Paint advice needed please

[adam73bgt]

Hi all, the situation is that the paint on my car is a bit curse word. I've always accepted this but I'm now thinking I'd like to do something about it, now last summer I repainted the roof due to some rust spots coming through the paint, back then I took the roof back to bare metal then filler primer and rollered black gloss on top and its left a pretty hard wearing if not amazingly pretty solution.

the rest of the car's paintwork is suffering from many things and to be honest, a full respray would be the ideal solution. But alas I can not afford that so I'm trying to see what I can do at home. I've taken some pictures of the bonnet here as an example panel, the problems here are much the same for the rest of the car. I also did half the bonnet in T-cut just for my own amusement and to see what sort of effect it'd have on the better bits of the paintwork on the car (there is some okish stuff on there)





The effect of the T cut wax



Some crazing can be seen above



Can just about make out the difference between the two halves of the bonnet, also some 'indents' in the paint can be seen on the bonnet and a bit on the scuttle, not sure what would be causing this



Most annoying things are these little spots that have appeared over time, I'm assuming thats the primer beneath showing through



More crazing and small spots of rust



Rather bigger spot thats appeared on bonnet



So yeah there it is, I'm fairly sure its been the victim of a cheapy respray at some point in the past

Should I do the same as I did before, taking it back to metal and primering and painting by roller or spray can etc.? Or would I be ok flatting back the paint and either spraying primer or colour straight over that?

Any advice on how best to attack this would be greatly appreciated as the paint is really the main thing holding the car back

Alternatively, if any of you happen to be painters in the West Midlands or Suffolk and fancy giving it a closer look or even a quote for how much I'd be looking at then let me know

Cheers

[olig]

I'm no expert but I'd strip it to prevent any reaction. I'm interested to see the results if you roller paint it as I'm considering roller painting my camper.

[adam73bgt]

The finish with the roller would probably be quite good had I bothered/had the time to properly flat back and polish up the paint, so as it is, the roof is currently very orange peel-y but the finish itself has held up to the last year rather well

[rodney]

bonnet need stripping back till any paint left is solid ,

the roof you can flat and polish with compound to get it smooth if the paint is thick enough,.

[adam73bgt]

Damn I thought as much, how can I tell that I've stripped the paint back enough? I'm relatively new to bodywork but it was a bit more straight forward with the roof, just go back until I see metal

[olig]

Its hard to say without seeing it, but until the paint is hard with no reaction showing. I'd be tempted to buy a couple of those flap discs for an angle grinder or use nitromoors to strip all the paint off, nitromoora would involve re-filling any existing repairs and repriming.

[rodney]

id flat it back with wet and dry 800ish paper till its totally smooth, and no paint chips/flakes off , use filler primer over the chiped areas after its flatted smooth , then prime the whole bonnet, flat it off with wet and dry then paint ,

once dry hit it with 1500 then some 2000 paper then g3 compound with a buffing machine then you will end up with a smooth shiny surface,.

[g40jon]

from the sounds of it you are after a cheap way to make it look more presentable than it currently does and also give it some protection. Rather than go down the satin black route as so many other budget repaints go, how about satin silver? I think it could work well with the shape of the mgb.
Tetrolsyl make an aluminium paint which i have used in the past to do alloys and also the roof on a vw derby, it requires little in the way of primering, in fact i'm sure I have used it on bare metal in the past and suffered no flakage! (I am sure there are other brands you could also use
You can apply it by rollering or spraying. if it were me I'd spray it (i tried rollering and found it to be time consuming to get a good finish)
For a cheap way to spray, you might want to consider using a cheap airbrush. A basic badger airbrush and suitable airbrush compressor can be had for around £50 via ebay!

cheap airbrush (you want a badger 250, as it will spray automotive paints fine)

www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0&_nkw=badger+250&_sacat=0&_from=R40

cheap compressor (they are really small, so don't take up masses of space, just make sure you get one with an air tank)

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/airbrush-compressor-/190857377921?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item2c6ffc7881

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-VERY-GOOD-IWATA-MEDEA-STUDIO-DOUBLE-PISTON-POWER-JET-AIRBRUSH-COMPRESSOR-/261231406907?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item3cd29aef3b

Granted it won't be as quick as using a proper spray gun and compressor, but on the plus side, you can obtain a superb finish even with gloss paints, you waste little paint and it is a very cheap way to get s setup capable of spraying automotive paints. Also very easy to store. I use mine, albeit off a big compressor to spray wheels, but I have used it to repaint tailgates, wings, spoilers! (all have been gloss celly based paints, so you aren't just limited to satin finishes (reason I suggested satin silver is that it is pretty forgiving for a newbie to use, providing the surface prep has been done reasonable well)
Using this method you could probably repaint the whole car for around £120 and once you are done you could sell the airbrush and compressor to get some money back (probably around £40) So it'll work out cheaper and better quality than using aerosol cans and probably even rollering, by the time you have factored buying decent quality foam rollers that wont get melted by the solvents and a huge supply of quality wet or dry paper (cheap wet or dry paper is false economy as it just doesn't last well)

If that doesn't float your boat, maybe see if you can find someone local who would lend you a compressor and hvlp spray gun. You might even find someone willing to paint it for you for cheap

sorry for the long reply!

