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      04-07-2020, 03:02 PM   #1
thez99
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Paint repair help needed!

So i've got 2 areas I need to RE-repair. First are the spots on my front bumper where there was existing marks, small dents from the prev owners front plate. Then I have a 2" long scratch down to the primer on my passenger side quarter panel, also a tiny chip on the front lip of my hood.

So I got the tiny 1/2 oz bottles of primer, paint and clear from Automotive touchup. Was not anticipating it'd be this much of a pain in the ass but it was. Not so much the pre-sanding and the primer, that was easier as the constency of the primer makes it easier to work with those tiny ass brushes they include in the bottles. Plus I could sand the primer down. Hard part was the base coats and clear. Really didn't seem to be any better kind of lighting to use and it was near impossible to tell the consistency of each coat..

Not to mention the very obvious brush strokes!!

I guess I figured such small spots I wouldn't need the spray cans but I def do. As it sits right now there is loads of evidence of inconsistencies in each coat, not to mention while wet sanding the clear I ended up going through a few little bits of base coat which now reveal primer again, so pretty much worse looking than it started. It may be a bit hard to tell from the pictures, but those I took the second night after wet sanding the clear and buffing with compound.
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      04-07-2020, 03:17 PM   #2
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Question is how should I go about fixing this?

I've ordered the spray cans of primer, base coat and clear as well as some more sand paper and a block. I also ordered a chem spray respirator mask from amazon, won't be here till at least april 24 though (fucking virus).

I was either going to sand the entire areas I fucked over, then tape fairly close around and spray, sand and spray. OR, I would sand and respray my entire front bumper. Reason for this is I figure I'm doing all this I might as well try and patch fix the holes in the front versus having the plugs, they're paint matched but I still think they look like shit. Like the fucking bumper has nipples..

I have bondo paste and I was going to cut two small pieces of hard plastic I could stick a pin-right angle tool thru and into the holes, and then stick to the back of the bumper, paste it up, sand then primer. Though I guess if I really wanted to I could just remove the bumper, would be easier covering up the holes from behind

I've never removed the front bumper in the 1er before so any help would be appreciated, I'm sure it's super easy. Removing it would also make it much easier to sand and paint if I decide to just repaint the whole thing.

Biggest question here is:: DO I STRIP SAND THE EXISTING PAINT DOWN TO METAL BEFORE PRIMERING?? I want to be sure it looks as good as the rest of the car, I'm no professional but I don't see why I can't do so with the right tools and paint. I spoke to two paint shop professionals today both that told me the way they usually do re-paints is they just sand with 600 grit paper but don't even go below the orig clear coat or paint, they just paint over top which I thought was odd, aren't you supposed to layer base coat on TOP of fresh primer in order to get proper adherence and curing??

Last edited by thez99; 04-07-2020 at 03:23 PM..
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      04-09-2020, 06:15 AM   #3
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Ok your brush work looks terrible... But that would be expected as cars aren't painted with brushes.

My old car got keyed in both sides all the way down and on the rear bumper. Since I was a student at the time I opted to repair it myself, well before the days of YouTube and broadband internet were the norm.

It's not that hard.

If you have deep scratches and uneven surfaces you will need to use a primer filler to fill and level it off. It's very easy to sand.
800 grit is fine for primer.

Do not sand your whole bumper... It's not worth it. Use 800grit to sand the small area. You don't need to go down to the plastic, just scuff the surface. Then use a primer (don't think you need primer filler) and let it dry.
Sand that smooth. It should feather into the surrounding area.
Wrap your sandpaper around a stiff sponge or piece of foam.

Mask up surrounding areas. Not even worth removing the bumper.
I wouldn't worry about masking the bumper at all given you'll want to feather and blend the paint in.
Spray lighter colour (base) coats first then move to slightly heavier ones. Make sure the paint flashes off before moving to the next coat. It doesn't need to dry fully but shouldn't need dripping wet.
After 3 or so coats assuming they are even you can do your clear coat. Same technique applies. 2 lighter coats finishing with one heavier coat.
Let it fully dry for a few days.

It'll look like a satin finish with orange peel texture. That is normal.
What people don't realise is that sanding, compounding and polishing are required after painting.
Once fully dry sand the top clear coat to be smooth using 2000+ (3000,4000,5000) wet sand paper. Always sand wet for anything.
After that it'll need smooth but hazy. Then you can compound and polish by hand. It'll come out mirror like.

