Best results from a home respray?

[KarlBristol]

The only bit of my car practically which hasn't been resprayed and is in need of it is the rear bumper... I'm looking at buying a second bumper (so I can leave the current one fixed in place and there's no rush to get it done) and attempting the spray job myself. It's been a long time since I've sprayed anything properly of any real size so I'm a little rusty.

I have a large enough garage to comfortably do the work in and two large air compressors. I know that a few people on here have done some respray work, so does anyone have any top tips or handy hints?

Any links to the perfect primers to use, and a reputable paint supplier or is it worth getting this direct from Toyota?
What's the best spray gun to buy - a gravity feed one I presume?

If the bumper respray goes well I will also be attempting the boot lid mainly so I can get rid of the two pesky holes the Toyota badge left in there!!

On a side note if anyone has a rear bumper and boot lid going spare they know where I am

[Super_red]

Its all the the prep work and patience. Many will argue otherwise but it is possible to get a factory finish from rattle cans with the right prep and enough patience. I have seen a car painted with a roller that looked spot on but it took hours of machine colour sanding. I have personally sprayed flip paint from a can and got a finish people could not distinguish from the factry paint.

I beleive your car is a non fading colour being a metalic so Toyota would be fine. I use a local paint specialist who has some 'big chips' to colour match the paint as even factory metalics do have variations in shade depending on when they came out the factory. Solid colours will have this and levels of fade.

Plastic primer is available but etch primer will do the same job. Depending on your donor bumper you may not need primer if the colour is close and the paint on it only requires a sanding down to key. The paint thats on it has lasted 20 years so its show it will stick fine!

[Ryan S]

i resprayed my old rev2 in my brothers shed with a compressor that looked like it was from about 1914! it doesn't matter how the paint goes on, as long as it does go on!!! the finish of the paint can always be sorted later on. it's all about the preparation, make sure any filler etc is properly finished before you paint otherwise any imperfections will look 10 times worse once painted.




this is the car now (this is the new owners picture so i can't take credit for any of the bodykit etc) i reckon i could get this paint so shiny it'd look like a fresh respray again, i do paint restoration at work and i've brought some utter utter dogs back to life!!

so don't worry too much about how the paint goes on, just do it slowly, one coat at a time, keep the place where you're doing it warm too, and also, warm the paint slightly if possible. if you get any runs etc, they can be buffed out afterwards.

[Ryan S]

after a day of prep


the 100 year old compressor


the end result (new owners pics are far better)


i never got a chance to buff the paint

[KarlBristol]

Thank you both for the replies

Sheppy - that does look like a really professional paint job. The thing that worries me (and always has) is the lacquer and getting a dull lacquer layer which ruins the paint

Your posts give me hope that it doesn't have to be a body shop job... I just pray I'm not too impatient when I finally get around to doing it

Off to price up some paint now and try and work out roughly how much I'd need

[CalMac]

New bumper eh?

I'd have already bought one of these, if it weren't for the UK number plate recess

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-MR2-SW ... 46132d5a73

[KarlBristol]

I do keep flipping past that bumper on eBay and it is so so tempting, but completely goes against the sleek sleeper car styling that I want.... Although it is a thought and hasn't stopped me adding it to my watch list

I want a practically OEM de-badged and sleeker/aero looking car with a few subtle differences that only other MR2 owners would recognise like the Lexan blinds and wind deflectors. I'm going for a less is more sort of styling approach on the car and want everything to be clean and spotless. As much as I keep flipping past body kits (I love the border front bumper!) I've vowed to stick no body kits on the car.

The only thing I keep contemplating and probably will do at some stage is fit wider wheels and a Paul Woods wide arch conversion kit. I will do it onto original lines with no body kit fitted. I feel that this combined with no spoiler and a dropped ride height will really set the car off and make it look stunning. It's just having the time and more importantly the money to do it

http://www.woodsport.org/joomla/index.php/bodywork



It almost makes it worth while to buy a second MR2 to have a play around with some body kits

Random rumblings over

[Ryan S]

I do keep flipping past that bumper on eBay and it is so so tempting, but completely goes against the sleek sleeper car styling that I want.... Although it is a thought and hasn't stopped me adding it to my watch list

I want a practically OEM de-badged and sleeker/aero looking car with a few subtle differences that only other MR2 owners would recognise like the Lexan blinds and wind deflectors. I'm going for a less is more sort of styling approach on the car and want everything to be clean and spotless. As much as I keep flipping past body kits (I love the border front bumper!) I've vowed to stick no body kits on the car.

The only thing I keep contemplating and probably will do at some stage is fit wider wheels and a Paul Woods wide arch conversion kit. I will do it onto original lines with no body kit fitted. I feel that this combined with no spoiler and a dropped ride height will really set the car off and make it look stunning. It's just having the time and more importantly the money to do it

http://www.woodsport.org/joomla/index.php/bodywork



It almost makes it worth while to buy a second MR2 to have a play around with some body kits

Random rumblings over

get 2 pack paint mate, they say they don't do it in the UK anymore but my local paint place is allowed to sell "old stock" which he never seems to run out of.

edit: just for reference, i bought 4 litres or red and 1 litre of black for the roof, i had looads left over of both red and black, enough to paint a few bike tanks and still had paint left after that!

