[78w72]

this is for any experienced painters on here, i managed to dent the door on my 72 firebird while working on something else & need to repaint it to fix the dent. its a small dent about the size of a quarter right under the door mirror area. im looking for the best practice to fix this because its a metallic paint & they can be hard to match.

my questions are, should the whole door be repainted the same way the rest of the car was painted, which is a medium gray sealer then 3 coats of color & 3 coats of clear?

or should just the repaired area, about 4"-5" circle around the dent be spotted & then blended into the rest of the door & then clear the whole door?

it is a charcoal grey/silver metallic color & im worried about the whole door being too dark &/or changing the metallic with 3 more coats of clear over the existing color vs trying to duplicate whats on the rest of the car by redoing the color & clear like was done originally to hopefully end up closer to the rest of the car.

the painter says its best to spot the area & blend the color out on as small of an area as possible then clear the whole door but another friend that has painted cars says the extra layers of clear can make it darker or change the look of the metallic some. the metallic is very small/fine particles not big flakes.

i know metallic paint is very hard to match but i will be using the original paint that i have left over. i did repaint the whole nose a couple years ago & it looks very good, almost cant tell it was repainted so im leaning towards a full repaint of the door instead of spotting & blending. any input would be helpful, i dont want to do it twice if possible.

[nbn]

Any extra layer of color/metallic will be different than what is on already. Best bet would be to scuff the entire door, blend as small an area as possible and reclear the entire door. Trying to blend clear in the middle of a panel will result in a ghost line that will be noticed in overcast days.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by nbn

Any extra layer of color/metallic will be different than what is on already. Best bet would be to scuff the entire door, blend as small an area as possible and reclear the entire door. Trying to blend clear in the middle of a panel will result in a ghost line that will be noticed in overcast days.

thanks for the reply. just to clarify, the entire door would be cleared in both the scenarios i mentioned, i know better & would never try to clear only part of a panel.

so the 2 options are spot & blend the area to the existing paint on the door & clear the whole door, which will have 3 more layers of clear over the existing paint.

or duplicate the original process used when the car was painted by using the same color final sealer on the entire door (this color stated a medium gray for final sealer) & then the same number of coats of color & clear on the entire door to hopefully end up with the same amount of color & clear as the rest of the car in an effort to keep the color/clear the same as opposed to having more color in the spotted/blended area & then more coats of clear over the rest of the door possibly changing the color/metallic.

just looking for some other opinions on the best approach. i trust my painter as hes painted 3 of my cars with me doing most all the prep & final sanding/buffing, but i also know it can be difficult to match existing paint & metallics & silvers can be hard to match.

[nytrainer]

Are you having paint mixed or do you have leftover paint from when it was painted? Either way a blend from the repair outward is best. If possible stay away from shooting repair color to edge of panel where it meets another panel (a slight color difference will be more obvious that way).
Here’s what I do (not saying it’s the only way).
Wax and grease remover on entire door. Make repair and blow in primer, block etc get ready for color. (Be warned that sometimes when sanding through the clear when making repairs, especially on a newer paint job, heavy coats of solvent can lift a ring around repair so light coats are important. Another reason why many use a capful of clearcoat hardener in the basecoat)
Scuff entire door with 800-1000 grit. To me this next step is key. Assuming your using basecoat I use an intercoat clear on the area I intend to blend into. Intercoat clear is essentially basecoat with no pigment or metallics. This helps the repair basecoat metallics lay down better in the intercoat clear versus painting over just the scuffed panel.
After starting basecoat in center of repair blend next coats outward. On tougher colors you can add reducer to cup of repair basecoat or intercoat clear (check compatibility with your basecoat brand) to “water” down the intensity of the color in the next coats minding your flash times.
After blend is complete clear entire panel 2 or 3 coats. Not sure I agree more clear changes color appreciably but matching texture is important. If other panels have slight orange peel you’d try to match that texture rather than have that one panel cut and buffed to glass or vice versa.
Now you have an idea why shops charge what they do lol.

