DIY Painting and repair - failing clearcoat

[scirocco]

The clearcoat is failing at some spots on my Alpine White X5. Never tried my hand at painting but why not. I plan to sand down the area to bare metal or close and do the three coat deal. So some questions to the expert painters here:

1. What grit sandpaper do I use to sand down to metal.
2. What is an acceptable primer to use? What brand and from where - in a rattle can?
3. Where to buy Alpine White touch up paint in a rattle can? What brand and from where?
4. What is an acceptable clearcoat to use? What brand and from where - in a rattle can?

Dont want anything too expensive. The truck has 250K miles on it. Drives sweet though.

[EODguy]

They still have Earl Scheib or Macco (sp?) in your area?

They do good, cheap paint but didn't used to do prep, so if you brought it in dirty it got painted dirty.

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

[ahlem]

Youtube is your friend.

[scirocco]

More importantly - what to buy and from where

[timmyc]

I painted for years and it is not for the inexperienced. Especially white.

If it is just one spot, take it to a shop. They will prep it correctly and get the paint matched as close as as possible.

I could go on and on about prep and masking and but it would really be in your best interest to take it to a professional.

If you want it to be as cheap as possible, ask them to use a single stage paint. No clear coat is involved, but it will last a good long time. We did my daughter's e46 coupe in a single stage and it's holding up great. Alpine White!

That's my opinion but if you want to tackle it yourself, PM me and I'll give you a call.

[c-bass]

There's a few good youtube channels that will show you how to get decent results as a home DIY guy. Spend a little bit of time watching how things are done to give you an idea of the work involved.

90% is prep work and it will reveal any flaws so take your time sanding and cleaning.

[RocketyMan]

Solid colors are the easiest to match. Metallic colors are more challenging to blend.

I too have spots of clear coat missing on my vehicle. Now they do make 2K clear coats in rattle cans for easy touch up. This has the hardener in the bottom that you have to inject once you're ready to spray. It is only good for like 2 hrs in the rattle can or something like that. Pretty neat!




This guy does a really good job for the DIY'er:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbSIjsUeWZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_v8qPqPmr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQF9ZrzxkCE

[oldskewel]

Just another path to consider ...

I had severe clearcoat peeling / bubbling issues on my hood and roof. Topaz Blue Metallic.

My solution, which ended up being cheap (free), fast, and surprisingly good was to just remove all the clearcoat. The remaining underlying paint was in decent shape, and soon turned to a matte finish, which looks great compared to bad clearcoat. When initially removed, the spots that had missing clearcoat were already faded and dull, mis-matching the rest of the paint on the panel, but before too long, all has come to match itself.

I did not touch any of the unaffected panels.

Removing the clearcoat took some tricks and patience, but in the end was fast and easy.

[scirocco]

@RocketyMan - I so appreciate your detailed guidance. Any input on what brand and where to buy (1) Primer (2) Base Coat (3) Clearcoat

[andrewwynn]

my hood is badly scrached from wind whipping a tarp across it while i was out of town for a week… i'm considering using a wrap to fix my hood; much tougher against the stone chips.

i've seen a few YouTube videos that show exactly how to patch a spot; sanding down to metal just at the spot and fading into existing paint. This should be a good thread for learning; many people want to know the answer to the solution you seek.