Good luck!

I used an el Cheapo airless spray gun but you could use rattle cans just fine. I used an acrylic paint... Not 2 pack as it's easier to work with.

Once I was done you couldn't tell. I did it all in my carport without professional equipment. It was my first time.

The key is not too be afraid of sanding. Fine grit paper from 2000 upwards can be buffed out to a mirror like finish.

After all that you wait a month then you can wax it or ceramic coat it.
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      04-09-2020, 06:15 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Edrift View Post
Ok your brush work looks terrible... But that would be expected as cars aren't painted with brushes.

My old car got keyed in both sides all the way down and on the rear bumper. Since I was a student at the time I opted to repair it myself, well before the days of YouTube and broadband internet were the norm.

It's not that hard.

If you have deep scratches and uneven surfaces you will need to use a primer filler to fill and level it off. It's very easy to sand.
800 grit is fine for primer.

Do not sand your whole bumper... It's not worth it. Use 800grit to sand the small area. You don't need to go down to the plastic, just scuff the surface. Then use a primer (don't think you need primer filler) and let it dry.
Sand that smooth. It should feather into the surrounding area.
Wrap your sandpaper around a stiff sponge or piece of foam.

Mask up surrounding areas. Not even worth removing the bumper.
I wouldn't worry about masking the bumper at all given you'll want to feather and blend the paint in.
Spray lighter colour (base) coats first then move to slightly heavier ones. Make sure the paint flashes off before moving to the next coat. It doesn't need to dry fully but shouldn't need dripping wet.
After 3 or so coats assuming they are even you can do your clear coat. Same technique applies. 2 lighter coats finishing with one heavier coat.
Let it fully dry for a few days.

It'll look like a satin finish with orange peel texture. That is normal.
What people don't realise is that sanding, compounding and polishing are required after painting.
Once fully dry sand the top clear coat to be smooth using 2000+ (3000,4000,5000) wet sand paper. Always sand wet for anything.
After that it'll need smooth but hazy. Then you can compound and polish by hand. It'll come out mirror like.

Good luck!

I used an el Cheapo airless spray gun but you could use rattle cans just fine. I used an acrylic paint... Not 2 pack as it's easier to work with.

Once I was done you couldn't tell. I did it all in my carport without professional equipment. It was my first time.

The key is not too be afraid of sanding. Fine grit paper from 2000 upwards can be buffed out to a mirror like finish.

After all that you wait a month then you can wax it or ceramic coat it.
That effectively what I was going to do with the bumper, yet I figured if I'm going to just sand, paint and clear just those affected areas, would I still end up getting overspray paint and clear on areas around it if I don't tape off the area I sand initially to primer? I just don't want to risk spraying paint and clear over areas that are already painted and cleared if you know what I mean.

And the removing the bumper part I said was mostly due to me wanting to repair the 2 large holes made by the previous front plate where right now I have matched plugs. I could prob fashion two small pieces of plastic in the holes and adhere but it'd like be a lot faster, more solid and easier if I took the bumper off and fully covered the holes from the inside, then used the bondo shit on the outside, sanded and then did the repair job. I was going to use pieces of hard plastic, would that work or do I need something else, I don't just have figerglass at the ready..

The spot on the passenger side quarter panel I'd def have to tape around the fucked up area too to prevent overspray on already fine areas. I mean it's basically that or I sand the whole panel down with 800, then do the specific area and then clearcoat the entire thing...

The biggest thing is I just don't want to use too heavy a grit paper if I do the whole panel, if anything I'd just want to remove the clearcoat from the rest and not damage the paint under, that way once I've primer'd and painted the damaged area, I could just clearcoat the entire panel. Am I way overthinking this or basically on point

I just don't wanna fuck it up more than i did with the shitty brush paint bullshit. Also, again, I'm assuming that I'd want to sand those fucked up areas basically down to metal? Wouldn't I need something more like 400 grit?
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      04-09-2020, 06:18 PM   #5
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I guess somewhat in the paint manufacturer's favor, those small brush applications are meant more just for single line brushes, etc. I just got carried away in spots, once I sanded the scratches, etc. and primed, I sanded that with 600 which created a bigger area, directions read I had to paint over those scratches to cover them up so obviously I painted the larger area and so on. The horrid look to the brushes was mostly because like I said the lighting didn't help and it was really hard to tell how thick or thin each coat was, some areas have a lot more and some don't. The same happened with the clearcoat and by that point once the clear "dried" after 24 hours, there was no removing the horrid brush stroke terribleness
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      04-10-2020, 04:58 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thez99 View Post
That effectively what I was going to do with the bumper, yet I figured if I'm going to just sand, paint and clear just those affected areas, would I still end up getting overspray paint and clear on areas around it if I don't tape off the area I sand initially to primer? I just don't want to risk spraying paint and clear over areas that are already painted and cleared if you know what I mean.

