Full respray Boxster

RickyBobby

RickyBobby

Promoted Users
I am gearing up to respray my project car. The trunk lid and clamshell are suffering from clear coat delamination. The issue is starting on the front bumper and the rear quarters (horizontal bits). The paint failure goes up to the edge of the trunk lid. I am concerned that if I just refinish the outside surface and paint the car assembled I won't have enough new paint wrap around the edge to fully encapsulate the issue. My thought was to pull the panels, sand them down, and spray epoxy primer all the way around the metal as it wraps the edge (mask off the center section underneath). This led me to thinking I should just spray the car apart in sections as it would make the wide door jambs easier to finish. THEN I read that there can be issues with metallic colors matching when adjacent panels aren't sprayed in situ. I am coming from an exhibit painting background using single stage sign paints (Matthews). I have painted projects in batches, over weeks, and never had something that didn't match. I am surprised to learn that automotive paint is so temperamental. That said ... should I spray the bottom lip of the lids, inside door lips, and the door jambs first, then reassemble and paint the body together? I am still concerned about how the finish would wrap around the edges of the panels. Photos of car and paint color below. Any input would be appreciated. :)

She looks good from 15 feet back. Can you tell how fuzzy the reflection is in the hood compared to the fender?
IMG_1676.JPG


Sad Paint, dents, and it looks like the PO repeatedly shut it on something that was too big for the trunk. :rolleyes:
IMG_1715.JPG

When the sun light hits it at an oblique angle
829e2339_bca8_4558_860f_d14d16b600f2_e6ddaf85134fe52cdb225e5120919c53271582be.jpg
 
Anywhere the paint is failing it needs to come off. Situation like in pic #2 you need to take it all off. Epoxy primer for your bare metal then either 2k urethane or poly for your build primer. You could actually just use epoxy throughout as well. Using epoxy only will make your topcoat much more chip resistant and the chips that you do get will be smaller.

As for how to go about it, it depends on how you want the finished product to look and how much work you want to put in. At a minimum you want to pull the bumper covers and do those off the vehicle. If you are doing jambs, you can do it one of two ways. Do all the jambs, either assembled or apart, then reinstall everything to do the exterior. Plus to that is the vehicle is assembled so you don't have to worry about metallic orientation or flop. Minus is that it is hard to mask the entire jambs (hinge area where door meets fender especially) completely and it takes a long time to mask off. Plus you need to be sure your painted jambs have cured long enough to be able to be taped without marring the finish.

If you pull the fenders doors etc. and paint separately, then you need to be very diligent mixing your paint each time. Good idea to break a gallon into quarts to help there not be variation. And you need to orient the panels the way they would be on the vehicle when you paint. As long as you are careful to orient the panels in the same posistion that they would be sitting on the car then doing it all apart is a good plan. If you are not confident about being able to do that then painting the jamb areas and reassembling the car then painting the exterior is the next best choice.

Hope that is reasonably clear. It's late and I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts to words.:)
 
Thanks for the reply, Chris. I am leaning towards keeping the parts separated but in the booth at the same time. I think I have room to hang the doors in front of the car and inline with the fender. Do I need to keep the bumpers horizontal, or can I tilt them a little? It eats up a lot of booth space. Or bumpers on a different day with the little stuff like mirrors, door handles, and side intake ducts?

Also do I need to add anything to the Motobase or Universal clear that goes on the bumper? I have adhesion promoter to go over exposed plastic and will prime with SPI epoxy.
 
I got my first car in the books! I shot 4 coats of universal clear this afternoon. Here is a pic right after I shut the fan off. I spent all morning trying to figure out how to spray the clear. If it helps anyone else I used a Tekna Prolite, TE20 cap, 1.4 tip, fan 90%, fluid 2 turns out from closed, turned pressure at gun up to 29 psi (26 normal). I turned up the regulator outside the booth to 110 psi from the 90 is is normally at. I also added 7% retarder to the first 3 coats and 15% to the last. I don't really don't know if I needed it, but it was one of the last things I did while experimenting. 74 degrees while spraying, 80 degrees during 30 min flash periods. I also found that the air flow at the front of the booth near the doors is terrible. I think it just tumbles around. Unfortunately I had the horizontal panels on that end and the body at the back where there is stronger down flow. I hope the trash wet sands out.
IMG_1913.JPG
 
wow! Awesome job.....Looks amazing..That is your first paint project??...Are you going to sand and polish?..Love the color
 
Yes, I plan to wet sand and buff. I was thinking about starting with 1200 and see how it goes. The ambient temp in my shop is 65-70 degrees. How long should I wait to sand? ... a week? I don't have a drive in door so I cant roll it outside in the sun.
 
Let it set a few days or as long as you want, one day or two in the sun would be key.
 
Wow it looks like it turned out great! That Universal clear is great and is all i will use. Its a little soft but you can do a light buff on it years later and make it look new again. Thanks for posting your Prolite settings. That clear could be a little hard to lay smooth with such a high solid content. I used the TE10 cap and 1.3 last time and it did lay flat. Seemed like A LOT of overspray though. Im thinking maybe it was atomizing the clear to much. IDK. What cap and needle did you use for the base?
 
I used a 1.3 needle and TE20 cap for the base and sealer. I used SPI Epoxy reduced 25% for sealer. Yes, when I got the gun set up to spray the clear flat it was more overspray than normal.

Sprayed clear on the plastic parts yesterday. Now they are out basking in the sun. Really lucky with the weather. High is 70 today in KC!

IMG_1937.jpg


IMG_1935.jpg
 
Wow that color is beautiful. I don't think the pros on here realize how much we learn and appreciate them. These forums are a hidden treasure to DIYers like you and me. I hope they keep answering questions and giving out their wealth of knowledge like they have been.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top