My '75 has decent paint except for one softball size spot on the hood that is missing paint and is down to the fiberglass. I do not want to spend the kind of money to get a decent whole paintjob but would prefer to just fix the spot myself. I know many people have painted their own Vette but does anyone have any experience fixing their paint? I also intend on trying to fix the small rock chips, etc.

What type of paint did you use?

How did you ensure matching paint?

How did you prepare the surface and make it look right after applying paint?

How did you apply the paint?

Thanks for all of your help!

Cheers,

Stephen

 

If you've got a softball size spot on the hood that's down to bare glass, you're going to have to repaint the hood in order to get a decent looking repair. A very talented painter may be able to spot in a repair, depending on what type of paint it is, but it's not easy.

What type of paint is on the car? How old is it?

You can get a paint supplier to use a color matching computer to mix paint to match the existing color. You'll have to spray the primer, sand and feather the repair area into the rest of the hood, then shoot the finish coats while blending over the other areas.

Shannon

 

VolVette -- there are several publications dealing with paint and prep. Get a couple and read up. Post your paint code from your Trim Tag. I have the Corvette paint codes and will post your color. You can take those to your paint supplier and he/she sould be able to match the color. Just the same, remember you will be shooting new paint on a sun-faded car.

 

I've heard you can spot paint but have to clear coat the whole piece(fender,hood,door etc)
You can't spot clear.
Don't know how true this is..

 

I had the same problem on the black paint of my hood. I decided to touch it up because anything would look better than that big gray spot on my hood. :eek: This isn't the best way but here is how I fixed it until I paint the whole car in a few years.

* Sanded the area a little larger than the gray spot but did not remove the fiberglass sealer
* A buddy of mine had paint equipment and some black paint and clear coat
* Taped off the car and a square around the gray spot
* Sprayed a nice coat of black in a square over the gray spot
* Taped off a larger section and then sprayed a few coats of clear
* Removed the tape and shot a light coat of clear over the square with a little over spray
* Wet sanded to remove new clear over spray and blended the old clear and new clear. Be careful not to wet sand a lot on the factory clear because it's thin. I also used detailing clay.
* Spent a lot of time buffing and polishing with 3M products and a good buffing wheel.
* I started with 3M Perfect It II Rubbing Compound. Careful this stuff burns paint if you are not careful! :eek:
* Next I used 3M Swirl Mark Remover Glaze
* Then I used a good wax

It turned out pretty good. You can see the box of very nice paint next to the 20 year old paint but only from the right angle. This looks much better than the big gray spot! :D

I agree with the above posts that you will have to paint the entire hood if you want it to look good.

 

where is the spot? i dont see it in the pic I must be going blind... or its in the right hand corner near the windshield, and you did a photo edit :p:

ZD hope you fix your paint

 

If your '75 has original paint, then you're in pretty good shape. The original paint is lacquer, which is about the easiest to "spot fix". That's because it can be wet sanded or rubbed out with rubbing compound so easily.

Basically, you would just prep the spot for paint as you normally would, taking care to keep the disturbed area as small as possible. Prime, wet sand, repeating as needed until the surface is as good as you want it to be with complete primer coverage (no glass showing).

Then you'd "spot shoot" the lacquer using a small touch-up gun. Let dry the recommended amount of time, then wet sand. Repeat until you've got several coats on it and you like the way it looks. Shoot a last coat with a bit of extra thinner in it, let dry, and then rub it out with compound until you're happy with it. Then you'll probably want to rub the whole hood with a coat of polishing compound to get it to a consistent degree of slickness across the patch into the old paint.

Color matching is always an issue. With a light color, the original color right out of the book might be OK. Darker colors fade more. Yours is orange, right? Kinda in the middle. Fading will probably be a concern. The good thing about the lacquer is that after you do a coat and sand it out, you'll know if the color is working or not. Then you can take the can of paint back to the shop and ask them to make it a little darker or lighter to match better; they'll just add another drop or two of black or white or whatever to the can and re-shake it for you. Just make sure you explain what you're doing before you buy the paint so they'll understand.

Which reminds me, lacquer is getting hard to find anymore. You might have to look around, maybe even out of state. If your paint has been redone with enamel/epoxy/clear stuff, then all of the above is moot.

Good luck!

:seeya


[Modified by Gator81, 2:02 PM 10/10/2001]

 

Still able to get lacquer from most auto paint suppliers. Sherwin-Williams for one, and I know of others in the area that will mix up a special batch for you.

 

It's not original paint, but it is a homemade single stage laquer. It's very thin in places and the guy who painted it did a semi-decent job.

Yes, I photoshopped the picture. :yesnod: Guilty... The spot is on the top of the hood, driver's side.

Stephen