OK i have a bright metallic blue aftermarket paint job, and its beautiful but there are a few tiny rusty spots where stones chipped the paint, and also a few bubbly places about the size of a quarter, besides that the rest of the car looks like it was just painted. can i get small areas painted? and will it look right? how much will it cost?

 

A) can i get small areas painted?
Well, of course.

B) and will it look right?
Depends on your paint guy.

C) how much will it cost?
See the answer to "B"

So much depends on where you take it and the amount of experience the place has that any answers anyone can give are WAGs. (Wild A$$ed Guesses)

Again, as in your other post, just take it to a couple of local shops and ask them what they think. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Then again, you may be unpleasantly surprised.

Steve

 

since he didnt answer your question i will,

yes you can get areas "spotted in"

ands its a lot cheaper than getting the whole car resprayed

(edit) oh i guess he did answer that for some reason my eyes drifted over his non spaced answers...

 

If you have bubbly paint the size of a quarter, the rust will have to be completely removed prior to repainting the entire panel (roof, door, fender, etc). The whole panel will have to be resprayed so the new paint can be blended onto the adjacent panel so the color will match right. You just can't spot repair rust. For example, if the door has rust the entire door and adjacent panels( front fender and rear quarter panel) will have to be prepped for painting and blending onto. The front fender and quarter panels just get wet sanded and wax and grease remover is used to prep the panels for blending. It's the only way good body shops do it. That's why some shops charge $1000 and some charge $100. It's a lot of work to do it correctly.

 

No it's not. Not even close. Spotting a couple areas takes substantially less time and materials. Overall the result isn't nearly as good, but it's definately cheaper.

The major drawbacks to having the areas spotted is that color matching can be tough, and when you blend paint, durability becomes an issue because on the edges of the blended area the clearcoat is extremely thin.

 

USUALLY, when I did rust work on my old 83 Riv, I could not really just "spot in a small area. Usuallly you will have to paint a section, not necessarily a panel. What you will need done is usually up to a highlight line to hide the paint lines. I have gotten away with the lowerhalf of a door, for example up to the bump guard. You can usually get away with a nice looking car going this route. Unfortunately it is noticable when under tight inspection.

To get a better finish, entire panels need to be painted. It has been proven that Panels even directly from the factory do not necessarily match perfectly from one to the other. Was at the Detroit Auto show, and on several occasions I noticed that the gas door panel was slightly different color even on these "perfect" show cars. Metallics are a pain in the butt, solid colors are easier. True Candies are almost impossible. You can do a good job though.

For a car show finish the entire car must be painted, all at once, under the same conditions for all panels.

hope that helps...

John

 

Have a look at a new F-body no panels match! My 00 has all mismatched panels.

 

ok you quoted me saying no its not cheaper then you say, but its definataly cheaper...do you kow what your talking about...any body tech that knows how to paint can spot in paint and not have a problem with the clear being "thin", when i paint car and blend cars i dont have any problems with thin edges or in that case any edges....and for anyone who can paint the result is just as good, maybe you need to get around some people that know how to lay a coat down...and just to say yeah you will go to bare metal if the rust is bad enough, but you will still spot that in not repaint the whole area(depending how big), but you will clear the whole area, there a difference in painting a whole area and clearing it.....


and to answer the above the problem with your car is very common in a lot of new cars...these is becasue the combination of plastic and metal...they both make the exact color paint look different....

 

I'm plenty familiar with the process. My father owns a body shop and I grew up in it. If you're going to clear the whole panel... why not just shoot color on the whole panel too? People spot in an area because it's easier and cheaper than doing the whole panel, but if you're going to clear the whole panel, other than for color-match issues, spotting the color is fairly useless. Color matching is a lot better than in years past, but I suppose with some colors, especially metallics, it could be preferrable to spot the color.

But, 99 out of 100 times, if you bring your car to a body shop to get some areas spotted in, they're only going to clear a spot slightly larger than the spot they laid the color on, and the result is wafer-thin clear around the perimiter.


And out of curiosity, how in the hell do you think painting a whole car is cheaper than spotting a few areas?

 

Well I have to say on my 00 T/A I had someone release my T-top at the mall. I was getting on the highway and it went for a ride of its own. It pitted my B-pillar, driver rear quarter, spoiler and rear hatch. At the dealer were I worked I say them do it. They sanded down the pitted areas to metal/ composite and then went as far to spray and clear the whole panels and blend (paint inclueded) into the front of my door. i have taken it in for a "trade in" at 5 dealers. Not one has picked up on the paint work. After a tiny wet sand and clay bar you will not find anywhere to tell. I can't and I'm a perfectionest and I brought it in to see if pros could tell. NOPE! Spots can be fixed perfectly