Auto body repair & detailing: paint, grease remover, dish soap

Question
Hi,

I am just finishing building a GT race car, and I tried to paint it today. I am using an acrylic enamel metallic with a reducer and a hardner.

The paint job is horrible. I had the car primered, sanded and ready, and washed it down with laquer thinner. When I painted it, I know I tried to get too much on, so it ran in many places, and I have a whole bunch of fish eyes as well.

I will paint it again, and remember, it is a race acr, so I don't need a perfect job, but how should I prep it for the re-paint? How do I get rid of the fisheyes and runs...do I just sand the whole car again?

Answer
You need to wash it with wax and grease remover to properly remove contaminants- don't spray armor all or use wax products in the spray area, or on the car before painting. As far as run removal- let the paint set up a couple days. Take a razor blade, hold it at a 90 degree angle to the run, carefully scrape the run with the blade. Plain it down untill it's pretty much gone. Finish removal with 400 wet sand paper on a sanding block, use water with just a bit of dish soap in it. Fisheyes- you can't really remove them- they are a hole in the paint. Take a brush, and touch a tiny drop of paint into them- let them dry overnight. Less paint is better here. The next day, block sand with 400. Reblock the whole car with 600 wet or dry. Next time this happens, rather than letting it go, use enamel reducer and wash the new paint off the vertical surfaces. It sucks, but It's easier to do that than to let it dry and deal with the aftermath. To clean before paint-  Use a spray bottle, like an old formula 409 bottle, and spray wax and grease remover 1 panel at a time- do 1 panel, wipe off with clean paper towels, move to the next panel. Use a lot of them. Painting- your first coat of enamel you should be able to see through- apply quickly, don't go for glossy yet. Spray at about 50PSI through a conventional gun, crank up an HVLP gun to at least 25 pounds at the gun and widen out the pattern as wide as possible. Overlap 50% with each pass, move quickly. Second coat, medium wet, 3rd, full wet. Wait untill the paint is tacky between coats- tacky means if you touch the paint, your finger sticks to it. If it's a metallic, right after(and I mean Right after you do your last paint stroke with the gun- don't let it dry or wait)) after doing your last full wet coat, crank up the air pressure and do a really fast mist coat sprayed at about 15 inches from the surface. This evens out the metallic, and reduces tiger stripes and mottling. You will see tiger stripes and mottling on the first coats- don't pay them much mind.