Novice paint questions, ChromaBase color sanding Options

[Rleog]

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First, thanks to the pro's who frequent this board. Your suggestions to many have been invaluable as I progress with my projects. With regard to painting and posts on this board, I've seen Scotty's silver 930 work of art, and can only add that, for $12,000, that owner got a steal. I've also seen Eliot's adventure with orange peal, which evidently was due to bad paint. Please bear with me if my questions have been answered previously, and I haven't encountered them.

After stripping my car to bare metal and prepping, I sprayed etching primer, then sandable primer. When it was time for color, the DuPont ChromaBase went on thickly and resulted in coarse orange peal, coarse enough to make Eliot jealous. I figured that I'd have to start over. It was the last warm weekend of fall and I had no time then to sand down and spray another day, so I left the metal protected by my coarse paint job. I did not spray clear over it.

This summer, a body shop owner whom I chanced across told me to try color sanding and see where I would get. I've sanded 400, 600 , then 1000 grit, and now have a vastly improved smooth surface but have broken through to primer in several areas.

My questions:

1. Can I spray more color over the newly sanded color surface, and, if yes, what grit should I sand with before shooting more color?

2. There are a couple of areas where I'd like to do better prep of surface irregularities. I'm assuming that I'll have to go down to bare metal to hammer/dolly and/or body fill these areas, then go through the etch, prime, color process again. Body filler like Bondo should not be applied over color or primer, then a sealer attempted before final color coat. Correct?

Thanks in advance. I have incredible respect for you painting artisans.

[scotty b]

If the Chromabase was thick it wasn't reduced enough. That stuff is like water when mixed properly. You're fine to start painting over it at 1000, though as a new painter I'd suggest you drop it down to 600.

Yes you can do bodywork over the base, but those areas need to be sanded to 180 before putting bondo on them

I'll add that you need to be really careful with Chromabase. It is the ONLY paint line I have used that I had problems with lifting. It is thinned way to much IMHO and the solvents will creep under the previous coat and start wrinkling if not sprayed on kind of dry. The last couple times I used it I mixed it 2:1 which thickened it up a bit. That also helps with covergage