to sand, or not to sand

[efrem351]

i just painted my car with acrylic lacquer clear coat. do is wet sand then buff? or do i just buff???

[Bob Parmenter]

Depends on how smooth you blew it on, and how smooth (shiney) you want it when you're done.

The last acrylic lacquer job I did was 25 years ago and all it needed was a good hand rub. If you've got "orange peel" then you have to knock it down smooth, then buff. Just be careful as it's easy to "burn" lacquer if you get too aggressive with the wheel.

[kenseth17]

Is it really lacquer? I didn't even know you could still buy lacquer auto paint. I thought it wasn't legal to sell anymore with. First body shop I worked for right out of tech school 12 years ago had me dump all the lacquer paint on the mixer into the waste barrel. I only painted one car with lacquer back in school and it wouldn't be my first choice for paint compared to the urethanes of today. It has to be buffed for gloss, and isn't very durable, it is more easily damaged by chemicals and such then the urethanes. Lacquer looks great after buffing and drys quick, but I think that is about all that is good about lacquer. There is also no activator so you don't have isocyanates to deal with, but also means since it doesn't chemically cure that it has to have air and time cure it, which could be a long time.