How long to color sand and buff

[AmadeusCharger500]

How long should I wait to color sand and buff after spraying the clear coat?
This is the rocker and lower front edge of quarter on 73 charger.

[Indygenerallee]

I usually wait a couple days, But if the paint was cured in a booth I would say the next day.

[Lord Warlock]

A couple days but could be quicker if needed, its usually hard enough the next day.

[hemi-hampton]

Most people I know dont sand & buff low enough to sand & buff a Rocker since it's so low on the car. Unless it's a show car or you got flaws to remove. How long to wait depends on if paint is baked or air dried. LEON.

[Dino]

What they said.  If you have access to the booth once more or to infrared drying lamps, it's not a bad idea to se them after sanding and before buffing.  If the paint is not ready to be sanded you will know as the paper will stuck.

[AmadeusCharger500]

Thanks for all the replies. Its not a show car but I thought it would be nice to have a shiny rocker. I spent a lot of work on the lower panels after a friend loaned me a rotisserie.

[Indygenerallee]

Trust me your gonna be pissed when you see all the time you spent sanding and buffing the rocker out just for it to get rock chipped! 

[bill440rt]

In a production body shop it's not uncommon to spray, bake, & color sand/buff the same day before delivery.

With something like a show car or resto, etc I prefer to wait at least a week or so, maybe longer. Let it cure for a little while. Less chance of shinkage or die-back.

[hemi-hampton]

Yes, In some cases the longer the better, I let a 69 Mustang I had sit 6 months after I painted it to rub it. Was the best shine I ever had. The problem is, A week later some clears are still soft & easy to sand & Rub while some others will be hard as a rock & not so easy to sand or Rub. For example, If you want to waite a week or 2 to rub out some Imron Clear or any Polyurethane clear forget it, it will be hard as a rock. LEON.

[AmadeusCharger500]

I'm starting to lean toward leaving it alone until I finish the other rocker, considering that, it could be up to 5 months before I color sand and buff because I am depending on the 60 to 70 degree weather to do paint more painting. It sounds like thats a workable option from some of these last comments.
So turning the question around, what is the longest I can wait?
At some point does the clear harden too much to sand?

[Lord Warlock]

You can wait forever, there really isn't a time line, I've found you can color sand a 5 year old new car if you want to.  My 04 SVT cobra had a lot of orange peel in the paint (at least to ME) and I sanded and buffed the upper part of the rear fender when it was 5 years old and it still worked ok, although I will admit that I did end up deciding not to proceed with the rest of the car as it just wasn't worth the effort for a daily driver car.  Its a lot of work and hardly anyone appreciates it. 

On a more realistic scale, I painted my dodge stealth turbo (several times before painting the charger) and would sometimes wait six months or more before I bothered wetsanding and buffing.  I didn't notice a difference.

[six-tee-nine]

Another question :

Should you paint and spray clear in one step or can you spray the paint on, let it sit for a couple of days, then sand out imperfections, small dust particles or orange peel and then shoot the clear coat.

This way you need to rub the paint and go over the whole car again to polish the clear, so work wise you'll spend alot more time, but my hours are for free, I want the end result as good as possible since I'm lacking a spray booth.

[bill440rt]

Another question :

Should you paint and spray clear in one step or can you spray the paint on, let it sit for a couple of days, then sand out imperfections, small dust particles or orange peel and then shoot the clear coat.

This way you need to rub the paint and go over the whole car again to polish the clear, so work wise you'll spend alot more time, but my hours are for free, I want the end result as good as possible since I'm lacking a spray booth.

A true basecoat/clearcoat paint job is performed by spraying the basecoat, allowing it to flash for the recommended time by the paint manufacturer (usually no longer than an hour), and spraying the clear directly over it.
Basecoat is thin, and has no gloss to it. A few small random dirt nibs can be removed prior to clear, but I would not recommend panel sanding. There is no need.

[six-tee-nine]

Thanks, that answered my question.

[Lord Warlock]

You aren't likely to see dirt nibs on just the basecoat application, it tends to look pretty flat until you put the clear on, same with orange peel, you'll only notice orange peel after the clear goes on, and its usually in the clear coat that you see it.  The longer you wait to put clear on the higher the chance you'll have a negative chemical reaction to the reducers of the base and clear coats.  Always best to get base and clears from same manufacturer's paint systems. 

If you use single stage paint, it does the color and clear in one step and you see the imperfections a bit quicker. 

[hemi-hampton]

You can denib or sand the base & clear right over it but only if it's a solid color. You don't want to sand a mettalic then clear right over it. With a mettalic you'll need a light coat or 2 of base over it before you clear again, with a solid base you could do it either way, with or without additional base, I usually prefer more base to cover any dirt that left discoloration in paint. LEON.

[Patronus]

Why did you paint just the rocker?

[superbirdtom]

You can denib or sand the base & clear right over it but only if it's a solid color. You don't want to sand a mettalic then clear right over it. With a mettalic you'll need a light coat or 2 of base over it before you clear again, with a solid base you could do it either way, with or without additional base, I usually prefer more base to cover any dirt that left discoloration in paint. LEON.

right on the money hemi Hampton, u can't sand metallic or pearl basecoats without messing them up.   like hemi says just sand base imperfections out and try to not get any dust nibs in it on the base recoat.  also never tack off a basecoat before clearing.