Spray bombed...now what? Lol

[Kat600noob]

Ok, so far I have sanded, repaired, primered, sanded some more, and rattle canned these fairings that were red and beat down. So my question is...with the orange peel, do I wet sand now with like a 1000 grit, or clear coat first then wet sand? I've seen a lot of debates about this, so I want to know someone's perspective who has rattle canned theirs and made it look clean. And before anyone gives me sh*t, I was going to use automotive paint and a compressor and sprayer, but bills are about due, and the 800 I spent this month was enough haha, and this hasn't turned out to bad so far.

[92xjunker]

mine is. I would sand out.

[Kat600noob]

Wet sand then clear coat? What grit of sand paper do you recommend?

[Mrclean81]

You don't have to wetsand your base. The clear will fill in the orange peel in your base coat, so when you sand the clear, it will come out perfectly flat. Just make sure you get enough clear on it to safely sand it. What kind of paint did you use?

[92xjunker]

meh, depends on the color and how bad it is, since mine is black I sanded with 800 only where the peel was. the red was ok to clear over. if it were a true base clear, then don't sand. single stage, spray paint is single stage, sand it.

[Kat600noob]

I used the more expensive kind of rustoleum, now that I have done some more research, I probably should have used duplicolor, it's whatever though. Opinions! I need opinions! Your guys feed back is appreciated but I need more to weigh the options haha I'll take a pic of the can when I get home tonight

[Mrclean81]

Do you know yet what your plans are as far as buffing goes once you get it wetsanded? These bikes can be a pain in the ass to buff and polish correctly, especially without the right tools for the job. That always concerns me more than the sanding itself.

[Kat600noob]

Yea I have, I'm going to use a buffer attachment for a drill, any advice on the solution to use?

I should also mention, this spray job is only temporary, and was mainly done to fix the minor damage to the fairings. A buddy of mine is a stunt rider sponsored by a local vynal graphics shop and will get my bike wrapped for 300 bucks I want it to be nice looking for the next few months until I get some miles under my belt then will get the fun stuff.

[Mrclean81]

You should be able to find a full kit for a drill at Auto Zone or somewhere like that. Sometimes the DIY headlight restoration kits include the backing plate, pads, and compound/polish. If you can't find that, any 3 inch hook & loop pads will work, but you will need a wool pad for compound and foam for polish. Your polishing step removes the haze and swirl marks that your compound and wool will leave behind, so it IS a nessesary step. In all honesty though, spray paint can be tricky to work with when your talking about wetsanding and buffing. You might find that it looks good enough once its cleared that it might not even be nessesary.

[92xjunker]

+1, don't use lacquer over enamel. enamel will Shine well when just buffed or waxed.

[Kat600noob]

I found a can of black cherry metallic flake...should I do it before I clear? Maybe I should just say effit and use that for the clear...It might look good haha

[92xjunker]

before the clear, have fun with it.

[Kat600noob]

I'm going to do it lol. I'm not going to sand out the orange peel though...it's like so perfect and equal orange peel, that it actually looks kind of good, Never thought I'd say that haha. If it smooths out with the clear ill be happy, if not, I'll be happy too thanks for the advice guys. Picks after the flake and clear coming soon

[Kat600noob]

Ok so I'm not happy... I was spraying the clear coat, and right as I'm nearing completion, a mosquito lands right in the middle above the largest vent... Probably the most noticeable part possible for it to land. I grab the tweezers and try to pick it out...but no, instead it just splits down the middle and goes flat in my clear coat. O.o

[Mrclean81]

Damn that sucks. You could probably lightly sand him out if you haven't already.