Repairing a fender and door on a 2014 Jeep GC

3

396camaro

Hi guys, it has been 10 years since i have painted anything but decided to get back into it by doing the wifes small fender bender and later my Model A coupe build

My last project I used SPI's epoxy sealer and UV clear with great results so I thought I would stick with them for my future projects.
The first project is the Jeep, I have bought a new OEM fender and will repair the door.
Any reccomendations for how to prep the new fender would be appreciated, Not sure of the coating used on these fenders, I would expect them to be paintable as is with proper scuffing of the coating.

I am wondering if blending the door would be a good option, the color of the jeep is solid white so I would expect this to to be somewhat easier????

I will try to take pictures tonight to give everyone a idea what I am working with, I am a little rusty on painting so any suggestions on prep,paint,filler... would be appreciated!

this was my last paint job in 05 IMG_0053.JPG
 
For the E-coat on fenders, put a little thinner on a rag and wipe it across if color transfers to rag then it needs to come off , if not then scuff well and move on to epoxy.

I would blend the white, chances of getting a perfect match is slim but chances of getting a blendable match are pretty good. If you can take the jeep to a jobber to get your paint mixed,they should have a variant deck and be able to match it really close.

Love the bike nice job and good luck.
 
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Thanks, the SPI clear was for the most part not buffed on the bike because of how well it laid down.

I snapped a few pictures, they look like crap because I worked late tonight and the lighting was not good
The damage is not bad and more than likely the fender would have straightened out just fine with some time but a new fender was just over 200 so I decided to just replace it
I took a rag with lacquer thinner on it and wiped the new fender and the rag had no residue of coating on it
 
My thought was on the door was to just paint the center section of the door to the body lines then clear the whole door, or most of the door
Would like to paint the fender off the car and the door while the fender is removed to paint a little of the front jamb where paint has flaked from me bending back metal. The damage actually looked much worse but after some pushing and pulling it was much less noticeable
 
Yes that body line through the center of the door is a perfect place to blend off of, its all about creating the illusion and any place that cast a shadow like that is perfect, I would scuff the new fender well with 180 give it one or 2 wet coats of epoxy,.wet sand it to 600 and seal/ paint ,it will last forever. Or you can just went sand the e-coat to 600 and seal/paint and it will "probably" last forever. On the door side the factory.paint is very thin so just use a gray scothbright and de gloss the area to be cleared, the lower corner can be taken down and epoxy the damaged area before you fill it. After body work, epoxy that area again and wet sand to 600, seal just that area with white. Shoot 1-2 coats of your base coat again just in that area and then shoot 1-2 more coats blending it up off that body line. Let it flash and then clear the panel. Should be easy enough.
 
Gotta disagree a little with Airbrush. With proper blending you don't need to rely on that bodyline especially seeing it will be right next to the repair. Here's what has worked for me over the last 20 years. First do your repair try to contain it as much s possible on that door. Meaning dont scratch out very far past your actual repair. Prime it and finish sanding with 600. I like to go over the entire panel with 800 grit to flatten the peel then use a grey scotchbrite and scuffstuff the entire panel. Now the tricky part. If you haven't gone through on your primer anywhere then you can get by without sealing it.If you are using a cheap basecoat like Omni then I would go over your 600 scratches with 800 just to make sure they don't show through the basecoat (they will trust me I've had to spray plenty of Omni and Omni Plus over the years). If you do seal it try and contain it and be sure to only use one coat and wrist action it off as you spray it. Meaning as you near the end of each pass start to twist your wrist, pull it slightly away, and fade it off. Easier to show you than to explain in words sorry) After your sealer has set for the required time, start by adjusting your base gun to spray light to medium, don't lay down heavy wet coats. Use the slowest reducer available and spray light-medium coats, then make your first pass only concentrating on the primed/sealed areas, use wrist action to fade it out, next coat extend slightly farther, and continue this until you have complete coverage. Sight down the panel and if you can easily see the transition area from sprayed basecoat to the sanded clear then try this trick (provided you are using a base like PPG DBC I can't say for sure if it will work for activated basecoats as I've only used non activated stuff when blending panels. Take your basecoat in the gun and pour it back into a mixing cup, then add reducer to the already reduced basecoat at a rate of 100-150%. 150% will work better. You don't need to use all of your base 2-4 oz will be plenty. Then sight where your transition area is and work back about 18-24 inches, then starting at the top of the panel, spray a light coat to about 18-24 inches past the transition area. One coat at a time. Resist the urge to just give it a little more. Let it flash and then see if you can still see the transition. It should give you a fairly even transition from the base to the existing paint. If it still is noticeable do the process over again and extend it just a little farther. If you do this you should have a seamless transition that is impossible to detect. It's worked for me on the hardest colors like gold and even 3 stage Pearls and Candys. Your bike looks terrific so you should be able to blend white no problem. If you got any questions feel free to ask them or PM me and I'll try and help.:)
 
I definitely like Chris's plan as long as you can get a pretty good blendable color match from your jobber
 
Thank you for the help! much appreciated :)
would it be a bad idea to try and use the 915-4 blending solvent and not clear the whole door or am I asking for trouble?
 
You can clear the whole door no problem, what I was describing was the basecoat blending process. Prep the whole panel, blend the color, then clear the entire panel, no special techniques needed for the clear.

Oh and with the technique I described as long as the color is close it will match. Meaning the transition area will be impossible to detect. White should be no problem. I've sprayed plenty of cars that required an alternate with a prime color and never had an issue.
 
I started,stopped and came back to my response to Airbrush's comments and never seen yours Chris!
so you are not liking the blending only in the center area of the door between the upper and lower body lines?
If I understand correctly, after getting coverage of the repaired area using a fading technique, you also want to blend the whole front side of the door next to the fender that will be completely covered with new paint to insure a perfect match?

I did order Prospray base paint from Chad and SPI's epoxy and 2K primer along with UV clear and blending solvent after some discussion with them(SPI). I dont have to use the blending solvent on the clear and honestly have never used it before and do not know how well it works.
I am just wondering how more clear on the door is going to look especially with the shiner UV clear than the factory. I have my coupe project coming up next so besides the blending solvent I will have a use for everything bought.
I have a little paint blending experience back 30years ago on my first paint job I buffed threw the clear into the metallic paint. struggled with getting the metallic to not to darken on the edges but i was trying to use normal clear to make my first passes where if I understand it now i should have used a intercoat clear to seal it down then cleared.
 
here is my 68 camaro, was painted in 1989 using Sherwin Williams lacquer paint and polyurethane clear
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On this door it is really very simple. Repair the damage. Prep the entire panel, then using the blending technique I described cover and blend the repair area, then clear the entire panel. Doing it this way will leave no tape lines and your clear (in terms of texture)shouldn't be very far off from the factory. This is how I would repair it. I have worked in Collision for 20+ years. What I described is pretty much how any competent shop would fix it. Someone else's blend technique may differ some but what i described is a pretty foolproof way to blend a DBC style basecoat. (non-activated) Plus it's white which is super easy to blend.
 
OK thanks chris, that was my orig idea how to do it, but then I started thinking (usually gets me in trouble) haha what if I also blended the clear into the door also.
thanks for your thoughts!
 
Anything worth doing, is worth doing right

Blended clear does not last forever, just do the whole panel and then you know its done right
 
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