Over the past couple of months I have been scrounging and searching and piecing together an OEM GFX kit. Well this past weekend it was a bit cold, but I went ahead and sprayed the pieces.


Sanded and wiped down with reducer


Sanded and wiped down with reducer


Paint and supplies. 1:1 ratio with this 2 stage paint I bought


Looks terrible in the cup...


Base coat on successfully! Gorgeously flat!


Base coat on successfully! Gorgeously flat!

Unfortunately as this is my first time spraying, I apparently didn't put enough hardener in my clearcoat or I just sprayed way too thick and slow and I had runs galore!! Now I have to block sand it back to smooth and spray base/clear again...grrr

Anyone have tips on spraying clearcoat? It is SO much different than basecoat...

 

Clearcoat is the devil, I hate it so much. When i first started spraying i would get cracks, and runs all the time. The worst part was sanding them down so tedious, and i always felt unsatisfied with my results.

I say do two mist coats, then one medium, and then a little bit heavier medium coat. That should give you a nice glossy look.

 

Azure pearl?

i acctually just painted my front lip myself buying aerosol colormatched paint from here

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

bought the clear coat aerosol too and it was super easy to apply, maybe you can just aerosol the clear coat and save yourself the headache.

heres a pic to see the color match, it was spot on!





good luck!

 

minter 66: Looks good, make sure you take some pics when they are on the car.
chicotunner07: thats clean, i actually wanted to paint a spoiler myself. How did you prep your lip before you painted it?

 

^x2 would love to repaint my lip, got it used to it needs some re-finishing.

 

I may have to give that aerosol a try. My front lip needs a respray.

Chico, how many cans did it take for the front lip?

 

the lip was new primered from factory

first i washed with dish soap, dried then used prep solvent

then used a fine scuff pad and rinsed and dried again

used prep solvent again

3 med coats of primer (bought from automotivetouchup.com)

4 med coats of base coat

and 3 heavy coats of clear coat

i came out really glossy, i had fine grit paper ready to wetsand and polish but its seriously not needed in my case!

Jon, i used half can of primer, 1 full can of base coat (had a tiny bit left), 1 full can of clear (had about enough for half a coat)

 

also, 15-20 minutes in between coats, weather was 80* and 45-55% humidity (a rarity in south florida) and i did it in my garage

took me about 6 hrs with all the waiting in between coats.

 

cool, thanks a lot for the prepping steps

 

So get that "frosty" look all over the car, then a bit less "frosty" medium cover and then go heavy? Does the frost give the clearcoat something to "bite" on and stick?

Excellent insight, if I bomb the clearcoat again this weekend, I'm doing that or having a professional shop do it.

Originally I was just going to toss in the towel, but I figure try until I run out of paint/clear.

 

Yeah it gives something to stick too. I think the hardest part is to learn when to stop putting on clear before it runs. Its hard but after practicing you get it. I still eff up my clear coats on occasion.

 

wow, that is some good painting. the most i have done is to use a spray can from www.touchuppaintonline.com to paint a sideview mirror. how much was your spray gun?

 

your lip turned out good didnt know you painted it yourself. nice job on the paint. i didnt the same with my whole rs1 lip kit. but i used duplicolor perfect match paint for autozone. best aerosol ive used other then www.automotivetouchup.com.

and like chico said you could use the clearcoat from there, there clear coat is good for aersol clear. or you could use the clear coat i used on mine turned out really glossy as well. i just used duplicolor perfect match clear coat. also great stuff.

 

thanks!

ive used automotice touch up before, but for small pieces, like mudflaps, and trims, never tried painting such a large piece, i honestly could not be happier, and i spent 40 bucks on 1 can of paint, 1 can of clear, and 1 can of primer, how can you beat that! lol

 

Thanks for the info Chico. I'm gonna order some supplies this weekend. I was going to wait on the GFX rear but if I can paint it myself I may go ahead and get it.