And the removing the bumper part I said was mostly due to me wanting to repair the 2 large holes made by the previous front plate where right now I have matched plugs. I could prob fashion two small pieces of plastic in the holes and adhere but it'd like be a lot faster, more solid and easier if I took the bumper off and fully covered the holes from the inside, then used the bondo shit on the outside, sanded and then did the repair job. I was going to use pieces of hard plastic, would that work or do I need something else, I don't just have figerglass at the ready..

The spot on the passenger side quarter panel I'd def have to tape around the fucked up area too to prevent overspray on already fine areas. I mean it's basically that or I sand the whole panel down with 800, then do the specific area and then clearcoat the entire thing...

The biggest thing is I just don't want to use too heavy a grit paper if I do the whole panel, if anything I'd just want to remove the clearcoat from the rest and not damage the paint under, that way once I've primer'd and painted the damaged area, I could just clearcoat the entire panel. Am I way overthinking this or basically on point

I just don't wanna fuck it up more than i did with the shitty brush paint bullshit. Also, again, I'm assuming that I'd want to sand those fucked up areas basically down to metal? Wouldn't I need something more like 400 grit?

If I'm not mistaken you damage is on the bumper, no? The bumper is plastic. Fenders are metal.
You never want to sand down to metal or plastic if you can help it. It's unnecessary and will create more work.

If you must fill up the holes you could potentially plastic weld them and finish with bondo, or use a hot glue gun And finish with bondo. It will be impossible to sand your plastic filler to the right levels as it's not designed to be sanded. Bondo or primer filler is designed to be sanded.


Assuming that the damage is on your bumper, to blend it you can feather it into the clear coat. One rattle can of colour matched paint doesn't go far such is why I haven't suggested respraying the entire bumper.

As long as you don't over spray to other panels and only spray the bumper then you can blend it easily.
Scuff up a wider area than just the damaged part so you can blend.

Paint goes on very thin so so worrying about sanding down too heavily. I just needs to be a scuffed and cleaned very well with isopropyl alcohol and it'll adhere.
If there are any grease or waxes or ceramic coating then it'll screw up there painting process.
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      04-10-2020, 06:44 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Edrift View Post
Ok your brush work looks terrible... But that would be expected as cars aren't painted with brushes.

My old car got keyed in both sides all the way down and on the rear bumper. Since I was a student at the time I opted to repair it myself, well before the days of YouTube and broadband internet were the norm.

It's not that hard.

If you have deep scratches and uneven surfaces you will need to use a primer filler to fill and level it off. It's very easy to sand.
800 grit is fine for primer.

Do not sand your whole bumper... It's not worth it. Use 800grit to sand the small area. You don't need to go down to the plastic, just scuff the surface. Then use a primer (don't think you need primer filler) and let it dry.
Sand that smooth. It should feather into the surrounding area.
Wrap your sandpaper around a stiff sponge or piece of foam.

Mask up surrounding areas. Not even worth removing the bumper.
I wouldn't worry about masking the bumper at all given you'll want to feather and blend the paint in.
Spray lighter colour (base) coats first then move to slightly heavier ones. Make sure the paint flashes off before moving to the next coat. It doesn't need to dry fully but shouldn't need dripping wet.
After 3 or so coats assuming they are even you can do your clear coat. Same technique applies. 2 lighter coats finishing with one heavier coat.
Let it fully dry for a few days.

It'll look like a satin finish with orange peel texture. That is normal.
What people don't realise is that sanding, compounding and polishing are required after painting.
Once fully dry sand the top clear coat to be smooth using 2000+ (3000,4000,5000) wet sand paper. Always sand wet for anything.
After that it'll need smooth but hazy. Then you can compound and polish by hand. It'll come out mirror like.

Good luck!

I used an el Cheapo airless spray gun but you could use rattle cans just fine. I used an acrylic paint... Not 2 pack as it's easier to work with.

