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Once again I turn to you guys to steer me in the right direction. As you can see from the before photos the paint was peeling , cracking and flacking off primarily on the flat surface of the fenders. the other areas of the car are not so bad for 40 year old paint job so I thought. Well I had the bright idea of masking off that part of the car and applying Stripper to the panel. Well the stripper worked as prescribed however, from everything I have read it is not completely necessary to get all the original paint off. Also in those stubborn spots the Strip Kleen paint stripper for Fiberglass, did not work I used D8 6'' orbital with 80 grit then 120 to 150 to get it where I am at now. overall I think its pretty smooth but I did go to hard in a spot or two. what's my next step. Do I VPA in those spots or could I just block sand until I build up those spots?
I would probably stop using the DA. stripping these cars is not the same like metal cars, its not recommended to disc sand it so hard youll create a lot of low spots that creates way more work later on. i would have tried another round of chemical strip to see what works.
but anyway, at this point i would probably start properly block sanding in a cross hatch to level the surfaces and remove the remaining paint. maybe 120. it looks like bad prep or cheap material is what caused te paint faliures. Is the pink stuff primer or filler? just keep blocking it till all the color is off. you need to cut down all the spots with clear and color down to the low spots, primer/smc.
its probably not super necesarry to get down to fiberglass, since it is just a spot job, but if you want that is up to you. youll need to vpa any gouges and sand it flat. seal it and spray a few coats of high build to flatten the waves possiblty caused by the da. then paint. youll need to blend into the fender its kinda like a weird buildup to just paint to the top of the fender arc line. youll probably want to scuff the entire front end and reclear it all.
If youre not gonna use stripper, i would block down the hood in a similar fashion. youll probably have better luck here with a da because its flatter. but i like to finish blocking the reduce work later. Again, I dhave to see it in person, but since its a patch job, i would likely just sand down the bad paint/clear and just seal and paint over whatever is existing and seems good, and not down to fiberglass.
I would probably stop using the DA. stripping these cars is not the same like metal cars, its not recommended to disc sand it so hard youll create a lot of low spots that creates way more work later on. i would have tried another round of chemical strip to see what works.
but anyway, at this point i would probably start properly block sanding in a cross hatch to level the surfaces and remove the remaining paint. maybe 120. it looks like bad prep or cheap material is what caused te paint faliures. Is the pink stuff primer or filler? just keep blocking it till all the color is off. you need to cut down all the spots with clear and color down to the low spots, primer/smc.
its probably not super necesarry to get down to fiberglass, since it is just a spot job, but if you want that is up to you. youll need to vpa any gouges and sand it flat. seal it and spray a few coats of high build to flatten the waves possiblty caused by the da. then paint. youll need to blend into the fender its kinda like a weird buildup to just paint to the top of the fender arc line. youll probably want to scuff the entire front end and reclear it all.
If youre not gonna use stripper, i would block down the hood in a similar fashion. youll probably have better luck here with a da because its flatter. but i like to finish blocking the reduce work later. Again, I dhave to see it in person, but since its a patch job, i would likely just sand down the bad paint/clear and just seal and paint over whatever is existing and seems good, and not down to fiberglass.
I appreciate that it will help me that's why I started small.
I believe you can use a DA depending on how well you use it. You really need to have a feel for it and not just blast your way in. Pressing to hard and leaning on the edges will cause divots and waves. You also can adjust the speed and it is paramount that you pay attention to what you are doing. If you can do all that then the DA wil save you a lot of work and time.There are many techniques you can do with a DA that will give you a good job, Your Choice!
RVZIO
Starting point. Well on my way. Stay away from the edges if you are not to good with the control of your DA.
I believe you can use a DA depending on how well you use it. You really need to have a feel for it and not just blast your way in. Pressing to hard and leaning on the edges will cause divots and waves. You also can adjust the speed and it is paramount that you pay attention to what you are doing. If you can do all that then the DA wil save you a lot of work and time.There are many techniques you can do with a DA that will give you a good job, Your Choice!
RVZIO
Starting point. Well on my way. Stay away from the edges if you are not to good with the control of your DA.
Thanks rvzio, i am way past staying away from the edges with the D8, i have a few divots but overall not bad for my second time. Guessing i will take the rest of the paint off the area i started in and go from there, i have almost a half gallon of stripper left.
yeah, im not saying you cant use it. just my opinion based on the photos posted, you may need more experience with the da. im not questioning your ability, just my impression based on the pic,the panels need to be really even and flat all those paint layers will magnify into waves in the finished paint.
youll notice rvzio paint layers feather out a lot nicer because he is moving the da as flatand evenly as possible over the curved bodywork. yours looks more like youre using it at an angle and digging into the paint, where you end up with bare spots and paint spots all the way up to the clear.its not like a metal car bacause youll end up reshaping the fiberglass instead of hitting metal. its just safer and less work by hand because its less likely to get too far as fast.
YES...A D/A can mess you up IF you do not take the time to understand it and LET IT do the work for you. I have trained so many guys who worked for me who never used one that with a brief tutorial....they had a good understanding of it and in time they had it mastered.
The speed of the pad and the grit you use and the amount of pressure you use when sanding and you WATCHING what you are doing.
