Question on blending paint -

[Blaine B.]

Got a question. Recently painted some areas of my roof right along the rain gutter (below the roof rack)

Well, the paint didn't exactly come out smooth. In some areas it is smooth, but in some areas it is blotchy. (Not sure why)

What should I do to blend it and make it smooth? Should I sand it down a little and then polish?

All I have is an orbiting buffer - will this work fine, or should I just buy a normal buffer that does not orbit? What polish should I use?

Any tips appreciated! Thanks!

By the way, the paint is black......not that it matters, just incase it does.

[87manche]

sounds like you've got orange peel. Hit it with some polishing compound and see what that get's you.
If the orange peel is really bad you're jst going to have to sand it off and do it over again. Orange peel is usually caused by contaminants on the surface that you're painting.

[Blaine B.]

What kind? The only stuff I have right now are waxes and such, and I believe you are talking about something else.....thanks!

[87manche]

something like this:
http://www.superiorcarcare.net/3mperllrubco.html
it's basically a super fine liquid sandpaper. Go slow. rinse and check often. You might be able to save it or you might not.

[Matthew Currie]

If it's uneven in surface, with orange peel, roughness or runs from poor shooting technique rather than poor surface preparation, you can sometimes get pretty good results by first smoothing it down with the finest wet sandpaper you can find, and then go over it with rubbing compound, then polish. This only works, of course, if the application was thick enough. If the blotchiness is caused by poor surface preparation or uneven surface under the paint, this may not help, and if it's metallic paint and the solids shifted unevenly after it went on (sometimes happens when the paint runs or almost runs), there's nothing you can do for that except to shoot it again.

[Blaine B.]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/bbugaski/Compounds.jpg

Bought some of this today. Very cheap in price, yay.

I went to 3 stores and they did NOT have just a spinning buffer. Every store I went to only had ORBITING buffers. What the hell? Any ideas?

[Matthew Currie]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/bbugaski/Compounds.jpg

Bought some of this today. Very cheap in price, yay.

I went to 3 stores and they did NOT have just a spinning buffer. Every store I went to only had ORBITING buffers. What the hell? Any ideas?

Try just rubbing by hand with straight, not circular, motion. Make sure you read the instructions on the can. Try it without a machine first, and you may well find you don't need it.