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Paint Advice: How to tackle this hood.

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SixBolt_16G

15+ Year Contributor
496
394
Nov 7, 2005
Markham, Illinois
Hey painters/auto body friends!

I have a 99 Eclipse GST Kalapana Black that i bought from a friend 18 years ago. He left it sitting under a tree and sap? continuously dripped on the hood in one spot while waiting to get a new engine. Its always annoyed me and now i want to do something about it. Trying to get some supplies and a plan together for when it get warm again.

Ive sprayed a few bumpers with a painter that I worked with while I was doing dent repair in the past, so im not a complete newbie, but nowhere close to a professional. Have also painted wheels, door handles, etc. I do have enough confidence that I can do an acceptable job. 2 LVLP guns and a 30 gallon compressor, water separated. What Im really looking for is some advice on the extent of the prepwork that is needed for the damage on this hood.

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The car has been garage kept since ive owned it and not driven during the winter so the rest of the panels are in great condition, so im not looking to cheap out with a rustoleum job, but also not looking to overdo it with super expensive paint and clear. Just the best possible job you can get outside of a spray booth.

1. Do i need to take this hood all the way down to the metal? Primer? Sealer? If not going down to metal, what grit sandpaper should i use?
2. Single stage or two stage paint?
3. When we painted my rear center tail light, we just used the black basecoat at the body shop we were working at and it matched very well. Would this be another case of "black is black" or would the difference between Kalapana and a black basecoat be noticeable on a horizontal panel?
4. Where would you guys get your paint from outside of your jobs? Any name dropping of brands for supplies to use for an amateur paint job are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
Simple explanation
Its in the middle so you’ll want to paint the entire hood. Sand to get to the bottom of the cracks. Fill, sand entire hood, level, primer, sand, base coat, then clear. Cut and buff will depend on how well you paint and the condition of the area you’re painting in. Do not paint when it’s cold, think above 70ish. You’ll make more work for yourself if temp and conditions (wind) aren’t optimal. It’s a lot of sanding. At home I’ve spent 20+ hours doing this for it to be somewhat decent with rattle cans. 3 cans of 2k clear and 3 cans of base.
 
Simple explanation
Its in the middle so you’ll want to paint the entire hood. Sand to get to the bottom of the cracks. Fill, sand entire hood, level, primer, sand, base coat, then clear. Cut and buff will depend on how well you paint and the condition of the area you’re painting in. Do not paint when it’s cold, think above 70ish. You’ll make more work for yourself if temp and conditions (wind) aren’t optimal. It’s a lot of sanding. At home I’ve spent 20+ hours doing this for it to be somewhat decent with rattle cans. 3 cans of 2k clear and 3 cans of base.


What’s the difference between 1k and 2k clear?
 
What’s the difference between 1k and 2k clear?
2k has two parts,1 part clear, 1 part hardener. Doesn’t yellow and is a billion times better for exterior clear.
 
See now that’s the stuff I need to know. Do you have any experience with paint scratch.com?
I do not. I’m a novice at best LOL. I follow some YouTubers which helps a ton when they explain stuff. Just research, trial and error. I will never buy or use 1k clear unless it’s for something I don’t really care about.
 
Thanks @AWD-Tony. Probably not going to get around to this til April/May since its cold in Chicago now. Building a retractable paint booth in my garage during the winter since i have other items that need to be painted as well and making sure that i dont have any silicon-based products in the garage that would cause fish eyes. Thinking about taking the hood off and hanging it vertically so I dont have dust landing on it.
 
Yeah. Definitely wait for warmer weather and sand outside as it gets pretty messy. Wet the floor when you start painting to keep the dust down. It’s all prep work.
 
I typically use this website for OEM color match paints. I bought some Crystal White from them for a Mustang I had in the past and it laid down nicely, seemed to match great too. They're pretty cool because you can get custom mix spray cans or 2 & 3 stage paint kits for spray guns. Definitely go with the spray gun for a hood but their spray cans are nice for little piece parts. I did a quick search and they do list Kalapana black.
 
First, never cheap out on paint!, why bother painting it if its going to look like crap or you end up having to redo it a year later, do you really want to look at it and not be 100% happy with it? if its worth doing then its worth doing right. Believe it or not, the more expensive the paint is, the more forgiving that it is to a novice painter, the cheaper paints need the poor laydown of the paint to be made up for by the skill of the painter, whereas the better paints just tend to lay down easier. I would recommend not buying the cheapest paint or primer or clear.

Second your paint is only going to be as strong as the base thats under it, I wouldn't recommend removing the paint down to the metal at all, remove only as much as you need to to get rid of the damaged clear coat on top, use some good (not fizzy can) high build primer/surfacer preferably in black if you can find it, if you cant you can use grey and even add some black paint to tint it if you need to, so wet sand the hood with 360-380 grit just to get the damaged area removed, wash it after you are satisfied that you removed the damage, spray the entire hood with the high build, letting it tack between coats, add as many coats as you need to get it level, you can sand in between primer coats if you need to see where there is low or high spots.

