Paint Advice Needed

[Lowe119]

How do you (help) prevent the "ridges" that are formed when you mask graphics? Is there a special time when you take the masking material off - when dry - when wet - or double the mask and take the top one off when wet? Or do you use a heat gun or razor blade? Or do you just get that ridge and take care of it afterwards - with sanding or a ton of clearcoat?

Thanks for any advice.

[spyderchick]

The ridges will always form when you mask graphics. You can lightly wet sand the area(fine grit sand paper), then you must clearcoat the entire piece. If you want a perfectly smooth finish, you must wet sand the clear and add one additional clearcoat. If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I'll have Roger get back to you on specifics.

[dwilson]

+1 on what spyderchick said.

I've done a fair number of paint jobs, like the one on the CB450 below  ;D
it's the only way.  

[Roger@ASMA]

More specifics, like are you attempting to use single stage or basecoat/clearcoat? If using single stage it's impossible not to have a ridge. If using BC/CC try to cover the second color with the least amount of paint. Unmask when dry (1/2 hour should do) and put 3 coats of clear on. With three coats the ridge should be extremely small and you can colorsand with 1000 grit and buff and it should be completely gone. If you're doing a show job you usually need to sand the clear with 800 grit and re-clear for perfection.

Hope that helps.

[Lowe119]

Helps a lot.
Thanks all for the advice.