Thanks for All of Your Help - And Now a Problem

M

milanomaroon

Promoted Users
First I want to thank everyone who has put up with all of my questions and have continued to provide such excellent advise. Thank you very much. Here's to hoping there is one more rabbit we can pull out of the hat. Yesterday I finished putting on clear coat. Basically I was happy with the way things turned out except for the dust nibs.

And now for my problem. Painted the body of my car - sealer, activated base coat, and Euro clear. I was starting to de-nib using 1500 paper. It looks like one of my nibs started in the sealer coat and I missed it completely. So when I started to cut them down I see a gray spot which I believe to be the sealer. I was wondering, hoping actually, that there was a fairly simple fix. Can I scuff the surrounding area, dust on some base, and then apply several coats of clear.? Can I take the new clear out a little bit knowing there will be an dull overspray area, and then buff everything out? There are no separate panel lines where I could stop the clear and do a whole panel.

car03.jpgcar04.jpgcar02.jpgcar01.jpg
 
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Looks like a dust mark to me. You haven't removed much clear at all.
I had one on my signature car. Block sanded using a hard block and 1000 grit to remove it.

Dust mark.JPG


Dust Mark Removed.JPG


Followed with 1500 on a soft pad and then 2000.

How many coats of clear on are on the car?
 
Thank you for the reply.

I wish it were dust but I really believe it is sealer. I had a dust nib there and didn't catch it before I applied base. So when I sanded I went through the clear and base just on the nib in the sealer. I will check further, but assuming I'm right can it be repaired as suggested in my initial post?

4 coats of clear by the way.
 
What you are proposing is an open blend and it’s very difficult for a novice to pull it off. Ideally you would sand the whole panel, blend base over the flaw and reclear the entire panel. Bit of a drag on a C2 where the panel is essentially the whole shell. Been there, done that…
Here’s a good write up on blending

How to blend paint to repair and match existing paint.

Hi all. I figured I'd do this write up as both Crash and I thought we needed to have something here on the forum to refer folks to when asking about blending. I'll try to outline the proper technique to prep, and how to do a basecoat blend. Single stage the same principle applies. In this write...
www.spiuserforum.com
 
shine said:
i could live with that little spot. if not block the car and touch up the spots and re-clear. a blend can come back to haunt you.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply. It looks like I have a couple of options.

First thing I should do is finish de-nibbing the entire car. See if anything else pops up. If it doesn't then -

1. I just live with it and move on.

2. Or I attempt to repair it with a blend. If I mess the blend up will I know right away or will it show up later? And if I know right away can I then just scuff the car and re-clear everything?

I am planning on clearing the doors and hood tomorrow. If I attempt the blend and end up having to re-clear the body can I NOT have to scuff and clear the doors and hood also?

This is getting so complicated I keep going back to "1. Just live with it". Especially when I factor in my inexperience and having to re-clear a bad blend leads me to screw something else up.

Any other input would be appreciated...
 
Open blends are improper repairs and will always end up being visible even when performed perfectly.

If it is really gray sealer, and you have a steady hand, you could very carefully scratch the gray out with the corner of a razor blade, then fill the tiny cavity with a blend of base and activated clear. This can be sanded flat and buffed with the rest of the body when it's cured. Also an improper repair, but kept so tiny it might pass most inspections, and won't be a large appearing degradation over time the way an open blend will surely be.
 
crashtech said:
Open blends are improper repairs and will always end up being visible even when performed perfectly.

If it is really gray sealer, and you have a steady hand, you could very carefully scratch the gray out with the corner of a razor blade, then fill the tiny cavity with a blend of base and activated clear. This can be sanded flat and buffed with the rest of the body when it's cured. Also an improper repair, but kept so tiny it might pass most inspections, and won't be a large appearing degradation over time the way an open blend will surely be.
Click to expand...
thank you crashtech. that's an interesting idea. i'll see how the rest of the de-nibbing goes.
 
Sand the whole car and see if this is the only one, it looks very nice. If this is the only spot, just treat it as you would a stone chip. as Chrashtech described.
 
I don't even worry about most of those quite honestly. And in a year you'll forget where it was because you won't notice it either. But I have been known at times to take a little dab of basecoat on a modeling paint brush and just dab on there to cover it up better once it's all buffed out. Mixing it with some clear as Crash suggested is a more robust way. That being said, I couldn't ever find my repairs I did in this manner after I had done them.
 
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