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Been down this road a lot lately, limited budgets make for some interesting innovations when fixing up a 'Driver' sort of classic Oldsmobile. I start with 1500 grit, with lots of water, a bit of soap in the water helps to keep it working a bit longer. Keep the surface wet regardless, you will see the water start to turn milky, this is good, you are cutting down the clear coat! Wipe the area dry, do this often as you are learning the particular surface. It should be smooth and semi-dull once it is cut down enough. Next use 2000 grit and work the same as above. It should feel glass smooth, and look it too. Finish off with medium polishing compound, then fine polishing compound. A bit of water will help ensure nothing gets too aggressive. Use a nice wax to bring out the shine! Economics forced me to paint the trunk and left rear fender of our 1966 Ninety-Eight LS with of all things, spray cans. Doing the above mentioned helped to make the paint look reasonably decent. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Edit! Your buffer with a terrycloth pad will work just fine, don't be too aggressive with pressure and watch yourself on the edges if any are involved. Again, water in the mix helps a lot!
Last edited by Vistabrat72; July 3rd, 2020 at 06:16 PM.
I'd say NO! spray bomb paints are cheap quality, mostly, and go on very thin, due to having to spray out that tiny nozzle. Your 3 coats of clear are probably not even as thick as one coat out of a spray gun. That's NOT enough clear to sand and buff!
Nice work vista! The plus of old old car paint, it can be a little thin or uneven in spots and retains the character of the car.
last inspection on my car the guy commented at first he thought it was the original paint! My car has a backyard paintjob from a previous owner so the mediocre finish kinda replicates a decent original 50yr old paint w some touchups paint job.
Nice work vista! The plus of old old car paint, it can be a little thin or uneven in spots and retains the character of the car.
last inspection on my car the guy commented at first he thought it was the original paint! My car has a backyard paintjob from a previous owner so the mediocre finish kinda replicates a decent original 50yr old paint w some touchups paint job.
Thanks Retro Ranger and what you said is very true. The paint was mixed at our local Carquest, matched to the WA3305 Ocean Mist color. The car is always garaged, so concerns about fading, too thin, etc are not a worry for me, the car is for us to enjoy, I could care less about judging, comparing to what somebody else has,or something being perfect! We already have the Vista Cruiser that is pretty much our show car. I do not have the luxury of a large well equipped garage, so I work with what I have, and hopefully Sugar Bear is encouraged to do this on his driver. BTW the rest of the car sports original paint so yes, it does look the new paint fits in well. Carquest did a great job helping us throughout the budget build.
I know I'm a few months late to the party on this one, but I figure as lifelong professional painter I'll drop my 2 cents wherever it may help someone else in the future.
Originally Posted by chopolds
I'd say NO! spray bomb paints are cheap quality, mostly, and go on very thin, due to having to spray out that tiny nozzle. Your 3 coats of clear are probably not even as thick as one coat out of a spray gun. That's NOT enough clear to sand and buff!
True for the most part, but I could(wouldn't recommend) sand and buff one coat of clear if I needed to. Aerosol is cheap, low quality paint. However what comes out of a rattle can now is roughly equivalent to what would have been on a car from the factory up until the late 80s, albeit a thinned down version, so more coats are required just like they used to do with lacquer back in the day. You can get some auto paint stores to package basecoat into an aerosol can. Basecoat doesn't have to be catalyzed, so this is no problem. Where the aerosol quality really lacks is the clear. But now you can get true catalyzed clearcoat in an aerosol can as well. It has a capsule inside and you pop a button on the bottom to release the catalyst into the paint. They've got a pretty nice fan nozzle. For small DIY garage projects, you can get professional results if you have the patience.
If I'm just eliminating a minimal texture and maybe some trash nibs, I sand with 1500, buff with Meguiars compound(any of their 10-12 cut compounds are good) and a wool pad. Then I switch to Meguiar's dual action cleaner/polish and a black foam pad. Then meguiars full synthetic wax. If I'm doing a show quality paint job with multiple coats of high solids clear, I usually start with 600 to quickly eliminate all the texture and the FLA. Then I switch to 1200 to remove the 600 scratches, then I use 2000 to remove the 1200 scratches. Some people like to go up to 3000. I think 3m goes up to like 8000 or something stupid like that now, but 2000 buffs just fine for me. I can buff 1500, but the time spent removing the 1500 scratches with 2000 is worth the reduction in buffing time.
[QUOTE=ijasond;1340798]I know I'm a few months late to the party on this one, but I figure as lifelong professional painter I'll drop my 2 cents wherever it may help someone else in the future.
True for the most part, but I could(wouldn't recommend) sand and buff one coat of clear if I needed to. Aerosol is cheap, low quality paint. However what comes out of a rattle can now is roughly equivalent to what would have been on a car from the factory up until the late 80s, albeit a thinned down version, so more coats are required just like they used to do with lacquer back in the day. You can get some auto paint stores to package basecoat into an aerosol can. Basecoat doesn't have to be catalyzed, so this is no problem. Where the aerosol quality really lacks is the clear. But now you can get true catalyzed clearcoat in an aerosol can as well. It has a capsule inside and you pop a button on the bottom to release the catalyst into the paint. They've got a pretty nice fan nozzle. For small DIY garage projects, you can get professional results if you have the patience.
Thanks for the very detailed explanation Ijason! Ocean Mist tucked away in the barn!
I do remember being instructed to and having to push a button of sorts on the clear cans, so I figure it was a catalyst as you explained. Regardless, what I did pretty matched up the new paint to the remains of original paint on the rest of the car. When I look back, if I had the car painted in the needed spots as per the professional, proper way, the car would have looked a spotted puppy or kitten with shiny paint on some spots, and fairly reasonable paint on other spots. Shown in the picture is the left rear fender as it came out. I guess I really lucked out with doing what I did in blind faith. The car suits our needs to be able to enjoy it and not having it as an eyesore for our neighbors to look at as the car originally was.
July 3rd, 2020, 05:07 PM