[Driftlimits Performance]

Rear drag much

[Ryan S]

Image Replaced With URL For Quote https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 2481_n.jpg


Rear drag much

see the new owner about it, nothing to do with me

[Ryan S]

Image Replaced With URL For Quote https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 2481_n.jpg


Rear drag much

see the new owner about it, nothing to do with me

[Super_red]

Regarding a dull finish on metalics just remember to do nothing to the base coat before applying laqure. No sanding no nothing. Metalics are designed to have an already keyed surface that you can just laqure straight onto. If its a very rough surface you can give it 2-3 coats of laqure then sand flat and laqure again.

If you sand the metalic base before laqure it will never pop like it should as you'll sand most of the metalic particles out. Always do 5+ coats of laqure and be prepared to sand it flat with some quite abrasive paper before finally finishing it up, this will give a factory type finish.

[KarlBristol]

Regarding a dull finish on metalics just remember to do nothing to the base coat before applying laqure. No sanding no nothing. Metalics are designed to have an already keyed surface that you can just laqure straight onto. If its a very rough surface you can give it 2-3 coats of laqure then sand flat and laqure again.

If you sand the metalic base before laqure it will never pop like it should as you'll sand most of the metalic particles out. Always do 5+ coats of laqure and be prepared to sand it flat with some quite abrasive paper before finally finishing it up, this will give a factory type finish.

That will be where I've gone wrong in the past - I have wet and dried my metallic paint ready for lacquer thanks for the heads up

How much paint and lacquer will I be looking at for the rear bumper or the rear bumper and boot lid?

Having never done spraying to this scale before I don't want to have loads of paint left over, or get part way through a coat and run out

[Ryan S]

Regarding a dull finish on metalics just remember to do nothing to the base coat before applying laqure. No sanding no nothing. Metalics are designed to have an already keyed surface that you can just laqure straight onto. If its a very rough surface you can give it 2-3 coats of laqure then sand flat and laqure again.

If you sand the metalic base before laqure it will never pop like it should as you'll sand most of the metalic particles out. Always do 5+ coats of laqure and be prepared to sand it flat with some quite abrasive paper before finally finishing it up, this will give a factory type finish.

That will be where I've gone wrong in the past - I have wet and dried my metallic paint ready for lacquer thanks for the heads up

How much paint and lacquer will I be looking at for the rear bumper or the rear bumper and boot lid?

Having never done spraying to this scale before I don't want to have loads of paint left over, or get part way through a coat and run out

i bought 4 litres of red and that covered the whole car and i had about a litre left (didn't include the roof as this was black) so i'd say a couple of litres?? we did mix the paint pretty thin and did numerous coats.

[Super_red]

I'd say half a litre of base for each will be more than enough, I'd be tempted with half a litre to do both but you really will be on the limit and would not have enough to do it in 2 seperate goes. Two and a half coats should cover it, the half goes on first, 1 very thin coat you can see straight through. A litre of laqure is a good start.

The base will need to be thined 50/50 but the laqure will not if you use 1k. I have never used 2k laqure but I beleive that has thinners and activators, it will have an activator at least. I find that 5 coats of 1k is fine and hard wearing enough. I have panels I painted 5+ years ago with 1k and they still look fine.

Dont try to dry the paint any quicker either, ovens used in body shops are only so they can get more cars through in a shorter time. Paint is best left to dry at room temperature (well 24 ish) over a longer period of time. If you leave the base coat for more than a few hours before the laqure you will need to let it cure fully for a few days so go straight from base to laqure. Make sure the panels you are painting and the paint itself are up to room temperature aswell.

[KarlBristol]

Thank you - I will follow your advice

This is a real noob question but what is the difference between 1k and 2 k lacquer. I presume that 2k is thicker and harder wearing?

[Super_red]

1k is less hard wearing yes, its also just acrylic based and has no acticvator like 2k or 2 pak. It cures the same way as the base coat by just letting the solvents out.

My estimate of paint required was for painting only the outside of the boot and not the inside. If you buy a boot lid of a differene colour then there is no way half a litre would do it (its close already) but a litre should do.

As I said before I've never used 2k but as it cures a different way to the base coat if I were to use it I would let the base fully cure before puttin gon the laqure. Fully curing at room temperature takes days, I would proably allow a week myself. This goes for any surface finishing you want to do the the laqure, leave it a week to fully cure.

[gnzyza]

Dumb question, my bros car has some damage to both front doors which needs pulling and filling, would you spray the whole door only or blow into the rear and wings?

[KarlBristol]

Dumb question, my bros car has some damage to both front doors which needs pulling and filling, would you spray the whole door only or blow into the rear and wings?

I'd say blow into the rear and wings to prevent any obvious colour differences

Just my opinion though (based on what my bodyshop bloke did to my car) and I've already proved I know very little about car spraying

[Super_red]

I would only spray the door but thats because I get my paint colour matched. If you are just using paint supplied from the paint code then yes you have to gradually phase the colour in by spraying into the adjacent panels.

I painted the door of my first MR2 which was red, we all know what that goes like on old MR2's. I had the paint colour matched and it was undetectable even under amber street lamps which usually show up red cars quite well.