Guys, I painted my Studebaker with PPG's OMNI single stage on top of a couple of coats of primer. I see some thin spots I'd like to touch up and hoping I can just lightly sand around them, feather tape it off and reshoot. I would mix a small amount with reducer & hardener. Does this sound okay to do? I painted yesterday and only noticed the spots now. Also, for whatever reason, the metalic paint is not terribly smooth to the touch. Can I use my buffer with a mild cutting product to smooth it out? Yes...I'm a rank amateur. Thanks!
I’m not a expert on this but have painted several cars with SS paint. I never have painted SS metallic because I like to clear metallic so I prefer base clear. If it were me I would sand say the entire fender with 400 or 600 till smooth and repaint that fender. Does your SS have a harder if so the longer you wait the harder it gets. Chances are if it rough or lots of orange peel it won’t buff out only thing to do is color sand. And with metallic that’s not going to be good if you have to be aggressive. I would work on panel at a time till your satisfied. The one problem with metallic is getting it all to match. A lot depends on color and how much metallic is in the paint. Take your time and figure it out it doable.
I'd sand it with 600 and do a complete respray, you can't sand and buff a metallic color. My experience with Omni single stage is it needs 3 cotes to completely cover. If you want to sand and buff put a clear coat over the color.
Unfortunately your choice of SS metallic was not a good one for a rank amateur. When did you paint it yesterday? I believe OMNI has a 24 hr recoat window. Check the data sheets to make sure. If you are within that you can respray anything after that you will need to sand and as stated you will need to redo the whole fender.
Needs 3 full coats to cover if you want to sand and buff you better have 4 or 5 coats. To do a spot repair you would need to blend the paint it's a bit tricky with metallic paint you'll needs lots of practice even for a complete panel respray temps, humidity, air pressure at the gun and mix will effect the metallic lay and hue of the color.
I did 4 coats with my single stage, and it's a non metallic. Not sure you could sand and buff much if it is metallic, even with 4 coats? I'd feel comfortable sanding it and repainting very soon, but I'd still want to paint to the nearest gap, or body line. And not sure how lucky you'll get with metallic?
Good luck. I’ll bump for the more experienced guys with SS metallic. I’ve never seen it successfully spotted in. Always had a halo. At least it’s fresh. Part of the issue is the metallic. Very little can be done with SS metallic as it creates dark spots where you damage the metallic no matter how many coats it has. A metallic base coat is the same. After you sand the base to remove an imperfection, you have to add another coat to cover the damaged metallics. I’d sand it and reshoot the car.
A friend of mine has single-stage metallic on his '55 Buick, and it didn't lay out perfectly flat. Once it was fully cured he was able to successfully cut and buff it without ruining the metallic effect. Probably 2000-3000 grit only and you cant go down nearly as aggressively as you could with a ton of clearcoat, but it buffed out and looked great afterward. I think if you just want to knock down the lumpy topcoat appearance you'll be able to cut and buff it, just make sure it's fully cured and be gentle with the sanding.
If your getting thin spots with SS that tells me your putting it on way too thin. That would also explain the rough feel of the paint. Its so thin that your feeling the metallic. Usually SS goes on somewhat heavy compared to BC. That allows it to flow out and the metallic to lay down and end up with a smooth surface.
Some companies wont make SS metallics because of the difficulty of spraying them. If possible Id use a slower reducer to let the paint have a chance to flow itself out a bit
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