Ok, so I'm thinking about doing some touch ups, small enhancements. I'm still trying to sell this thing. I've done some small painting before, so I'm confident I can do this as well, but I've never done anything that was clearcoated before, and I have some concerns. If I were to do any wetsanding to the car, or touch up work, would it look funny? Sanding would remove the clear coat over the portion of the car I'm working on, yes? So would I just clear coat over the spot when I'm done and then blend it later when it's had time to cure?

Anyone who's done their own painting, if you could give me a few hints on this. I can do some practice touch ups on my Ranger, to get the flow for it, but the Ranger wasn't clear coated, or if it was, it wore off a LONG time ago, because my hood is peeling and you can see the primer underneath, so my big concern is the clearcoat aspects of this job. I've read several auto body manuals on the subject, but the ones I read didn't touch on clear coating either.

Thanks,

Mathius

 

I touched up a pretty big scrape on my old RS using the tech article. I sanded it smooth, primered, sanded, primered, sanded, painted, wetsanded, painted again in areas that needed it, wetsanded, clearcoated, wetsanded, buffed with compound. Heres the results:

 

Before #2

 

Sorry, I don't have them uploaded on the net. Heres an after shot.

 

Last one- Another after:

 

Hmm.. That looks really good, did you use a paint gun, or rattle can? I can get hold of a paint gun, but I was hoping to get away with rattle can. That stuff's 5 bucks a pop for a small can, so I'd bet paint for a real paint gun costs a lot more. I don't have a clue what clearcoating costs either.

Oh, and did you paint the whole fender, or blend it? It really looks good, but if you ended up painting the whole fender, that really defeats the purpose of my question. I'm trying to stay away from that big a project. I'd just like to touch up the major ugly spots.

Mathius

 

Believe it or not, I used a small bottle of touch-up paint (the kind with the little brush attached to the cap). It took awhile, but came out good. I didn't paint the whole fender. I just sanded down the scrape and a little of the surrounding area smooth then worked from there. I'm sure I coulda done it with a spray can, but I didn't want overspray anywhere and I didn't wanna mask the entire car.

 

Sounds like what I'm looking for. Any particular clear coat I should look for? Again, that looks really great, you did a good job on it.

Mathius

 

When you're looking at the small bottles of touch up paint, there should be a bottle of clear there too. Thats what I used. Make sure you match the color. Mine wasn't a perfect match (it was more of a metallic black) but it still looked much better than that ugly scratch. You could only tell up close. Good luck, any other questions just ask.

 

Well, I started earlier today. No turning back now. I wetsanded the front a bit to see how it would come out. Won't know 'til it's buffed obviously, 'cuz it looks like I have awful streaks now, but I'll probably touch that up when I get to painting. I had a few spots that I had to take down to the bare plastic and I could probably use a bit of filler down on the nose of my front spoiler. There's some ugly scratches down there that while small, are deep enough that sanding won't remove them without distorting the rest of it.

Also had my first experience with fiberglassing. First tip, USE GLOVES! Wow, it took me forever to get that stuff off my hands. Instructions didn't mention a thing about gloves, but reading the label on the resin bottle showed me my error. I was afraid the gloves would stick in the resin and make things bad, but jeeze it would have been worth the trouble.

The patch looks pretty good for my first job. I did a small crack in my front skirt. The fiberglass coated nicely, but I made two boo-boos, mostly because I was dripping the resin everywhere. The kit I bought called for two layers of fiberglass cloth, and I rushed the second one, because I didn't know how long it would set, but it turns out I shouldn't have. If you're going to try this, I'd suggest you don't rush it.

Of the two problems I have, one could have been avoided easily if I had taken my time. I didn't smooth the resin out enough, and a small blotch to the left of the patch is going to take me forever to sand down, especially at the angle its on.

The second problem I'm not going to worry about a ton.... because the crack was clear through the front skirt, I tried to wrap the cloth around the bottom of the skirt, to mend both sides, well it apparently started to slip while it was setting (while I was in the house, trying every product known to man to keep my hands from being glued in one spot), and there was a little bubble in the patch at the bottom. I cut most of it off, but lifting it caused quite a bit of the resin to lift up, so I cut some more off and left it.

I'm not going to mess with it too much. If I was going to do something more permanent, I'd just replace the whole skirt, but I'm mainly going for a less expensive fix. It should look really good anyways, provided nobody goes peaking under the skirt, where they'll see it a bit wavy in that spot, but the outside of the car should still come out ok once I finish sanding. Overall I'm quite pleased, and I think it'll be a lot of fun when I actually getting around to doing a console for my truck.