Once I was done you couldn't tell. I did it all in my carport without professional equipment. It was my first time.

The key is not too be afraid of sanding. Fine grit paper from 2000 upwards can be buffed out to a mirror like finish.

After all that you wait a month then you can wax it or ceramic coat it.

+1.

I have done rattle can on small jobs even with flake in them, and they turn out pretty good. Now I just use a cheap spray gun. But it works great for keeping up with Road Rash!
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      04-10-2020, 04:42 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Edrift View Post
If I'm not mistaken you damage is on the bumper, no? The bumper is plastic. Fenders are metal.
You never want to sand down to metal or plastic if you can help it. It's unnecessary and will create more work.

If you must fill up the holes you could potentially plastic weld them and finish with bondo, or use a hot glue gun And finish with bondo. It will be impossible to sand your plastic filler to the right levels as it's not designed to be sanded. Bondo or primer filler is designed to be sanded.


Assuming that the damage is on your bumper, to blend it you can feather it into the clear coat. One rattle can of colour matched paint doesn't go far such is why I haven't suggested respraying the entire bumper.

As long as you don't over spray to other panels and only spray the bumper then you can blend it easily.
Scuff up a wider area than just the damaged part so you can blend.

Paint goes on very thin so so worrying about sanding down too heavily. I just needs to be a scuffed and cleaned very well with isopropyl alcohol and it'll adhere.
If there are any grease or waxes or ceramic coating then it'll screw up there painting process.


So I think you confused what I meant bout the "plastic filler". Originally when I wasn't going to remove the bumper, I was just going to take the small flat pieces of hard plastic I had and macgyver them thru the holes with a tool and adhere them behind the bumper. Obviously i'm just going to take the bumper off to do that now, use the bondo mix to adhere the pieces behind the holes and let dry. Then put the bumper back on and do bondo/scraping in the holes and let dry 30 min. Then go at the fucked areas and the bondo with sandpaper and so on.

I get it now about the sanding before paint thing, originally I figured I would need to sand down to the metal in order to effectively re-paint without issue.

So yea I get it, sand the fucked spots themselves and not the rest. My final question specifically is what grits to use and when?
I'm fairly certain this is the layout:
1. 400 grit on the fucked area, lightly sand until smooth hazy (I'm assuming I'm really just sanding thru the existing clear a bit of the new paint I added and that's it?)

2. 600 grit on the bondo holes

3. primer just the area sanded with 400 1-2 coats, let dry

4. 600 grit sand the primer'd areas lightly until smooth (could likely do 4 and 2 together)

5. 3 separate light coats of paint dried in between bout 10-15 min. Last coat let sit for 20 min.

6. 2-3 light coats of clear over painted area, going a little wider around the area to make sure proper coverage.

7. Let clear sit for 48 hours in garage, then wetsand with 2000-3000 grit around the entire area that was cleared. Clean then polish with compound and buff...

Only question is should I be masking off any part of the quarter panel or bumper, or just mask off everything around them like wheels, hood, etc.?? The tiny spot on the tip of the hood I fucked I figured I'd just pop the hood slightly ajar and mask off the majority around it and under it. I see no need popping the hood or having to mask the entire engine, etc. for that
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      04-10-2020, 04:46 PM   #9
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Also, the more I think on this, is the primer step actually necessary for any of this?? Several spots of research online made me think so that for paint to effectively adhere and cure it had to be done over primer. But again, I'm NOT sanding down the metal and plastic so...
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      04-10-2020, 05:01 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thez99 View Post
Also, the more I think on this, is the primer step actually necessary for any of this?? Several spots of research online made me think so that for paint to effectively adhere and cure it had to be done over primer. But again, I'm NOT sanding down the metal and plastic so...
Mask up everything surrounding as paint floats.
Helps to wax the areas that you don't want to get paint on beforehand.

You need primer on the areas you are fixing. When you are feathering/blending the paint you can feather and blend the primer out there too.
So on the very edges you'll be spraying base coat over unprimed areas which is ok assuming you have prepped the surface well (sand with 800 grit and clean well with wax and grease remover or isopropyl alcohol).

I'd suggest using primer filler spray instead of just primer as it'll fill in imperfections from you paint brush job and it's very easy to sand smooth.
Just use 600-800 for primer areas, something heavier for bondo areas.
Use no less than 2000 for the clear... It depends how smooth you clear was applied. If very smooth then start with 3000 grit instead.
Make sure your clear coat is laid thick. You'll be sanding this the most and you don't want to go through to the base coat or you need to start again.