[adam73bgt]

Thanks for the replies guys

Jun 19, 2013 7:01:45 GMT g40jon said:

sorry for the long reply!

No need to be sorry thats very handy information as I have mulled over the cost of getting a small compressor and spray gun as that would probably be considerably easier/ less work flatting back orange peel after.

The roof is currently gloss black rather than satin, I know what you mean about seeing a lot of cars being painted black out of laziness though! I'm either hoping to repaint it in the original Mallard Green, or if its a bit more cost effective, a more modern Rover or Jaguar British Racing Green. I suspect these more modern paints would be available in different paint types too.. I think I need to do a bit of reading up on the differences between Cellulose and 2 pack paints etc. to see which is best for me, unless anyone can shed some light on which would be best for the amateur? (bearing in mind I'm probably going to be painting outside as theres little to no space in my garage at home

[g40jon]

i'll save you the reading on celly v 2 pack and say that unless you know what you are doing and have the suitable protective equipment you won't be wanting to use 2 pack. Celly on the other hand is pretty forgiving, can be air dried, only requires fairly basic protective equipment (good quality mask,goggles)and fairly cheap to buy (2 pack paints tend to be pricey). Main downside of celly is that it can react with old paints, isn't as hard wearing as newer paint types and can fade quicker if not looked after.

[adam73bgt]

Ah fair enough, I seem to recall on my previous research on paint before I did the roof, that celly seemed to come out on top as being a bit easier to work with, plus I suppose if I stick with the original colour I'd be more likely to find it in celly than 2 pack

Can you put a few coats of lacquer over celly to make it a bit more hard wearing?

[g40jon]

you can, but in all fairness the celly based paint on my mazda and polo is still in good shape. (both cars are 22 years old) So personally I wouldnt bother.

[rodney]

I did this in celly for cheapness,

before (was a wreck)....



after...





was done in a day and a half,.

[adam73bgt]

Ah fair enough, I just need to find somewhere that'll sell my car's colour now

That Escort looks awesome, i never realised it was painted in celly, did you spray that on with a proper compressor and gun then?

[ChasR]

Celly is forgiving, although 2 Pack does seem to be a little more resilient.

AlistairK's thread in the FAQs is pretty good when it comes to what to do with paints etc. .

[adam73bgt]

Jun 20, 2013 10:08:18 GMT ChasR said:

Celly is forgiving, although 2 Pack does seem to be a little more resilient.

AlistairK's thread in the FAQs is pretty good when it comes to what to do with paints etc. .

Aye, though I think I'll manage with having to polish the car a bit more often, I kinda enjoy cleaning the car (probably makes me a bit weird.. )

Ah I did spot that thread the other day actually, hopefully I'll be able to get some similar results

Gave the car a good wash and T cut all over yesterday, looks surprisingly good from a distance haha

[Jizmondo Scrotmondo]

Celly is the best for DIY spray jobs. Every paint job I've done was in celly. 2k is very good and tougher than celly but a bit of a pain to flat back and it will kill you without any breathing gear. As long as you look after it, celly is perfectly ok.

If it was me, I'd strip all the brightwork off and flat the whole car off starting with 320 and work your way up to 800 wet & dry (use a DA to do it quicker) I'd then primer it (use high build or even some stoppa on the stone chips etc) put a light guide coat on it to see any imperfections and wet flat it back with 800 until it's smooth.

As it's your first paint job, I'd keep it the same colour or use another flat, non-metallic colour.

People may laugh, but his is what I've used for my last 4 paint jobs- www.toolsbypost.com/product_pp.php?id=5307&category=142
I'd ONLY use celly with this.

Mix the celly 50/50 with high gloss thinners. Practice on a bit of cardboard until you feel confident then bang on three, good, thick coats (you'll want a good layer to work with) You might get a couple of runs but you can block them out later. Don't panic if the finish is curse word. Once it's completely dry you'll need to flat and polish it up.

Start flatting it with 1500 wet & dry, then 2000. Use plenty of warm water & car shampoo and use a block on any runs and be careful on panel edges. Also, Always use a block on flat areas and on curved areas, use your hand. Wipe it off every now and then to see if it's flatting nicely and you don't want to go mad and go through to the primer. Start with 1500 then 2000. Once it's all flatted, mop it up with G3 and water. If you've never used a mop (machine polisher) make sure it's a variable speed mop and always use plenty of water in a spray bottle as it'll burn the paint pretty quickly.

Once it's done, wash it, hand glaze it, then wax it.

I've tried to explain it as simply as I could. I've never had mega money to pay someone to do it and my motors have always been complimented so my paint jobs mustn't come out that bad!

[rodney]

Jun 20, 2013 9:05:46 GMT adam73bgt said:

Ah fair enough, I just need to find somewhere that'll sell my car's colour now

That Escort looks awesome, I never realised it was painted in celly, did you spray that on with a proper compressor and gun then?

yeah I used gun and compressor , you can roll it, any paint supplier will mix your colour for you,.