Well I painted my cutlass tonight. Beautiful colour, but basically the paintjob looks like ass.

I need to have it going by Sunday (3 days). Wetsanding the clear is the only way to make it look a little more presentable. Is 24 hours enough time to wait? I would just use straight water and no chemicals as I know it has to cure......but hpefully I can smooth it out a bit tomorrow night.

Let it cure for the full 24hrs, then get after it. Use plenty of water, sand in one direction only, with 1500-2000 grit. You do know the surface will be dull and need to be buffed to bring shine up, right? Watch the edges, its easy to go thru.

I the surface has heavy texture you can start out with some 1000 grit to speed up the process. Don't go all the way with the 1000, leave some for the 1500 & 2000. As JimD said, stay away from the edges and sharp fender edges. You can run some 1/4" masking tape on the sharpe edges to help from burning through when buffing. I forgot to ask what type of paint it is?
Roger

If you add a bit of liquid dish soap to a bucket of water and use this mixture for wet sanding, your job will be much easier. It won't hurt your paint.

Thanks for the responses.

I ended up hitting the car with a quick 600 scuff and shooting 3 coats of clear. Turned out alot better and has an awesome shine to it. A few dust specs, the odd small run, and very minor tiger stripping....but overall not bad for a first paint job.

Guess the only thing is will it be cured enough to drive in 48 hours?