Agreed. Its impressive how fast someone who does it for a living can get it straight. Our guys amazed me on my car. They make it look easy. It aint.
Well it's done - and here's how it went down... After I hammered out the damage, I could have paid $300 to have a pro do the remaining repair/repaint. In retrospect, I absolutely should have done this and may still end up there eventually. But of course I did not. I decided to push through and do it myself: torpedoes be dammed, full steam ahead. So what you're looking at is the result of... All tools and materials off-the-shelf from the local auto parts store (paint, filler, etc.) Multiple complete attempts at body repair (meaning all the way BACK down to metal, several times - I think three in all) Base color from Dupli-Color ratttle cans (technically they had the right "color" but of course, it didn't actually match) Clear coat from Dupli-Color rattle cans (this was a complete waste of time and money, so...) Clear coat from Dupli-Color Paint Shop (1 entire quart) Total time: Almost 4 weeks Total cost: About $100 Total trips to auto parts store: 6 (the best I can recall) Critical analysis... Rattle can paint doesn't lay down worth a flip, especially across big areas no matter how carefully you try to apply it (big surprise) When I realized this, I stopped mid panel and tried to color blend into the original paint (yeah, brilliant idea - didn't work at all) Turns out the dent actually deformed the entire panel just a little, pushing the body crease up at a slight angle, and I never could get my repair crease matched up quite right with the undamaged crease The dent also bulged out the rear of the panel where it meets the quarter panel extension - I got the back side restored pretty well but never could get the outer edge shape quite right and ended up fudging the quarter panel extension placement to minimize the problem After final cut-n-polish, my clear coat (surface) doesn't match the rest of the car's clear coat (hmmm, yet another big surprise) Thankfully the bumper and extension pieces cover up a lot of my close-but-not-quite-right work on the rear panel areas Too bad my (perfect, rechromed) bumper was also damaged and has a big goober that sticks out like a sore thumb (to me) So in the end I can say I did it myself, and let me tell you: it looks great...in the dark...from 20ft away...preferably drunk
We are most critical of our own work, right? I think this looks good for the amount of money you have in it - $100. You can always re-work it later. Plus, you got some good bodywork experience out of it.
Yep - good experience and my son wanted to see me take it to completion so hopefully that will mean something to him someday...
Well it's been a LONG time since I did any body work (like the summer of 1984) and I never attempted anything this complex. I remember the first day the owner (of the body shop I worked at) let me actually spray paint instead of just sanding and prepping. He had a habit of shaking the paint gun every few minutes to keep the paint mixed up, which I thought looked cool. The very first can of paint I mixed was a bright blue metallic lacquer which I was going to spray on an old hood to practice. I put it on the gun, turned away from the work bench, and gave it a shake. Unfortunately, I hadn't locked the can onto the gun. The cup flew off and landed - I kid you not - directly in the middle of the hood of a chocolate brown 944 Porsche the owner had just finished spraying that morning. He looked at it stunned for just a few seconds - he was right beside me when I did this - then looked back at me and started laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath, then walked away. This was the same guy who on my very first day greeted me at the door and said, "Hey glad you're here. (big smile and hand shake) I'll pay you $100 cash every Friday afternoon. But just so you know, I'm a cocaine addict and drink a lot so there will be some shady people in and out of here from time to time. Just do your job and stay out of the office. If the cops show up and haul me off, just lock up when you're done for the day. Okay?" Uh...ok...
