I have a Performance White (code WT) colored 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis GS. This is the whitest, brightest, white color that Ford/Lincoln/Mercury makes. I had a large chip on the passenger side rear door, and multiple areas on the from and rear bumpers that needed attention. I found Dupli-Color NG FM 335 Scratch Fix to be almost perfect match color-wise; and i was going to follow that up with Dupli-Color NG SF 125 Clear Coat.
I prepped the areas by sanding with 600 grit Gator dri/wet sandpaper that had been soaked overnight in water. I also used a spray bottle of water with a few drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid to keep the sanding area lubricated..After drying the area I used denatured alcohol to remove any remaining wax or grease.
Appling the paint with a brush is kind of a challenge as the paint is rather thick and drys fast. Basically, (whether you`re using the brush in the cap or a small artists brush), you get one clear stroke with the brush; If you try to do a second stroke over the same area while the paint is still wet you will get bristle marks and a rough gloppu finish. After waiting 24 houes,for the touchup to dky, I wetsanded the area with 600 grit paper until it was slightly below the surrounding base coat. Then I applied the clear coat, waited another 24 hourw, and finally wetsanded with Gator 1500 paper until it was flush with the surrounding area.
The problem is that as soon as I start to sand the touchup paint, it gets a little darker and/or yellowish and no longer matches the surrounding base coat. It seems that the more I have to sand, the worse it`s gets. By the time I finish wetsanding the clear coat,, the touched up areas are all obviously darker and visibly notable. I`ve troed redoing some of the more obvious spots by removing all traces of the touchup paint with laquer thinner.and starting again from scratch. But the end results were the same.
I`m pretty frustrated at this point since I can`t seem tp figure out what I`m doing wrong. Mechanically I`ve done a lot of shadetree wrenching, but I`m a newb when it comes to bodywork. Can someone please tell me what I`m doing wrong? Am I using the wrong kind of sandpaper? Is there a "special" sanpaper for lighter colored vehiclies? Please help me. I put a lot of time and effort into this trying to do a perfect job, and the results so far are very disappointing.
Thank you kindly in advance for any advice. Sincerely...
-Steve D
Thanks kindly in advance for any advice...8-)ONT=Courier New][/FONT]
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