[78w72]

thanks. yes i have left over paint so matching the color isnt an issue.

the prep will be done right as far as scuffing or wax/grease remover, but the car has never been waxed since the repaint ~5 years ago, its a garage queen & fair weather driver only so cleaning solvents will be minimal.

i will mention the intercoat clear or reducing the color coat on the blend coats. but he knows to keep the blending to a minimum & is his reason for wanting to do the blending vs my thinking of duplicating the original process with complete coats of correct shade of sealer then the same coats of color & clear as the rest of the car.

cant say i agree clear will change the color much either but i have heard that from more than one source & it makes sense on a metallic since doubling the amount of clear will change how the light reflect against the metallics.

as for cut & buffing, the repainted door will be done the same way i did the rest of the car, all orange peel removed & cut & buffed to glass as close to the edges as is safe.

its not a 100% perfect top of the line paint job but is a very nice above average done with good quality dupont chromabase paint. im well aware why shops charge what they do for quality paint jobs... thats why i do as much of the prep & final buffing & all the reassembly myself. im lucky to be friends with the owner & he lets me do most the work myself.

thanks for the input.

[ID67goat]

If paint isn't chipped off, have you considered taking it to a good paint less dent repair person?

I think I would look into that first before breaking out the sand paper.

[Jerry H.]

^^^^^^

x 2

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by ID67goat

If paint isn't chipped off, have you considered taking it to a good paint less dent repair person?

I think I would look into that first before breaking out the sand paper.

Beat me to it….my guy is amazing !

[MUSLCAH]

When your ready to start painting….its all scuffed with 800 ..taped off …washed..tacked….I apply one coat of DBC 500 from ppg. This product eliminates metallic tracking in the sanding scratches and any “Halo” effect. Then when it’s flashed off 10 minutes….start painting your spot and get full color coverage on that spot . I’d get 2 coats of clear on the “ painted area” then wiff the whole panel with the 3rd coat. That leaves only one coat of clear to both adjacent panels

[n20ta2]

X3 on the pointless dent removal. My wife's car has had a few nasty dings and dents worked out from my guy that saved me a bunch of time and materials.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by ID67goat

If paint isn't chipped off, have you considered taking it to a good paint less dent repair person?

I think I would look into that first before breaking out the sand paper.

yes i would go that route but unfortunately the paint is chipped off at the dent. i have used PDR on another car & it came out great. i opened another car door that was too close & hit the door right on the body line, was a small dent that didnt break the paint but thought for sure id be repainting it, in about 1 hour & $125 the dent was 99% gone & if you didnt know where it was or had a trained eye you would never know.

wish that was the case for this dent.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

When your ready to start painting….its all scuffed with 800 ..taped off …washed..tacked….I apply one coat of DBC 500 from ppg. This product eliminates metallic tracking in the sanding scratches and any “Halo” effect. Then when it’s flashed off 10 minutes….start painting your spot and get full color coverage on that spot . I’d get 2 coats of clear on the “ painted area” then wiff the whole panel with the 3rd coat. That leaves only one coat of clear to both adjacent panels

good idea, i will mention the DBC 500 & definitely mention the clear being 2 coats around the repair & only 1 full coat on the rest of the door.

my painter is semi retired after ~40 years from his body shop that does only upper level street rods, hot rods & muscle cars so hes a little old school but knows what hes doing & has done some amazing work. hope this turns out ok, otherwise i get to re-do the door again or just repaint the whole darn car!

[nytrainer]

DBC 500 is the same thing as intercoat clear and if you’re using Deltron base then that is what you’d want to use. I’ve used SPI’s intercoat clear with a few different base coats (Wanda, Motobase, SW UB7, SW Dimension) with great results. I haven’t used it with Deltron though.

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by 78w72

good idea, i will mention the DBC 500 & definitely mention the clear being 2 coats around the repair & only 1 full coat on the rest of the door.

my painter is semi retired after ~40 years from his body shop that does only upper level street rods, hot rods & muscle cars so hes a little old school but knows what hes doing & has done some amazing work. hope this turns out ok, otherwise i get to re-do the door again or just repaint the whole darn car!

That DBC will work with any Base….I guess Iam old school too….been at it 45 years…was weined on Lacquer.