I just got done touching up my car and well I have a question or two

[Maim Menu]

I used enamel spray cans from Carquest with my color code #202 for black. I have a '98 Camry and did the whole grind back to metal/glazing compound/2-3 coats primer/wetsanding/repaint 2-3 coats and got ok results that'll be good enough until I get the whole car repainted.

I searched and found out that apparently some Toyota cars have a clearcoat and some others don't. My car is black so according to what I found I didn't have a factory clearcoat.

I want to clay bar and polish the whole car when the paint will be dry (2-3 weeks) to remove overspray and bring back the shine from the old adjacent paint for a better matching but I still didn't get a satisfying answer on the clearcoat thing.

Basically will I screw something up if I do this? I've done polishing on other cars before with a PC 7424 but never did any of this on fenders I painted myself and don't want to scrap my own work. I really want to do a thourough job with several levels of polish and everything.

I'm still amazed at the sheer quantity of superb detailling thread I found on here though and will defenitely take more time to read a lot more of it

[PolishAndWax]

Originally Posted by Maim Menu

I used enamel spray cans from Carquest with my color code #202 for black. I have a '98 Camry and did the whole grind back to metal/glazing compound/2-3 coats primer/wetsanding/repaint 2-3 coats and got ok results that'll be good enough until I get the whole car repainted.

I searched and found out that apparently some Toyota cars have a clearcoat and some others don't. My car is black so according to what I found I didn't have a factory clearcoat.

I want to clay bar and polish the whole car when the paint will be dry (2-3 weeks) to remove overspray and bring back the shine from the old adjacent paint for a better matching but I still didn't get a satisfying answer on the clearcoat thing.

Basically will I screw something up if I do this? I've done polishing on other cars before with a PC 7424 but never did any of this on fenders I painted myself and don't want to scrap my own work. I really want to do a thourough job with several levels of polish and everything.

I'm still amazed at the sheer quantity of superb detailling thread I found on here though and will defenitely take more time to read a lot more of it

Just for clarification...your question "Basically will I screw something up if I do this?"...are you talking about polishing an area that has no clearcoat? Or just polishing an area that has been painted with spray enamel?

To find out of you have clear on your original paint, just do a little polishing on a clean surface. If you get black on your application sponge or microfiber, you have no clear. If you don't, you have clear. Every time you polish, you take paint off. So you either take off clear or color.

What condition is the freshly painted area in now?

[Maim Menu]

I sprayed enamel on wetsanded patches of primer, but overlapped slightly on the adjacent factory paint for a better blend. It created as you would guess some overspray that I would love to clean up. I had previously sanded the edges of the primer so there was no ridge between primer and adjacent paint so it looks alright but you can see the overspray on the original paint, around the patches I did.

Now the enamel is drying and seems dull and would need polishing, while the adjacent factory paint is a bit less dull and would need a good polishing as well to bring back the shine.

Originally Posted by PolishAndWax

...are you talking about polishing an area that has no clearcoat? Or just polishing an area that has been painted with spray enamel?

I'm talking about polishing the whole car, original paint and patches of sprayed on enamel I did myself altogether to smooth everything out but I don't want to create any problems. I'm thinking MAYBE enamel should not be polished the same way or using the same pads, or maybe my black factory paint had clearcoat, and not the enamel, so the transition between the two will be even worse, I really don't know, so I'm just asking.

I could take some pictures if it'd help. I finished painting yesterday and I would wait at least 3-4 weeks before claybar/polishing.

[PolishAndWax]

Originally Posted by Maim Menu

I sprayed enamel on wetsanded patches of primer, but overlapped slightly on the adjacent factory paint for a better blend. It created as you would guess some overspray that I would love to clean up. I had previously sanded the edges of the primer so there was no ridge between primer and adjacent paint so it looks alright but you can see the overspray on the original paint, around the patches I did.

Now the enamel is drying and seems dull and would need polishing, while the adjacent factory paint is a bit less dull and would need a good polishing as well to bring back the shine.



I'm talking about polishing the whole car, original paint and patches of sprayed on enamel I did myself altogether to smooth everything out but I don't want to create any problems. I'm thinking MAYBE enamel should not be polished the same way or using the same pads, or maybe my black factory paint had clearcoat, and not the enamel, so the transition between the two will be even worse, I really don't know, so I'm just asking.

I could take some pictures if it'd help. I finished painting yesterday and I would wait at least 3-4 weeks before claybar/polishing.

This one was out of my league, so I hit up my buddy who has been a custom painter for over 20 years.

In a nutshell, he said to use the same techniques (polish/pads) for sanding and polishing as you would for acrylic enamel EXCEPT you need to wait longer for it to dry. He said enamel takes much longer to dry than catalyzed acrylic enamel. How long? That's too subjective of a question to answer...he would need to know paint thickness, temperature, humidity, etc.

We are assuming you didn't use a catalyst.

He recommended waiting (err on the side of caution) and testing a small area to see if it is going to take to the sanding and polishing. If it shines up well, it's ready. If not, you need to wait longer.

Hope that helps.

BTW, I have not yet achieved vendor status (it's pending) otherwise I would talk to you about my products and what they could do for you. If you're interested in hearing more, send me a PM.

[Maim Menu]

I'm really glad you took the time to hit me back, seriously. I am going to wait for about a month and I will polish my door cause that's were the difference is the worst, I will bump this thread with pictures when I do it.

I don't see a lot of TNers doing their own body repair, and although it's a time consuming job, it's not that hard to do.

Thanks a whole freaking lot, really appreciate it.

[PolishAndWax]

Originally Posted by Maim Menu

I'm really glad you took the time to hit me back, seriously. I am going to wait for about a month and I will polish my door cause that's were the difference is the worst, I will bump this thread with pictures when I do it.

I don't see a lot of TNers doing their own body repair, and although it's a time consuming job, it's not that hard to do.

Thanks a whole freaking lot, really appreciate it.

Right on. Let us know how it turns out!