Post by gogittum on Jun 30, 2024 12:18:50 GMT -5
On Memorial Day Monday, I managed to get distracted and drove my -02 4Runner into a big rock and a tree alongside a highway. Hood, right fender and bumper are toast....grill, radiator, etc., are fine and I'm driving it.
Local body shops are swamped with work and not interested, so I'm going to have at it myself. I do have some experience, including with rattle cans, but I've come up with a headache:
The hood came in Friday and I've already had some custom paint mixed and put into rattle cans by the local NAPA store. They are fearsomely expensive, so went to O'Reilly's and found some touch-up rattle cans that are very close to the same silver color for less than 1/2 the price, so bought 2 of them.
Figured to do the hood in the cheaper silver until I have a good coat, then top it with the high priced spread. Did that yesterday with the 1st layer, but it's taking more paint than I expected. That's OK....ordered more.
BUT...the paint on the hood now feels like 80 grit sandpaper. I'd expected to do some light sanding before final coats, but this is silly. For that sanding, should I use 400 grit or 800 grit ??
I did a fender flare extension last week to test colors and technique and it came out a perfect match to the rest of the car and was smooth and clean. Just a rubdown with cloth and a quick squirt of clear coat and it's ready to install. Unexpected problem with those rattle cans - the pushbuttons are so stiff I can't move them with fingers - gotta use the thumb and it's very hard to get good, consistent results like that. I bought a handle/button thing and it worked fine with the cheaper cans...have yet to try it with the problem cans.
It's hot and dry out there and I'm well aware of the problem of paint partially drying in the air before hitting the surface, so held the can(s) as close as I could without causing runs and moved it quickly....and I do know that multiple light coats are better than 1 heavy coat.
Food for thought - there are outfits out there that sell matching touch-up paints and they're apparently pretty good quality, but I came up with a problem with them....besides the exorbitant price....
....10 or 12 years ago, I scraped a fender flare pretty badly when 4 wheeling, so ordered some of that touch-up paint in a rattle can, using the paint code on the door post for color match.
Fine and dandy, but the car has been sitting in the sun its' entire life and the original paint has faded. The touch-up paint was far too dark. That's why I had a custom color mixed for this effort.
Local body shops are swamped with work and not interested, so I'm going to have at it myself. I do have some experience, including with rattle cans, but I've come up with a headache:
The hood came in Friday and I've already had some custom paint mixed and put into rattle cans by the local NAPA store. They are fearsomely expensive, so went to O'Reilly's and found some touch-up rattle cans that are very close to the same silver color for less than 1/2 the price, so bought 2 of them.
Figured to do the hood in the cheaper silver until I have a good coat, then top it with the high priced spread. Did that yesterday with the 1st layer, but it's taking more paint than I expected. That's OK....ordered more.
BUT...the paint on the hood now feels like 80 grit sandpaper. I'd expected to do some light sanding before final coats, but this is silly. For that sanding, should I use 400 grit or 800 grit ??
I did a fender flare extension last week to test colors and technique and it came out a perfect match to the rest of the car and was smooth and clean. Just a rubdown with cloth and a quick squirt of clear coat and it's ready to install. Unexpected problem with those rattle cans - the pushbuttons are so stiff I can't move them with fingers - gotta use the thumb and it's very hard to get good, consistent results like that. I bought a handle/button thing and it worked fine with the cheaper cans...have yet to try it with the problem cans.
It's hot and dry out there and I'm well aware of the problem of paint partially drying in the air before hitting the surface, so held the can(s) as close as I could without causing runs and moved it quickly....and I do know that multiple light coats are better than 1 heavy coat.
Food for thought - there are outfits out there that sell matching touch-up paints and they're apparently pretty good quality, but I came up with a problem with them....besides the exorbitant price....
....10 or 12 years ago, I scraped a fender flare pretty badly when 4 wheeling, so ordered some of that touch-up paint in a rattle can, using the paint code on the door post for color match.
Fine and dandy, but the car has been sitting in the sun its' entire life and the original paint has faded. The touch-up paint was far too dark. That's why I had a custom color mixed for this effort.
