Auto body repair & detailing: When is more base coat needed in a cut through, fender flare, scotch brite

Question
Hi,

I have a question on a fender flare I'm repairing (small 2" spot got scraped down to primer) for a Black BC/CC 2007 Tahoe.  I have it removed from the truck for the repair.  I'm on my 3rd (and hopefully final attempt) at fixing this.  The first attempt I got a few runs in the clear over ridges, etc. which forced me to sand down and attempt a second repaint.  

The clear went on much better the second time, however after I was completed I noticed 5 small cut through lines (from the previous sanding with 1000 grit) that must have needed a base coat touch up.  

This third time, I've leveled the entire panel again with 1000 grit and I've touched up these small areas with more base.  Unfortunately, what was originally a small base coat repair area, has turned into a 1/2 dozen small spots of base across the top of the panel. At this point I'm trying to blend but not too much as I'd like to maintain as much color match as I can with the original base.  Outside of repainting the whole panel with base, I think this is my best shot at keeping a good color match with the fender, door etc.   

Before I clear I just had some questions on the different cut throughs.  There are areas now I see where there are one, two and even three rings.  These are obviously from 1) second time painting clear, 2) first time paingting clear, 3) factory clear....

When should I be adding more base coat to some of these cut throughs?  I now realize that the whitish/tanish cut throughs are the factory base (which is what I'm fixing this third time).  Am I safe however to just re-clear anything above a factory base cut through?

Sorry for the long winded story.  Thanks for any help

-Bob

Answer
Bob, you're going about this all wrong. Use a grey scotch brite, don't use sandpaper. You are too agressively sanding the panel back down, resulting in cut throughs. At this point, I think you will have no choice but to color the whole flare. Cut throughs typically need a spot of primer, then smoothed over with 1000 before painting and clearing to avoid having a ring you can see under the clear. THe color will be fine, it's just a flare. Bill