After your final coats of primer, sand it with 400 grit and your ready for your base coat, lay on several good coats of that and then several good coats of clear. There is no cheap way out when it comes to paint, you will need primer, the hardener for the primer, thinner for the primer if you chose to thin it, base coat, reducer for the base coat (each stage has its own reducer/thinner you cant use generic thinner for painting) then clear coat, the activator for the clear coat and the proper reducer for the clear coat plus some generic thinner for wipe down and cleaning of the paint guns. I recommend Dupont, PPG, Spies Hecker, House of Kolor, or a name brand like those. I personally use Dupont, you have Dupont guys and PPG guys, I am a Dupont guy, Dupont is now known as Axalta coatings by the way.

 
A gun is great and all but without a decent size compressor, it’s useless. I’ve tried an online paint match company and I wouldn’t recommend it. They sent me two cans and they were both off. Find a local paint shop. If they have a scanner, bring your car or the gas door (they need a flat panel 3”x3” to scan) and they can mix the paint into an aerosol can. It won’t be 100% match but I’ll be very close.
 
A gun is great and all but without a decent size compressor, it’s useless. I’ve tried an online paint match company and I wouldn’t recommend it. They sent me two cans and they were both off. Find a local paint shop. If they have a scanner, bring your car or the gas door (they need a flat panel 3”x3” to scan) and they can mix the paint into an aerosol can. It won’t be 100% match but I’ll be very close.
I painted my car with a 30 gallon compressor in my driveway, as long as you dont use a hvlp gun a conventional gun will work just fine on a smaller compressor, you can buy conventional guns in siphon feed (paint cup on bottom of gun) or gravity feed cups (paint cup is on top of the gun) as well and can be used with a 9 cfm compressor.
 
I wouldn't recommend removing the paint down to the metal at all
This is great advice. I don’t think you’ll have to and it depends how deep those crack are.

Matt, yours was a driveway paint job??? Turned out awesome from what I remember. Most home paint job you can tell from feet away.
 
I painted my car with a 30 gallon compressor in my driveway, as long as you dont use a hvlp gun a conventional gun will work just fine on a smaller compressor, you can buy conventional guns in siphon feed (paint cup on bottom of gun) or gravity feed cups (paint cup is on top of the gun) as well and can be used with a 9 cfm compressor.
Thanks for all the info..How about the LVLP guns that I have?
 
I painted my car with a 30 gallon compressor in my driveway, as long as you dont use a hvlp gun a conventional gun will work just fine on a smaller compressor, you can buy conventional guns in siphon feed (paint cup on bottom of gun) or gravity feed cups (paint cup is on top of the gun) as well and can be used with a 9 cfm compressor.
This is not accurate. An HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) gun uses Low Pressure; whereas a Siphon Feed gun uses Higher Pressure as it has to fight gravity to draw in paint. An HVLP gun is better, especially if you have a small compressor.
 
Hey painters/auto body friends!

I have a 99 Eclipse GST Kalapana Black that i bought from a friend 18 years ago. He left it sitting under a tree and sap? continuously dripped on the hood in one spot while waiting to get a new engine. Its always annoyed me and now i want to do something about it. Trying to get some supplies and a plan together for when it get warm again.

Ive sprayed a few bumpers with a painter that I worked with while I was doing dent repair in the past, so im not a complete newbie, but nowhere close to a professional. Have also painted wheels, door handles, etc. I do have enough confidence that I can do an acceptable job. 2 LVLP guns and a 30 gallon compressor, water separated. What Im really looking for is some advice on the extent of the prepwork that is needed for the damage on this hood.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.


You must be logged in to view this image or video.


You must be logged in to view this image or video.

The car has been garage kept since ive owned it and not driven during the winter so the rest of the panels are in great condition, so im not looking to cheap out with a rustoleum job, but also not looking to overdo it with super expensive paint and clear. Just the best possible job you can get outside of a spray booth.

1. Do i need to take this hood all the way down to the metal? Primer? Sealer? If not going down to metal, what grit sandpaper should i use?
2. Single stage or two stage paint?
3. When we painted my rear center tail light, we just used the black basecoat at the body shop we were working at and it matched very well. Would this be another case of "black is black" or would the difference between Kalapana and a black basecoat be noticeable on a horizontal panel?
4. Where would you guys get your paint from outside of your jobs? Any name dropping of brands for supplies to use for an amateur paint job are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
How is the paint on the overall hood? Is it just that one spot that is bad or are those little white spots going through the paint? You should compound the hood and evaluate. If the rest of the paint is good, you could blend in some color over the bad spot and clear coat the hood. You do not need to take all the paint off unless it is cracking or peeling; looks okay from the pics. If you only have to blend that spot, you can get a half pint of Omni base coat and a pint of clear.
 
