Thread: Paint question - matte finish, want to gloss it up

The paint I used was SEM 'Bumper coat'. The can says 48 hours for full curing.

I ended up doing more harm than good tonight with my wet sanding, taking it down to the primer by accident along a part of an edge. So I decided to sand the whole piece until it was smooth, then shoot a wet coat onto it. As I did so, the can of paint, which had been running low, decided to sputter, and splotched the paint job completely. So without enough of that paint to continue, I decided to start over and do things better. So I stripped off the paint down to the plastic and bondo with paint stripper. Im going to re-do my bondo work, and then go with antimatter's suggestion and get matched paint and spray it with either a preval spray gun or an airbrush.

I am guessing you got paint stripper on the bondo? If so first...very bad idea..second you need to sand that bondo off and start over. Bondo is like a sponge for anything liquid...you should never put anything liquid on bondo. What will happen is the bondo will absorb the paint stripper, then down the road when the part gets hot the paint stripper will rise out of the bond destroying your finish. You really should sand all the bondo down and start fresh.

The paint stripper (bix semi-paste) actually removed a fair quanity of the bondo on its own. The part didnt have much bondo on it to begin with, but Ill make sure to take off the remaining.

Originally Posted by SickVette

Shotgun that looks good.

Antimatter...clear coat is needed if you want the highest possible shine. A single stage paint...like out of a spray can...can not be buffed to a high shine.

Thanks. As far as polishing though, I've been able to get a comparable shine without clearing when using the duplicolor touchup paints.

If you look at this pic, the part above the center console (with the compass and the speaker on top at the center of the dash) isn't cleared. Your mileage may vary.



Though I'd still think you should clear it, particularrly so you can buff any scratches out. I just didn't on that piece as I did it later and was lazy.

Originally Posted by Moondog51

The paint I used was SEM 'Bumper coat'. The can says 48 hours for full curing.

I ended up doing more harm than good tonight with my wet sanding, taking it down to the primer by accident along a part of an edge. So I decided to sand the whole piece until it was smooth, then shoot a wet coat onto it. As I did so, the can of paint, which had been running low, decided to sputter, and splotched the paint job completely. So without enough of that paint to continue, I decided to start over and do things better. So I stripped off the paint down to the plastic and bondo with paint stripper. Im going to re-do my bondo work, and then go with antimatter's suggestion and get matched paint and spray it with either a preval spray gun or an airbrush.

You wont regret that you did it.

Practice makes perfect. I suggest getting a scap peice of something a practice painting it until you have the finish you desire. That way you don't ruin your production peice.

When wetsanding you have to sand really lighly or you will go through...especially on the edges.

Good luck and i want updates

Off-topic for a sec. I love these kinds of photos in posts. "Honey! What's for dinner?"

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Off-topic for a sec. I love these kinds of photos in posts. "Honey! What's for dinner?"

I was wondering if someone would notice that. Yeah that was a planned easter egg. When I posted the progress pics on my car club, it took awhile for anyone to notice.

I went to a local auto-body supply place to see if I could get my interior trim paint matched (Subaru wont tell anyone their paint code for the metallic interior trim...). I left my shifter trim with them for a couple days, and it turned out they were NOT able to match the paint, so they sold me the pint they were trying to match for $20 (it would have gone for $40 a pint plus a $10 matching fee if they had matched it). Its a really nice looking metallic auto paint thats like a metallic charcoal color. It doesnt match, but at this point, Im OK with that. At some point in the future I will probably paint the surrounding trim with the same paint.

While I was there I also got higher quality body filler, and 'icing' filler, some good primer, an inexpensive HVLP spray gun, and some cheap paint to practice with.

This is the gun:


Its cheap ($40), but Ive been told you have to spend around $200 to get to the next 'tier' of quality for spray guns.

Most of my last week was spent redoing the surface of the monitor bezel with the body filler, sanding at 80 grit, filling, sanding, then finishing with the icing, sanding at 200 grit, then priming, and sanding at 600 and 1000 grit.

I learned a lot from making mistakes the first time around, and its a ton better now than it was. Using quality stuff made a huge difference as well. Everything I got from the body shop supply place was much better quality than what you can get from a regular auto parts store like I had gotten stuff from originally, and while it was about 2x the price or more, it was all remarkably better to work with.

So today I practiced with the gun and practice paint, got the hang of things, then sprayed the dash piece with the good paint. Here are the results:




It turned out great, but the paint seems a little soft. I marked the paint a little bit along one of the sides by accident, with my fingernail... Im going to give it a few days and see if it hardens up. The paint is a 1 part vinyl automotive paint from Dupont, and it cures by some photochemical reaction, so hopefully it just needs more time to cure all the way.