Plenty of diy videos on YouTube these days.
I'm just sharing my experience prior to those days to say it is very possible to diy a spray job and get a decent finish even without experience or professional equipment.

The biggest fails I've had with spray painting come down to the surface not being free from grease and oils, or not being scuffed up.
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      04-10-2020, 05:31 PM   #11
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Ok

So 600 grit sand the fucked areas and dried bondo area

Couple thin coats of primer over sanded shit

Sand primer light with 800 grit just until smooth, clean with alcohol

3 light base coats. Dry

2 Thin clears, then one more thicker clear, only just covering over painted areas with a little overage. Dry 2 days

Wetsand with 2000+ grit only until smooth n hazy. Buff with compound.

Then breath and never fuck up paint again
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      05-13-2020, 12:55 PM   #12
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So I put a good bit of work into this last weekend and overall did a pretty great job considering this was my first spray can car painting job. Except for one very bad decision, which was me taping off the section around the messed up areas on the fender and the hood.. and then painting and clear coating from tape edge to edge 😞
I didn’t really realize how stupid this was until i took the tape off 2 days later to sand and the tap lines were so fucking obvious. At first I flipped on myself but then I figured maybe I could wet sand and polish to blend. I spent another 2-3 hours doing so, most heavily around the edges and I did end up with a buttery smooth edge for the most part but once that was done I soon realized the other issues that basically made that first poor decision worse. I laid on the paint too thick. I did 2 light coats then 2 slightly heavier coats. This fucked me as being the color is mineral grey metallic, the paint looked quite a bit darker. I understand that the shade will lighten a bit as it cures but not near enough to make it ok here. So coupled with the shit looking taped lines and heavier than should be paint coat, it looks like someone HD duct taped part of my fender and the tip of my hood😂
Despite my getting the edges smooth I’ve decided there’s no way this will work. So I’ve ordered another can of paint and clear. Now I am basically going to paint the entire passenger fender and I’m giving very serious thought to doing the same for my hood as at this point I don’t know why not.

Biggest thing I deviated from from before was I did not use any primer. While starting the sanding process I figured that since I wasn’t dealing with any super deep scratches or sanding down to metal, that I wouldn’t need it. So I scuffed the taped areas with 800 the just painted over once clean. This time around I’m going to remove all the new paint and clear with 400 grit then once it’s down to orig clear coat I’ll scuff the entire thing with 600 lightly. Then I’ll spray 2 light primer coats, dry, then sand with 600-800 and then I’ll layer 2 maybe 3 VERY light coats of the base. After I’ll do 3-4 heavier clears the buff after a day or two

I’m still kicking myself for spraying edge to edge but I guess I’ll just call it lesson learned..

The bumper is likely the one I won’t do again. Though I painted edge to edge there it shows up less and only on two sides. I’m figuring I can sand the sides down and polish again once I’ve done the fender and hood again. I’ll see how it looks after a few more days. At the most I might just sand the edges in about an inch or so down to orig paint and then tape farther out and try and feather 1-2 very light base coats right up to the new paint and a few clears and then wet sand and polish. Hoping this will smooth out the transition from orig paint to new a bit smoother.

As far as the hood goes it’s prob my biggest ass kicker as the damn thing started out as just a small nick and chip in the very front ahead of the rounded and has now turned into a literal triangle about 4 inch long (painted tape edge to edge). So along with that and various other chips, etc in the hood I figured wtf not just do the same sanding process for it then remove it and primer base and clear it like the fender, then reinstall when I’ll be polishing everything else. Never removed the hood before so I’m hoping it’s not terribly difficult. I could do it without removing but I feel like I’ll have a much easier time getting an even smooth spray by having it level sitting on some blocks.

