I started painting my car today, i got the sealer down, and base coat, well not only did i miss all the places i missed on body work, even after about 40 hours worth of sanding, i can live with that, but here's the problem, once i did my basecoat, of coarse i notice some runs, this being the frist time painting a car, i tried to sand out the run's , even wetsand, all it did was gum up , allmost like the sealer wasnt dry, i didnt lay the base down for two hours after the sealer, so now what turned out to be runs, now are craters, and the more i tried to fix them the woarse i made it, now i have really deep craters, one near the driver side door handle, same place on the passenger side, one on my spoiler, and one on my hood, and my front nose, so how do i fix, this, do i have to wait a few days till the base and sealer hopefully harden up, then try the sanding again, do i have to scrap everything and start back and spray sealer back over the base, to bring up the craters, to level, this is a learning exp as i go, here are a few pictures,

 

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you should just sand those spots down to the bare metal and redo them

 

well thats what i tired, and i turned runs into spots as big as my hand, , im wondering if i wait till everything is dried, then sand back to bare metal on those spots, how do i bring up spots to the basecoat, bond is way to thick, and i dont think i can feather from bare metal to the basecoat,

 

Sand it down when it dries. I waited 1 day for each step in my paint job process. 1st day I primed everything, next day I wet sanded, cleaned with laquer thinner and then painted the car. I then let the paint set for 2 weeks and then wetsanded and polished the paint.

 

yes. you're gonna have to wait until it dries more or it's just gonna gum up when you try to sand it. i don't think there's a time constraint on anything except maybe the sealer. the sealer i used said to apply the paint within 10 hours of applying the sealer. you wouldn't have to sand the cratered spots to bare metal. just wait for it to dry and sand it till it's smooth.

 

for future reference since it is a little late now, always let the paint completely dry before sanding out runs or imperfections in the paint. Almost every paint application will have some form of flaw, either runs or dust or scratches, etc. Do not worry about these as you apply the first coat as they can be removed by sanding/wet sanding after the paint is applied.

you should be able to use around a 600 grit and 1000 grit to work it out to a smooth coat without sanding to bare metal. Of course wait until it is completely dry! You will probably want to do a wet sand here as well to keep the base from gumming up.

 

Something else to think about. Base isn't exactly easy to run, unless you have it really thinned out or something. You shouldn't try to cover the car in one, maybe not even 2 coats, if you can still see the old paint in places after 2 coats, no biggie. Just take your time and things will go smoother, just try not to lay it on so heavy.

 

thanks guys, yeah i deffiantly learned from this, i was trying to rush, becuase of thunderstorms and on my data sheets, it nerver said max time i can go before the next paint process step, so i was kinda scared to let the sealer or base sit to long, , hopefully i will be able to take 600+ grit and smooth things out after a few days, i hope, some of the pits are to bare metal themselfs, i think i paniced did more dmg then what i had, , i wait a few days and try it again,

 

It might say on the paint can itself how long to wait before spraying the next coat. How long were you waiting? 15-20 minutes should most likely be long enough in between coats.

 

whoa, i don't know any kind of paint that's sandable after 15-20 minutes. Definitely give it at LEAST an hour, if not more. You can let primer and base coat sit till the cows come home, so don't worry about that. If the sealer needs to be applied within a certain constraint of the top coat of paint, then that's all you have to worry about. Sand out those spots when the paint dries, and you'll back on track in no time.

 

I wasn't talking about sanding the paint, I was talking about how long was he waiting inbetween coats before spraying the next coat of paint.

 

Most automotive paints shouldn't be sanded for 24 hours, sometimes more if it's thick.

I know this isn't helping your case, but for anybody else that wants to do their own body work, this is why you don't learn to paint & do body work on a car you care about. Your first time absolutely WILL NOT be pretty.

 

that is exactly right! The first time should be on a junker you have sitting around or convince a friend to let you paint his ride! That way you will have at least an idea of what you are doing and what to expect.

 

well i will admit i would have been better of practicing on a large scale surface, in fact there is really no excuses for runs in paint, since you dont have to lay down a wet coat, just 2-3 coats, instead, only reason i did get runs was becuase i dont have much room space to work with, where im painting the car, and much light, in otherwords trying to make the best of what i got to work with, and actually i didnt do to bad, but with me trying to fix, the runs i made stuff alot woarse, wasnt so much the painting process, , i though the sealer would be dry enough to sand, and i was wrong, , any case this worked out kinda good, becuase i didnt loose any money on the paint, my cousion used to work at fisher , auto part chain store, that carryies paint, so i got the paint pretty cheap, so now im thinking of sanding down my bad spots, and fix a few dings that showed up after i got the base down, and maybe go with yellow, , way i look at it, 200 bucks for a daily driver paint job that will shine, VS a 3 grand paint job, that i would be paronoid where ever i parked, i think i still stick with the 200 dolloar paint job, practice makes perfect , no doubt, thanks guys for all the help

 

Since you're waiting for it to dry, take the door handles and locks off. And the mirrors. I can't tell from your pics, but if the locks are still on there I'll bet the mirrors are too. It will be a lot easier to paint and look a lot nicer if you remove everything beforehand.

 

From the prices you're quoting you must not be using the same brand of paint I used.. The dupont chromabase/chromaclear system I used, stated that the sealer, and base both had a maximum of 24hrs to be topcoated. After that it said you should sand back down and repaint. Really put me under the gun, because I had a reaction in one spot and had to wait for the sealer to harden before i sanded it out. So I ended up being 22hrs before base, and 22 more hrs before clear..

 

well i tried sanding it today , and it worked like a charm, thanks guys, i havent repainted it, since its raining here, and the base coat is actually withstanding, so im putting on my airbrush design then i will finish that, and then do a finally coat of base, and then to clear, i was going to do one clear then my design, but to be honest the base is very easy to work with,

as far as the locks and doorhandle's and mirriors, , i didnt take off the mirrors cause i dont have a engine in the car right now, so in order to get the mirrors off i would have to hook up a battery, which i have moved to the trunk, and all that fun stuff, but when i paited the car with them on, looks good to my standards , as far as the locks and door handles, they need a good paint job, and the door locks i probally will replace anyhow, they are wearing out, ,

the paint im using is world products, , a division of dupot, cheaper paint, way cheaper, for a gallon of black, and reducer and clear, hardner, was about 180, if i paid full price for it, way i fiqure if i get a few years out of the paint job, im happy,