[dom14]

Hey guys,

My GQ RB30 had an accident over the weekend.
Somebody has apparently backed onto it while parked
No idea who the perpetrator was.
Now I'm stuck with having to fix it myself.
I can't afford to pay a panel beater atm.

Rear right hand side passenger door is dented and scratched.

Over the weekend, I managed to get the dent reasonably fixed.
But, now I'm stuck with apparently more difficult problem of
fixing up the scratches.
It is a 1990 model GQ.
I've been told that trying to get a touch up paint by following the
paint code under the bonnet might not work.
The reason being said that the paint fades over that many years and the original
code is not an exact match anymore.
I've attached an old photo to give some idea of the colour.
I'll attach an updated photo of the damage and what I've fixed so far, shortly.

How, do I get hold of the matching paint of the current colour?
I have access to a spray gun and compressor.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[LordBug]

Some of that might buff out if you're lucky.
Otherwise, just get a can or a bottle of whatever scratch repair matches the code from SCA or similar. The secret behind paint repairs is that unless you repaint the entire panel, the colour will never ever match (unless you're some sort of genuine wizard).

And trust me, whilst at first you'll always notice the slight mismatch, it'll eventually blur over time, and nobody else will be any wiser. This is the voice of sad experience with my car, where I discovered touchup spots quite a while after I bought it

 

[Mick..]

As mentioned above a lot of that will come off even with a little bit of polish or thinners.

If you do want to get the right colour you will need to get the colour code, take your car to an auto paint shop so they can check there variants as most colour codes have more then one variant and even brand new straight from the factory the colour is never the same if you painted one panel. The colour will also have to be colour matched.

The secret to painting a metallic or pearl without it being visible is all in the blending technique which cant be taught over the internet but you wont get the colour looking close enough to go edge to edge it will need blending.

In all honesty if your not prepared get it done professionally you would be best off cleaning off what you can and brush touching it.

 

[dom14]

As mentioned above a lot of that will come off even with a little bit of polish or thinners.

If you do want to get the right colour you will need to get the colour code, take your car to an auto paint shop so they can check there variants as most colour codes have more then one variant and even brand new straight from the factory the colour is never the same if you painted one panel. The colour will also have to be colour matched.

The secret to painting a metallic or pearl without it being visible is all in the blending technique which cant be taught over the internet but you wont get the colour looking close enough to go edge to edge it will need blending.

In all honesty if your not prepared get it done professionally you would be best off cleaning off what you can and brush touching it.

Hmmm. I thought it's a matter of getting it professionally matched by a paint mixing place, apparently not.
There're quite few other scratches and paint fading around the car, as well as rust spots from scratching.
My idea was to find a matching colour paint from a place and then spray repair myself.
I thought professional places are good at it 'cos they try few mixes and spray test it
before they match the colour? Or do they get it right in one go with older cars?

I was thinking about that kind of service, except I do the painting myself.
If I understood you correctly, by "blending", it means to cover a larger area
than the actual repair spot and gradually match the colour to original panel colour.

Do you think if I try to go ahead and do it myself, I may end up spending as much as
the cost of a professional job?
I don't think it needs to look as good as a professional job.

They make it looks pretty easier in this video. I'm guessing it's not that simple!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTTlsIHqg0c

I think I did an ok job with the panel beating part of it, which is not perfect, but
ok for me.
I'm wondering whether I can achieve a similar result on painting the scratches, which
won't be anything like a professional job, but should do it for me, given the vehicle is 20+ years old,
and it's a 4WD.

Thanx mate

 

[Sparkys]

I don't have Mick's knowledge, he's been in the business for a long time, but with the 13 cars I've painted I've found that metallic paint can appear darker or lighter even due to different temperatures while drying or the angle you hold the spray gun. It's almost impossible to colour match and blend it in without a fair bit of experience IMO.

 

[dom14]

I don't have Mick's knowledge, he's been in the business for a long time, but with the 13 cars I've painted I've found that metallic paint can appear darker or lighter even due to different temperatures while drying or the angle you hold the spray gun. It's almost impossible to colour match and blend it in without a fair bit of experience IMO.

Yes, I understand. Experience is very important. I have spray painting experience.
What I don't have is the meticulous experience of a professional who knows how to get
the best colour matching with above techniques. As Mick said, it's not something that can be taught over internet. It must be learnt by doing it. I think it's also important to have
good gear as well.
I think I'll have a go at it very slowly over time and see what I can come up with.
Most of the imperfection will come out with some buffing, but the deep paint scratches
has to be touched up.

 

[dom14]

When I was applying tint film on my GQ, I thought it was as easy as chips, but it wasn't.
It took lot more than the time a professional take to do it, yet still not that perfect, but
good enough for me.
The experience, better tools and also better tint film makes a huge difference.

 

[Mick..]

Even if you had a perfect colour match or even had a car resprayed the week before and then wanted to repaint a panel with the same paint and spray gun the following week it would look different. This is why all good panel shops will edge out all new panels and fit them up to the car before there painted and then blend all panels around them.

When spraying metalics as mentioned above the colour can change heaps from a number of factors. EG I can get the same tin of paint and use a couple of different pressures and get different results, wetter or dryer coat changes the colour, different pattern coats change the colour, painting one panel flat and the other horizontal with give you 2 different colours.

The amount of clear applied also changes the colour eg when blending late model cars not only do you blend the base colour out but you have the blend out the clear a little as well so the last coat of clear is a bar minimum on the edge of the blended panel as the clear changes the colour too.

