 cars (?) and none of the sanding approaches ever worked for me.

Sometimes I would have bubbles buried in the clear and when you try to sand it flush you would get these little craters. Sometimes you do a little aggressive and end up burning through to the base and it looks all weird. Sometimes it would get flat but you would still see a wave in the clear that really stood out. I had far better luck sanding out orange peel than I did with drips and sags

I am sure lots of people are more successful at it than I ever was though and hopefully you will be too. If you do need to re-clear be sure to extend the flash periods so you can avoid the problem all together.

[DerrickfromNC1]

[jspbtown]

Those are the exact runs/drips that I suggested might occur with insufficient flash times. I used to always get them when I rushed.

You will have a challenge on your hands trying to get them out. lay flat, and not disturb your base coat. While anything is possible be prepared to have to re-base and shoot the clear again.....this time waiting and waiting and waiting between coats.

[Braukuche]

[DerrickfromNC1]

Thanks for the recommendations. I have applied 3 full coats of a high solids Euro clear so hopefully there should be plenty of clear to work with w/o burning thru.

[74 Thing]

Search youtube on using a razor for paint runs

[Julio_Arcos123]

They can be done individually just know that it'll take a lot of patience specially on the longer, fatter runs. You might need to add some color again and clear if you sand too much and burn through but hopefully you won't have to. It can be done but this is an art. I'm sure they have a thread on buffing drips and runs here somewhere but this is how I would fix the painters mistakes that I worked with.
First, how many coats of clear do you have? You want enough material to be able to sand the flaw and the area around it.
Also, was this on the last coat, or in-between?

Materials needed would be:
Razorblades
Squeegee
Dry towel
500or 600
800
1000
1200
1500 (wet sand paper for all these) you can go up to 2000 or 2500 after this if you want, I would, but since it's not a dark color you could get away with it.
A small, hard sanding block. Like the smaller the better so you only attack what necessary. I have these great ones by a company called KXK Dynamic ridsticks. They're available on Amazon for cheap but they work wonders. Invest in yourself and your hobby. I literally only use the small one but it's good to have the others too.

I usually start by taking a blade and cutting the big heads of the drip like the ones on the second picture. Don't try to get all the way to the bottom! You just want to bring it down a bit so it's smaller and easier to work with. Then with the blade perpendicular to the panel, you're going to basically shave the head to bring it down further. The action works best in a crisscross pattern but occasionally you may have to go up and down on it. When it's about the height of the rest of the drip or sag start shaving the rest of its body a bit, this helps to highlight the while run so you know what you're working with. Don't do it too fast that the edge of the blade gets stuck on the paint and gouges it, take it slow.

Once it's down a bit, take the 500 or 600 wet sandpaper (always on the block!) With the same criss cross motion sand the area slowly. Focus on the run, it's a small area not a big one, so smaller tighter strokes. Don't push down on the paper, let it do the work. Dry the area constantly to check your work. You'll see you're done when it's dry and there's no more highlight of the run. Often times you can still feel it even if you can't see it so check it twice and sand again if needed. Remember you don't want to burn through though.

After this, start moving down the grits of sand paper. Always make sure all the scratches of the previous grits are gone before moving on. 800 takes out 600, 1000 takes out 800, etc.
Once you've gone down the grits of sandpaper and you didn't burn through the clear 🤞 you're ready to buff.
The compound will let you see if the run is still visible after all your sanding. If it is still very visible try sanding it again with 800 and down. If it's a bit visible start with 1000. Or if it's good enough just leave it and continue buffing.
Hope this helps!
_________________
64 bug (o\ ! /o)

[DerrickfromNC1]

Can these multiple runs/sags be fixed individually by wet sanding with and buffing or should I plan to sand and reclear the the fenders?

[Braukuche]

Glad you listed to your wife, there are already way, way too many grey cars in the world.
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[DerrickfromNC1]

[DerrickfromNC1]

I had a message in private messenger with questions regarding my ongoing paint process that I thought my response my be helpful to other dyi painters:

Basically I machined sanded the current paint with a electric palm sander using 220 grit then hand sanded with 400 wet. I had my vw painted about 15yrs ago(never saw the light of day) so it didn’t require any major bodywork. Any areas that needed fixing were done with glazing compound and Rustoleum filler/primer out of a can. Once I was satisfied I then primed with a 2k Urethane primer which is a 2 part primer & I used a cheap harbor freight hlvp gun with a 1.4 tip.

Than I wet sanded(400 wet) again and looked for imperfections under a strong light or out in the sun. Any repairs after that were done with a little glazing compound and rustoleum from a can followed by some more 400 wet sanding.

My garage paint booth has 2 doors one I use for incoming air and the other with a couple of fans to exhaust the fumes. Get yourself a full face mask respirator when painting with urethane(it’s that bad!). I painted both basecoat and clear with the same gun. A MasterPro 44($150) with a 1.3 tip. I choose this gun due to reviews from professionals that said this gun sprays as well if not better than their expensive $500-$1000 guns.

My basecoat paint used is the standard Shopline nothing special at a cost of about $180/gal. Any good quality urethane reducer will work, I used Speedokote medium for temps in the range of 65-80F. However the clear paint is where you want to go with the best.

After a couple weeks of research and looking at YouTube reviews from professionals I choose Tamco HC-2104 high solids Euro Clear. The company is located in Va. and all their products are sold online…no over the counter. Cost about $210 for the gallon with the medium hardener. Only took 3 days from the time I placed the order until it arrived at my door. They also sell paint but it was about $325/gal. Based on everything I read I don’t think the extra cost would have been noticed in the final finish & I wanted to be able to drive to my local paint shop if l needed some additional paint.

My compressor is a Kobalt 45 gallon, 2 stage purchased from Lowe’s. I hear many people say it can be done with a 30g & others say you need at least a 60 gallon compressor. My 45g appears to be up to the task at keeping 20-30psi at the gun for the duration between coats. Also it’s critical that you install a decent inline filter to separate moisture from the compressed air so it doesn’t mix with your paint as your spraying your car.

I suggest looking at as many YouTube videos on painting cars as you can as well as the many on:
setting on your gun
cleaning your gun,
mixing paint
bodywork
tapping off car
final car prep
dyi paint booth prep
Most of these vids are tailored to the dyi crowd.

Hope this helps from someone who so far has only painted their fuel tank and console tunnel.

[DerrickfromNC1]

Thanks, I spent the last year trying to decide between various shades of silvers and greys. I was close to pulling the trigger on Audi Nardo Grey:

My wife said that color looks good on an Audi but would be to boring on my bug.
Here is what Riveria Blue looks likes on an BMW M4:

I think with my grey Porsche wheels, black mirrors & nerf bars, carbon fiber running boards and hood will set this color off!

[Braukuche]

Nice color!
_________________
Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now