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while I am about two weeks off from trying the rolling method. My question is has anyone tried to spray the door jams and such. If so how much did you thin the paint. I am thinking 4:1 for Rustoleum but am worried that might be the wrong mix.
Thanks

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So yea, like I said before, ive burned through a couple of spots before. its only really noticible while the hood is wet. But when its dry, you can barely tell.

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The whole secret to the wet sanding is that the sand paper should have hardly any pressure applied while doing the wet sanding.

What I did to wet sand was buy one of those foamie kneeling pads that gardeners use to get down on their knees and work in their garden. It is a dense foam, usually about 1" to 1 1/2" thick. ( Actually I simply stole the one my wife had bought to work in the garden ). I cut a 4" x 8" chunk out of this knee pad and I would wrap my wet sanding paper around it.

Next. I would take a bucket and shoot about 1 tablespoon of Sunlight liquid dish detergent into the bucket and then add water.

I would next take my foam wrapped with 800 grit wet sanding paper and let it soak in the bucket for a minute or two.

Ok.. so at this point I have a nicely soaked wet sanding paper. I would then take my hose and put the nozzle to a fine mist. I would give the painted surface an initial wetting to get the surface generally wet.

With one hand I would begin wet sanding, while with the other hand I kept the nozzle and the fine mist of water spraying the area that I was wet sanding. This kept the surface I was working on constantly wetted.

NOW... this is the most important thing... the wet sanding should be like a hovercraft on that wetted surface. You should not be really applying much if any pressure to your sanding block. The whole idea of the wet sanding process is to simply skim over the surface letting the sand paper nick off any high points in the overall surface.

The reason I was using a 4 x 8 surface to wrap my sandpaper is to distribute evenly and over a wider surface the sanding process. This lessens the chances of too much of a concentration of sanding on one spot.

Now the only deviation in this process is when you are working on the edges ( whether they are the outer edges of the panel you are working on, or maybe even the edges of any shapes that have been stamped into the metal or fiberglass surface ). At those spots you really do have to lighten up even more and use as little pressure as possible. The high point of the edge will always want to sand down faster then the lower surfaces around it. So just back down on the pressure being applied there.

Ok... so once I have gone over the entire surface I then turn the hose loose at maximum spray and blast the entire surface. The whole point at this point is to try to fully remove any artifacts or 'mud' ( the wet sanded paint that was loosened and mixed with the detergent ).

Hopefully after a good blasting of water during this 'rinse' cycle, there are no contaminants left of the freshly wet sanded surface. I then let it dry thoroughly.

Ok... I should mention at this point, hopefully the water you are spraying the car with does not contain high mineral content or heavy amounts of chlorine ( like some well waters or heavy type waters where you have to use water softeners in it ). If you are stuck in that unfortunate situation, hopefully the next stage will level the playing field for you. The following also applies to those of you who have normal water as well.

Ok... assuming the surface is now thoroughly dried, it is time to take a clean cottony cloth rag ( preferably white ) and pour some mineral spirits on to it and get it good and damp. Next ring out the cloth so that it is not soaked... but overall it is wetted lightly. Now... give the entire surface a good wipe down.

This should do two things...

a ) it will remove any leftover artifacts that the rinsing stage did not get. Your white wiping cloth may show some color being picked up.

b ) it will put a temporary shine on the wet sanded surface. This is kind of cool because you can visually see how that wiped area might look if you had polished and waxed it....

Ok... at this point I would give the surface 30 minutes to an hour to dry and let any of the mineral spirits that were spread on during this wiping stage to fully evaporate.

You could at this point have your paint prepared, rollers at the ready and whatever else you need for adding the next two coats of paint. You could, just prior to applying the next coats run a 'tack' cloth over the surface just to remove any dust, hair, dandruff, bugs or whatever else may have fallen on to the surface during the intervening 30 minutes to an hour.

That is about as sanitized and prepped things are possible. So you should be able to go ahead now and start laying on your next two coats of paint.

PS : That picture of your car hood freshly soaked with water glistened like a mirror. You should be happy. With any bit of luck that is where things will be ending up by the 8th or 10th coat. Water is an invaluable tool at helping us see how things will look at the end of the project.

Marq

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Once again another insightful post by marq. I still remember when you posted the pic of your wife on the garden pad. I could of swore I read that you have taken it without her consent. (I do the same ) Did she ever find out?

Ive also seen how it important it is that you clean and sanitize the surface prior to painting. I pretty much have that process down and have yet to come across bonding issues with the surface and paint.

The water im using is pretty pure/clean. being in the country, we have a well system. but also have an *expensive* rain bird water filter system. So I can pretty much drink the water that comes out the hose. I actually use a hose to provide water when wet sanding. ill have to try the soap n water technique sometime. seems logical in a way.

I'm going to be busy the next couple days. Ill probably get to work on my project this Tuesday and post pics real soon.



One more thing before I go. I want to give marq a special thanks. Ive learned A LOT not only from the board and member but especially Marq. your always there leaving excellent reading materials (paint layer diagram ftw) and always help everyone out. good lookin out. thnx everyone.

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while I am about two weeks off from trying the rolling method. My question is has anyone tried to spray the door jams and such. If so how much did you thin the paint. I am thinking 4:1 for Rustoleum but am worried that might be the wrong mix.
Thanks

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I sprayed the door jams, underside of the hood and underside of the trunk lid using the matching color in the Rustoleum spray bomb. No need to foul up a spraying machine to do those areas when the spray bomb in the matching color works excellent ( and no need for thinning ).

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any tips on spray bombing parts?
I have the rustoleum gloss paint and planned on using it to spray the underside of the hood. The hood is not on the car, so I can position it any way I need to.
Thanks

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c ) let the brake cleaner spray sit on the surface for about 20 minutes. It will eat away and loosen any oils, waxes, or other crap on the surface that can be loosened by the solvent in the brake cleaning spray. The reason we use brake cleaning spray is that it can eat away most of those things WHILE not leaving behind any residue like an engine cleaning foam would...

d ) ok... after 20 minutes give the entire surface or door jams another rinsing with the hose to rinse away any of the debris loosened by the brake cleaning solvent.

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Several "rollerheads" have reported far greater self-leveling properties using a dash of penetrol.

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Several "rollerheads" have reported far greater self-leveling properties using a dash of penetrol.

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you dont have to go 50/50 its better if you go 35-40% the paint is not really that thick but it cuts down on the saggs and runs. if you go 50/50 you are cutting the paint down a whole lot therefore giving you more runs and sag. i have been doing this alot and i use about 35% thinner and roll all the paint out of the roller and going back over it to work out some of the orange peel with the weight of the roller

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