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Paint color problems

2K views 22 replies 4 participants last post by  Fizzy 
#1 ·
Ugh. I should know by now to just leave things alone if they are working fine.....

This is about my 2000 LS. So, the problem is the front passenger side door had rust all along the bottom. So, last year I patched it with 10 coats of krylon primer, 10 coats of a krylon color that was almost a match, but not quite. 10 coats of krylon clear. 1 year later, this is chipping off. So, I had this genius idea that it'd probably be cheaper to get another door from a junkyard, rather than have it repainted properly. Needless to say, this was a bad idea. Took two days to get everything back together. Had to use the interior door handle from my old door onto the replacement. Since I don't have a rivet gun, I welded the handle in place. All that works fine now. Issue is the door doesn't match... It matches the front fender and hood (because both of those were replaced last year because the previous owner wrecked it). As is very noticeable, it doesn't match the rear door. The door came off an 02 Impala. Did GM change the shade of silver? Because the odd part is that it doesn't look THAT far off compared to the rear of the car or the roof. I'd even say it's a perfect match (like it's supposed to)

http://i66.tinypic.com/ddhwsk.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/50mzoy.jpg

I can't ignore this....The strange part is that the REAR door actually looks darker than not only the replacement front door, but also the rear of the car and the roof... I"ve already tried washing, Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound. Even tried a clay bar. Other than ignoring it or repainting, is there anything I can do? Help would greatly be appreciated. And of course, putting the old door back on is not an option now...
 
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#2 ·
Not really. In the body shop business, this is why we do what we call panel blending. Blending the paint from the newly painted panel onto the next panel over so the transition is smooth and doesn't stand out like it does in your case.

In terms of changing the color over the years, no, not really. What it comes down to is that there are different variations of every paint code. When we go to paint body panels on a car, we look up the code, and pick out the chip book that has all the variants of the same paint code. You'd be surprised how different some of the chips look even on the same code. Then you gotta figure out which chip matches the best, and mix the paint based on the formula for that variation.

So in short, other than repainting, there isn't really much you can do.
 
#4 ·
The tough part is getting everything to match properly. It looks like the rear door matches the quarterpanel pretty well, so the body shop would need to blend both doors. The front edge of the rear door and the rear edge of the front door will get color, and then both doors will get fully clear coated. But it won't really be a cheap job. My shop would charge about $600 to do it.
 
#5 ·
Well, I actually still do have the old door, but the problem with putting that back on was that I had to swap the interior door handles, so it's going to be a real PITA to swap them back. Out of curiosity, how much do you think it would cost to have the bottom 2 or 3 inches repainted on one door? The rest of the old door looked much MUCH better than it does now.
 
#6 ·
I personally would just let it be. It's a 16 year old car after all. But I can understand why it would bother you.

As for fixing the other door, probably more of a pain than it's worth if theres rust as you said. But just painting that bottom portion, we would charge $200, since there's a minimum of paint that has to be mixed (auto paint is NOT cheap). And that's without fixing any rust. Double that if any repair work was needed.
 
#7 ·
I suppose I can't help it. Always wanted a 7th gen Impala, even since I first saw one....in 2000....when I was 6....lol...And then there's the fact that I tend to be a perfectionist about these things.

About the rust, to clarify, I meant like surface rust, not deep rust where it's made a hole or anything. I think I know what I'm going to do. I'll keep the new door for the next few days while I attempt to repaint the old door. This time I'll some proper automotive paint and I recently purchased an electric paint sprayer (for another non-auto project). I certainly don't expect it to look perfect coming from an electric sprayer, but at this point I can't really make it worse. I guess the worst that could happen is that it still looks better than the replacement, and still better than the krylon, but not perfect, which I can live with, as long as it adheres properly.

Do you have any experience with Sherwin Williams automotive paint? Is it a good quality paint? Asking because I can do this tomorrow evening, as there's a store close to me.
 
#8 ·
No experience with SW. We used PPG for a while, then switched over to Wanda.

As far as adhesion goes, prep is everything. When you painted the first time, what did you scuff it with? I'd make sure you really sand everything you're painting down good with 800 grit sandpaper.
 
#9 ·
Yeah, I messed up bad with the prep work. I didn't have a sander or a grinder with the sanding discs or anything at the time. I was sanding by hand. I was using a cheap sand paper, only 240 grit I think. Despite being just surface rust, I couldn't remove all of it. If nothing else I learned how NOT to paint a car.
 
#10 ·
Hand sanding is fine, I do it all the time. 240 grit is way coarse for a final sanding. You want a MINIMUM of 500, but as I said, 800 is the best. If it was just surface rust, the 240 should have taken it right off no problem. If it was bubbling up, then yeah, you need a grinding disc and some kind of stop-rust (I like POR-15 personally).
 
