Wet sanding and re clear coating

[Shoooter]

They both said polish it first before taking parts off. But I have no parts to take of so......... If the end result will be better I might re clear it just because it would be nicer,  or I cam have him test polish it. He wont wet sand and just polish it

[JS29]

They both said polish it first before taking parts off. But I have no parts to take of so......... If the end result will be better I might re clear it just because it would be nicer,  or I cam have him test polish it. He wont wet sand and just polish it

Than you have your answer, the imperfection's, the chance of buffing through, and he won't wet sand, That tells me he believes the clear is getting thin. 

[Cuda Cody]

I would never polish clear that is soft and easy.  It's best to wait months before you sand and buff it.  The clear coat needs to off gas and pinch up so even if he put more clear on you would need to wait for it to completely dry which can take many, many many months.  The clear NEEDS to be hard when you sand and buff it or it will just pinch up on you later.  Sure, it will look good when you pick it up from the paint guy and he'll be happy he got to sand and buff easy soft clear, but a year later your car will look like it has a bunch of orange peel in and then it mostly likely won't have enough clear to get it all out.

So yes, multiple coats of clear and even re-clearing over clear will give you a great deep finish, but it has nothing to do with when you cut and buff it.  Either way, you'll need to wait for the clear to be super hard before you cut and buff if you want it to hold up and look good for a long time.

[Cuda Cody]

I always keep a little bit of the clear in the bottom of a cup after I paint a car so I can see when it's ready to cut and buff.  The cup on the left is about 3 months dry and the cup on the right is over a year old.  You can see the clear coat shrinks a lot so if you cut and buff your car with soft clear (a few weeks after it's been sprayed) it will still shrink a lot and ruin your flat polished clear coat with orange peel a year later. 

You need to wait for all the off gassing and shrinking to finish before you cut and buff if you want it to look good for the lifetime of the car.  The longer you wait the harder the clear will be to cut, but the better it will look and it will stay looking flat and straight longer too.

Also, the more clear coats you put on when painting, the more time it takes cure and more shrinkage you will get.  That's why most factory clear coats are paper thin so they don't have much shrinking (orange peel) and it looks pretty okay for the life of the car. 

[Rich G.]

I did what Cody did after I painted my car. Left some clear in the cup and kept measuring it. It's amazing how much it shrinks and how hard it gets. I surprised it doesn't pull off the car it shrinks so much. I'd be more worried sanding threw the paint and trying to match it up again.

[Shoooter]

So with the gases coming off the car how long would you have to wait for it to be safe to put the billboards on?

[JS29]

So with the gases coming off the car how long would you have to wait for it to be safe to put the billboards on?

I would give it a week. 

[Cuda Cody]

A week should be fine (if it's in the sun or a heated booth), but two weeks would be better... and a month would be better too.  But why hurry with those billboards?  Unless you're planning to have the car ready to drive a week after painting I would wait months before putting them on.  Put them on near the end of the build.

[Shoooter]

I didnt know what time frame it would be so I asked. The painter said at least a week minimum.  I'm getting close to finishing the car and I'm hoping this is the summer it will happen. It's been a long road but I'm down to a list of polishing the trim, accurate exhaust,  bleeding brakes, installing the trim, bumpers and grill then I would need the billboards on. If I put the billboards on absolutely last it would be probably 3 months after the clearing.


I would post pictures of the car but paint is hard to see from a picture if it would benefit from a wet sand and re clear.

[Shane Kelley]

So with the gases coming off the car how long would you have to wait for it to be safe to put the billboards on?

Paint manufacturers recommend 30 days before applying decals or wax. The result of applying decals to soon are bubbles that will never disappear due to the solvents still creeping out. You can cheat this time frame depending on temperatures but if you want to play it safe wait 30 days.