Hello. I painted my car a little over a year ago with Starfire acrylic enamel from paintforcars.com ,single stage,solid candy apple red.I color sanded and buffed it and it turned out pretty nice. Overall i am happy with the way it turned out. But looking back on the whole job I wish i would have went base coat/clear coat.So I already know what I SHOULD have done.Due to Some health issues this project is taking a while so the car has been slowly getting put back together and looking better that i ever thought it would and is almost road ready.......Now where I am at ; I want to paint deck stripes on the hood and trunk.I want the stripes to be metallic gun metal.I want to be able to color sand my stripes but i know not to wet sand single stage metallic...I purchased the gunmetal acrylic enamel SS from paintforcars.com. Now,they offer a ACRYLIC ENAMEL CLEAR COAT for their AE paint, My stripes are currently taped off and scuffed up real good,ready to go. I am thinking first i will spray a really thin coat of sealer,hit it with scothbrite pad,lightly spray the AE metallic gun metal,then spray it with the AE clear coat,then wet sand and buff the clear coat.Who if anybody thinks i am on the right track? Any other suggestions maybe?And most of all,this is important,how long should i wait after i spray the gunmetal to apply the clearcoat?

first off did you catalyze the candy red you put on first ? if not then you have about a 50/50 chance its going to lift. if you did catalyze it then you should be ok. you say your going to shoot a real thin coat of sealer then hit it with a scotch brite most sealers you don't sand unless your past the recoat time. you can apply the clear any time. spray your metallic let it flash or dry to were its tacky may be 30 min. or so then shoot the clear no sanding needed. the way I use to do this with AE is to sand the complete panel lay out your stripes mask the panel and shoot the stripes when the stripes are tacked up unmask and shoot the complete panel. this will help smooth the edge of the stripes. there are other ways to smooth the edges but a little more complicated . are you going to use a clear sealer
Jay D.

Hey Badsix, I did use the catalyst,and i am going to use the same stuff in the stripe paint. I was not aware of the clear sealer, I shall look into that.Thanks for responding. I have searched the internet on this subject and read tons of threads and most people are saying you can"t clear over AE and you can"t wetsand AE .But I have a gallon can that says
"acrylic enamel clear"on it,and I wet sanded AE and it looks great. I knew some one out there had experience with this,Thanks again for the input!

on the sealer the clear won't have the possibility of showing up at the tape line of the stripe, sealer is also available in dark gray that might be your better choice. be careful when buying the sealer in that its an enamel compatible sealer. AE is fairly safe IF its been catalyzed, but keep in mind that it can lift if the wrong products are put on top of it. and yes AE clear has been available for a long time. wet sanding is not a problem.
Jay D.

Yeah Jay, good call on the tape-line/sealer scenario,Thanks for the confirmation on the rest. About the whole sealer subject i got, I was talking to a friend who told me if I used sealer first it would prevent any lifting or chemical reaction. I was always just gonna spray the metallic right over my solid red, everything I am using is from same product line and it is all AE. I never used sealer before on the other stripe jobs I have done in the past. But I am not a professional body or paint man by no means, just dabbled through the years as a hobby. I am still tempted to leave out the sealer, So far all my test panels have worked out with no issues.

I use to clear with acrylic enamel (catalyzed) all the time, back in the 80's.
I would usually have to wait a week to let it harden enough to sand
and buff. Longer is better.
But they always turned out great and were quite durable.

your friend is right it will help with lifting. you should have no problems going catalyzed AE over catalyzed AE with no sealer. its just a little insurance when your not sure what you have but it sounds like you have the right stuff. just sand the red and apply your stripes be sure to sand or scratch pad good along the tape edge and use fine line tape. Jay D.

Excellent! Thanks you guys,my confidence just got boosted! It is good to know I am on the right track.Not so nervous now.

Alright! Last Sunday I put the stripes on. I did not use the sealer and everything worked good. I did not put the metallic on to thick and applied a good coat of clear. The tape line is not bad at all. The stripes are about 6 days old now and I plan on wet sanding and buffing in a few days.Turned out awesome!

Great, be carefull buffing the tape line, buff so your wheel is going away form the edge not into it .
Jay D.