Topic: "DIY Jeep painting and color matching" Follow up

[chrisfranklin]

I managed prep and paint the hood, fenders, grill/front end this weekend.  Already did the bodywork on the front end. 

Went ahead and used a sandable spray primer to fill in some of the scratches on the surfaces to be painted.  Then went with the factory black and then clearcoat and sanded between coats. 

Here's the question now, though: I finished with the clearcoat and have let it dry for a couple of days (Right now the new clearcoat has kind of the frosty beer mug finish to it).  I had some rubbing compound and was expecting to apply it to the clearcoat and then buff it out to a nice mirror shine.  I tried it, but the clearcoat didn't budge.  I guess this means I need to go over the clearcoat with something more aggressive - say, with a fine grade of sandpaper, 1000-1500-2000-3000 grit ? What do you think (have been having difficulties pulling up answers searching around)? 

Note:  Just in painting the hood, fenders, grill/front end, I went through 3 cans of primer, 3 cans of the factory black and 3 cans of the clearcoat.  Course, I was doing the painting outside in the middle of nowhere (but it was dustfree!), holding can at correct distance, but with a slight wind that dissipated some of the primer/paint.  Figure you can do your whole Jeep professional-quality with 5 cans primer, 5 cans of the base, 5 cans clearcoat, but only if you are inside.  Expect to go 6-7 cans of each if you are outside in a slight wind    I am going to have to buy more paint.
Thanks to Jeffy for the plastic trigger idea and Wrangler387 for the sandpaper/filler tips. 

[chrisfranklin]

Right now the pages I have read suggest that a refinish job (what I did) is going to be much heavier on clearcoat than would be a factory job.  The heavy clearcoat of the refinish job means I should have a little more room to maneuver if sanding. And, I have to admit, I went pretty heavy, basically plowing through several light coats over a few hours. 

From what I am reading, I think I am going to wet-sand the clear coat with 1200, then 1500, then 2000 grit and then finally rub it out.  Then wait a month and wax it the first time.   

This sound right?

[jcsanders79]

I am no expert but I have painted a few wrecked crotch rockets and I have always sanded the clear coat lightly then buffed it.  Its worked out fine but I never used a rattle can so???  Be very very carefull with the buffer if your not doing it by hand, it will  really piss you off  to get that far and scorch the paint.

[Greatwhite]

Well, the first step would be to use 1500 grit sand paper to sand out the dirt that might have managed to get into the clear, just sand it flat with some 1500 on a small hard sanding block.  Then sand over the areas that you used 1500 with 2000 and then increase the area with 2500 and finally 3000.  Staying away from your edges so as you dont burn through when buffing or break through with the sand paper.  Going all the way through 3000 will make the scratches easier to buff out, and i would not use any sand paper coarser than 1500 unless you had a run in the clear that you need to cut out, then you can use 800 to knock down the run most of the way, and then proceed to 1200 and then 1500.  Just becareful to sand only the run using the small sanding block. Next you want to used some rubbing compound to buff out your sanding scratches, keep in mind that the compound will still leave scratches in the paint but you want to buff the "dullness" that the sanding produced out with the compound.  Next you want to use polish to remove the scratches produced by the compound, 3M among other brands makes all the products you will need.  Finally you will want to get some swirl remover to remove the light scratches and swrill marks left behind after polishing.  If i remember correctly your jeep is black, which is only the hardest color to color sand and buff, but patience is key, just remember that you can always go back and sand a little more if need be but having to go back and spot something in because you sanded through an edge is never fun.  The frosted look that you are discribing is hard to picture, but the above steps are used after clear coat to provide a glossy scratch free finish.  Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

[chrisfranklin]

Well, the first step would be to use 1500 grit sand paper to sand out the dirt that might have managed to get into the clear, just sand it flat with some 1500 on a small hard sanding block.  Then sand over the areas that you used 1500 with 2000 and then increase the area with 2500 and finally 3000.  Staying away from your edges so as you dont burn through when buffing or break through with the sand paper.  Going all the way through 3000 will make the scratches easier to buff out, and i would not use any sand paper coarser than 1500 unless you had a run in the clear that you need to cut out, then you can use 800 to knock down the run most of the way, and then proceed to 1200 and then 1500.  Just becareful to sand only the run using the small sanding block. Next you want to used some rubbing compound to buff out your sanding scratches, keep in mind that the compound will still leave scratches in the paint but you want to buff the "dullness" that the sanding produced out with the compound.  Next you want to use polish to remove the scratches produced by the compound, 3M among other brands makes all the products you will need.  Finally you will want to get some swirl remover to remove the light scratches and swrill marks left behind after polishing.  If i remember correctly your jeep is black, which is only the hardest color to color sand and buff, but patience is key, just remember that you can always go back and sand a little more if need be but having to go back and spot something in because you sanded through an edge is never fun.  The frosted look that you are discribing is hard to picture, but the above steps are used after clear coat to provide a glossy scratch free finish.  Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks Great White with this tip and on the first go around with the filler and painting too.  That's what I'll do.  Man, this is a lot of work, but it's looking good.  I got going on it late this afternoon, already had some 1000 grit and 1500 grit. I lightly wet-sanded with the 1000 grit and it seemed ok (did inadvertantly catch the edge of one fender too close and went to the metal though [doh!] so going to have to work that out).  Doing the 1500 grit tommorow.  I had put the clearcoat on very heavy and I know the 1000 grit is a little rough, but I had a nice clearcoat layer to work with.  This sanding process, post clearcoat, is like shaving your own 'mug' 

On the streets now, I am starting to look at old cars that need a paint job and think, "you know, you buy that thing for a few thousand and with a DIY paint job and a lot of work, that old car could look pretty stunning."

