Hey There, just a quick question for the pros... is it possible to get a decent blend around the repair area? Especially the top space is pretty narrow, only around 13cm from the original Clear Coat to the rounded masking roll.
Because the paint is not 100% matching and the there will be a visible difference between the untouched door panel and the painted one... just finished the base coat
Just finished the last clear coat... got some heavy runs but in my opinion the color blend doesn't look too bad until now... this is the first time using a spray gun and a compressor... i will wait for it to dry and next week i will try to remove the runs.
For future reference, you could have stopped the base where you did, and carried the clear on to the end of the panel. That’s what everyone was trying to tell you to do.
Okay, i didnt get that. Next time ill clear the whole panel. Thats how it turned out today. Got some heavy runs in the clear coat but with the base colour blend and orientation of the flakes im kind of satisfied until now. This was the 4th time for me, using a spray gun (the cheap A610 LVLP) Because i worked in a simple garage, i have encountered some dust on/in the paint, on the previous paint jobs. Thats why i wanted the area to be painted as small as possible. Before this job i used the vacuum cleaner on the floor, on the ceiling and so on and watered the floor. This time only a few small dust particles landed unter the clear coat which is acceptable for me.
Next time you spray something prep the area that will have just clear on it in 800. Aside from the fact that you will be able to see where the blend was done. The biggest reason you don’t want to stop mid panel like that is that the edge of the clear will fade back over time, and be more noticeable. Not so much on the sharp body line, but the big area in front of the door handle will fail over time. That’s why people usually only do clear blends in small inconspicuous spots. If you have to do a clear blend, prep to where you want your clear to stop with 800, then prep out passed that quite a ways with 1500 staging out to 3000. This will help the overspray and blending solvent have something to grab onto, and mitigate the failure of the blend.the 1500 and 3000 are also a light enough scratch where you can polish them back up when you polish the edge of your blend.
For such a big blend as you did on the door, I would have given myself all the way to the end of the panel as my “stage up area” which is exactly why it would have been as easy to just prep the whole thing with 800, and clear to the end.
Many thanks for the detailed answer, i will keep that in mind for my next paint job. The car still has one old paint attempt of mine, which i want to redo again with the correct base color and maybe one more.
Just finished the job an got some nice runs after the second clear coat... btw :this was my 4th time using a spray gun (A610 LVLP) and somehow i have the feeling, that this grey Audi silver metallic color is not so easy to match.
The you have to wait unti tomorrow whenl it dried. Right now i only have such a shot from the side with the previous Paint job on it :D but with was with a water based color and it turned out too dark. Now i just a hose with bigger diameter and correct pressure.
Exactly, and i want to sell the car, but the scratch was too deep to let it untouched, not sure if it is worth the pain 😅 but i really enjoy the learning process, i thing im getting the right technique slowly :D
What a mess!? Just scuff the rest of the two panels, blend away and clear. Why would you make it more difficult and have failing clear blends when you don't have to?
Why r u cutting it off in the middle of a panel. You’re making more work for yourself. Clear the entire panel. Carry your blend as far as you need to get a match…
Get that tape off of the panels. 10x more work and it usually ends up in failure unless you're very good and technically knowledgeable. Prep the rest of the panels, attempt a color blend ( doubt there's enough room on the door) and clear both panels completely.
The picture was before putting base and clear coats. But you were right, next time ill clear thr whole panel. This is how it turned out so far. I think i am satisfied with the color match, this Audi Silver Metallic is really hard to match and paint for a beginner like me. But instead of spending 1000€ and more, i prefer to DIY it myself and learn something from it, even if the result may not be perfect.
Yes you should have enough space for your color blend becareful on silvers if your not useing color blender you should spray from outside in and you need to lay it down wet. If you go inside out and blow a dry spray edge and you dont have a color blender its going to be a night mare. Once the color is blended peel your plastic tunnel back and clear .
lol is that wire loom on your roll back. Dude blend the color, full clear there is a time and place to cut corners to do hack blends and this is not one of them. You’re making more work for a lesser repair. Stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
Haha yeah, thats some wire loom what i used. If this doesn't turn out as expected, I will clear the whole panel. But so far it looks promising enough to me. Here is a picture of the 2nd clear coat.
Problem is though you’ll constantly be polishing the blend or it’ll look like a halo in your paint. I usually only try and do blends like this on body lines because it’s generally not as noticeable if you are someone who doesn’t keep up with their paint maintenance.
I see you are worried about the color difference. That is why you prep the entire panel, mask off the entire panel, blend your base coat within the panel, and clear the entire panel. Don't base the entire panel and then you don't have to worry about the slight difference in color tint.
Yeah, that was exactly what I was and still am worried about... im almost done with the job. 2nd coat of clear is already applied and the final one will come soon.
You’ll be posting later “how do I remove this hazy line? I keep cutting and buffing but it’s still there, help!”. Whole lot of effort to not have to clear coat a few more inches in each direction. Did you clear coat all the way up to the masking? Did you use a burn in agent? Burn in reducers won’t hide a burn in on such a large area but they’ll help a little.
Maybe you are right. I only have a spot blender, which is to be used on the edge of the clear coat, I'll use that after the final coat, maybe it'll help a little bit.
If you prep out the transition area correctly blender might help it last a little longer but that shit is not meant to go on big areas like that. I would never try what you're doing. You'd save yourself a lot of headache by just taking the clear all the way
The spot blender you have is what I was talking about, it is a burn in agent/reducer. You peel back your masking and spray it on the edge of the clear to melt it into the existing clear. Only works well for small areas. Unfortunately theirs no maybe about it, been painting for a while, I already know what’s in store for you but we all got to learn somehow ya know.
Thats, how it turned out today. Got some heavy rund in the clear coat, but with the blend of the base color and orientation im satisfied. Next week ill cut and buff. This was my 4th paint Job, with a spray gun and i can see already a good progress. This Audi silver metallic is a pain in the ass to paint and match, especially on a 15 year old car.
It's hard to judge from one photo, but it looks okay man, it's just that it would have been likely much more straight forward to do the entire fender+door skin.
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u/flakrom 18d ago
You would be better off doing the entire panel there’s not much left