Re: Touching Up Body Panels - Advice Please

Hi All,

> > Since the weather has gotten better I've decided to tackle the few bits of > rust and other painting jobs that need doing on my Astra. So far I have only > painted whole components (mirrors, front grille and the like), but not > partial panels. There is an area of rust the size of a 50 pence piece on the > rood (nearside between the windscreen seal and the cover over the gutter). > Now I have removed the loose material, treated the area with kurust & filled > it. I have now sanded the filler level with the surrounding paintwork (along > with removing the paint from 'good' metal around the repair). Now the area > is primed I have something of a dilemma. As the repair has been masked there > is a very slight 'lip' where the primer contacts the existing paint, so I am > assuming I need to sand this very lightly to blend it in to the original > finish? Also when I topcoat do I need to include a small area (say 2mm) of > the existing finish around the primed area for when I come to blend the > repair into the existing paint. This is only a small repair, most of which > is covered by the grey plate that conceals the gutter, but my next project > is to repair some deep scratches to a wing (off the car from a scrappie), so > I want to get the techniques right now!

When doing the wings you may be better doing the panel as they are off the car, most places even say they need to do the entire roof to get a good finish if they are repairing a scratch.

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Depresion
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"paul" wrote in news:3f3b4341$0$18262$ snipped-for-privacy@news.easynet.co.uk:

Like the other guy said, most profesional body shops will only do entire panels. Some insist on doing the ones next to a damaged panel so that they can 'blend in' the new and old paintwork (they do this by fading out the spray and then compounding the panel back to a high gloss). But it sounds like you are working with an aerosol spray system and so this approach is not realistic.

As a method of avoiding a lip between the newly painted area and the old paint, you could lift the edge of the masking tape by 4mm or so. This help to prevent a sharp edge. However, the paint underneath the lifted masking tape will be slightly dustly looking rather than super shiny. You can get rid of this (after a week or so) by first sanding the whole area with 1200 grit wet and dry paper and then polishing with a cutting compound such as Farecla G3 using a Gmop applicator fitted to a drill. For a supplier see:

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Wicks do a M14 adaptor so that you can fit the Gmop into a drill. If your old paintwork is a bit faded you may well have to compound the entire roof to blend the new area in with the old but you should be left with a no visible lines between the new and old paintwork.

Hope this helps

DaveW

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DaveW

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