Factory finish spiderwebbing

What brand name paint did you use ?. Also the type ( enamel, lacquer etc. )

Dave

For years I used Dupont and still do on some stuff. Color matches are decent but coverage sucks. I get 40% off of Sherwin Williams so I have moved to using it more. It`s a urethane. I don`t think you can buy lacquer anymore other than the stuff at Advanced Auto Parts and Autozone.
 
For years I used Dupont and still do on some stuff. Color matches are decent but coverage sucks. I get 40% off of Sherwin Williams so I have moved to using it more. It`s a urethane. I don`t think you can buy lacquer anymore other than the stuff at Advanced Auto Parts and Autozone.

Thanks, I would think the urethane will hold up well. I thought I saw Lacquer on some web sites but it is prone to spider webbing/cracking/crows footing.When I was painting I used Ditzler ( Dating myself) then PPG. I will keep Sherwin Williams in mind.

Dave
 
Got around to doing some denibing and it turned into sanding the whole panel with 1500 dry followed by 3000 wet. I always seem to get some pigtails. I was able to completely remove them with my rotary with an orange pad and 3D AAT compound.



 
Got around to doing some denibing and it turned into sanding the whole panel with 1500 dry followed by 3000 wet. I always seem to get some pigtails. I was able to completely remove them with my rotary with an orange pad and 3D AAT compound.



What are the pigtails and what us the cause? From what I can tell, they`re what is causing the light reflection not to be true in your first pic... #imnew

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xtremekustomz- Your skills continue to impress :D

You have any problem going from 1500 to 3K?

Not really. Been doing it for years now. As you can tell the 3000 is too fine to remove any pigtails that might occur. It`s hard to tell if you are getting any while sanding so I pretty much just deal with them as they come. I was actually very impressed how aat was able to cut them out with a foam pad. I normally use their wool but I may be going back to foam now.
 
What are the pigtails and what us the cause? From what I can tell, they`re what is causing the light reflection not to be true in your first pic... #imnew

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They are caused from using a da sander. A piece of trash gets in between the sandpaper and painted surface. It gets swirled around amd gives the effect of a pigs tail hence the name.
 
They are caused from using a da sander. A piece of trash gets in between the sandpaper and painted surface. It gets swirled around amd gives the effect of a pigs tail hence the name.
Ah - makes sense. I`m guessing that it could be reduced or eliminated if you were and by hand? But that would take substantially longer than a DA.

I want to learn all that I can about automotive painting since I plan on repainting my Miata. My dad used to paint professionally from the 70`s through the early 90`s and would likely help me out, but it`s my project and I want to do it well regardless.

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Ah - makes sense. I`m guessing that it could be reduced or eliminated if you were and by hand? But that would take substantially longer than a DA.

I want to learn all that I can about automotive painting since I plan on repainting my Miata. My dad used to paint professionally from the 70`s through the early 90`s and would likely help me out, but it`s my project and I want to do it well regardless.

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Yeah you wouldn`t have those if done by hand but like you said...it`s a lot more work doing it by hand. I did it in the past but not as much anymore. A lot of it depends on the type of finish you want. Since I spray in the garage and in a booth that I rent I don`t have the perfect environment for painting. I always have to denib trash which most shops do too. A shop with a good booth may have 1 nib to polish out whereas I may have 10. A clean environment is crucial to a paintjob. I had this one tore apart here at the house and didn`t want to rent the booth cause it is coming out of my pocket. Just trying to get by as cheap as possible. I don`t mind the labor, just don`t want to put the actual cash in it.

