Auto body repair & detailing: Identifying types of pain, water in the air, melbourne australia

Question
Hi Gary,
I'm hoping you might be able to give me some advise. I am located in Melbourne Australia. Some time back I purchased a 1967 Firebird from a chap in Pennsylvania and had it shipped to AU. The car had been painted recently but was described as being a 20 footer. Looking at the paint, to my untrained eye it looks like it might have had water in the air lines or similar as there are small imperfections over the whole car. It looks like the guy might have tried to color sand it back to fix the problem with very limited success.

I realize you cant identify the issue without seeing it and I am resigned to the fact that I will been to paint it again but my main question is if there is any way of identifying the type of paint that he has used. The paint seems to have a pretty good shine and I don't believe it has been buffed which to me indicates that it is probably a 2 pack. Is there test kits or a way that panel shops can test to see what sort of paint has been used?

Answer
Hi John,

I recommend sand a small inconspicious area with 1000 grit sand paper. If you get color right when you begin to sand then you know it is a single stage with no clear-coat added. If it gives off kind of a white powder then it is clear you are sanding on. The second trick you can try, is soaking a rag in a strong chemical such as lacquer thinner and wiping on a spot to see if you get color or if it degrades it in any way. This will tell you if a hardener was used to chemically cure the paint. If a hardener was used you should be able to sand the finish with 600 grit and re-paint without chemical reactions.

As far as I know there are no test kits to help identify existing paints.