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Just a question. Im planning to hit the car with some Rusto clear coat at the very end. It seems that when I hit the paint with spirits, it shines like all get out, but when it dries, it seems like its almost faded or something. Im just wondering if after I get that final coat on, should I sand it, hit it with spirits, let it dry, then use the clear coat? How should I go about doing the clear coat?

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If you like the look of it when you do the wipe down with the cloth dampened in spirits THEN you should not go to the 'clear coat' stage. INSTEAD you should start hitting that paint with the rubbing compound - followed by the polish - followed by wax. AND you will end up with the same shine as when you passed a dampened cloth over it.

The clear coat strategy is not a 'proven' thing at this point. And the odds are that you will end up with a coating that is going to yellow over the next year. IF your body gets scratched or bumped once the clear coat is on... you will have to repair the entire panel to keep it looking good. WHEREAS if you just polish and wax your paint layers - then any scratch can be repaired and not require the entire panel be redone to fix the scratches or bumps etc.

But I think the key here is that you like the look of the wettened paint job... and that is the result you 'should' end up with if you go with the compounding, polishing and waxing

But to answer your specific question.... IF I was going to go the route of slapping on a clear coat ... I would :

a ) wet sand the final layer... going from 1000 to 1500 to 2000.
b ) wash the car down using a bucket of water and just a drop or two of liquid dish detergent. RINSE IT OFF THOROUGHLY. Let it dry fully.
c ) take a cloth dampened with mineral spirits and give the body a thorough wipe down. Let it dry fully.

At this point your top surface will be about as good as it is going to get for laying a clear coat down on it.

The reason you still have to go through the 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit wet sanding is to get the surface as smooth and defect free as you can. IF NOT the clear coat will act like a magnifying glass and make every little imperfection standout and look doubly bad.

The clear coat will be able to gain sufficient adhesion with the ultra smooth wet sanded surface because it will try to chemically bond with the exposed top layer of the paint. This is where you have to be applying a clear coat that is designed to go with the specific brand of paint you used.

IF you use one brand of clear coat with 'some other brand' of paint there might be adhesion failure a few months down the road. It would look something like a sunburn on the paint where the skin is peeling away from the paint. The only remedy for that if it happens is to sand off the remaining clear coat, lay on a new layer of paint and refinish that paint layer. So that is why you need to match brands of clear coats to the paint you chose.

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