What am I doing wrong?

[warnesey333]

I received my anni valance the other day off of the 'bay. It's plastic, not the fibre glass copies.

Anyway, I've got about painting it - or trying to!

Here is what I did:
1) Rubbed down with 400 wet and dry
2) Plastic Primer coat
3) Cleaned & Rubbed down again with wet and dry
4) Plastic Primer Coat
5) Cleaned & Rubbed down again with wet and dry
6) Plastic Primer Coat
7) Cleaned & scuffed with the 3M pad.
Applied 1 light coat of black (NC9Z) paint and left for about 4 hours
9) Cleaned & rubbed down with 1200 wet and dry
10) Applied another coat of black (NC9Z) paint and left for about 4 hours
11) Cleaned & rubbed down with 1200 wet and dry
12) Applied another coat of black (NC9Z) paint and left overnight
13) This afternoon (after about 12 - 16 hours drying)  I sprayed my first coat of Lacquer
14) Waited 15 mins - 30 mins and applied another coat.

Now the paint coat looks ok but it doesn't have that "shine" that the car body does.

When I bought the front valance I also got the rear valance but that was already painted and that matches perfectly.

Am I doing something wrong or would it be worth me just taking to a body shop?

Comments and suggestions are extremely welcome - it's slightly disheartened me

Jack

[warnesey333]

Ok after doing a fair bit of searching around, I'm going to try spraying about 3 - 4 coats of lacquer, 15 minutes in between each and then leaving overnight.

2000 wet and dry tomorrow dinner and then a buff up.

Anyone stop me in my tracks

[warnesey333]

ok after 4 coats of lacuqer, its actually starting to look good!

[Dan Gleebits]

you rubbed it down a lot , IMO prime with 2-3 coats leave to dry then rub down,800 grit w/d  then on with the basecoat 2-3 coats dependant on coverage (leave 10 mins to flash off between coats) then on with the clear coat 3 coats.

if your using 2k clear coat 3 coats will be ample, if using 1k rattle can you might need more coats if your planning on flatting/nibbing and polishing.

 

[Tom4388]

Not long back i bought myself a debadged grill of ebay and i took it to a few places to see how much it would cost to get it sprayed and i got some stupid prices so i decided to do it myself.

i did everything you did and i got the same matt effect so i gave it more coats of lacqeur, i did this 4 or 5 times then when it dried i polished until it was shiny like the car paint

i think more coats of lacquer and polishing is the key.

hope it helps

[northeast_gti-t]

you rubbed it down a lot , IMO prime with 2-3 coats leave to dry then rub down,800 grit w/d  then on with the basecoat 2-3 coats dependant on coverage (leave 10 mins to flash off between coats) then on with the clear coat 3 coats.

if your using 2k clear coat 3 coats will be ample, if using 1k rattle can you might need more coats if your planning on flatting/nibbing and polishing.

 

agreed  thats the way of doing it