Ceramic over almost orange peel, wet sanding?

Hi all,
First time post here. I thought I’d ask those knowledgeable about paint. I have an obsession with PERFECT paint on electric guitars, which is almost always automotive. In a recent project I had a repaint in two part urethane. It turned out great but not perfect as there’s a n almost orange peel that makes the reflections scatter a bit. For instruments, painters ofter apply finish thin because of dogma so a I’m hesitant to do a lot of sanding/compounding. I’ve also previous applied ceramic like Mother’s CMX on others with great results. Does anyone know how ceramic coatings sand and compound? It’s not going to be in the rain or etc so it should be a permanent coat. I’m thinking that if I layer the ceramic I should have room to wet sand at 2000 grit up and compound without hitting clear coat. Any experience here?
Thanks!
 

chopolds

Member
No experience with ceramics, but I do paint guitars for friends. I do put on enough clear to lightly sand and buff it, with regular automotive sandpaper, and compounds and polishes. I use an air powered 3 inch buffer, with foam pads. If there's a lot of orange pee, I might start with 1000 grit, go to 1500 then 2000 before buffing.
 

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No experience with ceramics, but I do paint guitars for friends. I do put on enough clear to lightly sand and buff it, with regular automotive sandpaper, and compounds and polishes. I use an air powered 3 inch buffer, with foam pads. If there's a lot of orange pee, I might start with 1000 grit, go to 1500 then 2000 before buffing.

Thanks! I took a closer look and it’s a pearl paint so I could see a good depth and went the traditional way. I block wet sanded from 1,000 to 5,000 grit. Somehow I still had a more swirl marks that I would have expected. After using Meguires M105,M205 and #9 it’s smoother than a baby butt and in the right light it might blind you.
 

chopolds

Member
Good combination for buffing strategy! The only issue I have with the Meguire's 105 and 205, is that it's hard to tell if they have really taken out all the scratches from the previous step. They make the paint look real good, too quickly, but then, if you wash it, the shine sometimes disappears. So they are adding surface agents or something to make it look better, but it's hiding what the compound is actually doing.
 
Good combination for buffing strategy! The only issue I have with the Meguire's 105 and 205, is that it's hard to tell if they have really taken out all the scratches from the previous step. They make the paint look real good, too quickly, but then, if you wash it, the shine sometimes disappears. So they are adding surface agents or something to make it look better, but it's hiding what the compound is actually doing.

Thanks,

I considered what you said and took a bit a prekleno to it.... you were right, there are some swirl/scratches that appeared again. Some might think it’s a gimmick but I cracked out the Quixx kit. I got one just as a skeptic to try it on where one of my kids scratched my car door with their bike handle. It worked great and had held for at least a year. So used it all over guitar body and it came out perfect. One little low spot I can only see with a high power LED lamp in just the right spot. Hit it with prekleno again, still perfect. I applied a ceramic coat and will layer. It should be magnificent.
 
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