Tough question how handy are you if you are willing to try and learn it can be good to do these things yourself.If you know a painter or panel beater get them to help you through and advise on different things.The problem with the yellow showing through would have ben not enough light where he painted it.He would not have been able to see the spots until out in the light another thing is to change your patten of strokes when using see through colours.Another issue is weather you use two pac or acrylic.Acrylic is very user beginer friendly as it dries quick and you can easily sand things out if you do stuff up.getting the right finish on 2 pac is a fine art I have been in this trade for years and I will only paint small things {outboards engine bays inside door jambs etc}because it is quite easy to get nasty runs or have the finish to dry.Also do a couple of test panels to see how many coats you need to do to make sure it has covered the ground{yellow}coat
Good luck pm your email & I will send a web doco and link on diy paint & panel

The easiest way I think would be to find a fibreglass xb bonnet and cut the scoop section out then screw & glass to the eb bonnet otherwise you have to weld the xb section and this will cause all sorts of distorsion and s**t the other way is to see the guys that have them and get a fibreglass mould taken and get a complete bonnet made in glass

Im about to paint my bonnet, bar and guard.

The bar is in primer im told and the bonnet and guard were rubbed back slightly. The original colour on the guard and bonnet is heritage green. Now there are a few small round chips of clear coat that have come off the green. Now i have to sand that till its smooth right or will a coat paint fill that up?

The guard has a few minor and major dents in it. I am going to try panel beat them out and if i can ill use it, if not ill get a new one. Should i cover the guard in bog and sand the bog smooth before i paint it?

Also because i will be using a non-metallic paint (white) what is the best undercoat (if any) and top coat to use?

I will cut part of my bar away to get it color matched.

What else should i know before i paint up the stuff.

Ben

The smal chips will be able to be filled with a ultra lightweight putty {avail from autobarn sometimes called stop putty} then a light coat of primer over theses areas
As for the guard if you dont really know how to attack it I would by another one think economics 150 for a new one or spend two days fixing the one you have how much is your time worth
If you use a hifill 2 pac primer you can then use either 2pac or acrylic top coat if your not rel experienced I would use acrylic as its very user friendly
Check out this site for all your basic knowledge
http://www.autobody101.com/

Hey there NLBXR6.


I have a Harvest green BA XR6 which appears to have sliver overspray (fine) all over it. I have tried Meguiars Qick Clay detailer but to no avail. it makes my paintwork nice and smooth biut has not removed the overspray. Due to water restrictions car had not been washed for sometime and when i did wash it that was when i noticed it.

Any adive on how to remove it and restore to original?

Cheers

Try a light cutting compound such as K&H optic medium cut on a polish pad by hand otherwise use the same product with a polishing machine then you will need to hand polish the areas you have buffed

Update...
I can highly recomend the work these dent removal guys do. I did not use Dent Wizard as was not in my area, but.. The process they use is great.. Looks a treat now...!

Good to hear

Great thread! Thanks for taking the time to put something like this together nlbxr6.

I've got a question regarding EF doors. I wanted to treat it to a full respray before i pull it off the road and make it my weekender at the end of this year. As with all daily drivers, i've accumulated a few very shallow dents and some ripples in the doors that i want removed.

To date i've visited two reputable panel shops here in Melbourne and one has said that it is possible to skim the doors will filler to hide the ripples, and the other has advised that removing the ripples by hi-filling the panel will show the outline of the glue used to attach the intrusion bar to the inside of the door. What are your thoughts/experiences with this? In terms of finish, i'm after a relatively flat finish with very minimal peel.

Secondly, what are your thoughts on PPG and Glasure (spelling?) paints?

In terms of the clear coat i'm thinking of using a product manufactured by PPG called CeramiClear (as used by BMW, Mercedes etc). Have you had much experience with this? What are your thoughts on this product?

Thanks in advance.

Set two things first what colour and how straight {show car;every now and then car;or daily driver}
Some colours show ripples more than others
Falcons and most new cars now days generally have a lot of ripples from new.
I would suggest finding a good paintless dent repairer for the small dents.Some of the good PDR repairers can push some pretty big dents that only then require a good block and hi-fill.
If the damage is bad enough that you would need to SKIM the doors you would still need to hi-fill
Hi-fill is the name for a 2 pac putty and primer in one

The only reason you get the high spots from the glue inside the doors is from the panel being heated too much while being sanded.
If you dont use sharp sandpaper or you sand in one area to long you heat the panel up when this happens the metal stretches but where it is glued it cant move so when you apply pressure [sanding}the panel will flex inwards thus creating high spots where the glue is.So the more you sand the more you will see the ripples cause you are removing more primer from these raised bits that cant flex

Man thats pretty hard to explain so everyone can understand

As for the peel find yourself a dam good painter or be prepared to spend a lot of time buffing {you will understand why soon}

PPG pretty good and GLASURIT the best in the world
Find your painter and ask what flavour he prefers
Any of the major paint brands are as good as each other

Ceramic Clear is a very good product if applied correctly
It povides a hard glass like coating which is very tough and durable.
As with any 2 pac finish it is designed to be an off the gun finish{no buffing}.But most times a little buffing is required for small dust particles that have ended up in the final coat.
Therefore if you get too much dust or peel or even a little run the ceramic clear is that hard it is a pain to buff
Very good product if used correctly

In my case the car is Artic Blue and will be used one or twice a month. In regards to the visibility of the ripples its pretty much dependant on the lighting and the angle at which you look at the panel. Looking at it straight on it looks perfect, however if you look down the doors (from the rear quarter towards the front or vice-versa) in a low light environment you can see the ripples (from the side mouldings to the window trims).



Panel damage is very minimal - i only have two extremely shallow dents that can eaily be fixed by a dent repairer. The rippling and waviness is another matter...




Good job, makes perfect sense!




Buffing isn't a problem - i already spend hours upon hours polishing, sealing waxing and keeping all our cars swirl free and looking good. I understand that a flat finish is a pain in the a** to maintain but as it won't be a daily i'm prepared to put in a little more effort to keep it looking good.

The two workshops i've visited specialise in European cars (Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari etc) that have used CeramiClear for a number of years so i'm sure they'll be familiar working with it. In regards to buffing i know a few people that have experience with polishing cars painted with the stuff so it should be ok. Regardless, its good to know what problems people typically encounter when they use the stuff.

hey,

I need to paint a fibreglass speaker surround and get a gloss finish...up until now i have only needed matte finish to match my interior, but this job is for my mate and he wants it to be close to his outside colour (white gloss). What would be my best bet?

cheers nick

Hey Nick do it the same way you would a matt finish but you nee to make sure all imperfections are sanded out as they will show up more with a gloss finish

is there anyone in sydney that does air brushing on cars ?

Sorry it took so long but I couldnt tell you best bet is local yellow pages or street machine etc