Is wet-sanding required between coats? I've heard that it's not necessary, and you can spray multiply coats w/just letting it flash dry(what's this/how long)? I sprayed my first coat and it turned out excellent (perfectly smooth), but as soon as I applied my second coat, there was orange peel. If I were to wet-sand between coats will this remove the orange peel, and keep the orange peel from coming back when I apply the next coat? I was thinking of applying 3 basecoats of black, followed by 1 coat of clear w/silver pearl, 1 coat of clear, another coat with clear/silver, and finish it off with another 1 or 2 coats of clear, then buff when paint is fully dried. Any help/tips or how-many coats do you think I should apply.
Thanks,
EmJay

Is wet-sanding required between coats?

No. For a standard repaint, not necessary. For a super smooth, deep gloss paint job, especially with dark colors, wet sanding between coats is recommended. That’s what the pro’s do and that’s why those paint jobs cost so much-all the labor. Wet sanding of metallic’s is not recommend as it tends to mess up the pattern of the flakes though it can be done if done slowly and carefully.

…you can spray multiply coats w/just letting it flash dry(what's this/how long)?

Flash is the time between coats to allow some of the solvents/reducers/thinners to evaporate. Flash time depends on the type of paint you’re using and is listed in the paint manufacturer’s application instructions. Painting without allowing for the proper flash time will result in problems later on as the solvents in the underlying coats will be trapped. They will try to come later and ruin the paint. NOTE: some new paints allow for wet on wet application which means no flash time is required.


…first coat and it turned out excellent (perfectly smooth), but as soon as I applied my second coat, there was orange peel. If I were to wet-sand between coats will this remove the orange peel, and keep the orange peel from coming back when I apply the next coat?

One of the reasons for wet sanding is to remove orange peel between coats. It won’t prevent orange peel on subsequent coats. Since the second coat orange peeled did you allow for proper flash, properly reduce/thin the paint, clean gun, same air pressure and technique as the first? All of these factors effect how the paint lays down.

Your paint application sounds pretty custom and hopefully some pro painter can give you a good answer.