Ok, I just recently painted my fender. I had to use a rattle can cause I dont have access to a sprayer. Anyway, here is the way I did it. I started with 40 grit to take it all the way down to metal (there were like 10 layers of paint and primer). I then did 120 grit over the entire surface to smooth out any scratches that came from the 40 grit. Finally I finished up the surface with 320 grit to get it as smooth as possible. After the 320, I sprayed the surface with primer, followed by 400 wetsanding, then more primer and 600 wet. After the primer was done, I laid color, then used 800 wet and laid more color, then used 1000. Once that was smooth, I laid on a layer of clear. It was kinda shiney, as I could see the beginnings of a relection. I then wet sanded with 1000, and the shineyness went away. So I sprayed on another layer of clear, and it was back. So I hit it with 1500 wet, and again it was gone. Sprayed another layer of clear, and hit it 2000, and again the shiney went away. I sprayed on another thin layer of clear so it was shiney again.

Basicly, how do you get it to shine like the factory paint. I wasnt looking for a great pain job, I just thought it would be more reflective.

 

your sanding off the clear that you put down, Put more then one layer of clear on the car, more layers of clearcoat, the more you will beable to wetsand.

 

After your done painting and sanding it you need to buff and polish it.

 

How do you get it shiny like from the factory? Use factory paint. Real clear coat works better than the rattle can junk. If you're at 2000 grit wetsanding then your surface should be very smooth, just give it one last coat of clear, let it harden a week or two, then buff and wax it.

 

Should I buff using a rubbing compound, or a polishing compund?

 

use a fine cut rubbing compond then use a polishing wax. a buffer makes it alot easier.

 

Stop sanding off your only coat of clear! Give it a few coats. Then see how shiney and purty it is! I'd say give it 3 or 4 coats of clear then let it dry a week then buff it how mentioned above.

 

Thanks guys. I thought that I was putting on the layers thick, but I guess they wernt thick enough.

Also, I was using a sanding block, is that ok or is there somthing better to use?