Ok, i'd say about 98% of the paint on my car is real good. On one spot about the size of a quarter there is some rust that has come through the paint, on other places around the wheel wells the paint is just chipped away. I don't want to use touch up paint, I want to fully repair this.

What is the proper procedure for sanding/priming/painting/buffing this? It's base clear coat.

Thanks,


------------------
Chris Dagenais
Saskatchewan
'71 Malibu with a home built 454!
"Hard work MAY pay of in the long run, but laziness pays off NOW"
My Page (http://www.ycworld.net)

There's only one proper way to do it right. DA sand down to bare metal, remove all rust and patch as necessary. Then you etch the metal and prime. Feather edge the reapir spot even with the painted surface. Now, here's the tricky part. You have to 'cut in' the spot with base and clear, or, repaint the entire panel. You didn't mention where the spot is so I don't know which you'll have to do. "Cutting in" with paint is not very easy and also depends on the color as to what it will turn out like after it is sanded and buffed. What color is it?

------------------
Triple Black 69 SS 396

It's just plain white so fading of the old paint is not an issue.

I have to admit this is not on my chevelle, it's on my daily driver.

I knew I would have to sand it to metal and in a couple spots use a little primer.

What do you mean by "Etch" the metal?

From what I understood, I would prime it, the paint it, then use a buffing wheel and some "smudging" stuff to blend the new paint with the old, then spray the clear coat over it? Is this correct?

thanks.

------------------
Chris Dagenais
Saskatchewan
'71 Malibu with a home built 454!
"Hard work MAY pay of in the long run, but laziness pays off NOW"
My Page (http://www.ycworld.net)

White is very good! easiest to blend in. Metal etching is a chemical process that readies the metal for the best bond of primer to metal. You can but some metal etch (acid) or, use a self etching primer for the first coat of primer. It's cheaper to buy the acid meatl etch and spend the money on a good urethane primer. Laquer primer is not nearly as good. OK, so you've got the primer on. Make sure you sand the outer edges of the primered area and the surrounding CC. (About 6 inches) with 600 paper. Now the blending of the color. BC/CC. You first spray the base color over the area. Spray to the outer edges of the area and with each coat, go a little wider/larger. Let the base coat dry COMPLETELY. Like 2-3 hours @ 75 degrees.
Mix up your clear coat. Before spraying the clear, wet the outer edges of the reapir spot and the sanded CC with a slow drying clear coat reducer. Let it melt in to the surface and flash off. repeat this again, be carefull not to apply too much. This step lets the new CC "melt in" into the old CC a little better. Now after it flashes, spray the CC on in light coats. Dry overnight. Wet Sand with 1000, then 1500, then 2000, then buff it.

------------------
Triple Black 69 SS 396

Thanks a lot jimmy!!! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif



------------------
Chris Dagenais
Saskatchewan
'71 Malibu with a home built 454!
"Hard work MAY pay of in the long run, but laziness pays off NOW"
My Page (http://www.ycworld.net)

Haha only now am I actually getting around to fixing this rust!

I have a rookie question http://www.chevelles.com/forum/tongue.gif What is wet sanding? Do I just wipe down the area i'm sanding with a wet rag first or something???

------------------
Chris Dagenais
'71 Malibu with a home built 454! 12.7@107
"Our balls are bigger :)"
CDE Power! (http://www.71malibu.com)

Chris you actually get the wet sand paper and hold a hose with a slight flow over the sanding board as you sand. This washes away the removed material and grit and lubricates the sanding process............Ward
Check this site it is very good with a good tech board http://www.autobodystore.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?index

So it looks like I don't have to sand the paint at all? Just the primer before the paint goes on, and then the clear coat to make it shine? Is this correct?

How many coats of paint and clearcoat approximately should I use? I'm thinking about 3 coats of paint (or whatever it takes to look good, I use really light coats) but I have no idea how much clearcoat I should put on.