#12 ·
Here's the door after grinding with a sanding disc for a few minutes. Got all the krylon off. What do I do about the pitting? Should I keep grinding until it is all smooth? (I don't want to remove too much metal, though) Or is this going to need some type of body filler? (Guess the damage was more than I remembered.)
http://i66.tinypic.com/2j269lk.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/2e15f5x.jpg
 
#13 ·
Ok, first of all, you need some type of rust preventer on there. I recommend POR-15 (be VERY careful when applying this stuff, it doesn't like to come off of something once it gets on there). Then you'll need to scuff it down and put some top-coat on there (final stage body filler). Sand that down until you get it nice and smooth and contoured to the body lines. Spray it with some primer, and put a light dusting of black spray paint as a guide coat. Block that down with 500 grit until the guide coat disappears. Hit it again with some 800 grit, making sure you scuff everything you're going to be painting (whole bottom section of the door). Then clean it up real well with something like wax and grease remover. Now you're ready for your color and clear. Make sure you use a good clear coat. I recommend spraymax 2k urethane clear coat. I'd personally do not like any of the "Autozone" clear coats (duplicolor, etc) as they don't give a professional result. Spraymax comes out just like it would from a spray gun in a professional body shop, but its not cheap.

Any other questions, just ask
 
#14 ·
Ugh....The door looks like complete garbage now. Issue was with the body filler, not the paint (or paint gun). It is not flat with the rest of the door. New plan is to remove the new door and repaint that....

So, here's my plan:
1. Remove the door and sand the clear coat. What grit should I use for this? Do I have to remove ALL the clear or just sand it a little?
2. 2-3 coats of color. Is this too much or the right amount?
3. Re-clear coat. Do I also use 2 or 3 coats for this?

I may also do the same with the rear door, hoping to get a better match. This may be a dumb question, but is panel blending as simple as just feathering the paint out?

Before I do anything else, I wanted to ask. So, is this a good way to do this?

Also, when will I be able to put the doors back on the car? Two days? Lastly, I wash my car every week or once every two weeks depending on the weather. I use a wash and wax soap. When will it be safe to wash the car? I've heard that you shouldn't wax for 30 days, but I've also heard 6 months! I never use a liquid or paste wax. Just the soap and sometimes a spray wax. Thanks for the help. :eek:k3:
 
#15 ·
1) Sand with 800 grit. All you're trying to do is knock the shine down and give the paint something to grip to. You can also use a red scuff pad if you prefer.

2) Are you using a can or a gun for the color? With a can, 2-3 coats is fine. With a gun, you want two coats to get even coverage, then drop the pressure down and do a third mist coat to set the metallic.

3) 2 or 3, up to you. We usually do 2 coats at the shop to save a bit on material, but extra clear won't hurt anything.

In order to do a good panel blend, scuff the rear door the same as the front. Across the WHOLE door. You're gunna paint the front edge and feather it out towards the middle of the door. You eventually want your blend to be right through the middle of the panel. Use 2-3 coats moving your feather a little farther each time. Then clear the whole door.

You can put the doors on after a few hours, but I'd wait 12-24 hours just to be safe. What kind of clear coat are you using? That does make a difference.

You're fine to wash the car pretty much right after its back together. I'd stay away from the spray wax for at least 30 days. There are some waxes that are okay to apply on fresh paint (we have a wax we use after we do any buffing), but it's better to be safe than sorry and avoid it for a while.
 
#16 ·
Using a small foam brush, I put some paint on the door and it actually matches very well with the rear door, so I think I may actually just have to do one door afterall. I've been using a cheap electric spray gun off of eBay. Surprisingly, the paint itself actually looks very well, but I can't change the pressure on it.... :-\

The clear coat came from Sherwin-Williams. It's ACME Finish1 FC720. Hoping I can get this done tonight. Thanks again.
 
#17 ·
I have a feeling that it's going to be very hard to get a professional-looking finish unless you have some significant experience doing this type of stuff. Just keep your expectations in check! This stuff is not easy to DIY and get professional-looking results...

Sent from my HP SlateBook 10 x2 PC using Tapatalk
 
#18 ·
^^ Very true. Professional results come from not only experience, but professional equipment. Looks like you're using decent clear, so you might end up with a decent looking result, so long as the color is good.
 
#19 ·
So here's the latest with the door. I had to start over once, but I think I got it done. There is a bit of orange peel on the bottom half of the door. I think it'll match the rear door. However, I couldn't really get it to blend on the right part of the door, so I hope it matches the fender. I just decided to paint the whole door .If not, I guess I'll be painting that too. Top half of the door looks great. Bottom half has light orange peel. Will polish take care of this? If so, when is it safe to polish?
 
#20 ·
Let it sit overnight, then use 2000 grit sandpaper to wet sand the orange peel section down until most of the texture is knocked down. Then buff it and polish it using the appropriate compounds and a good orbital buffer. Should knock it right out.
 
#21 ·
Thought I'd post a picture of the final result (minus the sanding along the top, anyway). Also plan on repainting the trim once it warms up later in the week (acetone destroyed the fresh black paint I put on it). The picture actually makes it look worse than it is. The spots on the picture where the color varies are there, but completely exaggerated in the photo. Overall, I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

http://i66.tinypic.com/nysmxw.jpg
 
#22 ·
Looks pretty good!
 
#23 ·
I looked at the pic before I read what you were doing and I didn't notice anything until I read what to look for. I'd say that passes =)
 
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