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FortMyersSteve2
My 2005 Prius had a lot of stone chips (not 3-4, 25 - 50), some 1 mm or less, some larger chips, and scratches, on the hood, with some small rust specs. I figure the car is too old to be worth getting the panel professionally repainted, but the problems too extensive to touch up with a paint pen. So I have sanded all of the damaged areas. There are probably 20 + places where this took me down to bare metal, 1 mm diameter spots at the smallest and 1 sq. centimeter of bare metal at the largest. Everything is sanded and compounded very smooth now, but of course the areas that needed the most sanding are lower than the areas I barely touched. First question is can I just spray primer over everything, thus covering the bare metal but also spraying over lightly sanded clear coat in some places? Then just add color and clear and quit? But at minimum that will leave the level uneven, I guess - does it really matter that much? If that's a bad idea, do I have to now sand the entire panel to bare metal and start from scratch with primer? Or could I block off as much of the clear coat as feasible and start covering the bare metal with primer, using a spray can for larger areas and toothpick / mini brush dabs for areas smaller than the size of a pencil eraser? Second question is, if I can avoid having to sand down everything down to bare metal, what's the best way to build up the level of areas that are just slightly lower due to absence of clear coat, color and primer, so that they are pretty even in height with the original finish? These are not dents, for the most part, just dings, and to my eye I don't even see the difference in level, but know it must be there. Do I use multiple coats of each (primer, color and clear) with other areas masked, using spray for larger areas and toothpick / mini brush dabs for smaller areas, applying coats until I have it leveled? My goal is not a perfect car. My goal is that the hood panel looks as good as the other car panels, without spending money or the next 6 months of weekends. The rest of the car exterior is 15 years old but without significant damage. Car is unlikely to last more than 2 - 5 more years from now. I have a touch-up kit with a can of primer, one of matching color and one of clear coat, and also have a touch up pen I could use on the very small dings. I don't think this site enables uploading photos. If there is a better place to post this, send me a link. Thanks.