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Blending / feathering paint repairs - Foam masking tape?

Yet another painting question :). I'm going to do the bits at the back of the doors next weekend (as

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), and a patch at the bottom of one of the doors on my Ka. I'm only usingAerosols so that I can get the metal covered up over winter, and I'm notrespraying entire panels, just patch repairs. I seem to have gotten the hangof spraying with an aerosol (not getting the can from Halfords seems to be8/10s of the technique), but the bits I've done today have been under trimso I've just used normal masking tape leaving a hard line. Is foam masking tape the best way to get a feathered edge, or should I just roughen up a fair bit of paint area around the repair, prime the bare metal, then overlap a bit with the colour, then overlap more with the clearcoat, and then compound out the sanding marks? If I do go down the foam route, (can I be cheap and just get hold of some foam and stick it to the panel? The patches I'll be spraying will be fairly small narrow if that makes any odds.

Reply to
Doki
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)> , and a patch at the bottom of one of the doors on my Ka. I'm only using> Aerosols so that I can get the metal covered up over winter, and I'm not> respraying entire panels, just patch repairs. I seem to have gotten thehang

I don't know about foam masking tape. But you should always rub down some of the surrounding area as well as the damage bit, apply primer, rub down ,(repeat as nec) apply colour, rub down, more colour, rub down with finer and finer paper, wetted with water with just a drop of detergent, when you cannot feel any change between the repair and the surround you can dry, then apply clear coat. If necessary this may need rubbing down too, but often it will be ok as is. otherwise leave it a few weeks and rub down/compound/polish. For most areas you should be sure to use a block to hold the paper or you will rub in fingerlines.

MrCheerful

Reply to
MrCheerful
[snip]

Sounds about right to me ;)

But to do a local repair across a panel you don't use any form of masking because you'll end up with an unremovable paint line.

A top tip is to use a quarter piece of wet-or-dry wrapped around a wet cloth so it follows contours etc.

The whole panel should be compounded prior to final paint/lacquer application to obtain a perfectly clean area to paint over and when done compound the lacquer/paintline.

Steve.

Reply to
Stephen Hull

I take it you mean no masking to paint against. I'll need some to keep the inside of the car from being painted :).

Traffic film remover, G3 and another wash and tack cloth before I paint sound about right? I take it you mean more the surrounding area than the whole panel - where this repair is on the Ka you'd be compounding the entire side of the car (thought it's got to be done at some point anyway)..

Reply to
Doki
[snip]

Yes mask off adjacent areas and still mask to the end of a panel as necessary but never mask across a panel or you'll get a raised paint edge. It's always best to blend the material either across a panel or paint the whole panel up to the nearest bodyline or panel edge IYSWIM?.

Compound just beyond the intended area of spray so as to clean the paint surface and avoid the ugly black mark of ingrained dirt that will be impossible to polish out afterwards.

Steve.

Reply to
Stephen Hull

I mask off well away from the small area to be painted then spray through a

12x12" approx bit of card with a hole torn in it about 1" bigger than the to be painted area. Hold the card about 2" above the panel area to be painted and you won't get any raised edges and it can be cut back real easy a week or two later.

Reply to
Steve B

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