ok, what is the best way to finish my enamel paint job?
Should i wait a week or so then wet sand it?

If so what grit paper?
also can i buff it out after, to take out scratchs and make it shine?

thanks for the help!
scottie

Good question, I didn't do either of those things to my car. It's been painted since April 15th. Two weeks later, I brought her home. Take a look at my signature. The car is alot shinier than it looks in the pix; cheap digital camera.
I hope you get some responses, 'cuz the only thing i've done to mine since is wash and wax it. The biggest thing i've found to keep clean are the Weld ProStars I put on. You got any pix of your car?

To get a proper answer, guys will need to know which brand and type of paint was used. Color may also matter.

Well the brand is Ace Hardware top brand.
(its a cheap paint job, trying to learn on my S-10 before touching my 69 chevelle)
and its Gloss Black.

scottie

Well, i've never used that brand paint (or even heard of it) But I paint a lot of enamel and I always color sand and buff it. If the paint is pretty smooth I start right away with 2000 grit wet or dry paper, if not start with 1000 grit, (use it wet of course) with a soft sponge type color sanding pad. After the color sanding I use 3M POLISHING compound, (not rubbing compound) on a wool pad. After that I use Meguires no.83 compound on a foam pad at low speed, then hand rub with mirror glaze no.7. I always get comments on how nice the paint is on my car.
Good luck.
Ron

Make sure it's an enamel with hardner in it before you sand it!!!If it is Toocool is on the money. Mike

how long to wait after painting, till its ok to color sand?

unless you added a hardener/activator to the paint, you can't sand and buff it.

Well, if the paint has no hardner you are out of luck sorry :(
If it does, enamel to me likes to set for about a week before a cut and buff job.

For a buffing I like to use 3M products, use the perfect it3 system. Now about two months ago I attended a 3M buffing demo. The guy that put on the demo works for 3m and only does the cutting and buffing products. He stated that on a NEW paint job using a rubbing compund is NOT needed. The rubbing compound is made for a older paint job with some oxidation, not a new job that needs to be smoothed out.

He started with a black FOAM pad 3M# 05725 and machine glaze 05937. Work an area of around 3ft, any bigger and the compund can dry on the surface. Once done with the machine glaze wipe the entire panel CLEAN with a 3M detailer's cloth 06016. This will remove any resudie left on the surface. You dont want each step of product intermixing with each other as each is a finer cut and doing so will lessen there effectivness.

the next step is using a finer cut of compound. We use a meguairs product called speed glaze and apply that with a polisher instead of a buffer. The diff is that the polisher has a tighter rotation which will lead to less swirls.

If you dont have a polisher you can switch to a white foam pad and use 3M final glaze 05941.
Once done again wipe clean with a new clean detailers cloth(dont want the products intermixing)

For the final step I like to apply liquid glass which is polish not a wax by hand.

For sanding I use 1200 at start to level it out then 2000. using 2000 from start to finish in my book is more work and doesnt level the clear as well...Eric

OK, i don't think it had hardener in it.
(i didn't put anything in it)

So I'll know for Next time.
what kind of enamel and hardener should i get.
(glad it was on my old S-10)

scottie