Sprayed my basecoat racing stripes and it looks like sandpaper on the roof, hood, and is barely rough on the trunk in a few spots... valances came out nice. The panels were about 94°, reducer was slow rated at 85°+, full fluid and fan with LVLP gun at about 24psi with the trigger pulled.

Like to know what I did wrong to prevent this from happening again. I sprayed the inner door panels and they came out great but it was a month ago and temps were probably in the 80's. Do I need to reduce the pressure at the gun and move a little slower?

To sand this back to 600, can I wet-sand this metallic silver basecoat or does it need to be scuffed dry sanded with 600? I'll probably go with a solid white color for my stripes now, but the rest of the car is going to be a blue metallic and I'd like to prevent this sandpaper results from happening when I spray the metallic again for the rest of the car..

Thanks!

Can you post a picture?

Sounds like dry spray to me but it's hard to tell without seeing it.

I've already started sanding the roof with a scotch brite pad and barely some 600 so I don't have a photo before I touched it, though can see where the sanding/scuffing was done... can this be wet sanded after scuffing?

Definitely looks like dry spray to me.

Gun not adjusted properly or held too far away. Living in Arizona I paint in higher temperatures often. Slow activator, slow reducer definitely help but getting that gun adjusted properly and keep it the right distance from the panel is the key here.

What type of spray gun are you using?

I normally tape masking paper to a wall for checking my gun settings.
First you back the fluid knob out far enough to allow you to pull the trigger full open and hold it. Then while holding the trigger full open you turn the fluid knob in until you feel start to lift the trigger.
Let the trigger go and then turn the fluid knob in another 1/2 turn. Now hook the air hose to the gun and adjust the air pressure at the gun to the required PSI while holding the trigger full open.

Put some paint in the gun and hold it the recommend distance from the paper. Pull the trigger full open for 1 second and let it go. The pattern should be cigar shaped, with consistent sized fine droplets filling the pattern. If you have runs or large drops, try turning the fluid knob in 1/2 turn and check again. You can also increase the air pressure a couple of PSI.

Once you get it set on paper, remember to keep the spray tip the same distance from your panel while spraying.

Ive goofed up silver metallic many times,wet sand 600 is what Ive done.No issues .

i just sprayed my beater with silver metallic recently, and had the same problems as you. Most of my car has textured base coat. Nasty if you look up close.

I did get lucky on the ABS plastic rocker panels and got pretty smooth near-factory results.
It was a combo of the right speed and distance and 1.0 nozzle that I got it to lay flat.

I was only going for a "5 foot 10 foot" paint job, but if i had to do it again, I would spray on a junk panel immediately before spraying actual car to see what combo technique gets best results.

Eastwood LT100 - says its an HVLP but really is an LVLP spray gun with a 1.3 tip.

Believe it or not, how you described setting up the gun was basically what I did - though I think I only turned the fluid in 1/4 of a turn after feeling pressure while holding the trigger.

I am guessing dry spray = not enough fluid coming out - does this mean I need LESS pressure, instead of 24PSI with trigger pulled, maybe 20PSI ?

Guess I need to grab the old deck lid and prime it that way I can have a test panel before I try and spray next time.

Yes, lower the air pressure and check your pattern on masking paper.
I spray with a Iwata LPH 400 with a 1.4 tip at 22psi for base.

My issue was just too far away,spraying scared they call it.Wrong ,fast reducer in too warm of weather I understand may also cause it?

Hi Stangman66
Welcome to the forum.

Stangman66 wrote:Sprayed my basecoat racing stripes and it looks like sandpaper on the roof, hood, and is barely rough on the trunk in a few spots... valances came out nice.

The places that came out nice were these the areas you sprayed first?
Did you spray this all in one shot or did you spray it 1 panel at a time ? allowing Air compressor to Catch up and shut off before continuing to spray?

I ask because many try using too small of a compressor (Thinking they will stop spraying when compressor kicks on too avoid pressure fluctuation's).
A perfectly adjusted gun will start doing funny things IF The Air flow falls below what it was originally set for, the gun can not sense this OR adjust itself too compensate for a loss in air flow or pressure, As a painter you would not be able to sense the drop in air flow or pressure either BUT you should SEE it in the spray Fan as its laying down on the panel if it looks grainy or is not slick stop! Just falling a few CFM will cause problems.

Just out of curiosity how many CFM pump is on your compressor?