Hi -

Needed to replace my roof-mounted carphone aerial recently, after it lost a
fight with a low-hanging branch. Decided to mount the replacement further
back on clean undisturbed steel, and do a filler repair on the distorted
hole left by the old one. I managed a lovely smooth repair with
mesh-reinforced Plastic Padding, sanded off with 1200 wet & dry. Went out
and bought a specially-mixed exact-match aerosol of dark blue paint, but now
I just can't get any kind of half-decent paint finish over it.

I masked off the area (approx playing card sized), and applied about 6-8
light sprays (with 10min intervals to allow it to go tacky). Left this for
a week to harden off, and you could easily see boundaries where one spray
run had overlapped another etc. Got the metallic T-Cut out to blend it
yesterday, only to find that this removed the colour layer! I was just
left with a really weird silvery / undercoaty patch.

Tried to spray again today, but I can't apply it softly enough to avoid
obvious layers. I assume that this will mean polishing again, which will
remove the colour again. The area needing respray is now an inch wider on
all sides, and it's going to grow each time I get it wrong.

A quick scamper around google suggests that it's practically impossible to
spray a small section of car body, especially with a standard aerosol can,
and the whole panel usually has to be redone. Can't believe this - surely
there's some way to get a *reasonable* finish? I don't want concours, just
a smooth, more or less matching result.

I'm now torn between buying a little airbrush kit to see if an accurate,
gentle & slow application works any better, or else calling in one of those
cosmetic repair firms from the yellow pages.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated!

Thanks -
Steve

Steve Walker wrote:

You need to check this, but I've only come across 2-pack metallic finishes:
the metallic paint and a clear laquer finish. I don't know if modern
finishes are similarly 2-pack or if there is any laquer in the aerosol you
were given, but from the sound of it, you haven't been told to finish off
with a spray coat from a can of clear laquer. You should be able to
get the laquer from the same supplier as the base coat to ensure
compatibility. Then, by all means, use T-Cut to blend/polish the
laquer.

Does this make sense?

Martin

Martin wrote:
Yeah, it does - thanks for this Martin.

I've seen the clear lacquer coat referred to, but assumed I didn't need it.
The aerosol gives a lovely finish without it - I checked a piece of the
oversprayed masking paper against the car body and the match was perfect.
But now I'm wondering if the lacquer would help - gotta be worth a try for a
fiver.

"Steve Walker" <spam-trap (AT) beeb (DOT) net> wrote

You need to bear in mind that aerosol paint is very thin compared to paint
you'd actually put through a spraygun due to the propellant and the lack of
pressure pushing it out. I'd be very tempted to put a heavy coat on - it's a
roof, it shouldn't run unless you go really mad. And all metallic finishes
I've seen in aerosols need a lacquer coat. This is good, because it helps
you hide the repair. Cover more than the sprayed area with lacquer, then
polish it up. Be very wary of polishing aerosol paint for a good while (a
warm week later say). I'd also avoid trying to mask the immediate area -
mask most of the rest of the roof, but leave a good area around where you're
spraying unmasked, to avoid masking lines, then polish out any overspray.

Aerosol paint is definately not 2 pack btw - 2 pack is paint that's mixed
with a hardener to make it set.

Doki wrote:
Thanks Doki, that almost inspires me to have one more go.... )

"Steve Walker" <spam-trap (AT) beeb (DOT) net> wrote

And you need to bear in mind that metallic finishes vary by thickness of
coat - thin, and all the metallic bits line up flat. Thicker and they end up
all angles...

"Steve Walker" <spam-trap (AT) beeb (DOT) net> wrote

very fine rubbing compound over the whole panel, very fine rub down over the
area, overlap the area with paint (no masking) do not flat , then lacquer
over a larger area.

Your chances of a good match are very low.

Mrcheerful

Steve Walker wrote:

Its doable with plain color, but you will never get a match with metallics.

Prep it up and take it to a pro spray place and get the whole panel done.

It wont cost that much..its the prepping up they charge for.

On Mar 4, 11:48 pm, meow2... (AT) care2 (DOT) com wrote:
Sometimes a thick or wet enough layer will dry smooth and glossy and
if you mask the area with the edges of the tape lifted up you can
sometimes confine the spray to the area without a hard edge line.

Alternatively put a contrasting stripe down the length of the roof or
a contrasting round dot so it looks like it's supposed to be there.

adder1969 wrote: