Hey, looking for some advice on my Supra repaint project. Sorry, this story is kinda long, but any advice would be most welcome.
I bought my Supra a year ago last May. It had been recently repainted and looked pretty good. There was an area about the size of a shoe that needed repainted on the passenger side front bumper where he had accidentally run over his toolbox in his driveway. The molding was also in pretty rough shape. (It's an 87). I've alway wanted one of these cars, so I bought it. I have put about 15k on it since then, and only had to replace the accordion hose, and a small coolant hose. This spring it developed some bubbly rust on the pass. side rear wheelwell, and some rust under the paint on both front fenders where the mudguard is. Well, upon investigation, both fender bottoms were shot, and had been patched before shoddily. I removed them and got two off of Tubbie to replace them. I also bought 89+ moldings from a member off here as well. And 2 new mudguards. Here's the rusted out fenders.
So I decided to repaint the car myself, I don't have the funds to have it professionally done. My sister-in-laws boyfriend, who lives next to me said we could do it at his stepdads house, he has a paintbay and everything we would need to do it there, and it was ok with him, and he would also help me out. I have done lotsa bodywork, but have never painted a car before. Also thought it would be a great learning experience.
I put the new fenders on, and started sanding.
So we got it over to the paintbay, finished all the bodywork, and sanding, and then primered and sanded, etc, getting ready for color. I'm painting it the original 3H1
Well, here's where the problems begin. Chad sprayed the color (he always did the spraying, and that was ok with me since he had the experience doing it). The 3H1 I bought was metallic, so we layed it down in several coats going lenghtwise on a panel first and then cross-wise next so that we didn't get that "striping effect". All seemed ok, went on pretty nice. When we put the clear on, he had some difficulty setting up the gun, and got quite a few runs on it, both quater panel, from the door molding indentation, and a few other places. I wasn't that concerned because I figured we'd cut the runs out with a razorblade (by dragging it over the runs untils flush) sand with 1500 and respray. Well, the next day he got bit by a brown recluse spider on his arm at work (he's a rigger). In two days he was in the hospital with the bite AND a staff infection, fighting to save his arm. After a week, I went over and started working on the runs myself. I got them all out, and sanded it out pretty nicely. EXCEPT...in a few spots I sanded through to the color, and even had some primer come through. I guess the clear wasn't as even as I thought, or I oversanded with there being only 2 coats of clear on it. Anyway, I decided to repray the base color over the spots. It worked out fine! So I cleaned the gun ( I thought very thoroughly), and decided to put the rest of the clear on myself (stupid, I know). When I sprayed, I thought I had the volume, pressure, and fan set well, I checked it against some cardboard, and I started to spray the doors, quarters, and back. It did not go on as it should...it seemed like I had to go really slow to get the paint to lay on. I reallized to late that some of the air holes on the gun had not been cleaned out well enough, and were clogged. So I orangepeeled the clear pretty heavily. Not to be thwarted, I finger-wet-sanded the WHOLE CAR. I then got some DuPont finshing compound and went to work with the buffer, after having it completely sanded down. Well, there are areas where the red did not cover well (under the bottom door crease and the rockers). Also, quite a few areas where the clear looks "hazy" almost like wax put on and not removed. I tried wet sanding each of these areas with 2000 and buffing, but it just won't help. By now, Chad is out of the hospital, and is willing to help me do it over again, and I was scraping up some funds to buy another gallon of color, and a gallon of clear. I have 1 qt. base leftover, and 1.5 quart clear. So after this huge story and debacle, I come to my question. While I was mowing the yard to day, and thinking about the Supra, it dawned on me that I may have enough basecoat, and will only need clear.
Is it possible to sand the car down with like 320, NOT go through the base coat, and then respray the basecoats areas only that need it? Then colorsand and clear? Is this possible, or will it cause me more problems? Should I just start over? Please advise a struggling rookie who really wants my Supra to look like the great car it is.
