Need wet sanding advice....

[Celica2NR92]

Ok I just finished 3 of my wheels using duplicolor wheel paint...I did 320 grit and then cleaned with mineral spirits and simple green. Then i layed down a light amount of self etching primer....then started with my coats of graphite followed by clear after 30 mins drying the graphite. Seeing as how I did it in the garage I got just a bit of rough feeling spots in the paint...looks like a mix of very light dust and/or some very small peices of paint where the nozzle may have clogged some...I would kind of like to get them nice and smooth to the touch....how long do I need to let the paint cure before trying to wet sand it? I have some 1000 grit sp that i plan to use but am unsure of when and how to go about it. I Want to try to avoid having to respray anything after sanding...am I asking to much? cant i just wetsand and end up with a pretty smooth finish? please help me out guys...

[marc]

I generally wait a half hour and start wet sanding the primer before the final coat. This results in the nice smooth feeling you're looking for.

[mnwolftrack]

The process you are referring to is technically color sanding, not wet sanding. This is when you sand the final top coat to produce a smooth finish, without the intent of applying more coats of paint.

In the case of color sanding, 1000 grit might be fine for the first sanding, but you'll want to follow up with 1500 grit and even 2000 grit if you can find it. Then, you'll need to follow up with a scratch remover compound, swirl remover compound, and wax. It can be a fair amount of work, even on a flat surface. The trouble with curved surfaces or surfaces with edges is it's very easy to sand through a spot.

If this is your first time color sanding, just be prepared to have to respray the whole wheel. If you end up sanding through the color, you will need to re-sand the whole wheel with 320-400 grit and re-spray. Do not try to paint over "smooth" sanded surfaces (e.g. anything over 400 grit).