A D/A is just like your car. You have an accelerator pedal but every time you drive your car you do not have your foot to the floor. The SAME principle holds true when using a D/A . Just because the trigger can go all the way down to maximum speed...DOES NOT mean you need to use it that way. You can if you want...but do not cry to me about you going through sandpaper at a phenomenal rate. and it plugs up with paint.
So many people who use them think that just because the pad is as full throttle that you can get more done faster when actually...and try it and see for yourself. IF you moderate the speed of the pad and pressure...you will see that your sandpaper does not heat up or wear out and you can actually get a better sand finish and see dust coming off the panel. I proved this to the guys I had work for me when we 'raced' on a car when they were getting their tutorial on how to use it. He took one panel I took the other side and I did a better job using less sandpaper and still beat him in time.
Very similar scenario to the scene in 'Days Of Thunder' where Tom Cruise was going around the track eating up tires and Robert Duvall told him to TRY to drive the car like he suggested to him and when he was done...the tires were on the car when Tom drove like Robert suggested looked darn near brand new and were not getting heated up and coming apart. I know sandpaper is not rubber tires...but you get the point where HEAT can effect things.
The KEY thing here is IF you are using a D/A and using it to remove some of the paint. AS long as you do not get to the raw SMC..you have done no harm. IF you want to use the D/A to sand off all the paint. You can basically forget that due to there will be some areas where I would not even use a D/A and those ares would require a different method to remove the paint.
Even if you screw up in some areas it is no big deal due to those areas can be fixed with Vette Panel Adhesive. And unless you are not aware of it....the polyester primer that you can apply on it can further correct any issues that occurred when you sanded it. So it is no big deal. And I say this because I have gotten in Corvettes when DIYer attempted to do it and got to a point where they gave up and sent me the car to finish out and not one of them were so badly screwed up that I could not fix it with a skim coat of VPA in areas and polyester primer or gelcoat.(depending on the type of fiberglass)
YES...A D/A can mess you up IF you do not take the time to understand it and LET IT do the work for you. I have trained so many guys who worked for me who never used one that with a brief tutorial....they had a good understanding of it and in time they had it mastered.
The speed of the pad and the grit you use and the amount of pressure you use when sanding and you WATCHING what you are doing.
A D/A is just like your car. You have an accelerator pedal but every time you drive your car you do not have your foot to the floor. The SAME principle holds true when using a D/A . Just because the trigger can go all the way down to maximum speed...DOES NOT mean you need to use it that way. You can if you want...but do not cry to me about you going through sandpaper at a phenomenal rate. and it plugs up with paint.
So many people who use them think that just because the pad is as full throttle that you can get more done faster when actually...and try it and see for yourself. IF you moderate the speed of the pad and pressure...you will see that your sandpaper does not heat up or wear out and you can actually get a better sand finish and see dust coming off the panel. I proved this to the guys I had work for me when we 'raced' on a car when they were getting their tutorial on how to use it. He took one panel I took the other side and I did a better job using less sandpaper and still beat him in time.
Very similar scenario to the scene in 'Days Of Thunder' where Tom Cruise was going around the track eating up tires and Robert Duvall told him to TRY to drive the car like he suggested to him and when he was done...the tires were on the car when Tom drove like Robert suggested looked darn near brand new and were not getting heated up and coming apart. I know sandpaper is not rubber tires...but you get the point where HEAT can effect things.
The KEY thing here is IF you are using a D/A and using it to remove some of the paint. AS long as you do not get to the raw SMC..you have done no harm. IF you want to use the D/A to sand off all the paint. You can basically forget that due to there will be some areas where I would not even use a D/A and those ares would require a different method to remove the paint.
Even if you screw up in some areas it is no big deal due to those areas can be fixed with Vette Panel Adhesive. And unless you are not aware of it....the polyester primer that you can apply on it can further correct any issues that occurred when you sanded it. So it is no big deal. And I say this because I have gotten in Corvettes when DIYer attempted to do it and got to a point where they gave up and sent me the car to finish out and not one of them were so badly screwed up that I could not fix it with a skim coat of VPA in areas and polyester primer or gelcoat.(depending on the type of fiberglass)
DUB
thanks I was hoping to get that out of you. Ok I am ready to get back in the game coach. First I didn't do to bad with the DA, I have experience with that tool. I don't have a few nicks and I have a qt of the evercoat 870 I don't not know which epoxy primer to use if I need it and the likes.
yeah, im not saying you cant use it. just my opinion based on the photos posted, you may need more experience with the da. im not questioning your ability, just my impression based on the pic,the panels need to be really even and flat all those paint layers will magnify into waves in the finished paint.
youll notice rvzio paint layers feather out a lot nicer because he is moving the da as flatand evenly as possible over the curved bodywork. yours looks more like youre using it at an angle and digging into the paint, where you end up with bare spots and paint spots all the way up to the clear.its not like a metal car bacause youll end up reshaping the fiberglass instead of hitting metal. its just safer and less work by hand because its less likely to get too far as fast.
thanks man, i needed that guidance im done with the DA forever
05-22-2019, 04:42 PM
help this may not been covered
