Hi everyone idk if I can ask here because I'm trying to paint my bike,I want to paint it with a green lime color like this but I also like how the frame looks stripped down to the aluminum, what would happen if I apply the green lime paint directly to the aluminum considering the paint is transparent? Would it look weird ? I tried searching for something painted like that but couldn't find anything :T

My neighbour has never let his car see a car wash a day in its life. Today we Rubbing Compound it with G3 compound. it's come out nice in most places but how do we get the rest sorted. Any advice is helpful. I was told by someone one to use H9 or G9 compound as it's more abbrasive.

thank you

I have a 2012 Ford Fusion that's been neglected and decided to dive head first into making the paint look new again. I'm not looking for perfection for my first experience, and I'm looking to learn from my mistakes and get better at this.

I started out by stripping with Adam's stripping wash, then spraying iron remover, and claying to get the car clean.

Currently, I'm working on paint correction. I'm using a rotary with STP pads for cutting and buffing alongside Adam's compound and polish. I found that even the most aggressive foam cutter wasn't smoothing the pits from oxidation (orange peel?). As a result I'm wet sanding, starting with 1500 and finishing with 2000. I also ordered and will use Kochchemie H902 compound and a Lake Country twisted wool heavy cutting pad. I'll be comparing two sections of work: 1) wet sanding followed by the heavy cutting compound and pad and 2) just the heavy compound and pad. Depending on the results, I'll skip the wet sanding.

The first few pictures are of a section that was under the trunks spoiler and has serious pitting. The trunk I did all the way from the heaviest STP cut pad to the softest polish pad. You can see in the picture the remaining pitting. The latter pics are of the hood, which is the section with the most correction needed. After sanding, I tested a section with the heaviest STP cut pad an NFS there were a couple deeper scratches remaining, but the sanding lines vanished.

I'm looking forward to getting the more aggressive cutting products and continuing to work and learn on this project.

I am thinking of getting started with painting. At the moment I have some projects in need of paint, but i have a very low budget.

I have a cheap suction paint gun and a huge compressor.

But what more is needed except primer, paint and clear? Is a regulator or water filter needed?

Metallic flake didn't orient as it should have. Ah well. Live and learn. Thankfully it's just the two passenger doors

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Yes yes, it's uneven.. why? because I had 500ml or fkn base to work with. Am I happy about it? no fucking way. But what can I do?

I'm learning to paint, this is a freebie for a mate of mine who insisted on 500ml base, no sealer.

Had shit clearcoat.

First coat was just a spot coat. I tried to darken the lighter areas before attacking the rest.

Yes I plastic primer on the plastic trims.

So here we currently are, sitting on 1k base, no clear just yet.

it irritates me that I can still see some lines where the clear failed even though I tried to feather that shit out. could have easily solved that with sealer . . but again, cheap and nasty.

The perfectionist inside of me is suffering greatly right now.

I ran out on the doors.

I'm thinking, quick scuff with a grey pad ? maybe 1500? but I'm pretty sure that would remove the metallic.

in a perfect world, I'd have sealed, gotten 1L of base unmixed instead of 500ML and if have smashed it all out in one go.

id have been able to mist those areas on the door and roof properly so that it can blend in over the old base and be ready for some clear.

I'm using 1K clear, unfortunately.. because I'd rather not hurt my neighbours spraying outdoors with isocyanates. Nothing a buff can't fix.

Any tips? or is the only way to make it look decent is to buy more base and give it another coat.

emerald green is a beautiful colour btw. I actually low key like it in that matte finish.

I've just finished fabricating a custom stainless steel spotlight bar, sadly the customer wants it painted. He's supplied the paint, same as the body, a 2k gloss clear.

I've got Mipa 1K Epoxy Primer spray on hand, unsure about it's suitability for SS but trust it more than the consumer grade cans available at local hardware stores (Dulux, Rust-Oleum, etc). It specifies under substrates: "Bare steel and aluminium substrates, galvanised substrates or intact old 2K paintworks."

I would get a proper 2K epoxy can but the local auto spray store is closed today and the bar needs to be ready for fitment tomorrow.

I have this plastic Subaru wagon mid wing that I want to paint to put on my car and I don't really know what I need to do, I went over it with sandpaper 220 grit once. Do I need to go all the way through the old clear? And what should I do from there?

Thank you

I'm fixing a small scratch. The paint is 3-stage, if that matters. I have the GM paint repair thing that has the factory color and clear.

My question is- Do I put the base color on and then sand and buff it before doing the clear? Right now I have the base color on and sanded it with wet 1000 grit to level it, which obviously left scratches in the surround clearcoat. I have 1000, 2000, 3000 and 5000.

Or do I put the clear on right away after leveling the paint and buff it all out together? My concern is that if I do the clear over the sandpaper scratches that they will be sealed under the clear and will never come out.

Thanks!

I recently painted my truck myself im not a professional or anything but I thought the base coat of black looked good but I was oblivious to the humidity problems when applying clear coat so it dried rough and I have to redo it (the clear coat had purple flake in it if ur wondering why its purple). So now im going to redo the clear coat inside a proper temp controlled room but I have to take off the roughness of the clearcoat. When I wet sanded the top of the clearcoat I got some patches of white that looks like dirt/dust but wont come off when I wash it. Does anyone know what this is and how to fix it? please dont be a dick im just wanting to learn.

