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

[scotty b]

Single stage will get you a deeper look if you want to do a fair amount of wet sanding and buffing. If you build up several coats of clear you can get a similar depth. IMHO I don't care for single stage because the little I have done with it, I found it to be very bad as far as chip resistant. I have only done 3 single stage jobs but every one ended up with a rock chip or two that was HUGE. Single stage seems to setup a lot harder and doesn't give much when a rock hits it. May have been the type of paint I used or maybe I just didn't set it up correctly. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/confused24.gif) I thought at one time it would be cool to be the " single stage guy" in town because few people do it. Now I know why. It just isn't as practical in most cases.

As for single stage metallics, I wouldn't do it for one simple reason. As stated before you can't wet sand a metallic. If you do, you flatten the metallic and lose the effect, therefore a single stage metallic must go on perfectly.

If you want to do a single stage solid color, build up several layers of paint in order to wet sand to a nice smooth finish then buff and hand rub the crap out of it and you will get a deeper look, but you'll be worn ass out (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/laugh.gif) Just remember either way to step up the grade of your sand paper each time to eliminate the previous sanding scratches, and start with as high a grit as you can.Try 1500 first and if it just won't cut through step down to 1200 then 1000 but I would really advise not going any lower than that. If you need to plan on re shooting the clear (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/sad.gif) and base if you have shot metallic

Painting isn't rocket science but it does take some knowledge, patience and elbow grease