I shot clear coat and then saw that the base is full of flaws

[jmmj]

Hi folks,

I've dabbled in painting over the years but never had good equipment. Now i have a gun and compressor etc...

For christmas i thought i'd resolve the hood on my sons pickup which has a clear coat thats breaking up. I thought i'd just sand off the bad clear without disturbing the base and shoot a clear over it all (after sanding of course).

I joked with him about needing to practice on someone else's car before painting something important like my wifes bug or my bus!

When he arrived home and i started looking at the hood i saw dents, which i couldnt get to from behind and 50 or so stone chips... some that have gotten down to metal and are rusting. So i sanded anything rusty down to metal and applied filler. As i hadn't counted on using primer, i didnt buy any, but i had just a little 2k PU primer lying around to coat a couple times where i had used filler.

Then i went onto wet sanding the entire hood 600 grit. Everything seemed super smooth and with water on top looked great.

Then i shot a base metalic silver, 3 coats. I cant remember if i was already seeing defects but went straight onto clear...

With the clear i immediately saw problems and as i already had all the clear in the gun i shot the 3 coats.

The result is a nice glossy surface with little to no orange peel, BUT the base looks like crap! I'm seeing that basically every place that i sanded has shown up, so i guess that i didnt do enough sanding and i remember freaking out about sanding through any primer because i didnt have any more. i would have shot the whole hood in primer - if i had had enough primer o hand. As it was christmas and things were closed i decided to make do...

So i'm asking those with experience - what do i do now?!!

I've been doing some reading around the net and theres some conflicting info.

Can i sand the clear with 600 and base coat it? or should i shoot primer first?

I've been using dupont paints.

Hope you all had a safe and merry Christmas.

Happy new years!

-Mike
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[jmmj]

Actually... the base was shot over primer and some parts in factory clear coat (i didnt have enough primer remember). As i had seen guys on you tube shooting base over a scuffed up clear i thought it'd be ok... but this may have contributed to what i'm seeing.

-m.
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[jspbtown]

Yes, you can shoot more base over the clear. But first you should block it with 600 wet. You really must use the block.

If after blocking it you have a nice flat surface, meaning that there is an even scuffing, then reshoot your base and clear. The key is to make sure you use a block. The block will show all minor issues you have before you shoot the base.

You will want to make sure you check the cure times to make sure you don't get an interaction.

[jmmj]

[jspbtown]

cris cross is fine. The key is to keep it flat, plenty of water and try to get a even and thorough scuff on the panel.

[jmmj]

There are a couple of low spots - dings actually...

The scope of this respray wasn't to get everything perfect!

But with these dings, the block obviously isnt going to reach them. So is it ok just to sand by hand in these dings?? Or is the fact that a ding is there going to create an anomaly once the base metalic is sprayed??

Thanks,

Mike
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New project!! Brazilian Split!!
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[jspbtown]

[Mike Fisher]

Add a little filler, spot putty or high build primer in the dings and then block sand it again.
I like red oxide primer because it will show any flaws better.
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[jmmj]

[jspbtown]

If you are going down to bare metal than make sure you invest in some epoxy primer.

Then your steps are:

1. Epoxy prime, cure, scuff
2. Filler work
3. High Build
4. Guidecoat
5. Block
6. Reduced epoxy as sealer
7. Base
8. Clear

[jmmj]

[theastronaut]

Just get SPI epoxy, it builds enough to use as a surfacer if you don't need to do heavy blocking. It's more stable and doesn't shrink like high build does. No sealer or high build needed this way. If you do need high build primer, polyester primer (like Slick Sand) is better as it won't shrink.

If possible make your own blocks out of 1/16", 1/8", and 1/4" plexiglass/acrylic. The hard surface will cut quickly and ensure that the surface is being leveled, and the thinner blocks will flex to match the contour of the panel. I use Gorilla tape on the back side in a "T" shape as a handle.

Do your filler work over prepped bare metal. Get your filler work as perfect as possible, don't rely on piling on a lot of primer to get the shape right or the panel straight.


Bare metal.
Filler.
Three coats of epoxy.
Guidecoat.
Block with 220 to remove orange peel. Finer paper will not cut enough to flatten the primer- it'll only "round over" the texture *especially* if you're not using a hard-face block.
Guidecoat.
Wetsand with 600. Make sure all the 220 scratches are sanded out!
Base- enough coats to get coverage, then nib any dust/trash spots and shoot an orientaion coat to get even metalic particle layout.
Clear.
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[jmmj]

[theastronaut]

[jmmj]

[jason]

I have conflicting advice. The clear would act like a high build primer. I would have put a thick guide coat, cheap flat black. Blocked the hood until it was all gone. If any metal came through a dust of primer before paint then clear. I worked at a body shop out of high school and seen it many times.

If stripping to steel
1. Epoxy
2. Filler
3. High build
4. Paint
5. Clear

You can add filler straight on to the epoxy without sanding first for about 7 days. Check with manufacture of epoxy. It makes an airtight seal and filler chemically sticks without possibility of rust under it.


Try a flexible block before buying a bunch. I dont like them. It’s all preference and i like flats.

[jmmj]

[NachoCar]

Thank you for the Tip on acrylic blocks!!!

I was looking at my round beetle and my flat durablock and just knew there HAD to be a 'Trick'