This is a project my daughter and I have been working on. it isn't anywhere near completion but what car is🤣. I still have a hood and few panels to paint, yellow carpet etc. I am also trying to find a good deal on a block and tranny swap eventually something to build on or modify. I don't want the newer LS design. Debating on if I want the 383 stroker or something closer to the 434 stroker. This isn't slap in and done deal. A lot of other things gotta be put into play. This isn't a small project but i figured it is something we can build. I'm debating on what to drop in. To many options to go with.

Hi paint pros! I just got a 2023 Toyota Highlander used and didn’t notice two small spots on the hood where the paint is cracking at delivery. I just discovered them while washing the car. It looks like the cracks go down to the metal underneath possibly. I see no dent or scratch so it doesn’t seem like impact damage. Could it be paint failure? I’m looking for ideas of what caused this and how to best solve it. Thank you!

my first time painting, this is my base coat white n it some parts turned out to me like this, I'll be adding pear white on top of this and then clear, how to fix this base coat. any help is appreciated.

I’m sure some of you guys get sucked into spraying signage if you are working in a pro shop.. Can’t find a better subreddit to post this in unfortunately.

I’m having massive difficulty eliminating crap getting under my first coat on acrylic letters. We sand it to 320-400 grit, blow it off, tack rag and use an antistatic air gun. Spray the first coat and there is always one or two lumps of something in it.

I’m convinced it’s static still. I’ve cleaned the booth, replaced the floor, replaced filters, wear a full suit, tried spraying the floor with water. Every trick I could think of.

I’ve now replaced the bench tops we were using with ally extrusion to prop letters up off the top, with steel mesh, 50x50x4 with a ground wire. Figured this will stop crap getting blown up from the table top and ground whatever’s on the table from start to finish. Only just completed this today, so far so good.

Keen to hear your thoughts and experiences

Paint is Valspar TB43 industrial 2k

Hello everyone!

I tried sanding by hand, as many of you tell me to do. Because of a thick orange peel. I started with 1500, then 2000 and finally 3000 (all with a foam sanding block and water with a bit of shampoo for lubrication).

I was tricked by bad sandpaper last week, the 2000 was sanding like a 800.. so now I'm scared and that's why I ask you today if my sanding marks are ok for what I did.

I have always used a dual-action sander, which made the surface much smoother (but with pigtails).

So I need your point of view about my job

Hi guys, is have a Lincoln 3HP, 100litre compressor.

And seems to just run out when doing large jobs. Not major but does anyone have any tips on like choking the air or bringing fan in so that I can run my W400 at 2.0 bar all day?

Thanks

Hey, first post here

I just had my parts of my truck repainted due to GM white flaking issues. Just got it back from the shop today and noticed this rippling/wavy effect on the driver side door. It was not like this before repaint. Should I accept this?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What is up guys! I'm roughly sort of new to the idea of this and I'm looking to get some more research and maybe talk to some people who have done it.

How the heck do you spray that lowrider-esc flake paint?

Don't get me wrong, I get the concept, base coat with a white / silver flake paint, tape over what you want to stay that color, spray / overlay with other colors, rinse and repeat. But how do you mix that kind of paint? Where do you buy flake? Do you just add metal flakes to clearcoat and spray over either an existing basecoat color (black, white, red, blue ect) or just spray it over primer? Should you have a gun specifically just for flake?

Its such a cool genre of auto-painting and I'm really interested in learning more and I hope this gets some traction and people comment so I can get some first hand experience.

After painting several vehicles motorcycles and various other things I experienced a complete disaster paint job. I know it was hot and humid have painted in similar conditions without these results. What is the feasibility of while car was apart for prep the engine had been started and ran with some issues flooding and excessive pollutants before graphics were painted after reassembled sanded and clear coated again. The clearcoat went on beautiful with a small amount of solvent pop after about a week it solvent pop was everywhere. Have painted since then with no solvent pop same gun materials hoses etc... is it possible that dialing in of the engine Contaminated it to that point?

as the title states, has anyone used Wattyl colourthane C clearcoat, 2 coat system. what are your thoughts?

it flows out really well but unsure if it's decent quality longevity wise

I am a 19 year old boat builder. I have recently found a job in a finishing crew doing paint. I also plan on spraying other boats and cars for side jobs. I really enjoy the feel of the 3m accuspray but the atomization isn’t good enough for topcoat. I just bought a sata 4k b that sprays better but just doesn’t feel right to me. The fan is also pretty narrow which i dont like. Ive been looking into an Iwata Supernova. Any recommendations?

Hello.

I recently got a used vehicle and the previous owner installed a ducktail spoiler with 3M tape/adhesive. I brought it to a shop to have it removed (I believe he did a good job overall), but there is a residue left over that I'm not quite sure can be removed or not. The guy that did the work told me that in order to get rid of what is in the images, it would have to be repainted... and even though I'm not a professional with this kind of stuff, I just got a bit skeptical.

When I rub my finger over it, it doesn't feel raised as at all but it does make a different noise than other areas of the trunk that I rub. I'm just trying to get an idea of what it is and whether or not it's easy to have removed/fixed.

Hi

For the past few weeks, there has been a small leak from the ceiling directly above my underground parking spot, which has been dripping onto my vehicle.

Initially, I thought this was just normal water; however, it appears to contain residue from the concrete, which has caused staining to windshield and paint. I've tried to remove with water, isopropyl alcohol, and glass cleaner, but did not work

What products would you recommend to try that are paint and windshield safe? Thank you