[americanLT1]

When it comes time to paint my hot rod I'm not sure I want to use base coat clear like I did several years ago on my last car. Reason being, the first time I painted this car I used dupont centari acrylic enamel. When I color sanded and buffed the enamel, you could look down the side of that car and it was like a mirror, dead flat and no waves. After a minor accident years later, I repainted the car with dupont base coat and clear. Again I color sanded and buffed it, but the clear had this slight wave to it. You could only see it when you looked down the side of the car. The acrylic enamel was much flatter.

I had one painter tell me I may have put the clear on a bit heavy. Is there any way the base coat could give this wavy look? I really don't want to paint my next car with acrylic enamel, but I don't want this problem again.

[baddbob]

Good clear application with a gun that atomizes well will go far in trying to eliminate the urethane wave look I assume you're referring to. Other than that the only other way to combat the problem is to do your colorsanding with a hard block and sometimes starting with a really aggressive grit will help to cut the urethane flat. Some start with as coarse as 400 grit. It's a hell of a lot of work to get that nice PERFECT flat look out of some of the high solid urethanes in use today but the paint is way more durable than acrylic laquer IMO. If your application is good and the gun is doing it's job you should see results comparable with what the new cars look like from the factory, sometimes better. JMO's Bob

[jcclark]

I agree with that, the flatness of your paint is not because of the type
of paint but how you cut and buff. It's true the urethanes are a little
harder sometimes to get that flat showcar look but it is done all the time.
Some of the flatest nicest paint I've seen was urethane.
There are a lot of ways to cut and buff and you may get dozens of
different ones here because so many people do things differently.
Most will agree though that you need to start out color sanding with
a little coarser grit to flatten the surface first, like 800 or 1000.
Some go even coarser. The point being though is that the finish grits
like 2000 and higher won't flatten it totally, they tend to polish the surface.
They are what I use when doing repairs because it matches the
factory finish better, just a very slight orange peel that only a perfectionist
can see, blends better to the panels next to it.
What you want is that "show-car" finish of dead flat.
Better to let the urethane cure longer than normal before
colorsanding and start with a coarser grit and I think you'll see what
you're looking for.Or should I say , not see what you're looking for.
You CAN get the finish you want, and the urethane will hold up better.
Good luck.

[americanLT1]

Thanks for the tip guys. That may be the problem, because I used 1200 grit paper. I'd also like to get a hvlp gravity gun for my next project. I did my enamel and urethane with a devilbiss jga-502-fx and a two quart pressure pot. The gun has a 1.5 tip, and after reading some of the treads here it appears that may be a bit large. Probably be a good primer gun though.

[jcclark]

You'll find a lot of preferences when it comes to tip size.
A 1.5 is not to large, I have used much larger ones than that
with no problems. Getting comfortable with your gun and the settings
will be what makes it really work best. the more you use it the
better you'll get with it.
There's really no substitute for experience.
Get a good gun and stick with it and you'll keep getting better.
I know I have.