[gogo]

MeltMan is right on the wetsanding, but dont just use any soap. some saops have detergents can leave residue in the paint ans you sand, or even as you wash. Different paints can absorb different detergents, even different levels of the smae brand and type of paint. i.e. using palmolive concentrate with out lemon on rustoleum premium high gloss laquer enamal works fine, but using it on the cheap 1.99 white can high gloss laquer enamal may cause blistering as you paint the next coat and will cause lifting after the paint has had time to cure and 'shrink' The silicon that they use to keep your hands from getting wrinkly doesnt mate well with the cheaper paint. The higher lever paint has an additive that sticks to the silicone ore something to that effect. The reason I got when I asked was that people will buy the better quality stuff when painting machinery and such. and machinery and such tends to have lubes on it that won't wash comepletly off. They could've been feeding me a line of shit so I keep buying the more expensive stuff, but there is a noticable difference in quality anyway.

Anyhow, my experience is to use 'No more Tears baby Shampoo' a couple of drops per gallon to wash with. I never use soap in the water to wet sand.

The other reason to wetsand is dry sanding can leave large clups that can become as hard as the sand paper, but 'bigger' than the grit you are using. thus leaving unslightly marks in the paint.


(I think there is another thread here with a more in depth paint guide)
between color coats 600 is good. any higher and it may not be enough to grip. However, most clear coats are designed to grip really smooth surfaces. so after your last color coat you can go to 1000 or 1200 grit so you can get rid of some imperfections. but that high of a grit isn't really necc.

I do think Hallis is right though, get a can of paint stripper clean really good and start from scratch, it may cost more in paint, but it'll save you money in sandpaper and elbow grease.