cutting back lacquer finish?

[billdn]

Sorry to return to this thread but I've now completed spraying the tank with Halfords petrol resistant lacquer, taking on board earlier comments ! But I've been hearing /reading about cutting back and polishing after lacquer application . Is this necessary or not to be done with this type of lacquer? - the finish looks quite good and I'm quite pleased for a rattle can job! The base coat was a metallic blue, the more I read the more confused I become!

[Johnwebley]

I would suggest that if your happy. Leave it.

You may make it worse

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[SPR]

If it is 1k lacquer then leave at least a couple of months before any type of machine polish

After that time if it is needed then you can polish to refine the finish if needed

Simon

[Andych]

If the finish is good I would leave it.. Mostly people will "colour sand" and buff which is to flatten off the clear using very fine wet and dry paper (with plenty of slightly soapy water).
This takes out most orange-peel and any bugs that might have landed in the drying clear coat.
You can then buff it up using cutting compound and then finish polishing...
It really all depends on how many coats of clear you applied as well.. if only 1 or 2 then you run the risk of rubbing through the clear and having to start all over again.
Not an exciting prospect...
I agree with waiting a while to do anything though... single pak clear takes quite a while to fully harden.. on the surface it may feel hard but it will still be gassing out from underneath as it relies on the solvents to "gas out" for it to fully harden.
Throw some pics up.. sounds like a nice paint job.

[gtmdriver]

If you're happy with it then leave it.

If you really want to cut it back then, once it's fully hardened, you need to wet sand out any orange peel using fine wet and dry (800 grit perhaps) then move to finer grades (1200 -2000) and finally polish  the surface with Farclea G3, Farclea Finishing Compound and finally Farclea Glaze (or similar products). It's time consuming. Especially if you're doing it by hand.

[AshimotoK0]

I was interested in the Halfords clear coat so I looked it up but seems gets overall  bad reviews ... I would be very careful getting any fuel on it. That's assuming the reviews are correct and they applied it correctly. One guy said warming up the can helped tremendously. Bit worried about it not being truly fuel resistant though. I guess you need a two-pack paint to achieve this.

I wonder if some kind of baking of the lacquer may help?

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-and-body-repair/specialist-and-decorative-paints/halfords-petrol-resistant-lacquer-300ml-768697.html

[Oggers]

 I would echo previous posts and suggest fine W&D - 1200 then 2000 and plenty of water -  and do it by hand with a former so you get the feel for the job and don't dig in too much - which is always the risk with power sanders. Yes, heat the can up too - in a bucket of hot water for a few minutes. This reduces the viscosity of the lacquer, helping it to flow better from the nozzle and assists in achieving a more even finish. The downside of this is that you also heat up the propellent, which tends to expel the lacquer at a greater flow rate when the nozzle is depressed - good old Charles' law - so perhaps bring the can further back when spraying. Always spray with the can held vertically. You will therefore need to suspend the tank somehow. Spaying technique is also important.  You can use polishing compounds to cut it back afterwards, and if done by machine I would recommend a random orbital and soft mop. You must also wait until each coat is hard.   

[billdn]

Andych - mentioned putting up some pics of the tank , so here goes! the indents are for allowing clearance for the ace bars I've fitted, the added bits on the sides are purely my own fantasy to make it a bit different with possibly a nod to a Triton esque look!

[billdn]

No offence taken Oddjob , I masked off the filler at that point as my other 400/4 tank has similar detail at filler neck but not sure of paint job on that tank as was done by PO but seems okay, worst case I could mask off carefully and spray that bit in later, as it wont be used for a while yet! As for styling, one's meat is another mans poison eh!