1966 Triumph Spitfire

I don't think it's trapped solvents. 700 or any water/alcohol based W&G remover can leave those "fisheyes" or "craters" if not fully evaporated. When doing collision repair and pushing the limits on things I've had this happen with bumper covers a few times. If it's not fully evaporated it will do that. You probably didn't notice it in the base. Also looks like solvent pop over top of the craters. Try cutting back your fluid needle some and speeding up your passes. Also make sure you are overlapping correctly ( around75%) and not double coating areas. Watch as you are spraying for the clear to "fill in".. Speed up or down to make that happen. Remember also that the gloss and slickness happens in the moments after you spray, all you need to watch for is the clear filling in as you are spraying. Hard to put into words, so I hope that makes sense.
 
Well, that would be embarrassing. I'd much rather it be my ignorance than not waiting for the W&G remover to dry.
But, so be it. I assume, based on that, if I try to get the texture out it will go through all of the clear right down to base (and therefore, probably epoxy). Should I take all the clear off, scuff and do two coats of base, then reclear? In other words, how to I recover properly?
 
Sand it flat first and see where you are, may just need clear but may need base. At least it's just the doors. Maybe extra flash times? What Chris said about clear filling...
 
I took the door down and got most of the "texture" out. I decided, in the end, that it probably should get another few coats of clear, so I decided to take advantage of my misfortune and practice some cutting and buffing. I need to invest in higher quality sandpaper, but that's a different story.
What is the proper way to prep the door to get it ready again for clear? I intend to go back with 1000-grit and hand block until I get all of the last pock-marks out of it, then build back up with two or three coats of clear (that enough?).
If I break through to based, then I'll be ready to respray that. What's the best way to prep for these two cases? If I break through to base, do I then epoxy it again? Can I just spray over 1000-grit prepping or should I go more coarse?
Thanks,
Chris
This pic is after cutting and buffing. I think my sandpaper is wearing out way too fast and not providing enough cutting, so as I work my way up, it just doesn't have the power. I had the same results on my practice panel which I why I think this is the case.
IMG_5606.JPG
 
If you are going to re-clear, put the 1000 grit aside and wet sand it with 600 or 800. Just sand it enough to get uniform 600 grit scratches on there.

1000 grit is fine enough that you would have adhesion problems if you cleared over it. Glad that it came out for you.
 
Thanks, Chris. I appreciate your patience with this. If I end up breaking through and going to epoxy, I figure I'll want to do probably two more coats of base. My intention would be to follow the manual in the portion of the perfect paint job where it talks about if the base needs work. In other words, wet sand with 800-1500, then hit it with two more coats and let it sit overnight. Just looking for a thumbs up on that.

Thanks again, everyone,
Chris
 
I believe the suggestion for 800-1500 is for only having base down on the panel and going back over with more base. Base will bite back into itself better is my understanding.

Since you have clear on you should stay with 600-800 as Chris mentioned.
 
Well, using some better quality sandpaper (lower cost 3M sheets), I was able to get my other door pretty good by hand, starting at 1000 wet and working up through 2500. I had a single 3000-grit disk left and figured I'd do that with my rotary...and left a bunch of swirl marks :mad:. Not sure if I had something on the paper, or the door (I cleaned it all first), or if it was just cheap sandpaper or what. I decided to go through with buffing, using CG stuff, orange and white pad, compounds 32-38 just to get some practice. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it all over or what. Still a few crater marks, but not too bad.

IMG_5617.JPG


My question is if I do decide to go back and redo the door and want to do another round of base (say two coats just to be sure), can I take it down with 400-600, shoot base, and then continue with the perfect <ahem> paint job? Or 400-600, another round of epoxy sealer, then continue on? If I decide to just shoot clear, I would do as recommended above by Chris.

Thanks,
Chris
The smudge in the lower right is left over cutting compound.
IMG_5616.JPG
 
cmfisher4 said:
Well, using some better quality sandpaper (lower cost 3M sheets), I was able to get my other door pretty good by hand, starting at 1000 wet and working up through 2500. I had a single 3000-grit disk left and figured I'd do that with my rotary...and left a bunch of swirl marks :mad:. Not sure if I had something on the paper, or the door (I cleaned it all first), or if it was just cheap sandpaper or what. I decided to go through with buffing, using CG stuff, orange and white pad, compounds 32-38 just to get some practice. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it all over or what. Still a few crater marks, but not too bad.

View attachment 8988

My question is if I do decide to go back and redo the door and want to do another round of base (say two coats just to be sure), can I take it down with 400-600, shoot base, and then continue with the perfect <ahem> paint job? Or 400-600, another round of epoxy sealer, then continue on? If I decide to just shoot clear, I would do as recommended above by Chris.

Thanks,
Chris
The smudge in the lower right is left over cutting compound.
View attachment 8987
Click to expand...

Weren't you using some Amazon 3000 grit DA film, sungold or something? I think there was a post by @Lizer on here where he had trouble with that paper.

You have a flex RO buffer I think, I don't know if that will be aggressive enough unfortunately, especially with the CG compound.
I had quite a bit of trash in my paint and I didn't go any courser than 2k wet and it came out for me. Doesn't get rid of the urethane wave, so depends on the results you are looking for. I would think with 4 coats you could get it looking pretty good without respraying.

I really have no biz chipping in on this since I'm a newb, I'll be interested to see what others have to say.
Hopefully you can get an answer as to what grits to use if you decide to rebase.
 
Well, after starting the base / clear process way back in August, I finally did base / clear on my last body panel, arguably the hardest one, the bonnet. It's far from perfect, but it's red and shiny!
I'd like to thank everyone for all of their help - Chris, Eric, Shine, Slofut, Texasking, Sprint, and of course Barry and the SPI crew, who have answered all of the questions that I asked and many of the ones that I didn't even know to ask. With every mistake I made, I learned something...so I learned A LOT. But, while my friends called me crazy for doing the painting myself, the sense of accomplishment and the skills that I learned were worth every second.

Thanks,
Chris
IMG_5637.jpg
 
Man that looks great Chris! You'll stay with us and post assembled pics right? I can't wait to see it finished.
 
Oh, definitely, Slofut. I'm absolutely going to show her off to this crowd. You guys have been along for the ride the whole time, whether you all know it or not!

While I'm thinking of it, I'm paranoid about chipping paint on the edges when I put the car back together. I intend to tape over all of the corners. I've used the 3M yellow tape and like that for masking the car. Can I use that safely taping off the corners as well? What if it's going to sit there for a while, like a week or two?

Thanks,
Chris
 
I'm excited to see it come together too.

Use blue painters tape found at a hardware store, it doesn't adhere as tight as the yellow. Leave it on no longer than 24 hours, I dont even like going overnight.

On certain spots it even works good to tape or just set a towel or rag on a problem spot. I used a folded towel when I set my doors and it doubled as protection and helped set the panel gap.
 
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sprint_9 said:
I'm excited to see it come together too.

Use blue painters tape found at a hardware store, it doesn't adhere as tight as the yellow. Leave it on no longer than 24 hours, I dont even like going overnight.

On certain spots it even works good to tape or just set a towel or rag on a problem spot. I used a folded towel when I set my doors and it doubled as protection and helped set the panel gap.
Click to expand...
You can also run the tape over your pants to reduce the stickiness.
 
Thanks, guys. I'll try all of that. I was using those small wood shims (like you would use to level cabinets) to help, too, but they didn't like to stay put.

Chris
 
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