tuan92129

My aunt's 99 toyota camry (woodland green) paint has been neglected since the day she bought it, and its parked outside. The rear bumper has clear coat failure all along the top edge, and the whole bumper paint is faded compared the to paint on the rest of the car... (next week, i'm gonna drag out the rotary for some defect removal fun!!!)
I decided to repaint the top part of the bumper, using custom mized paint from automotive touch up spray paint.
steps:
wash car, and cover everything
mask area, wetsand 800->1500
tack rag the bumper to remove dust and prime(3 coats)
wetsand using 1500
3-4 coats of color coat
3-4 coats of clear.

On to the pics...

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Holy smokes -- Thats quite a nice job you did. Paint looks a bit texturized like Orange peel does in a way. You intend on leveling it any?

*Though the image could be throwing me off.. Is it smooth to the touch?

You used 3 coats of clear or 4? -- You know you can get too thick on clear, right? (I'm sure you do since you did such a good job) -- Does the panel stick out from the rest of the car now?



Nonetheless it looks fantastic.

I had a similar problem on my bumper, same panel, but was just a golfball size. I had the panel repainted.. and it looks similar to what you did in quality.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Yup looking at it again it is going to need to be corrected with a PC or wetsand. (Well doesn't HAVE to be.. it will look fine left alone .. but to get an equivalent polish like other panels it will need it) Thing is, you have to let paint cure for months before you can start polishing or wetsanding,.. So do you just leave it as is and then 2-3months later break out the Rotary?

That is what I'm contemplating on my panel. The fresh paint isn't as reflective as the other panels I've polished. I know polishing it will get the gloss/reflection I'm after -- But I've been warned not to seal or really put anything on it for 90 days. Its been 30.

Whats your opinion?

tcrow31

iTrader: (6)

Looks good. I hope the paint had the flex additive in it though. if not the first time the bumper is flexed enough it tends to crack, but good job on getting a even coat with a spray can.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Any full rear shots comparing the new to the old paint? I'm starting to have a similar problem on my ES...on both the front and rear

It looks great though

tuan92129

The paint matches well to the rear quarter panel, but there is a slight difference to the lower half of the bumper. Eyezack87...someone did this repair for their bumper a couple years ago. Its actually less noticeable on the es b/c two tone.
As for the orange peel pic, that was right after i finished the last coat. The directions say wait 24 hours before wetsanding 1500 grit, and polishing.
But, comparing before vs after, I'd take some imperfections if i could just get rid of the clearcoat failure eye sore..
Now i'm hoping it doesn't start peeling at the lower tapeline

mikez

May I ask how do you clear coat? Is it permanent in the sense like the factory paint or just a layer of wax?

I want to do some touch ups on major rock chips on my IS and my parent's ES (rusting) so I will need to clear coat the paint.

tuan92129

The clear coat is actually a spray (acrylic paint i think) so its not the same as oem clear.
If you need to touch up, you should use a touch up pen, otherwise, it should be repainted by a bodyshop.

mikez

Haha, I guess this one isn't a recommended noob DYI

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Thankie tuan. I might do this when the coat gets a little worse

Guitarman

The clearcoat is urethane enamel, which actually is the same as oem, although the curing process is different.

The factory bakes at a temperature that could not be used at a body shop etc. due to the presence of the car's interior and amount of plastic, vinyl & rubber parts being present. The factory paints when the shell is mere metal, thus very high temps are used.

This may be changing as I've read UV wavelengths are being used to cure some paints recently.

Oem also uses a water -based base coat, something that you won't get with base color found at an automotive paint store. Everything is still solvent based for the latter, as far as I know.


Nice work on the bumper BTW!

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

just wondering: dont u need the flex agent to paint with the bumper? otherwise the paint will crack ?

tuan92129

I think the base coat paint is not the same as oem paint..

Guitarman

Here's a post I made a few years back at Autopia, that I found in a search just now. Funny part is, when I was reading it, I didn't learn till I was finished that I was the poster! Been too long since I posted over there!

Funny that.. Anyway, here's the deal;


They use the same suppliers (PPG, BASF, DuPONT etc.) but the factory paint does differ slightly in makeup and how it's applied.

Modern factory base coat is sometimes water based (deionized ) where the carrier evaporates via low bake heat before it's cleared. It's also electrostatically applied in that the paint has the opposite charge of the metal and they're thusly drawn together.

The factory bake ovens are much hotter than anything a bodyshop has also, because oem paint is heat cured to achieve cross linking, whereas body shop paint is chemically cross linked(hardener/activator etc.). Body shops bake at lower temps merely to speed up the chemical cross linking, so they can wetsand or buff the finish as needed, and to get it back to the customer in a timely manner.

Some of that info is here; plus much more for those that haven't read through the Autoint site. Cheers.


http://www.autoint.com/