Im not sure where to post this.......anyways, have been in the business for 3 or 4 years for myself and 10+ learning and working for my dad at his shop along with going to school for the trade years 10 years ago. Ive recently started doing work on higher end cars and my current client has an eye for beautiful paint and has a good understanding of the process involved. He has had a 60 vette that was painted cut buffed then after 6 months sanded (1000?)" resprayed"(probably re cleared) and cut and buffed again after a certain amount of time. The car is flawless and amazing to a trained eye and he wants to follow the same process on a 356 sc porsche I am working on for him. My question is (finally haha) how long do you think I should wait between the first paint cut buff and sanding it to re clear and cut and buff.....maybe throw down enough clear to cut an buff it a 3rd time a while later on the 2nd re clear. First time ive had a client up for doing a hands down show winning job so im asking you guys that have done beautiful cars by whatever processes. thanks for any input ideas or thoughts.

It's going to be "cut" only - you don't want to buff the car then re-clear it.

Wait until the first coats of clear are ready for sanding/polishing. Tech sheet should tell you but generally a day or two is plenty of time. Sand the entire car with p1000, knock down any orange peel, get it completely flat -- then re-clear it.

Note that this extra set of steps is debatable, there's no harm in it other than a lot of film thickness on the car (for a show car or trailer queen that's not a problem).

Make sure you price accordingly, perfection doesn't come cheap (your hours)... sounds like this guy will be hard to please. Good Luck!

Your client has zero professional experience which is proven by the fact he thinks buffing cars prior to flowcoating is correct procedure. Why the previous shop obeyed him is beyond me. Checkbook car owners have no bodywork experience and get their information from unreliable sources, by parroting info by others like them, or by fabricating things. Triple your rates for this person, and tell the guy it will be done your way or find another shop. If they have deep pockets and are paying by the hour, you may be able to tolerate them, which is not always worth the money.

Customers do not tell me how to do my job. You do not have to flowcoat to achieve a glasslike finish. However, you can flowcoat to save sanding time providing you shoot the flowcoat correctly. The timeframe to flowcoat in your title is insanity. Good luck.

The reason he would like to wait is so he can enjoy the car for the nice part of the year around the time it should be done. I should have mentioned that I apologize. I am concerned with paint adherence issues painting over clear that has been worked so throughly with polish (no wax). I would clean it repatedly, dish soap wash a few times, a couple good wipe downs with grease and wax etc. Hes not a know it all guy and very easy to get along with open to any suggestions I make.

Appreciate the replies,
@chris
Would like want to wait until the clear is completely cured. Ive done quite a few cars cut and buffed them they leave very nice and I see the a few months or a year later and I can find sand scratches swelling through in places on most of them. I finish my bodywork out to 120 prime 3 coats block after a week or so with 120 then 180, prime 2 coats block 240 and wetsand 400 and paint process. Have tried multiple different primers and bondo not sure how to avoid them other than the time for that paint to completely cure. Most of the restoration shops in the area are having the same problem and its been recently just in the past few years for all of us.

@novafreak
Well said!!! I was a bit shy on throwing a number out knowing that bugs, fuzz, hair, dirt, and who knows what else happens and in the persuit of perfection the chances of having to repaint a hood or door etc because of something that won't cut and buff out is high.

@scottB
I know the kind of dudes you are talking about, this guy isnt like that haha......it was just the way that shop chose to do his car I dont know why. I actually got to see the car today and I wasnt as intimidated as I thought I would be. I looked ot over close and spotted things here and there ( its black you guys know) haha, so im sort of leaning towards just spraying the car throwing it together the cutting it down later on...go 400 long dry then 600 wet and re clear a few coats wait a few days cut it down from 800 out then buffing it out after another couple days cut open.

Thanks again guys if you have any suggestions on the sand scratches im talking about seeing, the 180 and coarser scratches in the finish months after being cut rubbed im open to critique haha, the 3 cars in the shop now im going to try sealing up the bodywork with epoxy letting it cure up, 180 the epoxy then start priming and blocking.

ColdBlueSteel wrote:
Thanks again guys if you have any suggestions on the sand scratches im talking about seeing, the 180 and coarser scratches in the finish months after being cut rubbed im open to critique haha, the 3 cars in the shop now im going to try sealing up the bodywork with epoxy letting it cure up, 180 the epoxy then start priming and blocking.

I block with 180, reprime and sand with 400-600 prior to topcoat depending if sealing or not. I do not get sandscratches showing through, and I do not use epoxy to lock in scratches as you state as a plan. Your procedures are incorrect if you get scratches, or your primer is the worst ever manufactured. The fact you stated scratches that are coarser than 180 are showing is a sign of poor procedure. Why other resto shops in your area have the same epidemic problem is bizarre to say the least. No other shop owners I know have the problems you do unless their procedures are wrong. Qualified techs can do a repair in a week and not have a comeback due to poor workmanship.

So you are going to paint a car, assemble it, and then take it back in, disassemble it and flowcoat it? Ouch.

I also do not see your concern with adhesion if re-clearing. Just sand and reclear. Pretty simple. What are your blending procedures for repair work?

You may have just solved my issue scottb. On repair work I finish bodywork to 180 and after I prime I block with 400 dry, then wetsand. I dont go the extra step blocking 180 then guide coating, and sanding out 180 scratches with 400 wet. Could be im not getting the 180 out well enough... On blending I will do my repair 400 the area around the repair, prime out into the 400, after wetsanding will hit the panel with 800 on a da with interface pad to knock down orange peel, then when painting I will get color coverage on my primed area then begin to blend a bit before stepping the color out if needed with clear base. If its a bad one to blend I always put a coat of clear base before starting to blend. Ive only had a couple of comebacks but they were for clear peeling off due to customers trying to save a buck using cheap clear ...was that "5star" crap, its a 2 year clear haha.