Timing from paint to wet sand single stage - ok to wait?

[dave 911]

I just finished painting the fender on my 62 VW - stripped to bare metal, single stage (UNO) with the compatible primer - and it turned out pretty good, better than I was expecting for a novice in my garage .

My question is - is it ok to wait a while to do my color sanding? There are a few dust specks, and one small section where there is a little bit of minor orange peel. I read on some of the hot rod forums that you should color sand within a few days to help the paint cure, but I read elsewhere where you can color sand weeks or months later with no harm done.

I'd kind of like to wait awhile and get the car out driving, rather than start sanding and potentially bugger up my new paint job....it took me 2 months to get this far

[962porsche]

you can color sand at any point in time makes no difference at all !

as for helping paint cure yes to a point it does . that's if you sand the finish and let it sit sanded . this is because you made the mil thickness less and less will cure faster .
how ever it is not wise to sand the panels and let them sit to long before you start to buff .
the reason is if you have a deep sanding mark and it cures in the finish it's a ***** to get it out .

it's always best to sand and then go right to your buffing .

it's not a big deal to put the car back together and drive it for the rest of the season and then over the winter months wet sand it and buff it then .

[dave 911]

Great, thanks. It's easy enough to r&r fenders on an old beetle that that's what I'm probably going to do then, and get it color sanded and buffed prior to a show in late September.