How to make * spree look * again, not for 56k.

[steffen707]

This is a how to guide.

Step 1: go out and buy these items. (Yeah, that's a huge pipe wrench)





Step 2: Wet sand down all the major scratches with 120 grit and 220 grit with black and decker mouse sander. Then sand at 440, 600 and 1000 grit by hand. Sand down every fricken panel wasting 8 hours of your day and cramping your hand like mad.

Step 3: Paint each panel with krylon fusions gloss black.

Step 4: Swear a lot realizing you are not a body shop kinda guy and hate this type of work. Realize that if you're not going to hand sand every fricken inch of the panel by hand to like 2000 grit, then you should have just sprayed it with the paint without sanding.





Step 5: Try out krylon untra flat black that has been in garage all winter at negative degree temps on front fender. Notice that even though it looks like crap because it was quasi frozen, it coveres all the areas that the krylon fusion did not. Try a half and half on front fender with ultra flat black and ultra flat black with clear on top.




What i'm wondering is this: Krylon fusion is suppose to be great for plastic, (NO PREP NEEDED MY *) but it seemed like it didn't want to stick to anything not super sanded. Could have been road gunk or tree sap, I dunno.......But the ultra flat black seemed to stick to anything (i've used this before on my crx and it stuck to EVERYTHING. Should you prime the plastic before painting?

I think i'm gunna go to the store and get a NEW can of ultra flat black and try painting a panel with that, then clear coat.

[noiseguy]

All the panels are salvageable, the horn cover came out pretty smooth except you didn't spray into the ribbed area first. The front fender shows swirls and lack of paint prep (silicone or wax coming through). The sides show swirls.

A few things.

1) This is an excellent example of why I say prep is 80% of the work. You got it about half right, and the amount of work it took you to get there far exceeds the results. I understand your frustration, but it doesn't have to be that hard.

2) The can of Fusion details how to prep old plastics if you read the fine print. I always use a professional, automotive grade plastic paint prep. It's not cheap, $15 a bottle, worth every penny. That area on the front fender where the paint's not sticking? Lack of paint prep; this is silicone coming through.

3) Use a build primer (you can get this in rattlecans) to build up scratched areas and resand to finer finish.

4) Read the paintcan; besides the details on plastic prep, it gives a temp range. Painting below 60F is a bad idea; if you absolutely have to use halogen lamps to heat what you're painting up to "warm to the touch"

Personally, I'd wetsand all that crap, by hand, down with 320 grit and use a real paint prep this time. Reshoot with a build primer and resand with either 400 or 600, and shoot in color. I would wetsand it to 320 even if you're going flat black, b/c the surface is trash now.

The "mouse" is fine for flat furniture, not curved panels. Do it by hand and with a bucket of water to dunk the sandpaper in. I see lots of swirlmarks that your "mouse" put in that weren't sanded back out by hand in finer grits.

Sanding anything finer than 600 grit is a waste of effort. You can final sand with 1200 grit and repolish after final coat, but the danger of going through the paint probably outweighs the benefit.

Don't spray flat black and then clear coat. Flat black will be the final coat or it will look weird. Flat may cover the swirls, but won't cover the wax/silicone.

[steffen707]

What does the paint prep do? Is that like a special cleaner you use before priming?

Yeah I think next time i'm gunna do the build primer. This takes SO MUCH GOD d*** TIME. And I suck at spray painting as well. Drips, wrong environment, hard to see, no patience.

I'm re-sanding the front fender, and just spraying it flat black with clear over top. Then painting everything else flat black and clearing. This was a $200 spree that i'm selling and thought i'd make look a bit nicer before i sell it. Guess i'll just sell it ugly.

[steffen707]

I actually did spray into the ribbed areas first, and it just didn't stick and spread away from those areas just like the front fender. The swirls are from sanding. Apparently i didn't spend enough time with the 400 grit and 600 grit before painting.

I'm just so disgusted with the results I don't feel like fixing it properly.

[KillinSpree]

So how much you askin for this here spree?

[steffen707]

$400. Spree runs great, looks.........

[steffen707]

Hey noiseguy, what is the plastic paint prep stuff you're talking about? Also, I wasn't painting in below 60 degree weather. I was painting in my basement that's around 70.

The can of krylon ultra flat black that I tried using was in the garage at sub zero temps.

[po89mm]

i would think a can of sandable filler primer would solve a lot of your issues with surface scratches

[steffen707]

With that sandable primer, what grit do you sand that with before spraying down your color?

[po89mm]

wet sand with the really really fine grit. the finer the better. The idea is more about making the surface super smooth. you have to keep your parts constantly soaking wet too. One dunk wont do the job. You wet then sand then wet again then sand again etc etc.


i wanna say something around 1000 grit or so. Its been a a few months since ive done this so bear with me.

[steffen707]

Bought some wet sandable primer. Sprayed a few pieces. The can says dries in 10 mins, safe to apply more layers or final layer in 1 minute. Safe to handle in 60 minutes.

Does that mean I have to wait for 60 mins to start sanding? I'm thinking so, but just wasn't sure if it means I can sand in ten mins.

[noiseguy]

Plastic paint prep; look in the yellow pages for an automotive paint shop; they are different than other paint shops in what they sell. Tell them you need plastic paint prep to use before painting some plastic. They will also sell a sanding block, which looks like a black, flexible foam chunk about 2"x4"x1/2" Buy one of those too and ditch the palm sander.

You wipe on with one rag, wipe off with another clean rag. Wipe on, wipe off. Clean rags, or you'll just wipe around the silicone and wax.

You should do this before primering, but it's too late now. Do this to the primer before painting; primer will sometimes stick where regular paint won't, and then the paint won't stick to the primer.

Waiting 1 hour on primer sounds about right. If you do the parts in sequence you'll be finishing sanding the last one as the next one finishes drying.

I'll reiterate that sanding with anything finer than 600 grit IS A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. 400 is adequate for a flat finish; you'll never see the remaining sand scratches on 400 through flat paint.

BTW, gloss black is one of the most difficult colors to paint and have look OK. I avoid black for this reason; your bodywork has to be dead-on for it to look right. Red and white are much easier. Bright colors (bright blues) are good too.

[steffen707]

Well thanks man. Next time I tackle a project like this I will sand up to 400 then get some of that plastic prep.

So, the foam pad works better than the rubber palm sander? is that because the foam forms to the different contours better, or because u just don't like the rubber ones?

I think next time I will stick to a non gloss black color. hey, do you recommend spraying clear over the paint to protect it? Also, if you spray clear over a flat color or matte finish, I noticed it kinda makes it glossy. is gloss paint like a flat and clear in one? Single stage?

[noiseguy]

The foam pads are meant for autobody work; they are flexible and conform to the surface. The hard rubber ones are meant to make things flat. You can skip using them, but you have to watch out or you'll leave fingermarks in the sanding (I do without the pads all the time, but it's nicer to have them and they are cheap.)

You can use a DA sander on auto; it works on air pressure and goes back/forth as well as around; this prevents swirls. Frankly, unless you're professional you can get yourself in less trouble without tools.

2-stage paints are indeed flat for color. I've never tried spraying gloss on black; maybe you're on to something there. Suede paint was (is?) the rage in older street rods; it's between a flat and gloss. I shy away from 2-stage unless it's a professional automotive paint system; even then I really prefer enamels.

I learned auto paint when I was in high school; I take a lot of what I know for granted. There's a lot to remember but once you've done it once it's straightforward.

[losthope]

do they make primer in a can thats meant for spraying plastic? or do you just use any primer?