need some painting/sanding polishing advice

[slapi01]

i have read so many topics on this stuff, that i am exhausted. i don't want you guys feeling it's like beating a dead horse repeating this stuff, but i need to read more.

my metal (fenders,headlamp bezel, engine covers) are in very nice shape, but have very minimal pitting (looks like dirt specs). i want to make then disappear, but not sure the CORRECT way to do this. i tried wet sanding the front fender starting with 400 working my way up. they are still there and i did clean the metal in between the sanding. maybe i am not sanding far enough, i do not know.

i painted my lower forks with the epoxy paint and one came out nice and the other have some wrinkles in it. it has been a week since i painted them, so what is the paper i start out with to remove these to put more paint on it. the othe fork that turned out nice i would like to run 1500 on it with a quick pass of rubbing compound to clean it up really nice. any problems with doing this?? one last one i promise---- one of my gauges started to fall off the rack while it was wet and put finger marks in it. can i sand these down or do i strip it and start over? thanks again guys

i hate to be anal about this build, but i want mine to come out like your bikes on here.

 

[mysta2]

400 is pretty aggressive for light pitting on chrome, I would have said steel wool or scotchbrite with wd40, but if it didn't come out with 400 it must be more than light. Is there any way you can get us some pictures? You should be able to sand down the fingerprints and recoat the part... but that's contingent on how well the paint is actually sticking to it, if you're sanding edge feathers really nicely you're good to go, if a hard line appears as the paint tears away you need to strip and recoat.

Stuff that's chrome is probably raw chrome and you can polish it directly, anything thats silver you need to remove the old clear coat before you'll ever see a difference.

Without knowing more about the paint you're using I can't tell you what grit to finish your coats with, but for PPG DBC I sand between layers with 600 or 400, unless using an uncoated black because the pigments in black are the smallest and they will show everything... there are a lot of variables.

 

[slapi01]

this isn't the best picture, but it might show what i am up against. the fenders are just straight stainless right?? :-[

 

[GK]

Originally posted by slapi01

the fenders are just straight stainless right??

mate tha fenders are chrome plated steel, if they were stainless you wouldnt need advice on cleaning up rust pitting