I ended up with quite a bit of orange peel on my car when I painted it with a single stage metallic. Now, I know you can't color sand a metallic single stage. So I plan to retry and go at it again. it was four parts paint, one part reducer, and one part activator. For the most part, there was not really any tiger stripping, but just some orange peel. It was shot out of a 1.5mm ingersoll rand gun. I plan to buy a new gun that has a 1.3mm tip to shoot it with. Any advice?

 

The correct reducer for the actual temps or a slightly slower reducer since you are doing a complete refinish, a little slower gun speed, bump up the pressure...(check your pressure at the cap). You're going to have to sand the car flat first. If you're happy with the body work, and aren't priming/sealing anything...I would wetsand the entire car with 1200 or 1500g to cut the orange peel, then finish with 2000g. Prep and spray.

You're using the same paint? What brand? What line? Check the MFR pages to see that there isn't a re-coatability issue.

Not sure why you'd want a single stage. Depending on your material/brand...you can still clear it, if you have the funds. (More durability/protection. Easier to take care of. Better holdout and gloss)