For my first paint job I decided to paint my Miata and experiment with it while trying to learn a new skill. The bumpers, fiber glass over fenders, side mirrors came out alright with minimal orange peel. However the rest of the car has an insane amount of orange peel that just looks awful I also got a lot of contaminants while spraying inside my garage. I've did my research and sanding down with 1500 and 2000 is quite necessary at this point and buffing. But instead of buffing and polishing can I clear coat instead to get the shine back? Or should I still buff it and polish it then clear coat over that to get the best results with longevity?

Just an opinion, but you'd be better off cutting that peel down and reshooting. I'd want to be down in the 600 to 800 grit for more leveling and better surface profile for that next coat. The 1500 grit and up papers follow the peel contour too much for me.

DarrelK wrote:Just an opinion, but you'd be better off cutting that peel down and reshooting. I'd want to be down in the 600 to 800 grit for more leveling and better surface profile for that next coat. The 1500 grit and up papers follow the peel contour too much for me.

I would love to do so but I don't have anymore paint to respray it. So as of right now I'm trying to salvage the paint that is on my car. The only thing I really have is a urethane clear coat.

Sand it with 1200 grit on worst area trying to knock down peel then polish with Wool and a fairly aggressive polish for removing 1200 grit scratch see if you can live with it?
If Not sand with 600-800 repaint Single stage (normally preferred method)
Clear coating SS is done all the time though Depends on Brand and what the Tech sheet says check your re-coat window, Re-coat and top coat are two different things.

Your still going to need to find a place to spray with No Bugs or dirt with a good air supply and figure out how and why you got so much Orange peel to begin with or your likely to have an even bigger mess on your hands.

Dennis is right, get that orange peel thing figured out before you just "recreate"it again. Check gun settings, technique, etc. Be nice if you could do a test panel to work that out before moving on but is sounds like you are running out of materials on the project.....

Doright wrote:Sand it with 1200 grit on worst area trying to knock down peel then polish with Wool and a fairly aggressive polish for removing 1200 grit scratch see if you can live with it?
If Not sand with 600-800 repaint Single stage (normally preferred method)
Clear coating SS is done all the time though Depends on Brand and what the Tech sheet says check your re-coat window, Re-coat and top coat are two different things.

Your still going to need to find a place to spray with No Bugs or dirt with a good air supply and figure out how and why you got so much Orange peel to begin with or your likely to have an even bigger mess on your hands.

I think it was the temperature that cause the orange peel. I painted the major of the car inside a shaded garage while painting the fender flares and side mirrors outside in the sun with the weather app on my phone saying it was around 70 degrees which is the lowest temperature allowed for my hardener/activator/paint combo. Maybe gun control and settings are also in play but I wouldnt know for sure.

On the other note, Ive been searching up the internet all day and I found that I should use the meguiars m105 followed by m205 for the polishing part of the procedure. Is there anything else you guys recommend that would work better? and of course it has the be resonably priced.

Also how do you guys feel about sanding with a block vs sanding with a DA? Me and my friend has spent probably over 12 hours sanding down the car already and I'm starting to get lazy and tired from all the manual labor.

DarrelK wrote:Dennis is right, get that orange peel thing figured out before you just "recreate"it again. Check gun settings, technique, etc. Be nice if you could do a test panel to work that out before moving on but is sounds like you are running out of materials on the project.....

Yeah I would love to attempt to give it another try but I'm very reluctant on spending another $100-$150 on paint to redo everything. As far as the options I have set out for me for this week...

1. Sand the entire car to remove all orange peel/ defects,
2. Polish with a buffer
3. Clear coat over the finished product to get more UV protectant? (not sure if this is a good idea or not)

What color is it?

I'd sand a small test area, then buff it to see what it will look like before
attacking the entire car. If the gloss isn't good enough, then sand the
whole car and clearcoat. Sand it wet and by hand, Miatas aren't that big.

THIS^^^^ need to know what the color is. if metallic your not going to be able to sand the OP out with out ruining the color.
Jay D.

NightTrain wrote:What color is it?

I'd sand a small test area, then buff it to see what it will look like before
attacking the entire car. If the gloss isn't good enough, then sand the
whole car and clearcoat. Sand it wet and by hand, Miatas aren't that big.

It's a gloss black.

What kind of buffing materials would you recommend?? ( Wool pads, foam pads, polisher liquids etc)