How is the paint on the overall hood? Is it just that one spot that is bad or are those little white spots going through the paint? You should compound the hood and evaluate. If the rest of the paint is good, you could blend in some color over the bad spot and clear coat the hood. You do not need to take all the paint off unless it is cracking or peeling; looks okay from the pics. If you only have to blend that spot, you can get a half pint of Omni base coat and a pint of clear.
I pretty much know im going to have to spray the whole thing. i can see other small spots that i would say is evidence of clear coat failure (the offwhite spots close to the orange light in the first photo) so i dont thing Id be able to get away with a blend. In the photo they just look like spots but in real life, they look like snowflake or webbing, you can see it a little better by zooming in . There are some rock chips mostly up front. I dont think i saw any rust starting, but I should take another look to be sure. The prep work is what i was most unsure about when it came to how far i need to take it down, priming, and wasnt sure if i would need sealer, but assuming not since no one has mentioned it.
 
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The more I look at the hood, the more i know that its probably going to be best to spray the whole thing. i can see other small spots that i would say is evidence of clear coat failure. I dont think the paint underneath is bad. There are some rock chips up front mostly, but I dont think i saw any rust starting, but I should take another look to be sure.
Compounding it will reveal all areas where the clear coat has failed. You can scratch the clear coat and it will turn white, but as long as it doesn't go through to the base you can just lay down clear over it. Compounding will make all the whiteness disappear if it's not all the way through.
 
To me it looks like it was repaired before and the base coat is now gone. I would consider blending if it wasn’t dead center. @SixBolt_16G curious if hood insulator present?
Yes, it does appear to be repainted. As long as you can feather edge into the surrounding paint without any edges, it will be an acceptable substrate to repaint.

Dead center is the best place to blend. If the damage is on the edge, adjacent to another panel, you would have to blend into that panel as well. However, black won't need much blending.
 
To me it looks like it was repaired before and the base coat is now gone. I would consider blending if it wasn’t dead center. @SixBolt_16G curious if hood insulator present?
@AWD-Tony Yes, the insulator is still there, but I think youre right about it being repainted.. The hood and the fenders seem to have the same degree of orange peel but I see what appears to be a cut off line about 3/4 the way up the driver's side A-pillar.

Mustve been the old lady that originally owned it. ive never been in an accident with my car and i bought it from a friend who had it before me and know he wasnt in an accident.
 
I would do the whole panel and forget about blending myself. Hood is 4 bolts. Sand it down to metal, shoot eching primer and base then clear coat. Sand with 1800 grit on a block and buff. That is how my best friend (the painter) would do it unless he taped off the whole rest of the car (waste of paper and tape and time). Just another opinion.
 
I would do the whole panel and forget about blending myself. Hood is 4 bolts. Sand it down to metal, shoot eching primer and base then clear coat. Sand with 1800 grit on a block and buff. That is how my best friend (the painter) would do it unless he taped off the whole rest of the car (waste of paper and tape and time). Just another opinion.
All depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a show car that will spend most of its life in a garage or under a cover, then paint the whole car. If you're going to be driving this on the road, you better expect to get stone chips here and there. There's nothing worse than having a perfect, flawless paint job get a stone chip. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

He should polish it and ask himself if the paint looks acceptable and roughly in the same condition as the rest of the car. If it is, then blending, followed by clear coat will give you the best outcome, cost/quality.

Either way, you gain nothing by stripping down to bare metal unless the substrate is unstable (cracked or peeling) or you're using a paint that may react chemically to the substrate (although you can use a sealer to avoid this).

For the places that exposed metal, they should be covered with a good epoxy primer.

I had a custom auto body and painting business in the late 80's and throughout the 90's. I used to do cars and bikes. Never have I gone down to bare metal unless there was damage or there was an issue with the substrate.
 
I don't disagree at all but I have had to just to find all the "bondo" that is hiding on a lot of cars. I didn't even know my own hood had a patch of the stuff on it (rather thick too) so around our place we go to metal, weld in new metal for rust repair and use a hammer and dolly to rough it in for a skim coat of filler then followed by what we do. I did both of my Camaro's, my son's Camaro, my 73 V-8 Vega and my 71 SS Camaro all that way and you said it, if the material under the new primer doesn't like the old stuff, it will craze and then you do it all over again. I just dig out all of the old stuff (time is no issue for me) and start with a solid foundation. Who knows what is under 30 years of paint. My Red 90 Talon was the one I had no idea that it had some damage. It has sat outside for about 4 years now, waiting on me to put her back together, and that is when a 6x6 spot of 1/2" thick bondo showed up. I'll either strip it or get one of my other hoods and repaint it. I don't think my best freind and I have ever painted a car that was just coated over another paint job but I could be very OCD about it too (probably). :thumb:
 
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