Yesterday I decided to have a go at some bodywork, so started small on a nasty little rust area on one of my wings, I was a little dubous to start with expecting it to go wrong so admittidly I was a bit hasty on the prep work, as I know silver is a pain to match

Had nothing to lose as in talks with Steven about buying a wing from his breaker

Anyway here is before
[img]http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa410/Roylewaa/IMG_0386.jpg[/img]

And after 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of colour, the photos make it look alot worse than it is
[img]http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa410/Roylewaa/IMG_0398.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa410/Roylewaa/IMG_0399.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa410/Roylewaa/IMG_0400.jpg[/img]
After the primer I flattened it back with wet and dry and blended the primer in, then I blew the colour in up the panel, and was quite impressed with the match, you can see its new paint, but not drastically, there is some ghosting up the panel where I blew it into the old paint

You can also see on the last pick where I managed to spill neirly a whole bottle of kurust on the drive when my son distracted me with constantly asking what I was doing


There is a little paint shop in Durham that are awesome, Ive always had a really good match from there as he takes the time to get a good match with the cars colour, and takes into account age of paint etc

My advice is what do I do to prepare for the laquer coats, I was thinking of some more wet and dry to flatten the colour back a little before laquering?

Any advice would be great, as I don't want to fluff at the last hurdle, Kind of wish i'd spent a bit more time prepping the area, I had no faith in myself so kind of rushed, always a no no when painting

Ho hum

Put laquer on and ruined it, like I always seem to do with metallic paintwork
all orange peel and dull
Never mind

hi roy, i know the feeling, i would have suggested to skip the laquer coat and give it a day, wet n dry then a real good polish...ive found in the past too that laquer ruins it

Yeah its always the part I dread

Ive been quoted £300 to tidy up all the bodywork, however I have to save up so won't get it done until Octoberish, I thought what the hell, might as well take advantage of the nice weather and ive got nothing to lose

Ideally i'd rather just change both front wings for non rusty ones, then the bodyshop can concentrate on the rear arches that need most of the attention

On a plus I bodged an inch hole up on the front sill with fibreglass, then a skim of bodge, then silver hammerited the area and the sill lip all the way along and it looks 1000 times better and you cant even tell there was a hole there Quite impressed by the colour match of silver hammerite

[quote="Roy le Waa"]Ho hum

Put laquer on and ruined it, like I always seem to do with metallic paintwork
all orange peel and dull
Never mind [/quote]

Nooooo.. not ruined! I did the exact same thing. You just need to cut it back with wet n dry! 2000 grit. Then when it's starting to get glossier, buff it with Ultimate compound. Mine's come up a treat

Just make sure you got enough coats of lacquer first! I did a minimum of 3.. i.e spraying the lacquer till it looks wet (not too wet or it'll drip/run) wait 20-30 mins another coat, wait, and last coat. Wait 48 hours for it to cure properly, then wet n dry as above

Cheers Squidy Just been reading you post on PaulM's similar thread

Admittidly it was quite breezy at the time and so far ive only done 2 coats of laquer, the BA is going into my parents garage for a week as i'm using my dads car while he is away on holiday, that will give the new paint good time to harden fully, then I will try cutting it back with wet and dry

I did look alot better after it dried, and the main area is glossy, just that annoying roughness that you get further up the panel

Just to give you some reassurance, this is my panel after 2500 wet n dry work

[img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee227/squidy1978/020520121157.jpg[/img]

As you can see, the roughness is present on the rear door, but you can go over that with ultimate compound or 3000 grit wet n dry to bring back the shine