In Killer Paint, Part I, we showed you how we color-changed our '86 Mustang GT, but we left off before the job was finished. In our situation, we didn't have the luxury of an infrared downdraft spray booth, and we imagine that John Q. Reader probably doesn't either, so the paint surface right out of the spray gun was marginal. When the dust settled (literally), we discovered some orange peel, a few runs, and some dust in our shiny clearcoat.
The car obviously needed to be rubbed out and buffed. In addition, the job's not finished until the all the trim is back in place and looking sharp. In this installment, we're looking at what it takes to make the rough shine like a diamond. The goal is to use multiple grades of extremely fine sandpaper to progressively knock down high spots in the paint and reduce the orange-peel effect. This takes some time and effort for decent results.
It’s a good idea to check the paint manufacturer's recommendation on how long you should wait for the clear to harden before attacking it with sandpaper.
