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I'm painting my truck with acrylic enamel one piece at at time as I finish the sheet metal work. It's been suggested to me that I should put clear coat over the acyrlic enamel. I haven't found anything about this in any of my "how to" books. Any suggestions from the experts out there? If I do put on clear, do I have only a small window of time to do it? I have a couple of fenders that have been painted for 3 months. Thanks for any advice.

If the clear is the same brand of paint as the enamel and says it's enamel clear, it will work. Paint must be considered a system: that is, the same for the same.

Do I have to do anything special to the parts that have been painted for 3 months? I'm planning to wet sand with 1600 to 2000. Will that be enough to ensure that the clear sticks?

What are you trying to accomplish with the wet sanding, do you have imperfections in the paint that you want to smooth out (color sanding) or are you just trying to get the clear coat to stick. If you're just prepping for clear, I would just use a gray 3M scuff pad and that should be sufficient.

If your looking for a good paint job, the color acrylic enamel will look good and last if it's taken care of. There really is no need to use the clear coat enamel.

One of the fenders that I've already painted has a couple of specks from dust or something, the other one is ok. If the rest of my parts turn out ok I"ll probably just scuff as you suggested. I'll be painting some more parts soon so I'll see how it goes. Thanks for the advice.

I had Global brand clearcoat sprayed over a pretty lousy lacquer job(old school lacquer)and the clearcoat cleaned it right up. Looks pretty darn good,even close up!!
Cant even tell its a botched up paint job.
Marty

That's why I recommend a base/clear paint job for just about everybody. You can botch up the base coat pretty bad and the clear coat just smooths it right out.

Good info! I was concerned that the extra gloss from the clear would make the imperfections stand out more. It's good to know that it actually helps hide them. I need all the help I can get. Thanks.

If you are trying to get a deeper gloss then the clear is the answer. If you have dust, bugs or other trash in the enamel, then sanding and shooting the clear may only result in other trash, dust and bugs in the clearcoat. My recommendations if you are just trying to get rid of a few dust specks is the sand with 1500-2000 wet and then buff out. Chances are that without a proper paint booth (not your average garage or home workshop) you will always have some particles or creatures settle into your wet paint. I've been painting everything from aircraft to cars for many years as a hobbyist -- without the benefit of a professional paint booth and I can honestly say I've never had perfect results. Color sanding and buffing is the coverall for our mistakes and lack of expensive gear. Good luck!

Thanks Clint. I tried what you are suggesting on the fist fender but I couldn't get the gloss back. Is there a special buffing compound to use for acrylic enamel? The guys at the local parts store don't seem to know much about it.

What I like is Meguiar's most agressive compound. I don't remember the actual name right now, but it is made for buffing after using 1000 grit paper. What you may find works best is to use 100 grit, then 1500, then 2500 and then compound it out. I do highly recommend getting a professional grade pneumatic buffer from a reputable body shop supply. The Harbor Freight electrics and hardware store variety have proven to be a waste of money. My single best "arm-saver" was buying a Norton Sanding Kit from Eastwood and a Central Pneumatics Finishing DA sander. Uses 1500 grit, then 3000 grit and polishing and buffing is much easier.

How long are You waiting before attempting to
wet sand the acrylic enamel ??? I also assume You
are air drying the paint instead of force drying by
oven..In which case its best to forget sanding for
some period of time...Thats also the reason You are
getting dirt and insects in Your paint, because
enamel stays wet longer, then the average person wants to apply too many coats between coats which
will result in solvents escaping from the paint after You think You are finished...
4on the Floor offered the best solution for You
and I agree...Basecoat/clearcoat is the answer to all Your problems...Basecoat is self leveling, if You happen to get a run, wait a few minutes and it
will flatten itself out...It also will not mottle,
and You can sand any imperfections out overnight..
I know the poster above meant to say start out with 1000, and not 100 as posted...ouch...Bill B

Bill, I agree about bc/cc being the best, but I think that's kind of a hindsight in jfnar's case, as I believe he has already started painting his parts.

I hope you used hardener in your enamel. In my experience I've found that color sanding enamel works best as soon as you can do it. I've noticed that after a full cure period, it sands harder. I don't know what brand of paint you are using, but stick with a recommended clear for that brand. I'm mostly a PPG/Omni guy. Sanding and compounding can be done after 24hrs dry time @ 70deg. A urethane clear would be acceptable over enamel. If possible try to find a tech sheet on whaterever product you're using. If your supplier can't or won't provide you with tech. info, find a new supplier.

Yes, I have been using hardner. I'm getting my paint at O'Reilly's and I believe it's PPG. Since I'm doing this in my spare time, which is getting hard to come by, my plan it to paint a few parts on Saturday, wet sand on them a few nights through the next week, then clear coat the following Saturday. My entire project has been delayed a few weeks due to a minor accident with my "regular" truck. I hope to get back to it soon. Thanks for all the advice.

A few years back, my truck experienced some severe hail damage on the hood and a few dings on the hood. Since the roof didn't show, I bought a new hood and painted it with white lacquer, then later painted over it with clear coat.It looked absolutely great..until in winter we had a hard freeze. The clear coat crinkled, I suppose due to different contraction rates between the lacquer and clear coat.
meansam

since we are on the subject of clear coats,is there any body else that does not like them?I do not.I dont know anything about painting but I do know that I like my shine/luster from the color and not on top of it.I have to pay my painter a little more but the end result is to my likeing.

hey guys oldchevy guy62 [newguy] had a questen, I painted my 82 short bed silverado with full than-urothane my first paint job should I put a clear coat over the paint or leave it alone, paint color is dark blue matalic perl

Clearcoat is best when you use it as a system with a base coat. If you just put clear coat over a single stage product you will probably have problems, or at least have a really thick paint film which will not look all that great.