do i lightly rub back my base coat (vw new beettle matelic cyber green)
before i apply my 2pac clear top coat
if so does the clear cover the sanding marks
thanks andrew (ej20t manx)

you can rub the dust out of the basecoat with 1500, or 2000 paper, and the scratches wont show through the clear, aslong as your not too agro with the paper.. you want to just lightly scuff the basecoat, and was mentioned before, it gets any dust nibs out of the base coat.. so when it comes to cuttin the clear, there are no nasties UNDER the clearcoat

er does clear cover sanding marks? in that i am guessing will the clear cover any sanding marks from nibbing the base coat.. it will as long as you keep your paper in the 1200 and above range. if there are sanding marks already in the base coat that you can see now you have base over them clear will not cover them and you will have to nib them right back till they are gone and re base over ......really you should get the car into the booth, blow it off ,prepsol, get colour in your gun adn with the air only coming out tack rag the whole car, lay your first coat down,let it flash off next coat etc etc etc, if your going for a real show car finish let it flash off a little bit longer than you normaly would and tack between base coats.... when you have the coverage you need you can nib any bits of shit out when its flashed of before the clear coats applyed.... DON'T tack or nib after first coat of clear is put on...... another thing, depending on the paint system your useing dont leave you base coat to long before clear is applyed, some are 24 hour others longer, myself i never leave it longer than 8 hours unless i add some house of colour base addatives that alowed long times on base to be left before clears.... shit i have waffeled on a bit here so imma going to shut up nows


............ steff...............................

clear over base COB, it is the hardener in the clear coat that s sets both layers of paint. the clear coat should be applied once the basecoat has flashed off(not set) ie 20 mins but within 2 hours.

when we paint cars at work, we get the car in the booth, masked up, blown off, washed with a sponge, then blown off again, prepsoled/checked for scratches that could show thru basecoat, if we find any.. then 1200 over them to blend out..

then blow everything off, then tack rag everything with air, then just blow off, then just tack..

then after 2 coats of base, de-nib it all, tack rag it, and put a control coat over everything, then go onto clear

we resprayed an awesome 7 series today.. it was black so didnt have to worry about scratches so much as you would a silver

I am certainly no pro...but would sanding the metallic base coat (even with very fine grit paper) disrupt how the metallic has laid down?

If I am reading the above correctly killakornkobb, after two coats of base and sanding, the control coat would be like a fog/mist coat?

I am interested in this too and appreciate the advice from all!

thanks for the replys
i stuffed up (slightly hopefully)
after base coating it felt a bit fury so i lightly rubbed
it back with what i had 800
it didn`t were through the base coat but you could see were i had done
than i stuffed up some more
when mixing the 2pac clear i disscovered the hardener had gone off
of course this happened when shops were shut before a couple of public holidays
so now its been days with my body sitting there with just the base coat on and now listening to use all
i realise i will have to put more base on then clear it witin a couple of hours
thanks again andrew

two things..

firstly hot dog before you re base key the bas eup again with just a grey scotch pad or 12oo + as the paint will not stick if you dont.... good luck this time round


secondly killa black show up everything much more than a silver eever would.. as much as blacks a great colour to look at it shows even the finest mark where as a silver would hide it to some degree....i dont get where you get your statment info as from your posts the shop you are working for do things the right way and are training you to do a great job ......not having a go just intrested to hear where you get to that conclusion.... ... cheers dude


steff..........................

the control coat is heavier than a dust coat, and covers the whole panel (and where the metallic has been sanded..) giving it an even metallic (unless your unco with a gun like me..) if the control coat isnt done properly you get "mottle" where some metallic sits differently, and looks funny.

with silver, or any light coloured metallic, scratches are eaisily seen under the clear, as are chips, and it is also easy to see where an edge hasn't been rounded off properly, a few of the guys at the shop i work at have had ro redo whole quaterpanels on E46's because the edge where thequaterpanel meets the boot is too sharp :|

with a darker metallic, or black, the scratches are harder to see through the clear, because of the dark basecoat not being nearly as reflective as the silver. BUT the darker colours show ripples, and dint's easier.

the & we did tyesterday came out awesome too only one speck of dust on the bonnet!!! (BIG bonnet)

thanks steff, the shops i work in are really good.. charlies is the best, cos the demand such good work.. already i can feather, prime, block dry, wetrub, wetblock, mix colours (not match them yet) mask up re-sprays, treat welds, seam-seal, de-nib, hand cut edges.. and im starting to use the buff aswell!! all to the standard expected on late model BMW's, merc's, porsches etc.. dont think many apprentices do that much in 6 months..

i'm only passing on what im being taught though.. and have only been in the trade for 6 months..so althou i say i can do all this stuff.. i dont get it all right all the time, and if im amiss somwhere please let me know love a good paint chat :jesus