I’m sure those of you who have replied before have some shit to say so please do so. I’ve looked over a ton of videos and forums, etc. related to this now not to mention I feel like this has been my life now for the past 2 weeks so I’m more than ready to be done with this. And ffs I’m never trying this shit again after for any chips or scratches, I’ll just be using the drcolorchip dab n smear method.
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      05-13-2020, 05:41 PM   #13
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When I bought my car it had a dent in the front of the hood. Not big but big enough to crack the paint. So I bought a flat hammer and dolly and tapped away. Got it perfect then sanded around it. Filled the hammer marks in with bondo. Sanded out to perfectly uniform and smooth. Got rattle can of my sparkling graphite metallic and clearcoat. Was just going to do a 2inch by 1 inch area.
Same happened to me, put it on too thick and it was darker. As I was going to just sand the clearcoat to smooth. So after 5 or 6 times sanding it, and painting it and clearcoating it just never blended well. And a 2 inch fix was now 1/2 way up my hood.. By the beginning of winter I said screw it until spring. I painted it once more and used one coat of a clearcoat just to protect it until it got warm again. That clearcoat has been peeling for 2 months now. Makes my whole car look like shit. What a pain in the ass it is. My plan now is to sand the entire hood down, rattle can 2 coats, hit it with 1000 grit, lightly. Then like 3 coats of 2k clearcoat. Then the standard several wet sands. Then let it cure for awhile before the rubbing compound to shine it up.
Biggest thing I learned was to be more patient. I was rushing coats. And use 2k clearcoat with the hardner. The clearcoat i was using from automotive touchups was not able to get it shiny even going all the way to 3000 grit wet sand. The 2k is beautiful right out of the can.
Good luck and yes body guys are severely underpaid. Its a lot of fricking work involved.
I do have a large compressor and spray gun, so if my above plan fails I might just bite the bullet and buy a couple quarts of paint and clearcoat.
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      05-13-2020, 05:44 PM   #14
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Or just buy a caron fiber hood and be done with it
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      05-13-2020, 07:17 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Petro135 View Post
Or just buy a caron fiber hood and be done with it
Hah, yea I'd like to be able to afford that, but honestly I am trying to forego the mucho money bit by doing this myself.

The spray cans I'm using are from Auto touchup, I mean I get what you're saying but I felt like even after I fucked up this round, once I hit it with 3000 grit lightly and then some meguirs 105 heavy cut, it was pretty damn glossy. My main issue really is the heavyness of the base coat, I really need to make sure this next time around that I take it VERY light, like literally 2 maybe 3 coats all very light, I think also I fucked up the overlap bit as I took that to mean each pass completely overlap, so I was going left and then right over then moving up and so on, where now I realize it should just be one pass left then move up and right just making sure each layer slightly overlaps the last.

I was going to hit this again this weekend but I think it'll need to wait till next as my extra cans won't be here till then.

And as for taking the hood off I've pretty much x'd that idea. I tried scoping out how the hell I'd remove the two dampers and then the metal brackets and wiring, etc. and decided to hell with that. So my main question now is how do I remove the exposed plastic caps for the washer nozzles? I've nudged them underneath a bit and noticed that have some wiggle room but can't seem to get them to separate and I certainly don't want to snap them but I def need to figure out how to remove the caps so I can then tape from underneath. Same question with the roundel though I'm fairly sure the answer with that is just a pick tool. I'm not even going to fuck around with ANY tape removal around a painted area this time, I'll be taping everything around the hood and fender and the engine bay but no tape touching the actual fender/hood. That way I can prime, paint and clear to the edge with no lines or issues hopefully cuz there is no way I'm going to dress up like fucking Walter White and be asked by my wife if I'm painting my car or cooking meth again after this

Last edited by thez99; 05-13-2020 at 07:28 PM..
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      05-14-2020, 06:23 AM   #16
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Sorry to hear it didn't turn out as planned for you.

When I painted my car it was a light silver colour so I didn't have trouble blending the base coat.

Prep is everything so sanding and wiping down is key. By the sounds of it you have got this part under control as well as the sanding of the clear and getting the right shine. This in itself is a positive.

When I masked off the surrounding areas I left enough space to blend into the existing panel. I have since learnt that another technique is to not do a hard tape line but roll back a piece of paper so you get a soft line but I suspect this mightn't have helped in your case.

Committing to respray a huge panel like the hood is a big commitment. Have you considered just wrapping it in carbon fibre vinyl instead? Or what about some well placed decals? M stripes?

I wouldn't attempt a huge job like that with cans. It'll actually end up really expensive and be difficult to do because you might get paint runs when you lay it on wet.