I didn't take any before pictures, so unless I have some already lying around, I can't really do much with it, but I can show you the finished product when I finally get done. I'm going to have a much larger area to paint than originally intended, so I think I'll have to look at finding a spray on clear coat. I intended to use rattle can touch up paint anyhow, so I already have that.

Mathius

 

Finished sanding this morning, and got to painting. It was looking great and then a damn string fell in it or something so now I have a spot I have to re-do. <growl>

I did manage to find one before picture that gives an ok shot of what I'm working on.

Mathius

 

After shots....

This is the front nose of the skirt.

 

Here's the corner I fiberglassed. It's damn near flawless unless you look under the ground effects where you can see a slight ridge.

 

And here's the rest of the corner, complete with that damn spot I have to fix.

 

Those white edges on the bottom are reflections, there isn't really a paint gap there. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it being my first job and all. I just hope I can blend the rest of it ok. I'm gonna let it cure for a few days, but I'll take the masking off later tonight and see what I'm dealing with.

Mathius

 

that really looks good guys!! it is impossible to match paint. which is why if you get a whole fender painted they paint half the door too. its basicaly an optical illusion. just painting a fender sticks out like a sore thumb, but when they blend half the door it tricks the eye! i can paint two excact panels, using the same paint, same everything, and just making air pressure adjusments will make the paint look different. i am currently replacing a fender on my formula, but rather blend the door in, i am gonna go ahead and spray the whole car. im gonna replace the fender tomm. afternoon and then start stripping the car of all mirrors, moldings, etc.. ( wonder what the boss will say when i roll it out of the paint booth on wednesday?) its currently arctic white, but i am gonna check out some other whites tomm, and possibly a little pearl!! good luck on your body repairs and if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask!

 

Well, now that you mention it.... I let the paint cure dry over the weekend, but I did take the masking off... The parts that I just wetsanded look very faded compared to the rest of the car, and the small touchups are very much "raised" compared to the rest of the paint.

How would you suggest I blend these? I was thinking I should just mask the headlights , hood, hood ornament, etc. in that area, and maybe overspray a bit to blend, and then overspray some more when I clearcoat, do you think this is a bad idea?

I'm discouraged because the large areas I worked on actually look better than the smaller ones. It makes me want to just strip the paint off and paint the whole piece, but that would take a lot more painting than I'd originally planned.

'Course overall the whole project is a success provided I can clean up the nose of the car (since I have it up for sale and all <blush>), but the best part is, is my fiberglassing attempt came out great, so now that I've got my feet wet, I'm ready to try a slightly bigger project.

Mathius

 

The areas that were wetsanded look dull because the clearcoat is either scratched or gone. You should re-clear those. Also, I didn't know you were working with the valance. I think you need to add a flex additive to the paint to prevent it from chipping or cracking later.

 

are you using any type of blender? did you use a flexible primer on the nose?

 

No blender that I'm aware of. What exactly does the term mean? Are you talking about some sort of rubbing compound or something along those lines? No, I haven't gotten that far yet, I gave the paint a few days to dry and I haven't touched it yet. I used Rustoleum Automotive Primer, I honestly don't know anything about a flexible primer. Is this going to cause problems?

Mathius

 

a flexible primer will flex with the nose, since it isnt metal, the paint you laid down wont be able to flex with nose, so therefore it will crack. the blender i am not really sure of because i use single stage paint because i paint eighteen wheelers, our fleet isnt base coat/ clear coat. so we use a blender, and then we buff out the edges that were blended. i will ask a guy tommorrow who does all the base\clears around the shop. ill get back to you.
the blender breaks the old paint down and makes the blend look alot cleaner.

 

I did a check on the sprays I've been using on the car. I've got Rustoleum Automotive Primer, and Plasti-Kote touch up spray. Neither cans indicate what kinds of surfaces can be used.

I did a test on the areas I've done already, flexing the front skirt, and I didn't find any indications of paint cracking. Is this enough of a test to ensure I'm doing a decent job?

I would guess in today's age, where nearly every new car coming off the line is mostly fiberglass, that any touch up paints coming out now would be the flexible type. Of course I'm just speculating.

Some more input would be appreciated. I only have one friend around here that does his own painting, and he's not in the area to give me any first hand advice. What do you guys think?

Mathius