Aerosol Can Painting and Orange Peel Removal

[Marty Scott]

Marty Scott

August 25, 2013 at 6:20 pm #44245

Hi Everyone. I am a rookie at repairing scratches and painting as a result of vandalism on my 08 black Honda Fit. There were scratches and gouges on the hood, both front quarter panels, both driver side doors and on the rear bumper. I wanted to learn how to do this myself. I sanded the scratches (all wet sanding by hand), used spotting putty where I had to, primed (uncatalyzed aerosol can), sanded with 600 and then 800 grit and painted with uncatalyzed aerosol cans. I did have some orange peel. After clear coating and waiting 5 days, I sanded with 1500 then 3000 grit. I used a rotary polisher with a wool buffer and Meguiar’s 105 followed by a foam polisher with Meguiar’s 205. I removed a lot of the orange peel and some of the tiger stripes that I think were from the aerosols running low on paint. I did everything in my garage except wash the car before. I also should mention that I did all this without taking the car apart; I would not be comfortable doing that and I do not have any stands. I brought it to a local auto paint supplier to get advice and see if I could improve the looks.

The advice I did get was first to sand off the paint and start over. And use a spray gun. I don’t really want to start over-unless it’s absolutely necessary and I don’t want to invest in something I may only use once. Next was to sand what I have done with 800 grit, then use catalyzed paint and clear. To test this out, I got part of a bumper, which I had used to practice painting and practice using the rotary buffer, wet sanded with 800, and painted half with my original uncatalyzed paint and the other half with catalyzed paint, both again in cans. After 24 hours, I didn’t see anything unusual indicating some incompatibility between the paints. I tried sanding down the orange peel with 3000, 2000 and finally 1500. The 1500 seemed to help so I re-painted to see if I could improve my techniques and the looks. I still got some orange peel more or less in the same spots as before.

I have a couple of questions. Would sanding with a random orbital sanding, instead of by hand, help (I have a Dewalt 5 inch random orbital palm sander)? Should or could it be used to do the sanding before painting and hand sand afterwards? Can I expect to have orange peel using aerosol cans; is it just a fact of life with aerosol cans and/or for someone with no experience? What’s the best way to minimize orange peel during painting? Will using tack cloth help; if so, in between coats? After painting but before the clear, should I try to sand down the orange peel and what would you recommend? If I should try to remove the orange peel after the clear, should I try anything different than what I have done-wool pad/Megs 105?

Thanks very much for your time and advice,
Marty

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