Tips for painting needed

[Mash]

Hi peepsI need a few tips on painting some bits on my Accord please.I'm going to have a go at the wing myself as it's too dear to have it sprayed professionally for what the cars worth and how long I'll have it. I've got some decent rattle cans made up by a local firm who are very good with matching and so on.Anyway, what's the best thing to do with the black primer on new panels? Can I give it a light sanding and spray over it or does it need to be back to bare metal before I primer it?The other thing is that it’s a metallic shade and I’ve had problems before with blending metallics on smaller areas because as soon as you start with a compound the top colour coat seems to come off and you’re down to silver. Am I doing something wrong? Not enough paint on? One part of the car that I need to touch in is quite small and I’d rather not paint whole panels if I can help it.Any advice gratefully received!

[Guest]

Can't you just brush-paint a load of Hammerite on it like most old boy Accord owners do? Genuine OAP-look!

[pogweasel]

Leave it in the primer. GHETTO.

[pompei]

Someone told me that black primer is just to protect it whilst in the parts rack, and should be sanded off before painting. I suppose it depends on how great a finish you want, and how long you want it to last ...

[andrew e]

I was led to believe that too?

[Split_Pin]

I'm rattle canning small bits soon to be fitted to my daily at the mo.I know I'll never match the metallic colour (silver) but as its low down trim items (ok its a spoiler ) it wont be noticeable.Make sure you are working in a low-dust, high ventilation area.Sand back the primer as it can react with the new paint (I've heard).Spray on as many light coats of primer necessarry to achieve a solid base. Sand back if necessary with fine sandpaper to show up high and low spots. Treat with fine filler. The colour coats should be applied lightly and evenly to avoid a 'patchy' or matt look. Put on at least 4 coats. Its only necessarry to wait about 15 mins between colour coats IMO.Leave for 24h, then spray on several coats of lacquer. Keep these thin, and wait at least an hour between coats otherwise it will go cloudy.Wait about a week, then give the area a good polish.IMO its not worth spending ages if painting with rattle cans as the finish will be unlikely to achieve a similar standard to that of 'proper' spraying equipment.

[Guest]

Make sure you are working in a low-dust area.

Keeping the floor damp can help with this.

[mouseflakes]

Make sure you are working in a low-dust area.

Keeping the floor damp can help with this.

No need to nip back in the house for 'comfort breaks' then?

[ashmicro]

When I stuffed my Mark 4 Escort, I had to get a new wing, which was painted in the black stuff. I got an item called a "Tacky Cloth" from a motor factors to clean all the crap off the surface. Sand with 240 then 1000 (dry) all over to get a "key" . Prime grey, and sand again with 1000, prime again, sand again with 1000 (wet this time).Next day, paint with the colour. Provided it's non-metallic, 1 thin coat, allow to dry.The tricky bit - coat two needs to be thick-ish. Lie the panel down flat. It's a bit hard to explain, but spray the paint on so it gets to the stage where you can see the shine appear, and the orange peel effect disappear.If, like me, you're doing this on a concrete garage floor get a bucket of water and a yard brush and wet the floor. It keeps dust down (and off the paint)

[r.welfare]

Rattle cans will be fine - I put a new wing on a Rover 200 last year; sanded down the black primer for a good "key", couple of coats of acid-etch U-Pol #8, couple of coats of filler primer (sanding in between), then wazzed on the colour.Ashmicro is on the money, don't forget to grab a couple of cans of lacquer and luzz on three or four coats of that, the first about 20 minutes after the last colour coat (so the colour is still "sticky"; I once made the mistake of doing some Golf wheels with lacquer two days after the colour coat had been done, then wondered why the lacquer flaked off when I first washed them). The key will be to spray the colour coat without orange peel, as Ashmicro sez - put plenty of clearcoat on and you can wetsand/compound it down to a nice shine, but it will still look a bit naff if there's orangepeel under the clear. Be careful sanding/compounding on any edges as you can go through them in no time - I need to do another wing for the 405 as I forgot to sand the primer coat, so when I compounded the lacquer it went through to the "nibs" in the primer...