[Raine]

I've been planning to repaint my car this year but as the days go by I don't know how long I'm going to stay in Europe when I leave this June. Therefore I'm a little apprehensive to spend $2k on paint that I might need when travelling... so what I want to do is fix the major chips and cracks in the paint myself. Even if I do get the car repainted, it would be a complete strip and refinish, so if I fuk up horribly, it's not so bad... however I don't want to fuk up horribly, I wanna do a decent job. Getting colour matched paint and whatnot isn't hard, and I don't need much for what I wanna do, my question is,

When the paint is chipped right down to the metal, do I need to build up the surface before I paint with a metal filler/bondo or something, or just fill it with a couple coats of paint? Either way I'm likely to get an uneven surface, so how can I smooth out the rough spot without scratching up the paint around? Is there a special grade of sandpaper, like wet 1000 - 1200 or something, that will smooth the new stuff without damaging the surrounding clear coat?

Also have a s**t load of dings and dents. Anyone know of/have a cheap/rentable tool that can be used to safely pull dings out? There are at least 4 - 5 on my car that SHOULD be pullable... tips? Tricks? Advice? Let me know :)

[NOS2Go4Me]

I actually did a few chips yesterday, as well as a small but noticeable section of my trunklid where the trunk had been impacting / rubbing the rear bumper cover.

What I've learned so far:

- The touchup "stick" of Sangria Red is obviously bang on, and I believe has some clearcoat mixed in with the metallic paint. It goes on easily, but you need to make your "attacks" on the afflicted area short and in quick succession. It dries out quick on the brush.

- Smaller chips would be best handled with a toothpick, an idea I'll be trying today.

- Any areas where the paint has gone down to the bare metal should be sanded right down first and then either touched up with the stick or given a quick and small amount of basecoat and then touched up. I actually asked the bodyshop manager what I should do with mine and he said I'd suffer no ill effects if I took my time and sanded down all surface discolouration and then painted it with the touchup stick. That's what I did and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. It's nowhere near a show finish or even capable of fooling anyone at close range, but it will keep the damn rust monsters off the car.

- Deep gouges are a bitch. I had one such gouge in the front bumper cover that I attempted to fill in. It didn't quite work as planned, but it didn't turn out altogether bad.

- Stone chips in the hood should be inspected for rust on bare metal and then lightly tip-sanded with a medium-grit sandpaper at least. I used a 320-grit as it was the finest grit I had at home, and it worked well for both the trunk and the one extremely tiny chip I actually needed to sand a bit. In retrospect I don't think going much finer as it would be harder for the paint to adhere to the metal.

[paolo]

I touched up a few, again, the toothpic idea is probaly the best for small chips. If it doesnt look good when your finnished, you can always wet-sand it and buff/polish it out after, to even the surface.

[NOS2Go4Me]

I took some shots as I went... 2 are before I finished removing all the rust around the vent holes in the trunk, and three are after I was finished two coats of touchup paint.

http://teamx.webhop.org/pics/rustbefore1.jpg

http://teamx.webhop.org/pics/rustbefore2.jpg

http://teamx.webhop.org/pics/rustafter1.jpg

http://teamx.webhop.org/pics/rustafter2.jpg

http://teamx.webhop.org/pics/rustafter3.jpg

I've shrunk them down to 1024x768, around 180-290 KB each in size. I hope they're useful :)

All 5 holes had varying amount of "starter" rust, and as you can see some painted easier than others. In all, I'm happy with how it turned out :)

Yes, I hate rust. :P

[meford4u]

Not that I'm queer, not that anythings wrong with that, but I have had success with nail polish.

It seems a bit odd but our tech from Dupont, Ford's paint supplier, suggested it and it worked like a charm.

You can build it up in small coats and just use a mild compound and viola, wax it up your done.

[Raine]

meford4u,May 9 2005, 08:08 PM Wrote:Not that I'm queer, not that anythings wrong with that, but I have had success with nail polish.

It seems a bit odd but our tech from Dupont, Ford's paint supplier, suggested it and it worked like a charm.

You can build it up in small coats and just use a mild compound and viola, wax it up your done.
[right][snapback]107657[/snapback][/right]

You're being particularly polite today. "not that there's anything wrong with that"... calling Yanman your "friend" instead of "fuktard" in the happy birthday thread... Fearing the ban gods will go loco on your ass? :P

[meford4u]

Raine,May 10 2005, 01:11 AM Wrote:

meford4u,May 9 2005, 08:08 PM Wrote:Not that I'm queer, not that anythings wrong with that, but I have had success with nail polish.

It seems a bit odd but our tech from Dupont, Ford's paint supplier, suggested it and it worked like a charm.

You can build it up in small coats and just use a mild compound and viola, wax it up your done.
[right][snapback]107657[/snapback][/right]

You're being particularly polite today. "not that there's anything wrong with that"... calling Yanman your "friend" instead of "fuktard" in the happy birthday thread... Fearing the ban gods will go loco on your ass? :P
[right][snapback]107660[/snapback][/right]

Being banned would be the hilite of my day. I was just in a good mood and home from playing a crapy round of golf.

now go :1kissass: fuktard

[NOS2Go4Me]

meford4u,May 10 2005, 10:24 AM Wrote:Being banned would be the hilite of my day.  I was just in a good mood and home from playing a crapy round of golf.

now go  :1kissass: fuktard
[right][snapback]107845[/snapback][/right]

Golf is for short-hitting poseurs that can't hit straight over 150 yards. Go wait in the cart, Mr. Simmons. :ph34r:

[ANTHONYD]

NOS2Go4Me,May 10 2005, 11:39 AM Wrote:

meford4u,May 10 2005, 10:24 AM Wrote:Being banned would be the hilite of my day.  I was just in a good mood and home from playing a crapy round of golf.

now go  :1kissass: fuktard
[right][snapback]107845[/snapback][/right]

Golf is for short-hitting poseurs that can't hit straight over 150 yards. Go wait in the cart, Mr. Simmons. :ph34r:
[right][snapback]107878[/snapback][/right]

Funny boy.