DIY Wheel refurb, Spec me a wet & dry gritsize..

TaKeN

TaKeN

TaKeN

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Shropshire
I need to remove the orange peel affect from my Speedline Cyclones before they go back for another coat,

Getting hold of wet & dry around these parts is abit like trying to purchase rocking horse poop.

I've found some 10 packs of 1000 Grit and 400 Grit on that auction site... will these be sufficient? or should I get some other sizes whilst I'm at it :o

I'm thinking that the 400 Grit should be coarse enough the get the orange peel flat without taking too much off at once.. and then the 1000 grit for a nice mirror finish.
 
You shouldn't even require a mirror finish if they are going for another coat.
I'd start with 400, then 600 (you could skip this step) and finish with 800. The paint needs to stick. If 400 and 1000 is all you can get, i'm sure it'll suffice. It's after the final coat that you'll want to work your way up the finer grades before polishing.
 
I thought orange peel is only aparent in the laquer? Might be more worth while using some rubbing compound?
 
Dup said:
I thought orange peel is only aparent in the laquer? Might be more worth while using some rubbing compound?
Click to expand...

No, everything you spray out of a gun lays out with orange peel. Doesn't matter with primer because you block it out, doesn't matter much with basecoat because its only very thin (but you NEVER sand base), majority is in the clearcoat. Only way of knocking it out is block sanding it, compound won't do anything for OP. Even with a perfectly flat clear you will almost always still have a slight waviness in the reflection while using base/clear system.

Alternatively if using a single stage paint system (essentially base and clear all in one product) then the peel texture will be in that, obviously as it's the only later above the primer. You can sand these back to a perfectly flat finish. Problem is that you can't use metallics with SS as you'd sand into the metal flakes which would cause all kinds of problems, and the UV protection is much worse leading to fade and oxidisation.


edit - Also, there is a technique known as flow coating used with base/clear jobs. This is where you put on a couple of good coats of clear, then once it's fully cured, flat it with 1000/1200 until its perfectly flat, then put on another couple of wet coats often with over-reduced clear. Only really used on high end show cars and there is strong debate over if it actually achieves anything.
 
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Cheers Clarkey, are you in the trade or something?

I've read many quick and dirty online paiting guides for wheels PC cases etc but not done much myself. Need to get my CTR wheels done but need a spare set of wheels while I do it (to get a proper cure time).
 
Hi guys thanks for the replys.. when I say DIY.. I mean that I do all the prep work and the local friendly bodyshop man sprays them for me!

All the paints come off the wheels, and they are currently have some 'Spraybaked' PVA? Primer on them that has the orange peel effect!

He told me to sand down until the orange peel went away, but chances are I'd have to bring them back for another coat where I'd broken through the paint around the rims,
 
In that case use a 600 wet, and to help you along the way use a guide coat. What I mean by this is give it a light dust coat of a cheap rattle can black. When you are sanding, once all the black has gone you know it's flat, all the black must be gone though. This will also help prevent you from sanding through.
Where possible always use a block while sanding too, otherwise you will not get a flat result, rather one covered in small ridges caused by your fingers. You'll need a pretty flexible one for use on wheels.
 
Sweet, cheers for the advice Clarkey.

I've not yet ordered the paper so I will have a looksie later.
 
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