Thanks, and sorry for the book!
I bought my Supra a year ago last May. It had been recently repainted and looked pretty good. There was an area about the size of a shoe that needed repainted on the passenger side front bumper where he had accidentally run over his toolbox in his driveway. The molding was also in pretty rough shape. (It's an 87). I've alway wanted one of these cars, so I bought it. I have put about 15k on it since then, and only had to replace the accordion hose, and a small coolant hose. This spring it developed some bubbly rust on the pass. side rear wheelwell, and some rust under the paint on both front fenders where the mudguard is. Well, upon investigation, both fender bottoms were shot, and had been patched before shoddily. I removed them and got two off of Tubbie to replace them. I also bought 89+ moldings from a member off here as well. And 2 new mudguards. Here's the rusted out fenders.
So I decided to repaint the car myself, I don't have the funds to have it professionally done. My sister-in-laws boyfriend, who lives next to me said we could do it at his stepdads house, he has a paintbay and everything we would need to do it there, and it was ok with him, and he would also help me out. I have done lotsa bodywork, but have never painted a car before. Also thought it would be a great learning experience.
I put the new fenders on, and started sanding.
So we got it over to the paintbay, finished all the bodywork, and sanding, and then primered and sanded, etc, getting ready for color. I'm painting it the original 3H1
Well, here's where the problems begin. Chad sprayed the color (he always did the spraying, and that was ok with me since he had the experience doing it). The 3H1 I bought was metallic, so we layed it down in several coats going lenghtwise on a panel first and then cross-wise next so that we didn't get that "striping effect". All seemed ok, went on pretty nice. When we put the clear on, he had some difficulty setting up the gun, and got quite a few runs on it, both quater panel, from the door molding indentation, and a few other places. I wasn't that concerned because I figured we'd cut the runs out with a razorblade (by dragging it over the runs untils flush) sand with 1500 and respray. Well, the next day he got bit by a brown recluse spider on his arm at work (he's a rigger). In two days he was in the hospital with the bite AND a staff infection, fighting to save his arm. After a week, I went over and started working on the runs myself. I got them all out, and sanded it out pretty nicely. EXCEPT...in a few spots I sanded through to the color, and even had some primer come through. I guess the clear wasn't as even as I thought, or I oversanded with there being only 2 coats of clear on it. Anyway, I decided to repray the base color over the spots. It worked out fine! So I cleaned the gun ( I thought very thoroughly), and decided to put the rest of the clear on myself (stupid, I know). When I sprayed, I thought I had the volume, pressure, and fan set well, I checked it against some cardboard, and I started to spray the doors, quarters, and back. It did not go on as it should...it seemed like I had to go really slow to get the paint to lay on. I reallized to late that some of the air holes on the gun had not been cleaned out well enough, and were clogged. So I orangepeeled the clear pretty heavily. Not to be thwarted, I finger-wet-sanded the WHOLE CAR. I then got some DuPont finshing compound and went to work with the buffer, after having it completely sanded down. Well, there are areas where the red did not cover well (under the bottom door crease and the rockers). Also, quite a few areas where the clear looks "hazy" almost like wax put on and not removed. I tried wet sanding each of these areas with 2000 and buffing, but it just won't help. By now, Chad is out of the hospital, and is willing to help me do it over again, and I was scraping up some funds to buy another gallon of color, and a gallon of clear. I have 1 qt. base leftover, and 1.5 quart clear. So after this huge story and debacle, I come to my question. While I was mowing the yard to day, and thinking about the Supra, it dawned on me that I may have enough basecoat, and will only need clear.
Is it possible to sand the car down with like 320, NOT go through the base coat, and then respray the basecoats areas only that need it? Then colorsand and clear? Is this possible, or will it cause me more problems? Should I just start over? Please advise a struggling rookie who really wants my Supra to look like the great car it is.
Thanks, and sorry for the book!
