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Time to fix some paint imperfections. INCLUDING those "rust
rainbows" (-I just made that term up, I suppose someone
else somewhere has though of it) that are are the bottom of
our doors! You know what I am talking about!
This guide is written as an entire painting/rust repairing
day, because that's what I did.
I needed the following for this job:
-Rotor with a full set of bits
-Sandpaper, various roughness 80/120
- Small amount of Bondo & Hardener with en empty tuna-fish
can and puddy knife.
- Primer & Paint to match. PaintScratch.com
is a great place to match correct paint. I was very pleased
with my match, I would say it was perfect. For $30 I got shipped
to me 2oz primer and 2oz matched paint. They say this is enough
for 3SF of coverage, so I figured that was enough. It was more
than enough. I should have gotten maybe the 1oz.
- A Full HOT day with no chance of it raining for the next
few.
1. Wash your car, VERY GOOD. Use some dishwashing detergent,
and scrub until sparkling and clean. I know there is a bit of
grime on my car, that if you scrub it well, or use rubbing compound
(like mini sandpaper) the color of the paint is significantly
whiter than the rest of the car. At least clean it well around
all the parts you wish to paint. My car had probably 50 chips
in the paint, where it was starting to turn orange in which
I could just rub away, but others I had to use tools to get
to the metal.
2. I used the rotor and a very small sanding tool to go around
to all the paint chips and sand them away to the metal
3. Then I used primer to fill in all these chips, . they say
a few thin layers will do it, and remember you can sand these
down, so apply liberally.
4. Wait a few hours, or do what I did, start grinding out the
RUST RAINBOWS.
5. Then you may need to reapply some primer, to make the chips
flush with the metal.
^^^You don't want them to look like that^^^
Remember, I know it looks sloppy, but that's only because it
is. Primer can be sanded away, or even scrubbed away. When I
scrub it away, all if it goes away, except the stuff embedded
into the hole - perfect. That is just what I want it to do.
6. Sand it smooth! Use some fine sandpaper.
7. Paint away! I've decided the best way to paint it, is put
lots of paint on the brush, and apply in a small smooth stroke.
This seems to make it even and smooth.
8. Wait a few hours or day.
Then you may want to do a little more touch up, or sand down
some of the paint. All should go good! Congratulations.
Rust Rainbows:
I had three to take care of here.
1. The first step is to sand away or grind away until you get
to the shinny metal. This is where the rust stops and the metal
starts. If your rust rainbows, were are bad as mine, you will
go right through the bottom of them, right into your door. Use
your rotor and various bids to get it all down to the metal.
This was my biggest one. Mid sanding .Click
to Enlarge.
2. Now you apply the Bondo or equivalent. I got a sparkling
clean tuna-fish can, and I suppose anything small will work.
You add about 4tablesoons of bondo, then 1 teaspoon of the RED
hardener, and mix up quick. You only have about 4 minutes before
this stuff gets hard and unusable.
3. Put the bondo all over the hold and around the metal. Be
liberal, this stuff sands off easy. You want it to be smooth.
I had the problem, that the holes were too big initially. Some
say you can get some wire mesh, or even aluminum tape and put
it inside your car door where the hole is to provide a kind
of "wall". I just waited a little while until it was
a little harder, and added some more. It worked perfect.
4. Then wait a a little while. Bondo doesn't take too long
to get bone dry and hard. Maybe go back and apply some touch-up-paint
to all your chips. While this dries.
5. Now you can sand it down, SMOOTH!. this is picture of it,
after I sanded it down. I then scrubbed or just wiped away some
of the excess stuff, like that little left arm of bondo you
see on the left.
6. Now you can prime it, and it's right about time for lunch.
So wait a few hours, and do some other work on the benz or whatever.
7. Now you can paint away! I used lots of paint on the brush,
1" strokes, smooth. That seemed to work best, though it
took a long time.
Here is the pre-finished product: (Click to enlarge)
And you can see the other finished product from
other two doors I did:
It doesn't look perfect right now, but it looks
a lot better that before! In a few days, I'll sand it, and polish
it up, then it'll look better.
I did this project May 14, 2005
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