New Paint (NSF 56k)

[Timon]

A lot of you have asked about this, and I finally got around to uploading pictures after the latest paint job (2nd). I've wet-sanded most of the orange peel away now, which took away a bit of the sparkly blue until I can get around to having the exterior professionally detailed in the spring.

This was done a few months ago, and overall turned out nicely.











A bit of over spray managed to get in the wheel wells since the plastic around it fell, so I just re-taped it around the wheel so it wouldn't spray them.

[driftin07]

Dude good looking color I wouldn't mind doing my 2 that color wit come gold rims

[ice_mr2turbo]

if u get orange peel you aint putting enough clear coat
just a little tip
2 pics of mine before sanding and buffing, i can take them out if you dont like to have it in the thread

[Timon]

I hate you... That looks awesome! I don't mind it in the thread at all - I said it wasn't safe for 56k, so let's follow suit with that and put as many pictures as possible .

Nice to know about the 'not enough clear coat'. I still haven't finished buffing it all out. On one spot I got frustrated with the orange peel, and ended up sanding through the clear. Now I have a small white line on one of my fenders. This incident forced me to go much lighter on the rest of the car, leaving some orange peel. It's annoying, but anything is better than the previous paint that was on it.

To be honest, my car looked better in the above pictures, prior to sanding/buffing, than it does after sanding/buffing it. I've used McGuire's, which did alright, but the 3M rubbing compound does a lot better - but it still doesn't look as shinny as it did.

Just as a reference, this is some of what my car looked like prior to me painting it.

[MR2 Drifter]

any pics of the car in the sunlight?

[muffinman]

Can't wait to see the finished pics with everything reassembled.
Looks great

[ice_mr2turbo]

timon, here is my car after sanding and buffing, i still need to paint the front end again because of dent in the hood that came from snow falling of the roof on my house
i love how the pole and the lights come out in the paint

[krazy2]

Turbo is right about the clear, but also if gun pressure is too low it will do the same. I REALLY like the color Timon. You can cut and buff and take any orange peel out but be careful on the edges. Oh did I tell you I REALLY like that color . I was thinking about going with PB7 color code from a dodge.

[Timon]

I've actually painted my car twice. First one was sanded down, body work was done, primered, and painted with a Dark Blue Mica Metallic (I don't remember the paint code right off hand, but it's the same color on the mid 2000 Corollas). I then had to use this as a base a few months later when I repainted it with another Dark Blue Metallic from a Chevy.

The reason for the repaint is that I attempted buffing under a tree... but it took long enough that the sun move around the tree and baked the compound into the paint. This caused horrible white marks everywhere in the pores of the paint, which refused to come out - hence the reason I repainted it.

So far with the buffing on mine I've tried using everything from 800-2000, and I still can't get all of the orange peel out of the paint. The clear coat was put on really thick to prevent different patterns color patterns from emerging.

Turbo- I'd have to say you did a wonderful job on painting yours. It looks absolutely perfect, and I wish mine would've come out that well. I plan to most likely have it repainted professionally some years down the road, but it will work for now.

Any tips on the buffing and sanding?

[ice_mr2turbo]

well first tip dont buff your car under a tree, do it inside with hell of a good lights.
dont save any money on buffing equipment
and if u are not sure how to do it try to talk to local professionals, they can give you tips and maybe show you

[Timon]

I learned not to do it under trees from now on. I think in the spring I'll boot the Harley out of the garage and use that.

Any particular product you use for buffing?

[ice_mr2turbo]

Originally Posted by Timon

I learned not to do it under trees from now on. I think in the spring I'll boot the Harley out of the garage and use that.

Any particular product you use for buffing?

i use surface compound from concept
dont know where my dads shop bought the pad and the machine but it works fantastic