Where is the bad prep? It is the way the clear comes out of a spray can. Bad prep does not give you orange peel. Bad prep give you paint flaking off.

 

Hmm, yeah. I did clean and sand it down with 400 grit paper.

I used adhesion promoter after that, then some flexible primer, wet-sanded smooth. Then black with wetsanding between two coats. At this point, the lip looked perfectly fine.

I think simpson is correct in the fact that it's the way clear comes out of a can.

I'm pretty sure the prep job was fine because the paint has held up even with me flexing and installing the lip.

By the way, I followed this guide: http://forums.s2kca.com/showthread.php?t=15600

If you look at his final pictures, you can see it also doesn't have the reflective finish (his is silver though so it's not as noticeable).

 

I know for a fact you can make clear coat come out of the can smoother than that. When I get a chance I'll post a photo of the wheels I just sprayed.

OP, what clear coat did you use?

Obviously it's not going to come off you uses adhesion promoter, that's sprayable epoxy. Why do you think you need to spray the paint or primer on 10 minutes after the AP has been sprayed? Because the epoxy sets slightly and then fuses to the paint molecules.

I'll update this post later when I'm back to my other computer with the photos on it.

I know you can do better, it's not noticeable and looks totally fine but you can make it look like a shop did it, even with cans.

 

I used Duplicolor Clear Coat.

What do you mean "it's" not going to come off? The orange peel? Or all the paint?

When I was spraying the clear on both the lip and the grill, I felt that the clear is what screwed it up. Both looked really good before that.

Also, I think that spraying plastic may be different than metal.

As for the wheels you sprayed, can you walk me through what you did? Did you have to wet-sand the clear coat and polish it?

Here's an example I found online: http://www.ehow.com/how_2182233_wet-sand-paint-car.html

You can see how bad the orange peel is before-hand. Maybe he didn't prep it correctly, but I feel that orange peel is going to be there from spray paint in glossy colors or clear coat.

 

orange peel is from spraying the clear to dry,to close, or to far away from the panel. To wet and the clear wants to run off. Great jobs are hard to do in a spray can. I have worked at a body shop for almost 10 years. This is what i do i can hardly get clear in a can to look nice with out wet sanding. Op i would wet sand and buff if you can or the other thing you can do is sand it back down with 600 grit sand paper (wet) and re clear.

 

You don't think reclearing will have the same problem? Or how should I avoid it?

Also, what do you mean by too dry? I'm not supposed to let the clear dry between coats?

 

By to dry i mean the clear was sprayed to light and not enough was applyed. I would practice spraying something else to get a feel for how the clear comes out of the can. Try moving slow to fast sweeps to see what looks better. Closer and farther away from the panel also will affect how it comes out. I dont know about the can clear but at work flash time between coats if five to ten mins depending on outside temps.

 

Simpson has it right. What the orange peeling means is that the clear coat didn't go on evenly. You need to get a more even spray and maybe a little thicker. It needs to be close to the point of dripping or running but definitely not running. It took me a couple trys to get the perfect spray.

Turns out I don't have the photos at home either, the wheels are at the shop so I'll take some when I'm there tomorrow.

 

Did you use duplicolor?

And if do get an even coating on, will I still need to polish or sand it to get the reflective/mirror finish?

 

a very nice even coat will not need to be polished. You can sand it down with 1000 grit sand paper and just reclear.

 

Not gonna lie, I didn't even sand between coats of clear.

 

Hah. Did you have to polish after the final coat of clear?

 

Nope, I'll get the photos up by tomorrow. I continually forget.

 

I suck at pictures.... I'll get my brother to get legit ones.




As you can see very little orange peelage. I'm sure I could have done it better had I sanded between coats but I was fed up. I used the same duplicolor clear coat as you I believe (wheel coating correct?)

 

You can not sand between coats of clear you need to let it dry for 24 hr before you can do that. Your wheels came out looking nice.