Painting recommendations

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by Seal1968

If you want an inexpensive and quick repair, and it's just the clear coming off you can sand the top layers with 400 wet, then re-clear. No need to break through the basecoat into the primer layer and have to re-spray the entire panel. When sanding the clear it will be a white residue...if you see colour on the sandpaper, you're into the basecoat.

To re-clear you can get 2K clear coat in a rattle can - it has the activator in it, and the UV protection needed. Cans of the 2K clear are @ $35 each.

There's a ton of DIY clearcoat repair videos on YT if you want to tackle this project.

If you feel this above your skill level, a body shop can blow in your hood and top lid easy. They will be able to match the paint codes. Even a Maaco shop could do this for you.

Its a metallic flake paint. Any sanding in the base coat will stand out like a sore thumb.

If you did do this you'd need to put on a control coat of base then re-clear, but at that point its better to just do the normal two base coats and one control coat.

[Seal1968]

Ya, that's a tough colour for sure.

But she's looking for cheap and easy...

You have to kind of fog on the last coat of base for this type of colour to let the metallic flow out when trying to blend a panel. Not for the faint hearted.

Probably best to mask off the roof cover and hood like you suggest, and hope the match paint is good and do the whole thing with BC and CC. That's a lighter tone, so I think a match wouldn't be too tough to achieve.

My son's A4 is brilliant black...and most think it's just black...nope. When I did the fenders and other parts last month, the blend was tough. Got it looking decent, a lot of wetsanding and polishing to make the repair disappear...it's damn shiny now.

I can see the blend line faintly, but I'm a picky SOB and know where it is. Most wouldn't notice.

Its hard work, but I find it rewarding to stand back and be able to say "I did that"...I like a challenge.

986 Chick...you can do this!

[husker boxster]

OK, maybe I was wrong about MAACO.



It might take a few yrs to tell if it was a good paint job or not.

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

OK, maybe I was wrong about MAACO.



It might take a few yrs to tell if it was a good paint job or not.

Doesn't Maaco use PPG?

I DO NOT like PPG single stage acrylic paint. I just picked the cheapest stuff I could find for my truck. And 4 years latter the cheap paint shows.

I would expect that you can choose better paint from Maaco if you want.

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by Qingdao

Doesn't Maaco use PPG?

I DO NOT like PPG single stage acrylic paint. I just picked the cheapest stuff I could find for my truck. And 4 years latter the cheap paint shows.

I would expect that you can choose better paint from Maaco if you want.

Hoovie got a base coat - clear coat paint job. I imagine they did an extra nice job knowing their work was going to be on full display on the interweb.