5 replies to this topic

[bogstandard]

Hello Mini friends,

 

Car had full respray and all front panels replaced 3 years ago. As usual paint bubbles now appearing around front headlamp/indicator seams.

 

Want to sort this out before it becomes more than surface and starts rotting back.

 

I cannot find a decent source of information for basic paint work repairs for learner muppets like me to give some confidence to try and do it. No idea how much you should mask off and how do you blend new paint into existing base and lacquer without creating a mess? Should you do it in hot weather or cold?

 

When you get down to bare metal in prep should you use filler or build up with primer and paint?

 

Any links to information, or advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

[JXC Mini GT]

I am fairly new to bodywork repairs but having read and studied you tube and some very useful posts on here regarding paint care carried out the following repairs to my Mini.

I wanted to restore the bonnet to its original colour and carry out some minor rust repairs, I sanded the rust bubbles back to bare metal and then applied some hammerite kurust, I then sanded the whole bonnet with grade 800 wet and dry before priming the whole bonnet, i applied additional coats of primer to the areas where I had sanded back to bare metal. Once this had dried I sanded the whole bonnet with 1200 grade wet and dry before applying 3 to 4 coats of paint, once this had dried I used rubbing compound to achieve an even finish before finally applying canuba wax to protect the paintwork

[Hamstein]

I am by no means an expert, or particularly good at this!- but have done a bit of painting,-airbrush 50's style hot rod flames really my only skill! if its a base coat and clear laquer system,with small spot repairs you prime just the spot repair, put on base coat, and then clearcoat the spot and a larger surrounding area, trying to fade out the clear to the original clear at the edges, then polish the lot. Easier for a non pro to mask off the whole panel and clearcoat it. Single colour coats, squirt it and hope your paint is the same colour as the original, then polish out the fade ( this bit is a bit tongue in cheek )

Use scotchbrite pads to prep the clear - if you're doing clear on clear. Is that clear?

 

Hopefully someone more skilled than me will pop up and correct me with better advice! Oh, and metallic basecoats are a bugger to patch in, I've found!

[Ben_O]

 

Want to sort this out before it becomes more than surface and starts rotting back.

 

 

 

 

Sorry to say Paul but you won't stop it rotting back as they rot forwards.

 

What you see as bubbling on the surface is the rust breaking out from behind so it is in fact the last stages of the seam rotting.

 

If it is minor, then the best (and only really) way of rectifying it is to split the seams and clean all of the rust out of the seams before re sealing it and painting it. It is fairly tricky to do however as the seams are not easy to split without damaging the panels.

 

You could clean back all visable rust from the join without splitting it but you would have to clean back the flanges on the back of the seam from inside the wheel arch and re-seal as required but this will not last in the long term as the rust will still be hidden in the seam.

 

Now for the paint,

Bare metal should only need a primer. Filler is not necessary unless you are filling a dent etc. What you will need to do is feather the edges of the paint into the bare metal areas first which can be done with a 320-400 grit sand paper.

 

if the car is painted with base and clear and you are only disturbing small areas of the colour with repairs, then the idea is to flat down the entire panel with a 1500 grit wet/dry paper or scotchbrites enough to take the shine away and leave you with flat looking paint. 

Once you have masked off the entire panel then it's just a case or applying the base coat to the repaired areas blending the colour out into the panel but not colouring the whole thing. Then once the base has flashed off, you can the lacquer the entire panel.

Fading lacquer within a panel is not worth doing unless it's a particularly large panel and the rest is completely sound.

 

This is just a very basic guide to give you an idea. Hopefully it does.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[bogstandard]

Many thanks to replies and especially Ben. Typical hoping for the best but rot is the Mini downfall.  

 

Will have to patch up the best I can.

[Hamstein]

Hope you manage ok, might be some guide videos on youtube about this sort of thing? I found it useful when learning with the custom paints to have some small steel sheets or old car panels to practice on before you go for the real thing, they can just be flatted back and used again and again till you've got the feel of it.