Need some help here

[Agribuff]

We recently got given a small loader tractor to detail and I was told there was "some" touch up painting done on the hood. It turned out "some" was an understatement. His intentions were to do some touch ups and then have my guys match up the paint around it so it all looks good.

It sounded good in theory but the spray paint job was horrendous in contrast to the original paint job. So his end game he wants to be able to have it painted in spots and me to lightly polish it so it is less noticeable....

So I have attached pictures before we touched it and some during and some after. I just simply don't know what to do to this thing to have it looking the way it should (beginners problems). We both understand it won't be perfect in the end but I'd like it a fair shot better than this.

Here are the photos

[Agribuff]

I should add that this is single stage paint

[RedXray]

He'll probably have to live with it or take it to a painter.

Spotting in single stage acrylic enamel usually doesn't work very well as the edges don't blend with the existing paint. After the color is shot you can dust around the edges with straight reducer in your cup but it's still hard to melt down the foggy looking edges of the fresh paint. The best way to spot OEM acrylic enamel (can't be fresh enamel paint) is using acrylic lacquer.

1. Compound the area to blended
2. Spot with lacquer 6 to 8 coats each coat with a slightly larger overlap
3. Blend in the outer paint edges with slow drying straight lacquer thinner
4. Let cure overnight then buff to match

You need a lot of coats because lacquer is water thin and you'll buff away a good bit (rotary) to make it shine.

That said... I would probly just shoot the whole thing in bc/cc.

[Agribuff]

Thanks for the help RedXray. The customer ended up deciding to repaint after having us buff it. So much bad advice out there it can be sad sometimes.

Somebody had told him you could blend the paint with buffing and I had advised that it might not go as he had hoped. It's always good to learn more and I think we all learned something through this.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge on paint.