[Greatwhite]

No problem at all, glad that i could help ya.  It sounds like you are doing a great job cant wait to see some pics of it when its done.   

[chrisfranklin]

I'm a little disappointed in my local auto parts places.  They seem to run out of grits 2000-2500-3000.  I went to four different places and was lucky to find some expensive pre-cut 1500! That's it!  You can always count on your time-frame/schedule getting thrown off by this kind of thing 

[Jeffy]

It will probably be easier to find and could be cheaper to buy at a hardware store.

[wrangler387]

2000 grit imo is good enough. There are a few good threads on that forum about what products to use for buffing also.

[zeitlerusmc]

This thread is in desperate need of pics!

[chrisfranklin]

I think I have been a little overconfident on this paint job (Wow, what other cars can I paint? You can paint your Jeep with just 5 cans of spray primer/paint/clear, 7 a piece if you are doing it in the wind ). 

Jeep was looking ok the other day, at least like I had applied this beer-mug translucent clear coat completely.  As far as the sequence of things,  I thought body work was ok.  I then did black factory coat over the primer I used to fill in some of the sand-paper scratches.  But, like I said, when clearcoat went on it left a kind of translucent beer mug finish on the black coat.  I figured I'd just sand and rub the clear coat out and it would shine and alls well.  But, even going really fine grade sandpaper (1000-1500-2000-Rub) and rubbing it out, the clear coat never shined up, the black base coat looked like hell underneath which I am still trying to figure out and frankly the body work I did had some weak spots too that could have been done better. I put a ton of time in to this, too.   

Frankly, I am not sure if I can finish this Jeep effectively with can spray paint unless I am inside in a windless, dust-free environment or I've got paint to burn, so to speak.   Was looking for some kind of rent-a-garage to do it in, but there doesn't seem to be any in the SF valley.  And, I am not overconfident in the custom mixed paint products I bought, since I followed the directions to the letter.

I might end up fine tuning the body work I did, sand/prep the existing surface, mask it and then deliver it to Maaco or wherever so somebody can use a gun to go over it with a high-gloss black, then sand and clearcoat.  It won't be the factory black, but at least it'll look like its got a new paint job.  Me 

[Greatwhite]

Hey now dont get to down on yourself, this was a huge project to take on and you went at it with all cylinders  I wish i had an easy answer for you but what your discribing is increadibly hard to figure out exactly what happend and in what step it happened in.  Although, the only thing i can think that you are trying to describe is that the clear coat is "dry" as in because of the wind you didnt get 2-3 nice wet coats of clear on the jeep so its not giving you that deep glossy look to it, eliminating the wind is a must, dirt can be sanded out later  sorry things didnt go great for ya buddy, give you an "A" for effort though thats for sure!

[chrisfranklin]

Hey now dont get to down on yourself, this was a huge project to take on and you went at it with all cylinders  I wish i had an easy answer for you but what your discribing is increadibly hard to figure out exactly what happend and in what step it happened in.  Although, the only thing i can think that you are trying to describe is that the clear coat is "dry" as in because of the wind you didnt get 2-3 nice wet coats of clear on the jeep so its not giving you that deep glossy look to it, eliminating the wind is a must, dirt can be sanded out later  sorry things didnt go great for ya buddy, give you an "A" for effort though thats for sure!

I have the DIY prep then Maaco option, of course - which may end up most cost effective, in my case (if have a dustfree garage, a second car/truck to use for day-to-day stuff while you're painting your Jeep, and your paint/clearcoat supplies are proven good, you have a ton of the various grades of sandpaper, then you should be all set to paint yourself). 

I am going to go over the body work again - dents filled well, but I may need to go over it with some putty to fill any pinholes (even with Evercoat you still get'em), saw another slight hood dent that I must have missed and the used tailgate I have needs to be installed and the locks changed.  With that done, I am going to seriously look and see if I can find some kind of rental indoor garage space or a frigging windless/dustless spot accessible in SF Valley or OC.  If I can do that, I should be able to give it another go and have some better luck on the second try (course, the DIY prep/Maaco option may be the wiser choice give the logistics issues I face - no readily available dustfree garage) 

[Greatwhite]

the DIY prep and Macco paint job will turn out really nice actually especially if you take things off that they normally would not, ie door handles and any trim thats easily removeable.

[Mozman68]

Are we EVER going to get pictures with this post???