Interesting stuff. I just, and I mean just, as in yesterday, finished painting the drivers side of my truck. Majestic Blue Metallic.
Did it in my garage with everything draped off in plastic and the floor wetted down. No body damage, but the clear coat was beginning to fail. Didn't want to use the compressor or air spray gun (yes I do have them) or do anything to potentially raise dust. I found a company in New Orleans called
"Automotive Touch Up Direct". They mix color factory numbers into aerosol spray cans. It is an Acrylic Urethane base coat. Then I went over the four base coats with a 2K Activated Urethane Clear Coat. You activate the can mix with a red button you place on the bottom of the can, then push down. I also bought their pistol grip for aerosol cans. Worked a treat!
First I washed the whole truck with Dawn in warm water to remove any grease or contaminates. Then sanded the body panels with #600 Grit Wet, Soaked the paper in a bucket of water overnight. Block sanded at right angles. Nooks and cranny's with paper folded in my fingers. Kept wetting with a spritzer bottle of water as I went. Cleaned the panels. Then I laid down 4 coats of base color. In between each coat after allowing 20 minutes to flash off, I'd wipe it down again with a Tack Cloth. Then after letting the base coat cure overnight, I laid down 3 coats of the 2K Clear. Again, tack cloth wiping between coats after waiting 20 minutes each time between coats.
If there are any little 'Nibs' in the base coat,
IF (?) it's a metallic,
DO NOT SAND THE BASE COATS!. Doing so messes up the metallic texture that then it looks horrible after you clear coat. --- Did I have 'nibs'? Yes. But the clear coat took care of 80% of them. Then when the clear was totally cured (2 days later, 48hrs.), I started color sanding. I don't know why they call it this because you are sanding the Clear Coat, not the color coat. This removes any Orange Peel and Nibs. Went over it with #800 Grit Wet. Then with #1500 Grit Wet. Then with #2000 Grit Wet. Then started buffing using a 6" Dual Action Electric Buffer with a firm foam pad and Maguire's Buffing Compound. The #800 Grit Wet and The #1500 Grit Wet took care of the remaining nibs. The 2000 grit began polishing the finish a bit. Buffer did the rest.
The company that supplied me the aerosol paint cans was 'great'. They drilled down when I called them asking me how old the truck was and did it sit outside most of the time? Ans. yes. They mixed the paint to the original factory color and modified it some for the age of the truck and to the fact that it sat outside. And the color match? I would say 95% dead on! Absolutely looks great! The driver's side doors (front and back) though are now a 'smidgen' darker than the adjacent panels. I plan to now power buff those adjacent panels to bring the shine up to make it even less noticeable. Right now, most people would not be able to detect this difference. That is how close the paint match is. Very very pleased with Automotive Touch Up Direct. Even more so by the fact that their base coat paint is Acrylic Urethane as opposed to Acrylic Lacquer. Plus are the big aerosol cans. I used their two part 2K Urethane clear coat provides superior hardness and protection and lays down fine over the Acrylic Urethane base coat.
Yes, I wore a respirator as well as wetting the floor down. Wiped down the panels with 92% Rubbing Alcohol. Masked everything off. Then wiped them down again with the alcohol. Then the Tack Cloth. Spray a coat. Wait 20 minutes, wipe it down again with the Tack Cloth, then the next coat, etc. Had to sand out a few small runs from the clear (3ea.). If you mess up when clearing and you get a run, leave it alone until totally dry! Then fix it. Wet sand it out with #600 and #800 and Re-Clear if necessary.
I had four cans of the base coat. Used 3.5 cans for the 4ea. for base coats. Had two cans of the Urethane 2K (activated) clear. Barely got three coats. Should have gotten 3 cans of the clear from them, but I did 'just make it'.
--- FYI, this is a lot of work!
