I don't know a whole lot about paint, so forgive me if this first one is a stupid question... I bought a car that was someone else's half finished project and was dis***embled at a local shop. After I bought the car I let that shop finish up the the work they had already started and I also arranged to get it painted before I took it home to finish it. Well that was a looong time ago and there have been a lot of delays. The most recent was with the paint. It got painted and brought back to the shop where the painter was going to come and color sand and buff it. He got about halfway finished and then for some reason the shop owner and him couldn't get their schedules to align for several months! To make it worse, I found out that the car had to be moved out of the building it was in and has been sitting outside in the elements for a couple of months. My question is this, does the rain and heat from the Arizona sun affect a car that is in the middle of color sanding? Will that exposure to the elements effect the paint job, or will he be able to just finish sanding and polishing and everything will be okay? Again, I don't know much about paint and don't completely understand the color sanding process so forgive me if that is a stupid question. My second question is about painting tail light lenses. I tried to "smoke" the lenses on one of my cars using VHT Nightshades (which is a paint that is supposedly designed for just that job) and clear coat with less than desirable results. Does anyone in AZ know of a paint shop or a HAMBer in the Phoenix area that does this on a regular basis so I can let a professional do it right? I found a place on the internet that you can mail your lights to and they'll do it, but it seemed a little pricey and I would prefer to find someone local. Thanks for reading my post and I appreciate any help you have to offer.
The paint should be ok, but it'll probably be hard as a rock, and a ***** to sand and buff. Can't help you with the tail lights. I've never wanted to make my brake lights harder to see
Thanks for the info, that makes me feel a little better that at least it will probably still turn out okay and all that time and money won't be for nothing! I guess the painters arms will just be a little extra sore.
Try Gilbert Collision on Cooper Rd., just south of Guadalupe.... they have done a ton of headlight/tail light smoke jobs, and everything looks great that I've seen.
Yeah, the paint will be slightly harder than when it was only a few weeks old, but you can definitely still sand and buff a finish that is completely cured, I've done it with no problems. Some guys (like me) will spray extra coats of clear on a car when painting it, then you have the option of sanding and buffing the car several years down the road ig it got scratched up, etc. If you get tired of waiting on this guy, you could do it yourself, it's not terribly hard. Make sure your surface and sandpaper and water used for sanding is as clean as an operating room. Any foriegn material that gets under your sandpaper or buffing pads will scratch the finish, and that ****s. I would start with 1000 or 1200 grit to quickly nock down the high spots of the "orange peel", then move to 1500 grit, and I liked to follow with 2000 grit and then buff. (but lots of people have different opinions on the best way, just find what works for you). Gary
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