SS spoiler backyard respray

[Brettly-2008]

So my SS has the dreaded clear coat bubbles on the rear spoiler. Given that the rest of the car has excellent paint, it's always bugged me that the rear wing was degrading and getting worse each month in winter.

I got a quote of around $350 to get it professionally resprayed which is pretty decent I thought, but I have sprayed acrylic metallic car paint before (prepped and resprayed my HQ ute in Senator Quartz a few years back) so I know the basics, but this time I will be doing it with basic automotive off-the-shelf products and not the full-blown compressor, spray guns, paint mixing process.

Wish me luck!

I hit the spoiler with 120 grit sand paper to remove and flatten the bubbling clear coat. I have not fully removed the clear or original colour and chose a medium-fill primer to smooth things out. Spoiler was simply rubbed with turps to clean surface before applying primer.

https://imgur.com/2GMyOgc

My SS has the bigger SS-V spoiler which all early series 1s got and has the black section underneath which obviously needs to be taped up.

https://imgur.com/iSicddT

Primer on - first was a light coat and two slightly heavier coats a minute or so apart.

https://imgur.com/rTPXSoK

Once primer dries you can get an idea on how good the surface will be after a wet sand

https://imgur.com/cMz3Mzc

Over the weekend I'll rub the primer with 400-600 wet paper to achieve the surface I'll need for the top coat.

 

[Brettly-2008]

Here's my 355 HQ I resprayed in the garage you see behind it. I was genuinely stoked with how it came up for a first attempt at spraying a car. The colour is a VP HSV purply-brown called Senator Quartz.

https://imgur.com/3qgjoPV

https://imgur.com/1twL80D

 

[Brettly-2008]

Got back into it over the weekend.

After wet sanding the primer with 400 I cleaned up and prepared to lay some colour. Got one pass on the underside of the spoiler before the spray pack gave up the ghost! I couldn’t believe it, it was like it had no accelerant left, just dead with no pressure. I took the nozzle off and soaked it in some solvent and found a small nail to prod down the can’s hole at the top to test pressure. It still had heaps of pressure so tried the nozzle again with zero luck. Luckily I had a spare nozzle which did the job but the spray packs aren’t perfect and I did get some spitting which will show up in the final finish unfortunately.

Managed one coat on the bottom before the spray pack packed it in!

https://imgur.com/Uo9V8ux

https://imgur.com/hOHUSon

First coat down. Time between coats (flash time) was 5-10 mins.

https://imgur.com/5MryitK

More top coats. Checking it in sunlight for coverage and metallic fleck quality.

https://imgur.com/B1Do2rK

https://imgur.com/VxBK4Ah

 

[Brettly-2008]

Getting some clear on. I began adding clear about 30 mins after the final colour coat. In my experience adding clear before the top coat is fully dry gives best results, but I don't know the theory on this!

https://imgur.com/M1XewVW

More clear, I put 5 coats in total, 20 minutes apart. This will give me a decent base to rub back prior to compound polishing after a week's dry time.

https://imgur.com/4DVhXl0

https://imgur.com/5uKu6sb

Once dry I mounted it back on the car as I wanted to see how the new colour matched up, which is quite good considering the rest of the paint on the car is 14 years old. The finish here is still in a rough/raw state but will cop a 2000grit rub and cream/cut polish once it's fully cured. It should come up like glass if I don't cut corners!

https://imgur.com/d9HFSGf

A few thoughts.

There’s no real mystery to painting acrylic metallics. The trick is to get good coverage which also means each coat doesn’t have to be perfect. Basically try for even application of each coat and keep the coats light enough to avoid runs. I managed 3 top coats and one mist coat from my 400ml ColourSpec spray pack (AutoBahn, Supercheap mix these up for $35).

The final mist coat is the secret to a good looking finish. Instead of holding the spray pack/gun 25cm away, the final mist coat should be about 50cm away and even lighter and faster than the main coats. This lets metallic fleck settle on the surface rather than be buried in the wetness of the paint. – if that makes sense. After the mist coat the final finish will be anywhere from satin to low gloss, not super shiny the way enamel paint is straight off the gun. The polishing of the clear coat is where the gloss comes from.

I will post my progress with compound polishing when I get around to doing it.

 

[Brettly-2008]

Compound polishing time.

Wet rubbing the surface with 1500 grit to flatten the clear coat. I used 1500 because I had a sheet handy but anything from 1000-2000 works. It takes a lot of effort but the flatter you get it the better the final finish. I've circled where more rubbing is needed.

So I started with this lumpy finish.

https://imgur.com/dfIUfJw

https://imgur.com/vwYnKMh

https://imgur.com/3uXcq5P

The pre-polish surface should look matte like this but super flat.

https://imgur.com/GeA1D8U

 

[Brettly-2008]

Polishing is the satisfying bit. I use Kitten cream polish No. 2 and try to polish each area 3-to-5 times using a damp rag.

https://imgur.com/SqDHw7o

https://imgur.com/ok01fMG

Polishing the top:

https://imgur.com/0soc5fI

https://imgur.com/tw6h1PB

 

[Brettly-2008]

Finished product:

https://imgur.com/rGBp17j

https://imgur.com/Jp6q2Ie

https://imgur.com/PsWJBU7

There's still some slight swirl marking in the clear but overall it's a decent finish and in direct sunlight the metallic fleck is obvious. All up it cost me about $50 and about 5 hours total.

 

[Lex]

Finished product:

https://imgur.com/rGBp17j

https://imgur.com/Jp6q2Ie

https://imgur.com/PsWJBU7

There's still some slight swirl marking in the clear but overall it's a decent finish and in direct sunlight the metallic fleck is obvious. All up it cost me about $50 and about 5 hours total.

I think, well done!

 

[trel]

That looks great mate. Great write up.

 

[Fu Manchu]

All done now, but I tried heating the cans in warm-hot water for 5mins and then spraying. Holy sht! What a difference! Went on like glass without any work. No peel at all. Thins the paint and increases the pressure.

Got the tip from the Hackshop Garage lads on the Youtubes.
Have a try next time and you’ll never use a cool can ever again.
This worked with both epoxy and acrylic lacquer.

You must be stoked to see the result compared with how much it annoyed you before. Well done.