OK, I painted my mav myself and well, it didn't turn out as well as I wanted. I painted it in a poorly lit garage in very hot weather and it has orange peel look to it. My question.. I am going to repaint it this spring. I found 4 dings that I missed. After sanding the clearcoat smooth, can I repair the dings over the paint? Should I take those places back down to metel? I am repainting the whole car but am going to recoat over the existing paint. This by no means is a show car, just a daily driver, but I would like it to be shiny . The paint is PPG BC/CC if that matters. I bought the most expensive clear they had and the most expensive primer they had..
How bad is the orange peel? You may be able to wet sand it and buff it back out. Use 1600 grit wet/dry sandpaper to knock it down and then buff with an orbital buffer and polishing compound. I've had good luck with this method and it may keep you from repainting. As far as the dings go, I'd take them down to bare metal. Sam
I read this post earlier, and thought about it for several hours... Sam gives you excellent advice. Dan
How many coats of paint do you have on it now? Personally, Id sand it all off if your going to repaint.
I think it would be a good opportunity to practice color sanding and buffing paint. If you mess up you already convinced yourself your going to repaint the car . Who knows you may be happy with the way it turns out then go back at spot repair the dents you missed.
I painted over the original factory paint, that was sanded almost completely off. all body work was sanded to bare metal. only places that the factory paint was still nice did I not sand to metal. ie. door jams etc. The reason for the repaint is I painted in a poorly lit garage and the passenger side has some light streaks through it. This was my 2nd paint job and I made every mistake possible. my first paint job turned out really nice and I didn't prep nearly as much as I did for this one. I even painted the first time outside in my driveway. I tried to do this one even better but didn't account for the heat. my gun was clogging, I was told by the paint shop, because it was too hot for the paint I was shooting. from a distance this car looks really nice, but up close its really bad. The paint dealer told me I could just roughen up the clear and shoot paint over the top and reclear. I was just wondering if the filler would stick to it or fall out after awhile. The drivers side is really nice except for the orange peel. will try to save it with the wet sanding as stated above. Unless my color wont match? Thanks for the replies..
Thats kinda what I was thinking but the paint store said it was ok.. would rather not chance it. The paint store also said that I could paint in 100 degree weather too, and that didn't work well at all.. thanks for the advice.. I may just take it all down and start from scratch....
another option....i got all the prep work done on a car, then took it to a paint shop and paid them $180 bucks to shoot it for me...frank...
just one more question.. What exactly does color sanding do??? I was planning on wet sanding the clear after a few weeks of drying then buffing.. color sanding is what you do before the clear??? Does this bring out the metalic better? Also, the paint has pearl in it, as well as metalic.
couple things I might offer. As far as repairing the dings over paint goes what the shop may be referring to is if you've taken the car to metal and shot it with an epoxy primer some manufacturers are recommending filler over that due to newer cars steel alloys where filler may not adhere that well, one of those things where you'd have to read the directions for use. As far as your gun clogging up sounds like the reducer used was to fast different reducers for different temps ie slower for hotter. The color sanding referred to earlier by Sam is a process by which you would use a sanding block with 1600 grit wet paper soak it in a bucket with a few drops of dish soap ( keeps from clogging) and sand the orange peel down. Things to consider here are not to sand through the clear unlikely if you used two or more coats and second what color of car you have if its black or red or one of the darker colors you'll probably see swirl marks. Where I may differ from some on this is going to at least a 2000 grit wet paper at the end, saves a little work imo. You might be wondering when do i know i've sanded enough? When the entire area you've worked on is dull ( no glossy little dimples ) use one of those extra bondo spreaders for a squeegy. When you are done and think you've just ruined your car for good then use a polishing compound and wool pad, don't stick it on your grinder though or you'll burn through the clear coat. Kevin Tetz at paintucation offers a dvd dedicated to color sanding I belive, probably worth the investment to save a costly repaint
I did use an epoxy primer. 2 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear. The clear had alot of solids and is really tuff to sand. I will still have to paint the passengers side because of the striping of the paint but I think I can save the drivers side. my dings are on the hood and the passengers side door. I can take them both back down and redo. I just hope the paint store matches my color. It has only been a couple of months so fading isn't an issue, just them mixing it right..lol As far as what was said about the gun clogging, I believe you are correct. The paint store asked me if I would be painting in hot weather. I told them yes but apparently it was still too hot. Being a rookie I know it wont be perfect, but at least I can say I did it.. Thabnks for your help
I've seen people sand the clear dry with a 6 in. rotary sander. I would be more inclined to use a random orbital to reduce the amount of rubbing you have to do. You have to be very careful and not sand too much as stated above. I go over it with rubbing compound on my polisher/buffer the first time and then go over it again with a polishing compound. This takes out most of the swirl. Use a different bonnet for each one. I like the foam kind the best, but wool or cotton bonnets work well too. The expensive sand paper is woth it as the grit height is more uniform and you get less scratches and swirl marks that are hard to get out with the rubbing and buffing. I've hand wet sanded a whole car before and it's very very very labor intensive and time consuming. I've also had good success using a random orbital and a spay bottle with water and a little bit of soap.
http://www.myclassiccar.com/HowTo/restoration/colorsand/index.shtml Here is an MCC article on color sanding.