------------------
Chris Dagenais
'71 Malibu with a home built 454! 12.7@107
"Our balls are bigger :)"
CDE Power! (http://www.71malibu.com)

Not trying to sound like a jerk or anything like that, but it sounds you have no painting history at all. Doing a blend on a car is hard to do. People can tell you how to do it, but it takes experience to do right. And this is something that you can really mess up in a hurry. Blending the base coat is easy but blending the clear is not, and if dont do it right it can turn ugly, and no amount of wetsanding and buffing will fix it. If you dont do it right the best that will happen is you will just get a fuzzy edge where you blended the clear, but the worsest is that the clear can peel back everytime you sand it and buffing it will be a nightmare. My suggestion is take it to a body shop and have it done there. That is a small enough job to us that we would get it out of the door and back to you by the end of the day. I would say no more then a few hundred bucks would cure it.

Not trying to sound like a jerk or anything like that, but it sounds you have no painting history at all. Doing a blend on a car is hard to do. People can tell you how to do it, but it takes experience to do right. And this is something that you can really mess up in a hurry. Blending the base coat is easy but blending the clear is not, and if dont do it right it can turn ugly, and no amount of wetsanding and buffing will fix it. If you dont do it right the best that will happen is you will just get a fuzzy edge where you blended the clear, but the worsest is that the clear can peel back everytime you sand it and buffing it will be a nightmare. My suggestion is take it to a body shop and have it done there. That is a small enough job to us that we would get it out of the door and back to you by the end of the day. I would say no more then a few hundred bucks would cure it. This might not be the answer you were looking for but the best I will give to you...but good luck with your project...Eric

Don't worry man no offense taken. Fact is that I want the experience. I got a quote of $400cdn to have it fixed at a shop, but i'd rather give it a shot myself.

Nope I have no bc/cc experience, I have some experience using acrylic paint but never done any bc/cc before.

My thinking is that worst case scenario, I screw it up and end up taking it to the shop, then i'm only out materials anyway. Gotta start somewhere.

------------------
Chris Dagenais
'71 Malibu with a home built 454! 12.7@107
"Our balls are bigger :)"
CDE Power! (http://www.71malibu.com)

Is the spot you are repairing on the quarter panel? If so you want to blend the clear in the narrowest spot, and that would be the sail panel. After you have sanded the primer with 500 grit wetsand the entire quarter with 1500 grit. Sand the sail panel and just the few first inches of the roof also. Be careful that you dont sand though the clear coat, just sand it enough to dull the finsih for proper adhesion. You sand the sail panel and alittle bit of the roof because clear doesnt blend every well it likes to leave behind a fuzzy edge. So for that reason you want to blend the clear in the narrowest part of the panel and that being the sail panel.

Three coats of basecoat should cover it but maybe more depends on how the paint covers the primer spot. Now as for the clear you want only two coats, let the base flash off around 45 min will do. Now start on the bottom of the panel and work up, only spray a few inches of the panel, stop and look at the reflection in the clear. Do this to make sure you have the gun adjusted right and going the proper speed. If it looks right then continue onward. For the first coat stop down below where you stopped sanding with the 1500, dont go all the way up the sail panel. If you go all the way up, you have no room to make the blend so leave so room on the sail panel. Wait around 45 min for the first coat of clear to dry up and respray for the second and last time. Now with the second coat of clear spray a little beyond where you stopped with the first coat, but dont get to close to where you stopped sanding with the 1500 grit. Now dumped out the extra clear and pour in a blending agent, you can get this at your local paint dealer. I have never heared of the technique that Jimmy talked about on bleanding the clear but there is more then on way to skin a cat so.

With this blending agent it melts the new clear in with the old, which in turn will help get rid of that fuzzy edge. When applying the blending agent turn down the air pressure so that vey little material comes out of the gun, yo dont need that much to make the blend, to much can and will destroy the blend. Now in very light coats spray the agent on the egde of the clear and onto the sanded part of the sail panel. Just spary enough to melt in the new clear. You wont get rid of that fuzzy edge until the next day when you buff it so dont keep applying the agent hoping that edge will disappear. Now just let the paint dry over night and wet sand with 1500 grit(wet).

One last thing dont when you mask the car DONT tape down the plastic or paper on the sail panel. You dont want to have a tape edge on there so leave it untaped.

Hope this helps out but if you need some more help I can email you out some detailed instrustions and photos on how to do blending. Good luck with you project...Eric