Metallic spray painting advice please

[mginty]

Ok so I'm afraid it's not strictly VW as I'm doing my daily driver but perhaps the advice would be for general use anyway!

I've done a bit of research but I'm none the wiser on blending in and lacquering the metallic paint.
What I have done so far:
1 filled and primered the areas needing paint
2 flattened back
3 masked off shiny bits etc
4 sprayed metallic paint - now on the bumpers it's all ok as I did all of it but on a couple of other areas (wing/ bonnet) I only did patches. This means I have partly original paint & lacquer and then partly new paint which looks hazy.

5 I then lacquered. The bumpers have come out nicely although needs a few more coats but the areas where it was hazy is still hazy. I'm not sure if it needs more lacquer or whether I should have painted the whole bonnet or not?

Can anyone help me with the next steps? If I lacquer over what I've done a few times and then buff it up, will that work?
Thanks. I can get pics if that helps.

One other thing is that I don't have a garage/ drive so it's a bit difficult on the road in this weather! Even if it's sunny there's still a bit of wind...grrr!

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Ok, how have you prepped your panels?
P600 (you can do this wet or dry, which ever you prefer) on the primer and then grey scotchbrite over the original laquer is probably the best way to go.

You then need to clean the area with panel wipe, once dry wipe with a tack rag.

Is your basecoat waterbase or solvent? I'm assuming you have a gun to do this as laquering whole panels will be near impossible with rattle cans!

When your applying your basecoat you first want to apply a light coat over your repair area, once this is dry apply a wet coat over the repair and flick the paint out over the original paint to blend it in. If you base right up to the panel edges you will see a variation in colour. If you are worried about seeing patches or lines you can always do a uniform coat, so if your painting left and right, do a coat going up and down the panel. You might need two or three wet coats to cover, some colours cover better than others. For this you'll want to set your regulator to about 2 bar. For the final coat you want to reduce your pressure to 1.5 bar and using half trigger apply a light drop coat over the repair area and flick it out over the original paint. This helps the metallic flake to sit right and give an even finish, if your last wet coat dries looking patchy the drop coat should clear this up. Remember to let the paint become touch dry between coats, solvent dries faster, waterbase might need some assistance. A hair dryer works well, if you work from one edge to the other you can see the water evapourating out and the paint changing shade as it dries.

When your laquering you want to do entire panels unless you have a real sharp swage line to work to. You can get away with doing a blow in on bumpers as they tend to have a thin part in the middle and its low down so not as visable.

With regards to applying your laquer you really need to read the data sheet but they tend to all like to be sprayed a 2 bar, with a dust coat first and then one wet coat.

 

[Trikky2]

Nice post ProfessorWheeto

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Thanks, I hope it makes sense, its one of those things its easier to demo rather than explain. I don't think a video would even work cause the extraction in the booth would be roaring away and I'd have my mask on!

 

[mginty]

thanks for the reply ProfessorWheeto, very helpful however I think this is beyond me as I don't have a gun or garage and this weather & rattle cans is, as you say, just impossible....

cheers anyway

 

[neilswheels]

Metalic Panel touch up with a rattle can is very difficult/impossible. The finish asos relies on how the metallic particles lay, and therefor reflect the light. This really is a job for a pro, or at least a good amature with a gun/compressor etc.

 

[mginty]

The paint went on allright but the lacquer was just not happening.
I reckon I could do it with a gun, compressor and a garage but I haven't got any of them!!
Never mind.