Auto body repair & detailing: clear coat sandy texture, wet coats, nature of the beast

Question
Hi William,
...could you tell me please how to fix a dry, sandy-appearing clear coat ?
(I know why it's sandy ...it's due to dry over spray.)

I have a Triumph Spitfire which I have sprayed acrylic metallic green. I have shot 2 coats of thin lacquer clear coat and the surface is now sandy etc. I sprayed the clear coat very light to avoid runs.

I want to put on another 3Lts of clear on the car so that I can polish it up later. (I will shoot the lacquer wetter this time.)

Can I simply wash the car & dry it then shoot 3 or 4 coats of clear coat?
or do I have to lightly sand with 2000 wet & dry then shoot the clear?

Is it okay to shoot clear onto clear?

The problem is that I don't want to end up sanding the metallic base coat through the thin layer of lacquer.

If the sandy texture is present after my last coat can it be sanded with wet&dry then polished out etc.


I really would appreciate any advice.

Many thanks

Answer
Kevin, you did pretty much everything wrong. Wet sand the entire car down carefully with 1000 grit. Now, once clean and dry, pick a nice, dry day- lacquer hates humidity. Apply MINIMUM 6 WET coats of lacquer clear, only wait maybe 10 minutes between coats. Lacquer is  forgiving run wise. Put the first coat on medium wet, let it get good and tacky, then give it hell. DON'T STOP FOR ANY REASON. Keep painting, you can always go back and paint a panel later- easier to repaint a panel than a whole car. You will have to scuff and buff the entire car after it dries- laquer HAS to be buffed, it's the nature of the beast. I would use 1200 grit. Get it buffed within a few days of painting it, or the paint will get hard and be hard to buff. Bill