My 70 Skylark is frame off restomod completed with 2 years on the road/dragway. Season 1, I drove into a leaf sprung 8.5 rearend out of a project car, forgetting it was on the ground , directly in front of the car . DOH! Front fender by sidelight was damaged. Then this season ,the wife throws the passenger door open and it gits away from her . Luvya hun.... Bear in mind , I did all the metal replacement, bodywork and painting on the car, SPI basecoat and clearcoat, so I have the supplies and ability, just would like to hear from the Pro's (Ethan) the best way to to go about each repair......would love to get these 2 areas back to new as they distract from an otherwise great looking ride.......Thanks in Advance ....Jim
Fender: couple options 1. If the material is as thick as it appears I would feather out the scuff mark with 320 keeping the area as small as possible this will be important later,..then scratch the chipped area with 120 apply light coat of putty,.then block sand and go over area with 180 then 320 again. Prime ..keeping area as small as possible gotta stay at least 2in away from the body line. Option 2. Feather out the entire area if the material isn't as thick as it appears this will increase the repair area but not to the point of it hindering the paint procedure if done properly. Paint procedure Sand primer with 400 Sand surrounding area with 1000 over the body line a few in ,..remove light and behind bumper or swing it out of the way if you prefer. Mask a couple in BEYOND the 1k sand scratches very important,..DO NOT SAND THRU THE CLEAR. Prep for paint as needed,..apply sealer if you like with low psi and a small pattern just to cover the primer the goal here is to keep overspray as minimal as possible. Same with the base coat use no more coats than absolutely necessary to cover the area. 1st coat of clear will sprayed with same technique but with just a little more psi,..just enough to bust up the clear. Extend past wherever the base stopped by 1in or so 2nd coat same deal but go out to the end of the front of the fender but staying a couple of inches from the body line 3rd coat same as above but extend up to the body line but not over it. Optional: sometimes I will melt the clear blend with some reducer if you want to try it you simply have 2 paint cups handy as soon as you finish last coat of clear you dump the remaining in one cup,..pull the trigger to drain the gun then add the pure reducer and dust a couple off passes over the blend edge,..you only have a few seconds to do this. Most the time I dont even bother as I'll just run the buffer speed up and melt it in that way but the above is a proven method. After it dries,..lightly sand the blend joint with 2k and buff it out. You will loose the blend seam under the body line and around the light,..if done correctly me you or anyone else won't be able to see anything. And in that location it will be a permanent repair,..on a roof or somewhere where uv exposure is present the blend eventually will show up albeit very minor. On the door chip your best approach is to feather with 400 up to 800 then drag with a color matched enamel then let dry then lightly sand with 1k and hand rub out, repeat till satisfied
Thanks Ethan. I was planning on bagging the car with plastic, exposing only the 2 areas to be worked on, to minimize overspray. Thanks for walk thru, greatly appreciated. I'll end up reading. and re-reading your post before I start the repairs. I may have questions as I move forward. Thanks again .....Jim
When i paint repaired area on a White car. Before doing all the Procedures that Hugger said. I would go to Autobody supply. And buy a small jug of SEM prep. It is also called scuff soap. It is an excellent Detergent also. But my point. I’ve been painting for a long time. And when some younger guys are painting at my shop. I’ll ask them. Hey are you gonna SEM soap the panel. And they say Why i sanded it with 400-600. And i’ll say better prep. And they laugh. It will be OK. Then when they pull car out of the booth and send it down to detail. The other guys polish the adjacent panel and the panel he cleared looks Darker. Because he cleared of aged paint dirt and oxidation . Now the panel beside the repaired panel is brighter and Whiter. Or the panel he cleared looks little bit yellower. Catch my drift.
Especially when the New white paint blends down the panel and you can see the new paint splatter in the blend. That’s why your eye catches it. If you blend soap. Your blend won’t be seen
White does have to be very clean for sure,..I don't keep scuff stuff around because it gets abused and used incorrectly. I do tell the painter preps to use Ajax and grey scotch brite on white blend panels and the edges then sand the panel.
Ok, couple o' questions... On the front fender, you recommend keeping the repair area as small as possible, for obvious reasons. Am I to understand that I can prime ,seal , and paint over the existing clearcoat , after sanding , cleaning the clearcoat? No need to remove clearcoat down to basecoat? Would like to repaint from bodyline to bottom of fender . TIA, JIM
Yes you leave as much clearcoat undisturbed as possible,..you will sand it with the 1000 but that's it. But yes you taper all the other material on and into the sanded clear
U da man Ethan... Between your coverage of the bodywork /paint questions, and the Wizard's mechanical expertise , you guys gut it locked up... Stevo, your advice is also greatly appreciated. Nice follow up post. Just being Buick Guys, I know! Thanks all... I will update with my results when I find the time to make the repairs....Jim
Hang a chain on the rear end. Ground the car. When your arm goes Back n forth Sometimes you may create static electristy. That car turn into a magnet.
Damage repaired, sealed with SPI epoxy primer, couple coats of 2K , sealed with white epoxy sealer. 3 coats of SPI 2000 Pure White Base Coat, tomorrow I'll clear it 3 times or so. Gittin it done, between trips to the dragstrip....ty for the help.....Jim
Das Rottweiler To get to technical. Mix paint for your car. Then add (2) drops of black that’s in the mix and (1) drop of yellow. And yo should be right on . Because whites will dirty up as time goes on.
Put 3 coats of clear on starting small then larger as I progressed. Finally got around to wetsanding the clear , buffing and polishing the door damage. I can see it, but noone else will , so I'm happy... Will wetsand , buff n polish the fender area when time permits. Jim