so i screwed up my clear coat repair, thoughts?

[opie_7afe]

i agree again with bobby. i believe bobby used to paint cars so he would be the man to listen too, my advice comes from personal experience with rattle cans, and ive used a ton of rattle cans LOL

[BobbyG]

i agree again with bobby. i believe bobby used to paint cars so he would be the man to listen too, my advice comes from personal experience with rattle cans, and ive used a ton of rattle cans LOL

Matt, you have a good memory!

As long as the coat to coat adhesion is sound and the total thickness allows for some wet sanding, you'd be surprised how nice some of these these "nightmares" can look.

When I sprayed lacquers, it was common to wet sand between every couple of coats then thin the next application allowing the paint to become glass smooth and wet. This made buffing and finishing so much easier and ensured coat to coat adhesion...

The worst thing that could happen here is an additional coat or two of clear may have to be sprayed in order for it to be perfect.

If I remember correctly, SeaJay, Jason, fixed a urethane bumper using spray cans and it came out awfully nice once he was finished with it...

[timaishu]

Thanks for the comments Bobby.

I am going to tackle this tomorrow and hopefully get it done. My car looks like a wreck right now. I ran it through the touchless tunnel wash as my car is filthy having not washed it for 3 weeks. Also had alot of water spots where I sprayed off the car while wet sanding. Ive been working on that panel off and on for about a week and a half. Ive been trying to research as much as I can.

So far, whether or not it is a good idea I dont know. But on autobody101, a forum I found, mentioned using laquer thinner to remove off the clear. I gave it a shot and I removed some but ran out of daylight so I didnt finish. They say it should be safe?

The only part of that plan I am unsure of is using it to remove the clear I sprayed on the naked base coat where the factory clear had chipped off. Will it be fine getting it on the base coat?

[timaishu]

So the laquer thinner was a bad idea. I used it to try and remove the clear tape line and all I did was wipe away some of that and the clear coat that I thought was factory. So now I am going to have to sand down more clear to remove the hazy clear..

This is really starting to turn into a nighmare. At this point, if I had the money, I would just hand it over to the body shop. But thats not an option so I have to trek on and hope I can atleast make this presentable.

[Twister]

Just be patient and it will work out fine. Don't try to rush the process or it will only cause more headaches.

[timaishu]

I hate to sound like a whiner as this is totally out of character for me.

So I gave it another go about 20 minutes ago. I practiced spraying on an old door outside and figured out how to spray it wet. Went to my fender and laid down the first coat and it came out perfect except for a single run. Waited about 5-7 minutes then laid down the second coat the exact same way and it hazed again! The first coat I could tell it looked wet while spraying, the second acted like my first attempt. So I messed up again.

I am really frustrated and for now I am giving up completely. I may attempt this again later down the road, but I doubt it.

So my goal now is to either live with it, replace the fender with a same color one. I cant afford to paint it professionally.

I would like to thank all of you who helped me. But I guess Im just not capable of getting it done.

[timaishu]

So today I decided to see if I could improve upon mistake. To me, I think it still looks like crap, but my ultimate reason for starting this in the first place will hopefully now be rectified. I orginally set to stop my clear coat from peeling.

I lightly wet sanded with 2500 grit. I was hoping to match the level of orange peel to what is on my panel, but I was afraid I would remove to much clear as I only sprayed two coats of clear before I stopped. After that, wiped it down and took a lake country 5.5 orange pad with meguiars m105 to it with my griots garage polisher and did 6 passes. Wiped it down and repeated with a 5.5 white pad and m205.

If you look up close, you can still see the tape line, mismatched level of orange peel and the run in the clear. From 3 feet aways though, you hardly notice. Im suprised it cleaned up as well as it did.

So IF I ever decide to try and improve upon this in the future. Would it be possible since I had a solid first coat of clear. To just wet sand it to scuff it up and shoot on 3 or so more layers? Or would I have to remove it all again?

Anyways. Here are some before/after pics.






3ft away

[BobbyG]

So today I decided to see if I could improve upon mistake. To me, I think it still looks like crap, but my ultimate reason for starting this in the first place will hopefully now be rectified. I orginally set to stop my clear coat from peeling.

I lightly wet sanded with 2500 grit. I was hoping to match the level of orange peel to what is on my panel, but I was afraid I would remove to much clear as I only sprayed two coats of clear before I stopped. After that, wiped it down and took a lake country 5.5 orange pad with meguiars m105 to it with my griots garage polisher and did 6 passes. Wiped it down and repeated with a 5.5 white pad and m205.

If you look up close, you can still see the tape line, mismatched level of orange peel and the run in the clear. From 3 feet aways though, you hardly notice. Im suprised it cleaned up as well as it did.

So IF I ever decide to try and improve upon this in the future. Would it be possible since I had a solid first coat of clear. To just wet sand it to scuff it up and shoot on 3 or so more layers? Or would I have to remove it all again?

Anyways. Here are some before/after pics.






3ft away

Jacob,

Hey that didn't come out too bad at all and in fact it looks pretty darn nice!

Once you spray on a color coat and are satisfied with the results the time to spray on some clear is when the color coat has set up and dried but still a bit tacky.

When "like" paints are tacky, spraying on an additional coat will adhere or bond to the first. Once you spray on the first clear let it set for 5 minutes or so then spray the next.

Wet sanding the clear is necessary it must also be dry. Wet sanding not only smooths the surface but also creates a perfect condition for the next coat of clear to bond with.

Keep up the good work!

[Bobby B.]

Looks good to me

[02nissanISR]

Nothing to be ashamed of there I think you made a nice save considering the issues at the start. Good job. Hey what year is your car? I think we have the same color looks close anyway. And we both had clearcoat failure hmmm? Interesting.