Long story short, this is my first time painting and clear coating anything. There were issues with paint but I was able to find a pace and had very minimal orange. However, once I started to clear, hell broke loose. I sprayed the clear with flake at the same settings with paint (40psi for spray and 90psi at the pressure knob). I noticed I had clear coat runs and some rough spots after I finished clear coating my hood ( 2 layers of clear with flake and 2 layers with clear coat).

My question is, what's the best way to get rid of the rough patches and orange peel? Any tips will be appreciated.

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Based purely on what I can see, I say hard block it all down flat w/ 600 and re-clear, hopefully you won't get through to the clear with the metal flake in it.

What gun are you using? It looks like very poor atomization to me. Won't do you any good to sand and re-shoot if you don't have the gun straighten out first. Is your compressor big enough to deliver the CFM requirements of your gun?

NOVAFREEK6872 wrote:Based purely on what I can see, I say hard block it all down flat w/ 600 and re-clear, hopefully you won't get through to the clear with the metal flake in it.

This is what I was worrying about if I use 600grit. Would be be fine, probably a lot of sanding, but I was thinking 1500 wetsand and 2000 wetsand.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:What gun are you using? It looks like very poor atomization to me. Won't do you any good to sand and re-shoot if you don't have the gun straighten out first. Is your compressor big enough to deliver the CFM requirements of your gun?

The gun I used was my buddy's from harbor freight. We used the same gun for paint, flake, and clear since the other gun he had didn't was messed up. As for the compressor, we had a small 3 gallon craftsman (which is probably the issue), but he had no issues on his car. The only thing I remember from my research was once you set your gun is to not touch it. I can only think the reason why these parts of the hood are badly orange peeled is because they are on the edge, which lead to runs when I was spraying.

In all honesty, I am not looking for a show car quality job but I am looking for tips to reduce the orange peel.

I also attached my buddy's car for comparison but do not have any close-ups. Photo was taken with a point and shoot camera.

http://****.tumblr.com/image/66950919105
http://****.tumblr.com/image/66950884462

I appreciate the responses! I will start sanding tomorrow since I'll be off work until next week.

Problem with 1500 and 2000 is it will not cut out that kind of orange peel...that's "bedliner type" peel and there is no cure for that but to sand it flat and start over. The compressor is way to small for any type of painting, sounds like to me. HF guns are air hogs and need a large comp to get a satisfactory result

Undersized compressors and cheap spray guns are the cause of a lot of problems we deal with here. Thinking good quality tools are too expensive and I probably won't ever use them again, guys will work themselves to death sanding and prepping only to be very unhappy with the results.
Sometimes I must sound like a broken record (for those born more recently, that is a flat piece of vinyl with a groove it for a needle to track in. When broken they tend to skip and replay the same track over and over and over again.) but it remains true nonetheless.

Ok, so the best thing to do is sand down and clear coat again.

There's no way to make it decent?

I'd be afraid of burning through, especially with flake in the first coats of clear. That flake is contributing to the grainy texture, too.

I would probably hose on more clear (and I mean more clear like 2-3 more coats) - then block sand that down with p600, and bring it up through p1500 (or beyond), and buff it out.

You can try 1000. and then the 1500. What the heck give it a try, and experiment. I do have to agree with the above.... That is a lot of orange peel to try to buff out, but you should be able to cut it down. Now, the big question is how many coats did you put on? If only a 1 or 2, and the are uneven ....You might have a problem...

Thank you for the feedback. Just as all of you suggested, it's better to start all over but I decided to try my best to get it where I wanted. Even though it's not perfect, I think it's fine for my first time.

However, once I started to sand down with 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, then buffed it with Ultra cut compound (I forgot the name but it was Meguiars's 105 and I used a lambwool buffer). The hood is a lot smoother than it is but I noticed in the rough patches that there are white specks (looks like from the compound). I take this, these sections need to be sanded down more ?

I'll post photos when I am home.