Color Sanding

[widebody911]

Since I've had a lot of questions like "what is color sanding" and I'm in the middle of doing it, I figured I'd write up a little page on it. It's still under construction.

Click on image for full-size version.

http://vintagebus.com/howto/colorsand/

[Kurt B]

Does a shop do this always? Or does the paint just come on so thick they don't need to? Is there anything different between how you've done it here and a shot does it for 1500 buck?
Shop is glossy and bright, but it may have rough spots..whereas if they sanded it, they would naturally remove those.

[Jim Richards]

Thom,

So you hand sand the entire car? Are large flat areas (hoods, roofs, etc.) particularly tricky? Thanks!

Jim
1995 Black 993 Coupe

Thom,
Lookin good. I thught you'd have to wait a few more days for the paint to harden before working. Do the new enamels cure up faster?
Mark

[JohnC]

Can I chime in here with my experiences with color sanding?

I have to say that you folks who want to paint your car should really take a crack at it.

Color sanding allows you to remove the orange peel, runs, dust, bugs, spots where the air hose touched the wet paint etc....you get the idea.


Well.... during my second painting experience a moth landed in the wet paint on top of the roof....no problem.... pick out the moth and apply some more paint in that area. After wet sanding and buffing with Liquid Ebony the paint came out with a deep deep shine looking like glass!...absolutely perfect!

I used Acrylic Enamel paint from Dupont(Centauri).
I also mixed a hardener in the paint also (not cheap). I waited a month, to make sure the paint cured, before I decided to color sand.

I had a garage to paint in, I had also wet down the floor.

But I always thought about painting outside in the driveway with Lacquer paint. Lacquer paint is more susceptible to cracking however it can be sprayed with disregard to the facility (dusty), cures instantly and great has a great shine.

[Rot 911]

Originally posted by JohnC

But I always thought about painting outside in the driveway with Lacquer paint. Lacquer paint is more susceptible to cracking however it can be sprayed with disregard to the facility (dusty), cures instantly and great has a great shine.

Good luck finding a paint store that will sell you lacquer paint. It has become "environmentally unacceptable."

[JohnC]

"Good luck finding a paint store that will sell you lacquer paint. It has become "environmentally unacceptable.""


You're kidding right?....
No...you're probably correct....

The more I thought about it the more it made sense. What with all the environmental nonsense run amok.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Mark Wilson
I thught you'd have to wait a few more days for the paint to harden before working. Do the new enamels cure up faster?
Mark

Ideally, I'd love to let it sit a month or so before I color sanded, but in reality I have to get the car put back together for a track day the 26th, and then another the 7th of July.

[scotsman60]

This is a very usefull and timely post for me since I'm planning on painting my '90 C2 later this year but haven't made up my mind about doing it myself, having a shop do it or doing the prep myself and having a shop shoot the paint for me.

I've got the same question as Kurt - If the paint is shot by a professional in a shop do they still have to do the color sanding process?

I always assumed that a professional shop could get the perfectly shiny deep gloss effect direct from the spray gun...


Doug

[Zeke]

I always assumed that a professional shop could get the perfectly shiny deep gloss effect direct from the spray gun...

Many times, yes. But most will polish the paint with compound applied with a professional polishing machine, followed by a glaze to really spruce it up. Wait a month before sealing with wax.

Wet sanding is done to remove orange peel and other very small defects in the paint as noted above. Production shops don't wet sand unless they have to.

On sanding or polishing the tricky parts are the edges and creases like the wheel radius detail. Real easy to sand or polish through the paint. Then it's back to the paint booth.

[wolfturbo]

One day I hope to have big enough cajones to try painting my car! Your writeup at least gives me a little more confidence!

[widebody911]

The professional shops will have the equipment and experience to not make the mistakes that we amateurs make, such as dust, bugs, orange peel, drops of sweat, dragging the hose across the paint, etc, etc.

I shot a lot of paint on this baby because I knew I would have to color sand. I used 3 quarts of 'raw' paint, which after the hardener, reducer and activator, comes out to over 5 quarts of sprayable material! And this is a cab, so there's no roof!

Anyone in the Sacramento area wanting 'hands on' experience in color sanding, come on down!

[Steve F]

NICE Pictures

[Kurt B]

the last decklid picture is very nice. the reflection is quite clear in that i can see the details of the stairway rail. This is the kind of reflection I could ONLY get after applying glaze.

when I sanded and used rubbing compound an deven polishing compound, it didn't look like that. Objects were blurry.

question, you use clear coat on that? One bad thing about clear coat is that you have to sand two surfaces I think. The base has to be color sanded and so does the clear coat? Am I right on that? What a Pain in the ass that is

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Kurt B
the last decklid picture is very nice. the reflection is quite clear in that i can see the details of the stairway rail. This is the kind of reflection I could ONLY get after applying glaze.

Acutally, I don't think it's glossy enough - I'm going to re-sand and re-polish...

when I sanded and used rubbing compound an deven polishing compound, it didn't look like that. Objects were blurry.

What type of paper did you use? What kind of buffer?

question, you use clear coat on that? One bad thing about clear coat is that you have to sand two surfaces I think. The base has to be color sanded and so does the clear coat? Am I right on that? What a Pain in the ass that is
[B]
It depends on the paint system. With the PPG Concept stuff, you don't do anything to the base coat, and have to shoot the clear within 24-36 hours. The specifically state not to do anything to it. Then you can color-sand the clear.

In my case, this is a single-stage paint.

[Kurt B]

I used 2000...but I dont know how far to sand it. Seems like by the time I sanded it so it definitely was flat, I was through the clear coat already. Didn't know when enough is enough. At some point, I just sanded it for a few second on each spot and glazed it!
Kinda gave up I guess. Basically, you have the answer. You put on a Bunch of paint. This gives you the cushion to sand until it's perfect. I didn't have that using spray paint and spray clear. It just ends up going through it even though I put on coat after coat.

Oh, ahd I used brown rubbing compound by turtle wax...also their white polishing compound, but no wax.

[Jim T]

Kurt - do you have a garage? If so, you really need to get a compressor and a spray gun. For doing things like bumpers, etc. you don't need a monster setup. I do bumpers, spoilers, mirrors, etc. with my little 5 gallon, 2 hp compressor and a $80 paint gun. (You could do a whole car with that setup, but it would be better to have a little bit bigger compressor so it wouldn't cycle so much).

You can get the complete set up for probably $300 - much less if you get a compressor out of the Recycler or something.

Painting all that stuff that you did, with spraycans, sounds painful!

[widebody911]

Standard OTC rattle-can paint just doesn't have the hardness you need for color sanding. Maybe the stuff you can get mixed to order would, and in that case, you'd wanna lay it on heavy.

[SK]

Wow, I'm impressed. I have wanted to learn how to color sand for a while. The shine on the lid looks great. Thanks for writing the instructions...I'll have to give it a try (on my truck of course)

[Ron,K]

Kurt,

You might find this site helpful for tips on buffing and polishing a finsih. http://www.autobodystore.com/buffing_technique.htm

You might want to also look at some of their buffing compounds and glazes. While everyone has their preferences, I found their glaze to be phenomenal. Attached is a pic of my newly finished paint job that I completed in my garage, also. It can be done.