Paintjob Fix Plan - Can someone review?

N

ncornilsen

Hi,

My nova got some SPI orange and SPI Black on my Nova over the weekend. I made the roof black, where the vinyl top would have been. It looks great! The orange covered the white sealer after 2 coats. 3 coats of universal clear was applied.

We did have a few issues.

Issue 1 - Black paint dust in the trunk key opening... under the clearcoat. Not sure how I missed this... but it's obvious. I tried finding a trim ring to hide it, but no dice.
Issue 2 - I pulled a piece of trash out of clearcoat #2, and it took some base with it. Very inconspicuous, but I'd like to fix it.
Issue 3 - runs! We got coat #1 on it, and it seemed like the clear started running a few minutes after the clear went down. Not sure why, maybe the activator was too slow for the temps? Anyway, I have alot of runs to deal with. I have some on almost every panel.
One particularly bad run has some wierdness, it almost looks like basecoat wrinkling, but I think I may have touched a leg or something here, and it kind of flowed out weird. It's hard to photograph, that orange is so vibrant! (second photo)

So, here's my plan.
-Use a razor blade with tape, or the putty method, to take the runs down. color sand all other trash or whatever out of the car, then I'll take it through the grit progressions figuring on buffing it. use 1500 grit for the overall sanding job for getting the nibs and such.
-Use 600 grit to sand the whole trunk lid and get the trash. Where that black paint is, I won't go through the clear... I'm just creating tooth for adhesion, Spot a little orange base to hide the black. Sand the rest of the trunk lid with 600, hit it with 2 (or 1? or 3?) coats of clear.
-Sand the quarter panel with the damage caused by removing the trash with 600. Spot some base where the damage was, 2 coats of clear.
-If I burn through anywhere chasing runs, I'll spot repair and re clear those panels.

I worry about putting more than 2 coats of clear on the areas I spot in base, as I don't want too much build... but will I be in trouble if I get a couple of runs at this point?
Should I just overall the car with 600, and put a couple coats of clear down on the whole thing? I have enough clear I can probably cover the car with 2 coats If I'm careful.

Thanks for your help!
-Nick
 

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Some other pictures of the overall job, just for your reference!
 

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I like your second plan. Sand the whole car with 600 after leveling your problem areas. Spot base where it needs it. If you only have enough clear for 2 coats, spray 1 coat over the areas you spotted, then 2 coats overall. After sanding with 600, the clear will "wet" rather quickly, so don't spray the first coat too wet to avoid runs. Start final sanding with 1500 or finer and you should be fine.
 
I like your second plan. Sand the whole car with 600 after leveling your problem areas. Spot base where it needs it. If you only have enough clear for 2 coats, spray 1 coat over the areas you spotted, then 2 coats overall. After sanding with 600, the clear will "wet" rather quickly, so don't spray the first coat too wet to avoid runs. Start final sanding with 1500 or finer and you should be fine.

Thank you!

Another couple of questions -
Will the SPI orange laid over the clearcoat in these spots blend well enough with the orange already there, or should I cover entire panels to body lines? I'll mix it the same, with activator and all that. I have enough orange I could cover the whole car with another coat, if needed.
 
I would blend the color only where needed, just realize it will not cover black spots with 2 coats. Once you get the spots covered, you could add another 10-25% reducer and blend the areas out further than your spots. It should blend easily. The only problem I see with covering the whole car with color again is only having enough clear for 2 coats. 2 coats is fine if you're just spraying and leaving it, but any more runs, heavy orange peel, or trash will be difficult to remove without going through, or leaving at least 2 mils of clear for longevity. At the point you are at, the best advice I could give would be to order some more clear. Sand the car with 600, base what is needed, or cover the spots and spray 1 coat on the entire car, then spray 3 more coats of clear. Think of what you have now as a nice base. It almost always comes out better the second time:)
 
Thank you!

Another couple of questions -
Will the SPI orange laid over the clearcoat in these spots blend well enough with the orange already there, or should I cover entire panels to body lines? I'll mix it the same, with activator and all that. I have enough orange I could cover the whole car with another coat, if needed.

Haha that brings back memories of the Coronet and Barry talking me off the ledge! Black overspray under the clear from the damn stripes.... Yes the SPI base will blend perfectly. Just give it a quick squirt with a few coats just in the problem areas and re-clear. You will never know where you did it.
 
Jim, your Coronet sealed the deal on choosing SPI orange for my car!

The more I look at this paint job, the more I think a whole coat of base is needed. I put down a coat of white sealer, then only put two coats of base on.
Seems like everywhere I sanded through the 2K into the white epoxy, I can see a spot of white epoxy, except a few places we spotted some extra base because they were really obvious given the (apparently) poor lighting in my home-built booth.

Given this, I'm concerned that I might spot the areas I know about now, then the areas between with only 2 coats will fade a bit and I'll see more sand through 5 years down the line. Of course, if I do a coat over all, then 3 of base, am I getting into the "crazy amount of build" danger zone?

Thanks for all of your help!
 
Jim, your Coronet sealed the deal on choosing SPI orange for my car!

The more I look at this paint job, the more I think a whole coat of base is needed. I put down a coat of white sealer, then only put two coats of base on.
Seems like everywhere I sanded through the 2K into the white epoxy, I can see a spot of white epoxy, except a few places we spotted some extra base because they were really obvious given the (apparently) poor lighting in my home-built booth.

Given this, I'm concerned that I might spot the areas I know about now, then the areas between with only 2 coats will fade a bit and I'll see more sand through 5 years down the line. Of course, if I do a coat over all, then 3 of base, am I getting into the "crazy amount of build" danger zone?

Thanks for all of your help!

Yea two coats of the Orange is not enough in my opinion... I have about 4-5 depending on if there was a screw up there... :).... If you can see variations of the primers under the orange I would scuff it up and shoot 2 more coats.
 
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