Color Sanding/Wet Sanding questions? Options

[SLKWrx]

Ok, here is a pretty basic question that I'm wrestling with. I'm planning on painting my car myself. I have my test pieces that I'm learning on and I have a "down draft spray booth" in the garage. I'm trying to understand what colorsanding is exactly. Well, check that, I understand what its purpose is but my question is:

Do you sand the actual color layer? After you have laid all the layers or between each one? Or is the clear what you're supposed to be sanding? If it is the clear, how does that remove orange peel or drip marks? If it is the color layer, how do you polish out the sanding scratches before laying the clear?

I'm so confused (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/confused24.gif)
Thanks all,
-- Steve

[eeyore]

Where and when of color sanding depends on the paint.

There are single- and two-stage paints. In single-stage, your color and finish layers are the same paint. In two-stage paint, the color (base) layer is color, and usually does not have a catalyzer mixed in, and the finish layer is clear.

You 'color' sand the last layer of paint.

But, some people are weird and will do both the color and clear coats with single-stage paint.

If you have a two-stage, non-catalyzed base, you don't sand it. Unless you've managed to get a run or drip. But that is a sand and re-shoot operation.

I have done two jobs where the base coat was a single-stage color coat that was sanded. One, I wet sanded that base coat (black) with 1500 grit before applying the clear. The other, the base coat (red) was sanded with with 600 grit or coarser. In the case of the red, the clear coat filled in all the sanding marks.

Me? As a ham-handed klutz, I like the single stage paints. Even though the color isn't as deep, mistakes are much easier to fix. And I make plenty of them.