Painting Woe's Revisited (PICS)

[s14unimog]

Not sure how many people on here follow other peoples work, but I needed closure on my little painting fu*k up; so here is the conclusion. As you may or may not know I started a thread a little while back about my fender and bumper repair. If you missed out, here (http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/207889-i-need-some-painting-help-tech-qs.html) is the old thread. As you'll notice, I didn't exactly get the color match right, and with my limited painting experience, I was left scratching my head and looking for reasons. Well, this is where the saying "Do it right or do it twice" really comes into play. I pulled the parts this weekend, ruffed them up, and started over. What I did different this time, was apply a dark gray primer before the base coat. Apparently "BP3" my stock color (Mediterranean Blue Mica) is fairly translucent so the color below it effects the way the final color actually looks. Plus I found out a nifty trick for spraying metal flake. Apparently you use high pressure on your last pass and distance yourself from the panel a bit to make the metal flake "stand up". Either way, I'm done now and it looks MUCH MUCH better.

On with the pictures:

Before (notice the color difference on the fender)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-7.jpg

parts off
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-6.jpg

after wet sanding
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-2.jpg

Lunch break
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-1.jpg

My little sister rear ended a pickup in her s14 and is getting my stock bumper/lip/hood/and wing
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-15.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-12.jpg

Pops takin his turn with the gun, photo opp!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-13.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-14.jpg

I meant to take more pictures during the color and clear but....forgot. Done!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-9.jpg

Final Product (keep in mind the car is filthy)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/s14unimog/Painting%20Efforts/Re-PaintofthequarterandbumperSep-8.jpg

[emersonLP]

My parts look real nice on your car :) take good care of them!

German headlights coming soon?....

[FRoSt415]

GReat job, looks much better. what kind of clear did you use?

[s14unimog]

It's a PPG, catalyzed, production clear.
PPG's Catalog Page (https://buyat.ppg.com/refinishProductCatalog/ViewProduct.aspx?ProductID=bd1e1363-f830-4abe-bca8-5a2849bd84bd)

[burnsauto]

so did you ever figure out the problem from the last time ?

[s14unimog]

Yeah, it was the white base color below.

[ZenkiKid]

yeah he said he used a darker primer and on his last run around with a gun used high pressure and distanced himself from the panel

[yota man]

Looks good man!

[lifewater]

Is that the same primer that Nissan uses from the factory? I'm gonna be repainting my gold Zenki soon and I want to make sure I have the right primer :P

[burnsauto]

Is that the same primer that Nissan uses from the factory? I'm gonna be repainting my gold Zenki soon and I want to make sure I have the right primer :P

general rule of thumb is to match the color of the primer, with the color of the paint. Darker colors = darker primer, lighter colors = lighter primer.

[lifewater]

general rule of thumb is to match the color of the primer, with the color of the paint. Darker colors = darker primer, lighter colors = lighter primer.

In your opinion would gold be considered a dark color? It seems in between

[Om1kron]

I know I will be using a dark primer for my graphite gray mica paint job.

[burnsauto]

In your opinion would gold be considered a dark color? It seems in between

it all depends on the look your going for. If you're looking for the paint to really POP, then a lighter primer would be ideal. If you want something more subtle, darker primer.

Primer colors to chose from (just do some reading up on it)
-white
-yellow
-grey
(edit: true, no black primer.)
..and every now and then i see red/brown primer, but not too often.

[s14unimog]

it all depends on the look your going for. If you're looking for the paint to really POP, then a lighter primer would be ideal. If you want something more subtle, darker primer.

Primer colors to chose from (just do some reading up on it)
-white
-yellow
-grey
-black
..and every now and then i see red/brown primer, but not too often.


Actually not true. As for primer colors there are MANY and you'll notice you never see true "black". If you are repainting the car and wish to get as close to factory as possible then you need to go get these primer shade strips (best I can describe them) from your paint supplier. Apparently you get a bunch of shades of primer colored paper and the idea is to paint all of them as you would a body panel. Once everything dries you compare each strip to the cleanest, least sun damaged, area on the car to see which is closest (atleast this is what I'm told many body shops do). After searching, I've found its difficult to actually find what the manufacturer used so if you find any information on that let me know.

[s13dan]

You cant expect it to match perefctly. ****THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT MATCH PERIOD.**** you have to blend to make it not noticable.But the pic does look good. If you have doubts it is always a good idea to make a test panel....And as for colored primers, there are scales that paint companies make that help determine what the final product will look like using different primers.You would be surprised at what some coloerd primers will do to the color of the topcoat. It dosnt always make since.

[burnsauto]

Actually not true. As for primer colors there are MANY and you'll notice you never see true "black". If you are repainting the car and wish to get as close to factory as possible then you need to go get these primer shade strips (best I can describe them) from your paint supplier. Apparently you get a bunch of shades of primer colored paper and the idea is to paint all of them as you would a body panel. Once everything dries you compare each strip to the cleanest, least sun damaged, area on the car to see which is closest (atleast this is what I'm told many body shops do). After searching, I've found its difficult to actually find what the manufacturer used so if you find any information on that let me know.

i was just giving a basic idea, thats all. I didn't mean a true "black", but grey can get pretty dark. Each color primer has a pretty large spectrum as you said, but I just wanted to give him a general idea. We could have an entire forum just devoted to bodywork.

[s14unimog]

yeah yeah no worries, I have just been swamped with the technical side of painting for the last few weeks and I was just clearing up some of what you said.

no harm no foul.

[Addicted2Kouki]

haha I told you it was primer color.

EDIT:
From the original thread...

true.

another issue could be the color of the primer underneath.
if they werent the same.... they might not match.

[s14unimog]

^ haha, good closure huh.

[Addicted2Kouki]

^ haha, good closure huh.

haha very.
ask me how I knew. :rolleyes:

[s14unimog]

do it right or do it twice?

[allntrlundrgrnd]

i dont usually dig blue s-chassis but that is a very nice looking color.

[s14unimog]

^thanks

msglngth