500

Hey Andrew,

Looks great! Did you already buff? It looks like some of those 3M buffing and polishing compounds in the background... I'd be keen to hear how it went if that is what you did.

I will be wetsanding and buffing etc. when I get back in a couple of weeks, and I will need to start researching the products etc.

I too stuck with L041. It really looks great when it is re-done. How much disassembly did you end up doing?

Keep up the great work!

(Oh yeah, if it makes you feel any better, I ended up spending about $1700 (Canadian dollars though...) on my paint (well, there were a few other incidental items in that) and I will still need more to finish the bumpers etc! )

apierce918

yea, i spent about 200$ replacing pieces i broke.

as far as dissassembly, i didnt take the engine out.. heh

but i took all the trim around the doors out, that was kind of scary because i couldnt see how they were held in, and after i started taking the weatherstripping out and whatnot, i was able to just keep going. kinda of scary, but at least you wont see any tape lines! to me those make a job look worse than a few sanding marks or misquito legs

yea that is after buffing, we used a 3m rubbing compound first with a wool pad to remove any possible sanding scratches (wetsanded with 800 then 1500 then 2000) then used 3m perfect it with a foam waffle pad to remove the swirl marks, turns out perfect. im really pleased with it.

still have a ways to go before i am done, but getting a final piece helped boost the morale and gives a little energy to keep at it!

thanks for all the kind words

WhoDak

I see a bottle of Insulator Wax in that shot too, that stuff is really amazing. The panel looks awesome, I can't wait to see the car.

500

Hey Andrew,

Thanks for the info! Another thing I was thinking, is you may want to re-install the valence before you paint the rest (i.e. fenders) and just mask it off. I found that the front corners of the valence fits so firmly against the inside faces of the forward-most return on the fenders, that it would be pretty likely to scuff the new paint on that part of the fender if you re-install afterwards. I put my valence on before the fenders were painted and everything worked out well. You may already have planned this, or have a different good idea, I just wanted to pass it along in case.

Some other things I can think of from the "big shoot" (when you paint the majority of the car): As I mentioned in my thread a ways back, I got some dust settling on the paint, in spite of my extensive efforts to minimize that. After two coats, I tried to remove some of the dust with tweezers. Bigger ones came off OK, but when I tried to get smaller ones off, I made more of a mark in the clear than if I had just left it. I just stopped trying, sprayed my third coat and let the car dry. Shortly before I left, I wetsanded the top of one of the front fenders, where I had some dust nibs, and did a quick buff with some Meguire's fine cut compound (just what I had around - not sure if I will use it for the whole car...). I found that this quickly eliminated any trace of the dust nib. So I guess the moral of the story is, unless something really obvious/large settles onto the paint, you will be probably better off just letting any piece of dust stay where it is... the wetsanding does take care of it.

The other thing I'm thinking about is go nuts on light (especially since you're spraying black). To give you an idea, if you go back to my thread (it's a few pages back... search "Finally...Paint") and look at how much light there was in the photos, you might think it is pretty OK. I thought so too, but ended up needing a portable fluourescent lamp (near floor level) to really see the clear go on the side panels. This is really important, if you start losing track of your 50% overlap, the texture will be uneven (runs or dry spray, both not great). Again, you probably have this all under control, I'm just trying to pass info along.

Your car will be great. Taking out the trim and seals is a very good move, the only way to go IMO.

apierce918

thanks for the tips. ill have to check out the valance thing.

the original paint was peeling a bit on the driver side fender right where it mated to the valence, that was the main reason i took it off (and because i needed to get the foglight housings out). that, and it was much easier to rough it up on a table rather than on the bottom of the car. probably head to bed now and get back to the grind tomorrow morning try to finish up any more body work because we need to spray the K36 primer/surfacer ontop of the DP50 epoxy primer soon (only have a 7 day window)

500

Hey Andrew, I'm not sure if my language was right, by "valence" I mean the part immediately above the front bumper, i.e. what you have painted. I'm not sure, but in your reply, it sounds like you're referring to the lower spoiler? Or maybe I'm just too tired as well.

Best wishes for lots of progress tomorrow. I know what you're going through, once you start, you are in a time-prison to get everything done within the limits.

apierce918

ok, i gottcha now. yeah, i read after i had it off that at the factory they are painted while they are on the car. i wanted it off to get the badge off and new one on easily though but i see what you are saying.