So I take it this is not normal?

This is an area I'm touching up where I had a drip, and tried to sand it out and wound up sanding all the way through. I have something like 10 coats of Gloss White Rustoleum on the truck now.

The surrounding area is unwaxed and has been wet sanded then cleaned with mineral spirits. The paint behaves almost as if there was a static charge or something, which seems possible since I'm in an area with low humidity, and all the wet sanding may have built up some sort of static charge. But this is about the only theory I can come up with.

Nope, no contaminants, AFAIK.

Maybe I should try try a different brand of mineral spirits. I currently use the odor-free kind that Home Depot sells.

In any event, I'm almost done with the job, but I'm not a happy camper because this problem has caused me to spend at least triple the time wet sanding than I otherwise would have.

Hey Marq, thanks for the extensive reply.

First off, I didn't use any soap at all while wet sanding. Also, spray-on Gloss White Rustoleum does the exact same thing.

The patch in the picture already was sanded down to the factory paint, and wiped with mineral spirits, so I don't see how there could possibly be any contaminants.I have also tried wiping the surface down with water and letting it dry and the same thing happens.

I have learned to expect this to happen, and so I have been dealing with it. But I can't tell you how frustrating it is to spend two days wet sanding the previous coat down to glass-like finish and then having the next coat mottle up on me again.

I buffed out and waxed my hood and roof today, and they look very nice, but I see a lot of rough and uneven areas and a few roller marks I didn't sand out.

But what's most noticeable is the places where I sanded down to either the primer or the factory paint while trying to get rid of that stupid orange peel.

I have seen a really persistent problem like that only once in the years I worked in a body shop. It was on the flat black stripes on the hood of a late 70's Firebird Formula. The owner had been applying Armor-All to them. Sanding didn't help, wiping with prep-solvent (Kril-Kleen) didn't help, and wiping with lacquer thinner didn't even work.

What finally worked is a product called PolyCracker. It sprays on like water and a quick wipe down later the problem was gone.

Apparently there is a name for this, it's called "fisheyes":

"FISH-EYES

(Crawling, poor wetting) - This paint failure occurs when paint fails to flow in an even and continuous film over its undercoat. it separates or breaks, leaving exposed areas of the undercoat."



The article I found says it's caused by contaminants found in oils and wax. All I can tell you is that it's been a nightmare, and has turned my first painting attempt into a six weeks of extreme frustration. And I had no way of knowing that things were not going right since it was my first attempt.

However, what I can't figure out is, why is this still happening when I try to paint over surfaces that already have 2, 4, 6, or even 8 coats of Rustoleum laid down? You can see in my picture that there is a reflection and the paint is doing the same thing over the already painted area (just not quite as bad).

The smoothest I have ever been able to get this paint to lay down with a roller, even over previously painted areas, is about the texture of an eggshell. No matter how smooth the previous coats of Rustoleum are sanded down.

So this is why I was saying earlier, why not lay down all six coats first and then wet sand at that point. For me, this would have made much more sense.

The brownish tan stuff at the top of the picture. Is that headliner/carpet adhesive?

Quick question. I'm using Brightside white thinned about 40% - 50% with their 333 thinner and I'm nearly done. Its working great, but my only concern is that its fairly transluscent and I don't want sanding scratches visible under the paint. Is there any danger to not sanding between coats? This paint seems pretty sticky to me.

Yes, 800 is working well for me at this stage. Id just like to ensure no sanding marks under the last coat as it seems I'm using thinner paint than most. Would 1000 grit be too fine prior to the final coat or would I be better off not sanding at all?

I guess my question is does the paint need a "tooth" from sanding to bond properly, or is it sticky enough on its own?

1000 sounds like a safe bet. I can't imagine any paint so thin that scratches from that would show through.

As far as sanding improving adhesion, I'm not sure about that. I always thought that wet sanding between coats was more to smooth out slight imperfections in the previous coat than for purposes of improving adhesion. After all, when paint is sprayed on in many layers, nobody ever wet sands between coats, as far as I'm aware.

But like I said, I'm no expert on that and will wait for someone else to chime in.

Final results, using approximately 10 coats of Rustoluem Gloss White and wet sanding every two coats (see below). The picture is a spot between my driver side door and the back of the cab of my truck.

I have a few areas where I was able to get a fairly smooth finish, but they were kinda random. My roof and hood have both smooth and rough areas. This picture though is typical of the problems I experienced with every single coat I applied.

I would get deep pits that looked similar to acne scars, that went almost all the way down to the factory paint. Sanding them down smooth would reveal the factory coat in many spots. Then trying to fill in these spot where I sanded through would start the whole process all over again, Very frustrating.So I just left many rough areas alone, for fear of burning through to the factory paint once again.

So I'm glad some people had success using this method. I was not one of them. I'm somewhat happy with my results after buffing and waxing, but the process did not go anywhere near as "smooth" as I had hoped. I wound up with a "10 foot paint job". It looks good as long as you stay at least 10feet away.

Is it possible you simply have some bad paint or mineral spirits? It looks like you have something like water or other contaminates in one of them.

got some more work done on the bug, left side is getting paint on it finally

How many coats is that? 2? Looks nice.

Could you post a pic showing how smoothly the paint is going on? Maybe a close-up shot with a reflection in it so that the texture of the paint will show.

I'd like to see what having paint go on smoothly is supposed to look like.

Very nice!! Is that Rustoleoum canvas white? I will be rolling my '64 beetle(was L87 Pearl White) soon with canvas white.

What are your plans for under the fenders and the wheel wells? I'm thinking about rolling a product called Rustfre Rubberized under coating on mine.