Car Painting ??
p zehosky
Hi, This past weekend I painted my 84 Horizon. The old paint was
peeling on the roof and hood in spots so I figured I'd give it a shot and
paint it myself, Maaco wanted $450 - $500, the car's not worth that much.
Anyway, I bought a gallon of "Western Automotive Paints" from the
local auto parts store along with the reducer and hardner. The parts
store paint guy said the ratio of paint, reducer and hardner was
8-paint, 1-reducer and 1-hardner. After spending a day sanding, priming
and taping the car, it came time for the paint. I used an electric
sprayer, like a Wagner. After painting the car I noticed the finish
isn't real smooth. It looks like the nap of a football or bastetball,
one neighbor called it "fish eyes". I'm not looking for a professional
job but would like to know what went wrong. Was it the paint, reducer,
hardner ratio? Type of sprayer used? Also, the "fish eyes" aren't very
deep, so is there a way of smoothing them out? Any suggestions are
appreciated. E-mail or post.
Thanks,
Paul
Rizwan Ahmad
p zehosky (prz...@ark.ship.edu) wrote:
Try doing a very fine wetsand this will take away the fish eyes
Make sure to go with a very fine wetsand
: Hi, This past weekend I painted my 84 Horizon. The old paint was
--
Rizwan Ahmad
riza...@csd.uwm.edu, amc...@execpc.com, r...@nap.net
http://www.uwm.edu/~rizahmad
UWM EMS Micro Lab Consultant 229-2239, NOC Operator Nap.Net 747-8747
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Don Sterner
On Mon, 7 Oct 1996 09:27:01 -0400, p zehosky said.....
>
> Hi, This past weekend I painted my 84 Horizon. The old paint was
>peeling on the roof and hood in spots so I figured I'd give it a shot and
>paint it myself, Maaco wanted $450 - $500, the car's not worth that much.
> Anyway, I bought a gallon of "Western Automotive Paints" from the
>local auto parts store along with the reducer and hardner. The parts
>store paint guy said the ratio of paint, reducer and hardner was
>8-paint, 1-reducer and 1-hardner. After spending a day sanding, priming
>and taping the car, it came time for the paint. I used an electric
>sprayer, like a Wagner. After painting the car I noticed the finish
>isn't real smooth. It looks like the nap of a football or bastetball,
>one neighbor called it "fish eyes". I'm not looking for a professional
>job but would like to know what went wrong. Was it the paint, reducer,
>hardner ratio? Type of sprayer used? Also, the "fish eyes" aren't very
>deep, so is there a way of smoothing them out? Any suggestions are
>appreciated. E-mail or post.
>
What you describe doesn't sound like fisheye to me. Fisheye is where
an area of the paint didn't adhere to the subsurface. There'll be small
bubbles sticking up, and they are caused by improper preparation. The
only way to properly fix them is to remove the new paint and start over.
What I think happened in your case is that you sprayed the paint a little
too dry. When sprayed properly, you have a totally wet, slick surface.
Almost, but not quite to the stage where the paint will run. It will
then dry to a smooth gloss. If it's sprayed too dry, it has the
appearance you describe. The solution depends upon how thick the new
paint layer is. Sand with fine (800-1200 grit) sandpaper and polish
until you return the gloss. It's not an easy job, and it will be very
easy to sand through your new paint.
For what it's worth, the paint/reducer/hardener ratios sound awful
thick to me, but I've never used that brand of paint. The dealer
should have given you a specification sheet AND an MSDS sheet on the
material you purchased. It's a little late now, but did you have any
idea how hazardous hardened paints are to your body?
Henry Lee
<SNIP>
> : Anyway, I bought a gallon of "Western Automotive Paints" from the
> : store paint guy said the ratio of paint, reducer and hardner was
> : 8-paint, 1-reducer and 1-hardner. After spending a day sanding, priming
> : and taping the car, it came time for the paint. I used an electric
> : sprayer, like a Wagner. After painting the car I noticed the finish
> : isn't real smooth. It looks like the nap of a football or bastetball,
> : one neighbor called it "fish eyes". I'm not looking for a professional
> : job but would like to know what went wrong. Was it the paint, reducer,
> : hardner ratio? Type of sprayer used? Also, the "fish eyes" aren't very
> : deep, so is there a way of smoothing them out? Any suggestions are
> : appreciated. E-mail or post.
