Quote:

---

there is orange peel but it's nothing to go wild over. still im anxious to see aussiedrivers results since I think he started out with as much or more orange peel than I have..

---

Well, after spending 10 hours wet sanding most of the orange peel out of my car, let me be the first to admit that I stuffed it up.

Lessons learned;
1. Next time I'll roll the Brightside with it thinned a bit. The non-thinned Brightside wasn't the best coat that I've ever done and it had too much peel to easily deal with.

2. If I ever end up with a lot of orange peel again, I won't be shelving the P1500 sandpaper and dropping back to P280 sandpaper for a "light" sand..... (Really dumb idea that was...)

3. Don't ever, ever, EVER try and wet sand a black car in direct sunlight on a warm day. It's amazing how quickly the water evaporates, leaving you with enough scratches to make you .

4. Crying doesn't help. A bucket of water and a spray bottle with detergent in it makes a much better wetting agent for the sanding, and there is more of it. (Specially if you don't get Lesson 2)

5. When all of the sanding turns to . Get over it and hurry up and re-paint the car. But this time pay attention to Lesson 1.

So, that's where I'm at. Although I am starting to be tempted by Perfection. Mmmmmm 2-part paint.....

Quote:

---

So, that's where I'm at. Although I am starting to be tempted by Perfection. Mmmmmm 2-part paint.....

---

That's the problem, when your looking at your own work so closely, your your own worst enemy. Like if you have a small mistake, you see it from a mile away, but nobody else can!!!

Quote:

---

I'm finding even top end cars ($40,000 and probably more)coming from the factories having terrible orange peel underneath the clear coat. I have been seeing this on lots of newer cars including my own and makes me go WOW!!! So I wouldnt worry to much about the little bit of orange peel your getting.

---

Quote:

---

Hey Exit, The paint job is looking awesome man. Now is this just after wet sanding and no polishing done to it? Either way its looking really sharp. Since reading this post from day one I have been checking out peoples cars on the road and I'm finding even top end cars ($40,000 and probably more)coming from the factories having terrible orange peel underneath the clear coat. I have been seeing this on lots of newer cars including my own and makes me go WOW!!! So I wouldnt worry to much about the little bit of orange peel your getting. Although I will probably be the same way (picking my own work apart like charger said) when I start to get paint on my car after the sheetmetal work is all finished. Looking good man wish I was to the painting point on my ride but "good thing come to those who are patient???? ". Good luck with getting it on the road. Jay

---

That's with just the paint, no wetsanding or polishing done yet. And like I said I'm going to try to avoid wetsanding if I can help it.

It's pretty hard for me to tell how "bad" the orange peel is compared to cars out on the road, since I haven't had this thing outside. One thing I realize though is that it's time to move on to other things like the engine and tranny.. the paint really is EASY to do , so once the thing is running and I can see it in more angles and in more light, I might decide to sand it all down, then put 2 more thin coats on to get the orange peel down. But that could easily be done in a few days time.

So for the current paint job, all I've got to do is put another coat on the driver's door where I fixed something before the last coat, then I'll consider myself "done" until it's running and I can see how good/bad it looks out on the road. Then I have a feeling I'll be putting more work into the paint, whether it's another few coats, or just wetsanding the orange peel down then polishing. Maybe, maybe not.

ANother thought i had regarding the gloss retention, it's so easy to put another coat on, that even if the gloss only lasted 2 years, it's a matter of a couple hours prep and a couple hours to paint, then you've got great gloss again. You could even change the color at that point

Quote:

---

Has anyone spilled gas on their paint? I know this happens to me all the time at the pump. I've heard that it will eat/soften the paint right up. Is there any truth to this?

---

Quote:

---

Has anyone spilled gas on their paint? I know this happens to me all the time at the pump. I've heard that it will eat/soften the paint right up. Is there any truth to this?

---

oh, trust me i have, spilt gas all over the front of my bug, and i mean all over, remember the gas filler is in the front of a beetle, and it was a really really hot 100*deg day, right in the sun, and the gas pump was deffective, where it should go off automatically, and it just kept going and would'nt shut off even after i let go of the handle. gas everywhere, hood, fender, running board, wheels, ect....it did stain the rubber on my running board, but my paint was totally fine, infact it acted like oil mixed with water, it just repelled off it, the paint is oil based remember. not only that but i've spilt just about everything on the paint, brake fluid left a little mark that came off with some wax, other than that nothing so far has sofetened/blemished the paint.

Quote:

---

Has anyone spilled gas on their paint? I know this happens to me all the time at the pump. I've heard that it will eat/soften the paint right up. Is there any truth to this?

---

Gas is a NON-FACTOR once the paint has dried and cured. I have spilled gas on the Brightside and it did absolutely NOTHING to the paint.

It did remove some of the wax... but twelve seconds with some fresh wax and the shine was right back up to 100%.

I can also confirm that ANTI-FREEZE, brake fluid AND transmission fluid have had NO EFFECT whatsoever on the paint job

.