Gregg K

There's a spot on the hood that has somehow been rubbed down to what I think is either primer or the aluminum. I have the touchup paint. I've tried to brush it on, but that appears to not work. You can see where I've wet sanded it down, and some of the paint remains. But if I leave the paint, it looks wavy when seen at an angle. Geez, this body and paint stuff is like an art. I am now guessing that the only way to do this is to spray and feather it away from the main area. There ain't much info on painting on the net. If anyone knows where to go for ideas let me know. Is this something that will require an airbrush? I've tried a lot of different techniques and eventually just sanded it back. I'm not getting anywhere, except making the bald area bigger. Arrrrrgh. I need knowledge. If I give up, it's probably a ton of money to have the clowns down at the body shop do it, and I'm just not the kind of guy who gives up easily........

Red UFO

I'd say with a spot that big you are always safter just unbolting and have the whole surface resprayed. Trying to patch and have exact match is always tricky.

Do you have a compressor or gun to use the touchup paint? I plan on repainting my shark soon and probably will do it all myself

Jim bailey - 928 International

You need to accept the fact that the hood needs to be repainted to make it nice there is really not any easy way to fog in paint especially on the hood where you can easily see it . Black is an easy match for color and was not clear coated . Using a touch up brush just globs on too much paint . For stone chips a toothpick works far better to just fill the void with a small pinpoint of paint . Less is far better than more .

bcdavis

It *can* be done, but it will not look "perfect"...

In fact, as Jim said, it will look better, and take as much time, to just repaint the whole hood, or whole car...

But if you want to try to fix it, here is the best plan...

It's all about wet sanding, and rubbing and polishing compound...

You need to sand out the bad area as evenly as possible.
And then you need to sand out several inches all around the area,
with a light grit, like 400. Then hit the bad area with some primer.
Just a little, in the center of the bad spot. Then sand it again,
with the 400 grit. Then repaint that whole area, with paint
that matches your car. That is the hard part. Unless you
can mix paint perfectly, and use an airbrush, it will be
hard to match, unless you have a primary color, like
white, black, red, etc...

Once you have the paint on there, sand it all down with the 400 grit
again. Remember, it is ok to have overspray, to blend...
Do another coat or two, repeating the process.

Once you have it thick enough, that you are no longer
easily sanding through to the primer, then switch to
600 grit paper, and extend your sanding out to the
area of your overspray, and slightly overlap into the
good paint. Use waterproof paper, and sand with water
running over the surface.

Once you smooth it all out, with the 600 grit, and you
do not see any primer showing through, and the surface
is smooth, switch to rubbing compound, on a cloth or a
buffing wheel. Then switch to polishing compound,
and then when it is completely smooth, and scratch-free,
use wax on the whole hood...

The problem I usually find with this method, is that
it leaves the repaired area smoother and shinier
than the rest of the car. So it may be perfect,
but the rest of the car is not. So sometimes the
best bet is to hit the whole car with the polishing
compound, and then re-wax the whole car.

It is a LOT of manual labor.

And a lot of layers of paint that you have to wait to dry,
then sand, then paint, and wait... And wait... and sand....
And do it over, and wait. and sand, and paint, and sand...

By the time you are done, you will probably wish you
paid someone $200 to repaint your hood...

Jim bailey - 928 International

BC quite often the edges do not look good the spot of new paint tends to have a obvious line when sanded and rubbed . Although I admit I never tried to touch up a panel in quite the detail you describe ! Hope I never do

Gregg K

I've been using 1400 grit to wetsand. I wouldn't go any courser. And the match is perfect. That's interesting that it wasn't clear coated, because I opted to not clear coat, and in some places it's an exact match with the stock paint job. I'll try layers. I've been trying to do this in one shot. That's where I've gone wrong. Actually it looks like they didn't even use a primer.

By the way, what is it about black that gets people going? My white car, no problem. This black one, and everyone's all over me. Telling me to slow down when I'm going fifteen miles an hour. Jeez. I wish Americans would lively up themselves. It's all safety and liability. Ok, I'm done ranting. I belong in Italy.

athenian

Gregg

Like others have suggested previously, that big, bold spot on your hood can not be airbrushed/ touched up/ blended successfully....The problem area is too large and the original paint is already gone.

I did paint a couple of cars earlier this year for the first time, by myself, so I'm not a pro at this and I won't bother with painting tips....However I purchased the right equipment (spray guns, compressor, materials etc) by following the advise of professionals and experienced folks on the Autobodyshop Forum (very much like this Rennlist Forum)...Isn't the Net just a great BIG family??

Take a look at the Autobodyshop Forum (BBS link below) and ask a lot of questions, if you're planing to play with the hood or maybe learn how to blend in the paint correctly ...The guys in there (especially Len, the forum moderator) are very helpful and have lots of experience. Some of them own bodyshops or paint supply stores. I've learned a few tips and painting techniques from those guys...

The link is:

http://www.autobodystore.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?index


Best of luck

VK

Gregg K

Hey VK,
Thanks a bunch. That's what I was hoping to find. There are certain things that seem to be held secret. Bodywork is one of them. I've got a friend who has owned a body shop, but he's out of the country for a month or so. Besides, I like bugging you guys.

bcdavis

Oh you will indeed have a line, or some sort of transition.
It is not seamless, no matter how much you sand, buff, etc...
It's close to impossible to match and blend paint perfectly.

If he does the procedure right, the best result is something
that *most* people will not notice, but car nuts might...

It's better than a big hole in the hood, as it is now...

I would use my technique only as a temporary fix,
until the car could be properly repainted.

It just becomes a bit much, to repaint every time you get
a scratch, or a rock chip. That is when some touch up
paint, sandpaper, and polishing compound, can help
you extend the life of your paint job, without having
to completely redo it...

Gregg K

Most of the paint is immaculate.
Fortunately, the hood can be pulled and painted. Not the end of the world. But I'm a perfectionist. And black is super easy to work with. At least, your posts have me moving in the right direction. I'll play around with it until it looks as good as can be expected.