Black carpet is on the way and black corbeau seats are chilling in my living room.

I seen your car marc, looks great. Even better then mine. I know I made mistakes. I also know what and how I can fix them when time permits.

Bad results, ive learned comes from bad primer prep, like my hood, which I have to redo this week. My first coat of base was too close and I got some sags. Really bad on my drivers door. I will fix that when time permits as well, by sanding and possibly primering again as well. You can do it too, if you dont mind admiting your errors, and knowing that you will have to make corrections again. I have to order extra paint before I can fix my mistakes. It is alot better then different shades of primer regardless!

The sun reflection shows the orangepeel. Im not afraid of sanding that out. I am concerned with the fact I have to order more paint so I can scuff and repaint certain panels which I know I can do flawless the second time around, but can I make sure it matches the panels adjacent to it? I am not sure, but its a risk I am willing to take.

 

I Have also contemplated trying touch up paints instead of doing whole panels. The drivers door could use a whole repaint but other areas near the gfx need only touch up. Can I do a good blend job if I sand it down and repaint? I guess we will find out. I am stuck between showing off, which looks good in pictures, and yet being scared to let everyone see it in public for the sake of criticism. It is not professional, but it is mine, so I take it to heart. I know the mistakes that lay there can be corrected. I only need time and supplies to get around to it. The way I see it right now, it is light years better then the primer jalopy I ran around with (with pride) of coarse.

 

If you drove it around with pride before than why give a **** what people say now

 

Cuz I have a self painted job on the line, and I can't blame primered panels anymore. Like the rest of the work I've done myself. I want people to take notice of the hard work and sweat I have put into a project that I have done 98% myself.

 

Weren't you just blaming a poorly primered hood earlier in this thread?

I guess I would care if I was going into the auto body / painting career field

 

I sent you a pm hope you could help me out since i dont wanna rob the thread.

 

Buff that sob out first before you go painting the whole hood unless there's a major difference in color between the top of the fender and hood. Just look at the orange peel crap on mine. If you do have to do the blending, your new paint might not match exactly. Do some reading and watch videos on blending panels. There was actually an interesting segment on a Trucks show about blending in repair panels. Basically do a small section of full strength color then cut that down with some clear for the next coat and so on till it's a gradient of color blending into the older paint. It's so there's not a sharp cut off between the two different colors, just tricks the eye into seeing it as one color.

Here's my crappy orange peel.



Then after sanding and buffing...

 

Traviz looks good, that's close to the color I want, mine has the gold flec matalic flame red I think, factory. Not sure exactly what the code # is. But I would say looks close to what you have. Let me know the color! I love it

 

Proud of you lil homie... For a first time diy effort, it came out nice. Corrections can always be made. I dont think my ***** hang low enough to try that on my own.... in an apt complex, no less! I am proud and happy for you!

 

paints for rich people

 

Yes thats why I want to repaint the hood. I did not overlap the primer well enough over the original gelcoat on the hood, and the shade of red bleeds through on the top.

Like I said in reference to vins quote.. I was primering grey over grey gelcoat and did not overlap well enough so the color bled through and you can see a striping effect.
Your buffing came out amazing. Can you explain your exact process?

 

Looks great for a diy garage job.

Get some more practice in, so you can do mine next year

 

looking good man.

Wetsand it with 1000 or 1200 and see how much orange peel you can get out. Just dont sand thru the clear. when done sanding use something like 3m perfect it to polish it.

Should look great when done.

 

lets say I did sand through the clear, can it be fixed by clearing that panel again?

 

for being a 1st time paint job I wouldnt sweat what anyone things man. Prob. better then what most can do. Id wetsand all the orange peel out if you dont break thru the clear. then polish it. see how it looks and go from there on repainting panels if needed.

Id get some scrap and practice your technique for awhile with a cheap omi line paint or something. Get it down pat and then worry about the car. This way it looks great. Its just a matter or practice and getting use to doing it.

 

Looks good, leave it alone, if the car is fast, then it's ok. Even new cars have some peel. At least it's not 3 diff colors of primer.

 

Yea, its lookin real nice, but im removing all bumpers,mirrors,headlights,....everything to get the clean edge and not take a chance on peeling from poor adheision

 

thats what I did except no bumper removal.
If it started to peel some day... years from now. Nothing A touch up gun cant fix right?

 

Wet sanded with 1000 and 1500 till everything was dull, the California water blade thing is great for wiping down a panel and checking things. Got the electric dewalt buffer out, set at 1400 rpm with a clean wool pad and 3M Perfect it 3000 rubbing compound, switched to a buffing foam pad and Meguiars swirl remover compound, switch to a polishing foam pad and Meguiars machine glaze. Wiped it down with a microfiber cloth and there it was. Probably not what everyone does but it seems to work ok for me. Oh yeah, don't sand or buff on top of hard edges, just sand and buff up to them.

 

So I could use some noob sanding advice.

I have a 2" lip / gfx along my Lexus front bumper that's got a bunch of chips/blemishes over the past several years.

I'd like to just sand it a little to smooth it out and hit with some matching spray. What should I use sandpaper wise?
Not looking for perfection as I'm sure it'll hit some future curbage.

 

I would probably go wetsand 1000. and then hit it with the spraybomb of matching choice.

 

I think I have some Meguiars 1000 unigrit somewhere. That should work, right?

I'll have to look into finding a somewhat matching aerosol "spray bomb".

 

Just make sure to wetsand. so get a bucket or something with water in it