When it comes to any type of color sanding (sanding the final finish and polishing) for general purpose 1500 grit is a good place to start. However if you really want the clear to be extremely flat you will want to be more aggressive. I haven`t but some have started with 400 and worked their way up to 5000. You have to make sure you have plenty of clear on it to do that though. Cheaper clearcoats usually flow pretty good which means they level out nice. Higher solid clears take more of a technique to get them really flat. For a lot of show cars and cars with graphics a flow coat is used. To do this the vehicle is painted and cleared. If there are graphics you will have raised edges where the colors meet. If you put on enough clear on your first round (3-4 coats) you can sand and polish the line out. Normally I will spray everything, come in the next day and sand the clear down with 600-800 grit and spray another 3-4 coats of reduced clear on it to really make it lay flat. On my truck I did that and came back with 800, 1000, 1500 and 3000 grit before buffing. This is how it turned out:



The 1500, 3000 and 5000 grit papers are pretty expensive. A box of 25 (I may be off on the count) 1500 grit is around $70 and the 3000 grit is about $5-$6 per piece. That is for the 3m, there are some a little cheaper. My advice to you is watch youtube videos and join an autobody forum and ask lots of questions. The work isn`t that hard but you really can screw up. It may not be extremely costly because you are providing the labor but in time it could add up. Good spray equipment is crucial too as well as safety equipment. Most people neglect the safety part of it. You only get one body though and these chemicals are very toxic. Just something to keep in mind.
 
That`s some good advice! I would be repainting the car with the factory color (presently the previous owner burned through the clear in a place & the clear coat is delaminating on the hood). I just want to take it back to as close to factory original as I can - a nice sapphire mica paint color. So no graphics or other colors to contend with.

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Looking good! I hope when I get around to mine, that I can make it look close to as good as yours!

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Kinda been taking my time but here is where I am.













Tinted the headlights and tail lights


Wanted to do a little something different with the bumper so I added the black to the bottom


I`m also doing the chrome piece on the back and chrome mouldings black and addinga black billet grille. Having to do some repairs on the front bumper this weekend before I paint it. Other than paint the trim, installing headlights, paint trim, install grille and bumper, run over everything with a polish and clean it up I`m done. Hopefully should have the finished product by next weekend. Grille should be here middle of next week.

 
xtremekustomz- You might be taking your time, but you`re getting stuff done too :D

I like that black inset on the rear bumpercover, good call.
 
Wow, definitely looking good! I don`t recall reading it anywhere, but what brand of paint are you using? Also are you spraying with a conventional air compressor driven hvlp gun? I will be doing mine with a turbine hvlp gun - but probably won`t be able to start for a year or so.

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Looking good, luckily no rusted thru panels. I wonder what a shop would charge for a similar job.

Dave

Nah nothing other than surface rust on the top. I live in Florida so no salt on the roads to deal with. If I were doing this exact thing for a customer I`d charge around $5000 as a starting price. A alot of that would depend on the paint the person wanted. I think some oft he Glasurit clearcoats are around $800/kit
 
xtremekustomz- You might be taking your time, but you`re getting stuff done too :D

I like that black inset on the rear bumpercover, good call.

Yeah I want it to look a little different than stock and there is a line that goes around that spot anyway. I thought it would look pretty cool. I smoked the headlights and tail lights and am doing a black billete grille on the front. I will end up painting all the chrome accents black as well.
 
Wow, definitely looking good! I don`t recall reading it anywhere, but what brand of paint are you using? Also are you spraying with a conventional air compressor driven hvlp gun? I will be doing mine with a turbine hvlp gun - but probably won`t be able to start for a year or so.

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I get 40% off Sherwin Williams paint because of a brother-in-law who works there so that is what I`m using. I have a 60 gallon air compressor so it`s all air. Honestly with the hvlp turbine you probably won`t get the best finish out of it. It tends to heat the paint up and doesn`t atomize as well as an air powered setup. You will end up with more orange peel texture which can be fixed with color sanding and buffing. I know having compressors and dryers costs a lot more and you actually use more paint but it does yield a better finish.
 
xtremekustomz- Ah, that`ll look good.

Though I will scold you about tinting the head/tail (i.e., brake) lights ;) Just another of those things I`m No Fun about.
 
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