Since I'm kind of up a creek without a paddle for the time being with my pass quarter (a bit short on cash for the replacment as of right now but I'm saving), I've decided that I'm going to start the body work this summer with repainting my smaller body panels so I don't have to shell out too much for paint and stuff as of yet. And so I can get practice for when I start doing the bigger stuff. These are the rust-free panels, BTW.

I've started with the stock 87 spoiler and the rear deck, since I had holes from the Z28 spoiler to fill and it's nice and flat back there. What I did was take everything down to the base material (fiberglass for the spoiler and the bare metal for the decklid) to get rid of the crappy paint I had on the decklid and the horribly applied primer that was on the spoiler when I got it from the junkyard. I smoothed everything out with what was roughly a 120 grit abrasive wheel (3M rust and paint stripping wheel) first and then followed with 120 on a rubber hand sanding block. After that, I followed with DupliColor Filler Primer in a can (probably going to get flak for this, but I'd rather learn on the smaller stuff as opposed to having to repaint, say, my hood), and sanded that down with a 320 grit sanding sponge (prefer the sponge) until smooth. I did this for 2 more coats, and then applied the first coat of DupliColor Perfect Coat in Universal Black Metallic. After the first coat of that, I sanded that down with 1000 grit wet/dry on the sanding block, for about 3 coats, finishing the last color coat with 2000 grit wet/dry. All sanding was wet sanding between coats, and allowed to dry in the sun after using a rag to wipe off a majority of the water and sanded off material. Now, when I applied the clear coat on the spoiler, I assumed that I had to wet sand this down with 2000 grit. But it looks like crap? It looked pretty nice before I wet sanded the clear.

I don't currently have a clear coat on the deck lid, just the bottom of the spoiler. I know I'm going to get flak for not using a sprayer and some more expensive paint, but I'm on a small budget and taking my time, and I plan on getting an HVLP gun soon. If someone has some tips for setting that up, I'd appreciate that as well. Also, what exactly is "color sanding"? My mom's car just got back from the collision shop and between the crappy Chrysler factory paint and what was done at the shop, it has a shine but looks like absolute garbage if you look at it just right (kind of ripply), and I REALLY don't want that. Is there something I should be doing differently, other than using a different paint (which is obvious)? I plan on getting everything in paint before I pick up a buffer, BTW, as that will probably be about how long fixing the rear quarter will take at this current stage.

Whew, long post, with too many questions...

Also, one last question: Has anyone used that Rust Bullet stuff? I'm curious about that and would like to maybe hear from someone who has used it before I just, well, bite the bullet, and get it anyways.

 

Well congrats on tackling a daunting task, and it sounds like you
have good plan of attack.

Duplicolor is a good manufacturer, with some quality new product lines.
But I have to ask, where did the idea of sanding the base coat originate?
Was this part of DupliColor product info?

For a base/clear application, the base coat is not usually sanded prior to
final clear application -- problem areas like runs/sags not withstanding.
When my son & brother-in-law did our project, the problem was not
enough coats of clear. The result is what's called "orange peel", i.e.
when viewed from an angle in good light the surface appears to have
the dimpled look of ... an orange. What distinguishes a good painter
from an average one, is how much rubbing is necessary of the final surface.
So elbow grease can offset skill level.

I may stand to be corrected here (won't be the first/last time), but as I
recall "color sanding 101" by Kevin Tetz ("Trucks" on Spike Powerblock TV),
after the final clear, START with very high grit like 1000, then 1400, 2000,
with a small amount of dish soap in the water, and finally very fine
polishing compound.

And thats what the plan is for mine -- very light scuffing (600 grit), several
coats of clear, and then the elbow grease of color sanding.

Good luck, and post some pics of your progress.
kk

 

I've seen fisheyes before and I know I don't have any, well, I didn't before I wet sanded the clear coat on the spoiler. The reason I wet sanded the final base coat is that I want a glassy surface, not the ripply texture seen on most factory jobs (especially Chrysler... YUCK!). I take it this isn't right?

I suppose I'll have to go out and get some more 600 grit... I only have about a third of a sheet left and that's well used.

Still looking for input on that Rust Bullet... I live in NY with salty winters (only car for the time being), and after I take care of this rust I don't want it coming back. POR-15 seems a little expensive with all of the extra crap you have to get to go with it for it to work right.

 

Also, what's the best way to get down to the base material of the bumper covers? Both of mine have spider cracked right down to the urethane and need to be completely stripped (even more so than the sheet metal of the car). I doubt using a chemical stripper would be good for the urethane, right?