Hmmm, your fisheyes could have been caused by numerous reasons. You
didn't mention what type of paint you used to paint your car but most
automotive paints need alot more air pressure (i.e. acrylic enamels need
50-55 psi at the spray gun) than an electric Wagner sprayer will provide.
The paint/reducer/hardner ratio seems wrong but since i don't know what
type or brand of paint you used i can't confirm this. But just as an
example, if you used an acrylic enamel from PPG, you would mix it to an 8
paint, 6 reducer, 1 hardner ratio (8:6:1). If the paint wasn't properly
reduced, it would be applied too thick. This causes numerous problems in
itself (i.e. fisheyes, orange peels etc etc).
Also how long did you wait in between coats? Many paints require a
"flash" period between coats. Usually this flash period is about 15
minutes (depends on paint, temperature, etc etc). If you don't allow the
paint to flash before applying succeding coats, you will get problems
(i.e. fisheyes along with a host of other possible problems).
Probably the most important thing before applying paint is to clean the
car of ALL wax,grease, silicone and other contaminants. Did you "wash"
the car with a wax, grease, silicone remover thououghly? Soap and water
in itself will not remove these contaminants.
If you used an acrylic enamel type paint, this is how you fix your
problem. You'll need wet/dry sandpaper in various grits from 600 to 1200.
Actually depending on how badly your paint is on the car you might need
courser of finer sandpaper. Basically what you do is wet the car down
with water (or you could use a dishwashing/water solution) and block sand
the paint. Start standing using about a 800-1000 grit sandpaper. Use
courser or finer sandpaper as needed. You should finish out using
about 1200 grit sandpaper on your final sanding. Then if you still
have paint left on your car, polish the paint to give it that factory
new gloss.
This is a really really really short lesson on paint defection removal.
but this is basically how you get rid of it. I suggest you goto your
local library and check out some books on automotive painting or ask a
pro-painter in your area. Painting takes alot of time and patience. It
can't be picked up overnight. In fact, i'm kinda surprised you were able
to prep your car in one day. Hey now that i think about it, my very first
car that i ever painted was also a Horizon ('79). how odd. It didn't
come out very good either. ok, hope this helps alittle. got anymore
questions post or email them, i'll try to help out.
henry
'87 Tbird TurboCoupe (Freshly painted white)
da...@cris.com
>
>> Hi, This past weekend I painted my 84 Horizon. The old paint was
>>peeling on the roof and hood in spots so I figured I'd give it a shot and
>>paint it myself, Maaco wanted $450 - $500, the car's not worth that much.
>>local auto parts store along with the reducer and hardner. The parts
>>store paint guy said the ratio of paint, reducer and hardner was
>>8-paint, 1-reducer and 1-hardner. After spending a day sanding, priming
>>and taping the car, it came time for the paint. I used an electric
>>sprayer, like a Wagner. After painting the car I noticed the finish
>>isn't real smooth. It looks like the nap of a football or bastetball,
>>one neighbor called it "fish eyes". I'm not looking for a professional
>>job but would like to know what went wrong. Was it the paint, reducer,
>>hardner ratio? Type of sprayer used? Also, the "fish eyes" aren't very
>>deep, so is there a way of smoothing them out? Any suggestions are
>>appreciated. E-mail or post.
>>
>What you describe doesn't sound like fisheye to me. Fisheye is where
>an area of the paint didn't adhere to the subsurface. There'll be small
>bubbles sticking up, and they are caused by improper preparation. The
>only way to properly fix them is to remove the new paint and start over.
>What I think happened in your case is that you sprayed the paint a little
>too dry. When sprayed properly, you have a totally wet, slick surface.
>Almost, but not quite to the stage where the paint will run. It will
>then dry to a smooth gloss. If it's sprayed too dry, it has the
>appearance you describe. The solution depends upon how thick the new
>paint layer is. Sand with fine (800-1200 grit) sandpaper and polish
>until you return the gloss. It's not an easy job, and it will be very
>easy to sand through your new paint.
>For what it's worth, the paint/reducer/hardener ratios sound awful
>thick to me, but I've never used that brand of paint. The dealer
>should have given you a specification sheet AND an MSDS sheet on the
>material you purchased. It's a little late now, but did you have any
>idea how hazardous hardened paints are to your body?
In spite of the other replies you have I believe that your finish
might look more like "orange peel". But only die to the Wagner is not
the proper tool for auto finishes. It just won't atomize well enough.
The wet sanding w/fine sandpaper sounds like your fix. Maybe start at
1000 grit. Assuming your hardener has allowed the paint to fully cure.
Danny