Classic & Vintage - wet sanding a frame

So I'm in the midst of doing my first decent rattlecan paint job on my girlfriend's mystery frame, maybe a Miele w/Ishiwata tubing. I posted a thread on this a while back but believe it was lost in one of the server crashes. I am correcting a very badly done repaint.

I've done the primer and a first coat of color. My question is about the timing on the wetsand, and general procedures. I have a couple sheets of very fine sandpaper and a bucket of water. Do I wait for the paint to dry for a while before wet sanding? Do I just dunk the sandpaper in the water and go to town on the color? How do I get into the lug areas, particularly at the bottom bracket? How much pressure should I apply?

I did wet sand some of the primer, rubbing gently along the tubes. A lot of the primer was being taking off by the sandpaper so I stopped and moved onto the color.

I know some of you have had success with this process (cuda2k?), any help would be appreciated.

I waited for the paint to dry thoroughly before wet sanding (a week usually, but much shorter time are likely fine. I was doing the job up at a friends house 20mi away and only got up there once per weekend). Very light pressure should be applied, mostly allowing the paper to skim over the tubes on the thin film of water. This will smooth the imperfections from the tube without biting into the entire surface of the paint coat too much. Lugged areas can be tricky, smaller pieces of sand paper, time and caution are the best advise I have here.

Why are you wet sanding the color coat? Are you using a lacquer? Enamel does not require sanding for gloss. If enamel, build up the primer to sand, get it smooth, shoot the color and you're done (or clear coat). And if lacquer, Dr. D is going to get after you.

Why are you wet sanding the color coat? Are you using a lacquer? Enamel does not require sanding for gloss. If enamel, build up the primer to sand, get it smooth, shoot the color and you're done (or clear coat). And if lacquer, Dr. D is going to get after you.

I have not wet sanded the color coat. I would only do this to smooth it out. And because I have read that some others do it with good results. No, I am not using a lacquer. What do you mean "build up the primer to sand..." how many coats does it take? I did about 3 in 24 hrs. I will clear coat at the end.

And, I am not scared of Dr. D... should I be? ;)

Your primer may not have been dry enough for your wetsanding, so you were removing more than you expected, may have even "balled up" a little on you. I'll bet you were using standard primer, which you can sand but is really made to be used as a "non-sand primer". You can buy rattlecan "sandable primer" which is intended to be used as a primer/surfacer to build up scratches and minor imperfections in the underlying paint/bare metal, and is made for and should be sanded for the best final product.

gotcha... thanks