It would be worth buying a cheap airless paint gun (I used one to respray my car) and some tins of paint and thinners. In Australia it only costs about $A50 for the gun and I think I spent about $A200 for a litre of base, clear and a big can of thinners. This was enough to paint 2 doors, front fenders, rear quarters and rear bumper (about a 30cm strip width along each of those).
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      05-14-2020, 06:29 AM   #17
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Just a thought. For the hood if you only painted a small section, can you remove it with paint thinners and start again? Since you didn't use 2k paint this *may* be a possibility if it hasn't cured yet.
You would have to use proper thinners not mineral spirits or turpentine.
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      05-14-2020, 10:13 AM   #18
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2013 BMW 135i  [0.00]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edrift View Post
Just a thought. For the hood if you only painted a small section, can you remove it with paint thinners and start again? Since you didn't use 2k paint this *may* be a possibility if it hasn't cured yet.
You would have to use proper thinners not mineral spirits or turpentine.
I appreciate the idea. I thought about this as well. Though I know now the correct way to tape and then keep the paint inside the taped area, I honestly am at an ends with this project where I know for fact there’s no way I’m going at this again after this next try nor will I be happy if I see a darker shade inside a single panel regardless if it’s blended better than last. Trust me I’d rather not repaint the hood but it makes sense not only for having a full consistent coat over the whole piece but also as the hood already has a number of decent chips and rash I’d have to patch anyways.

I’ve devised that with everything else taped and the washer nozzles removes (assuming I can figure out how to do that!) I should be able to do windshield to nose sprays all slightly overlapping, passenger side then drivers side. I will be sanding the whole thing lightly with 400 grit to bust through the new paint as well as work through the old clear coat and into the old paint. I’m not taking it down to metal as I’ve seen that’s just not necessary unless there’s serious repair needed. Once it’s smooth I’ll lay two very fine coats of spray primer (not primer filler) then sand it smooth with a light 600 grit in bout an hour. That should give me a solid smooth gray primer surface to paint so I should only need 2 light sprays of basecoat to get the desired color without being too dark. Then the 3-4 coats of clear will follow and then light wet sanding with 2000-3000 grit then heavy cut meguires polish to finish.

More than likely since I’m doing the passenger fender as well I’ll just move from drivers side hood too passenger and flow down to the fender all at once so it’s a smooth as possible. The only issue I’ve found with the can sprayers is you need to hold a tack cloth in your other hand to quick wipe the nozzle every few sprays, otherwise there’s the possibility it may spatter a few tiny drops here n there. Otherwise even though my last attempt was an overall fuckup, the paint and clear came out very smooth.

Also Is the 2k clear really a big difference? Right now I’ll be using the high gloss clear from Auto touchups
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      05-14-2020, 10:15 AM   #19
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And the idea about the decals though inventive would absolutely not work. The fucked paint spot is right at the tip of the hood under the roundel. To big for any random decal and I’m not about to try wrapping the hood. I’ve already spent more than enough time on this already, and I’m sure I’d suck ass at wrapping with vinyl
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      05-14-2020, 12:15 PM   #20
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So biggest questions are how do I pop off the washer nozzles from the hood and will acetone or paint thinner work to remove the new clear coat and paint? I really don’t want to use chemicals to remove the new screwed up paint and clear but if it could be done without harming the old cured paint and clear underneath I’d rather do that then sand more
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      05-15-2020, 12:11 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thez99 View Post
So biggest questions are how do I pop off the washer nozzles from the hood and will acetone or paint thinner work to remove the new clear coat and paint? I really don’t want to use chemicals to remove the new screwed up paint and clear but if it could be done without harming the old cured paint and clear underneath I’d rather do that then sand more
Sorry no idea about the nozzles. Make sure you remove the roundel too.

Paint thinner won't (or rather shouldn't) damage the original OEM paint as that is cured and 2k paint.

Assuming you're respray isn't fully cured, thinners should remove it. I'd only do this if it were a very small section, otherwise I'd just sand and primer filler it. Primer filler sprays on like thick and super easy to sand paint. It will fill up any imperfections including stone chips and possibly tiny dents. It is a pleasure to sand vs sanding the top gloss coat which is harder work.


Don't mix and match paints. I know some paint types are not compatible so I'm not sure if you can do 2k clear on 1k base.

Nothing wrong with 1k paints. They just take a fair while longer to fully cure and harden (think 1 month)

Good luck!
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      05-15-2020, 07:55 AM   #22
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I didn’t know there was a 2k paint. I’ve only ever seen what is offered on Auto touchup and drcolorchip (thou drcolorchip has a looser paint as it’s more for smearing and filling small chips to then be smoothed with sealact).

Either way I should have the extra paint to do this next week.
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