Should I wet sand my base coat b4 clearing??

[Duffinatur]

Hi all,

Tonight I sprayed 4 coats of silver. (pic in my gallery) I'm very happy with the shade and the paint I chose covered very well, but not very happy with the surface texture. it feels like primer before block sanding. I'm sure it was my lack of practice/inexperience with two stage paints. I was also very conservative with the coats because its been quite a few years since I painted silver. It seems as if I didn't get the middle coats "wet" enough. But i'm also not sure if this would be normal with silver colors.

I was thinking I could sand the base coat, but I tried a small spot on a previously painted interior panel and wasn't sure if I liked the result. Or if can use a mild scuff pad to knock off any high spots, will it leave any scratches that would show through the clear? I can load a lot of clear on this thing if needed.

Everyone here on club cobra has been very helpful, even when I make a stupid mistake or question, and I always search through the forums for my answers first, but this is a very important part of my build. (The one that gave me the most anxiety as well). Any suggestions?


2nd question:
Should I paint my stripes before clearing, or after, and then maybe clearing again? I've also thought about semi flat black stripes (1/2 flat - 1/2 gloss paint mix) has anyone tried this? I've seen it mentioned here in the forums.

thanks all!!

Duff