August - I don't know if you've ever done any custom painting using candy colors or pearl, you've not said. Assuming this is new territory for you (or someone reading this), let me be more specific. With pearl, the pearlescent coat is sprayed over a solid color. Pearls are available in paste form, powder, or liquid. I like the powder type because it can be mixed with whatever medium you prefer to spray in any concentration you desire. Often, if there is only one color involved, the pearl powder is mixed with straight reducer and sprayed over the base color while it's still soft (called "wet on wet"). Then the clear is applied immediately and that's it. The color and pearl coats are not touched before the clear is applied because if the pearl is disturbed it will show in the finished product. On my roadster, using acrylic urethane paints, I wanted to put the scallop on the nose and I needed to put the pearl on before the scallop. So, how do you apply the pearl and then mess with the surface, but leave no imprints? I used 16 ounces of reducer, 4 ounces of clear, and one ounce of hardener (for the clear). In painter's parlance, I reduced the catalyzed clear by 400%. I added an ounce of pearl powder to the thinned mixture and sprayed it wet on wet over the white basecoat. The next morning everything was dry and the pearl coat was hard and stable. I was able to do all the layout, masking, and wipe-down without disturbing the pearl. I could not do any sanding at that point because that would have disturbed the pearl coat and it would have been visible when done. If I needed to do any wet-sanding between coats, it would have to be done before the pearl was applied or after the clear. Any sanding on the pearl or either of the metallic colors would be visible as flaws in the finished product. However, I could and did wipe the surface with wax & grease remover; it does not attack the urethane paint as long as it's completely dry. I hope this helps.