I know you don't want a perfect job but if you haven't painted the outside of a car before let alone blended a metallic then it could look far worst then it does now. It's totally your call though.

That video is for a spot repair on a bumper which is used to cover little imperfections when selling a car at a dealership. That is not how you would do the door on a car plus it's an easy colour to blend not a silver which are not that easy even for professionals.

 

[dom14]

Even if you had a perfect colour match or even had a car resprayed the week before and then wanted to repaint a panel with the same paint and spray gun the following week it would look different. This is why all good panel shops will edge out all new panels and fit them up to the car before there painted and then blend all panels around them.

When spraying metalics as mentioned above the colour can change heaps from a number of factors. EG I can get the same tin of paint and use a couple of different pressures and get different results, wetter or dryer coat changes the colour, different pattern coats change the colour, painting one panel flat and the other horizontal with give you 2 different colours.

The amount of clear applied also changes the colour eg when blending late model cars not only do you blend the base colour out but you have the blend out the clear a little as well so the last coat of clear is a bar minimum on the edge of the blended panel as the clear changes the colour too.

I know you don't want a perfect job but if you haven't painted the outside of a car before let alone blended a metallic then it could look far worst then it does now. It's totally your call though.

That video is for a spot repair on a bumper which is used to cover little imperfections when selling a car at a dealership. That is not how you would do the door on a car plus it's an easy colour to blend not a silver which are not that easy even for professionals.

Hi Mick,
Yes, I understand.
I can imagine silver should be difficult to blend.
I have vague childhood memories of my old man struggling to get the paint mixture right when he was doing backyard repair jobs. From memory, he opted to paint large areas of cars or the whole car.
He got very good at it in the end, and then gave all it up at once. :ranting::roll:
I think if time and resources are available, paint blending touch up repairs can be fun, as long as I don't ruin the repair.
I'm thinking, I can experiment in areas of the vehicle that wont be readily seen.
I'll start small and see how it goes.
I won't touch main visible panels, unless I can get it right.
Even though I know paint blending is a fun exercise for me, what I don't know is whether
it's worth the time, effort and money.
Half of the backyard jobs I attempt and even do well weren't financially rewarding, let alone the time. But, half of the time they were enjoyable exercises.
More like an exotic hobby.
I'm in no hurry to ruin the vehicle, so I reckon I'll take my time slowly.
Cheers mate.
Dom

 

[LordBug]

Definitely the best way to approach it. If you're really keen, you can see if a local TAFE is offering a night class on car painting. I did one last year, and whilst I learned a lot, I also learned how much more there is to it that couldn't be chucked into a 6x2hr course. Good experience that's for sure

 

[dom14]

Definitely the best way to approach it. If you're really keen, you can see if a local TAFE is offering a night class on car painting. I did one last year, and whilst I learned a lot, I also learned how much more there is to it that couldn't be chucked into a 6x2hr course. Good experience that's for sure

Good idea.
Only thing is that TAFE courses cost a fortune now since the great education revolution. :headwall:
I think volunteering at a smash repair shop might do the trick as well. :ahah:

With cut and polish, it look a bit better now.
scratches gota be touched up.
I thought I might locate a matching colour pen for the time being and touch up the scratches.
In the meantime, I will slowly educate myself how to successfully paint blend.

BTW, you need a Patrol.
Patrol completes you. Your misus is only there for other reasons like cooking your tea during travelling. ::rofl: :coffeeti:

 

[mixemotions]

In my idea it can be remove by buffing or color sanding and buffing. Worst case scenario would be painting the whole panel. Touch up pain won't clear it up it will just mess it big time.

 

[DirtBag]

meguiars do a product called ultimate restorer (I think it's called that) anyway has a photo of a yellow camaro or similar on the bottle. It really does work, best with an electric buffer ($35ish beans at repco etc). I've found that it's 50/50 on paint code matches unless you go genuine. So what I've done is find a place that uses computers and spectrometers to match paint, then remove your fuel cap door and clean the inside up nicely. The reason for this is that it's simple to remove, it's smaller than taking an entire panel in to colour match, and the inside of this door rarely sees sun so will be the closest thing to factory colour you can easily take in. As mentioned, the new paint will stick out like dog's balls, thats where the meguiar's product on the rest of the car comes in.
Bastard move though, hitting someone else's car and doing a runner. They must've been scared, as everyone knows patrol drivers are tough as. Good luck bloke.

 

[dom14]

meguiars do a product called ultimate restorer (I think it's called that) anyway has a photo of a yellow camaro or similar on the bottle. It really does work, best with an electric buffer ($35ish beans at repco etc). I've found that it's 50/50 on paint code matches unless you go genuine. So what I've done is find a place that uses computers and spectrometers to match paint, then remove your fuel cap door and clean the inside up nicely. The reason for this is that it's simple to remove, it's smaller than taking an entire panel in to colour match, and the inside of this door rarely sees sun so will be the closest thing to factory colour you can easily take in. As mentioned, the new paint will stick out like dog's balls, thats where the meguiar's product on the rest of the car comes in.
Bastard move though, hitting someone else's car and doing a runner. They must've been scared, as everyone knows patrol drivers are tough as. Good luck bloke.

It's quite common to happen in supermarkets. Late hour hits don't get noticed by anybody. And sometime you won't notice it for days, if not weeks. So, no idea when or how it happened.
I'm pretty sure the bastard wasn't scared of me or the car.
Cheers mate. :cheers:

 

[nigel3780]

Where are you?, I could get that sorted for a good bottle of scotch, if you are close to Canberra.

 

[dom14]

Where are you?, I could get that sorted for a good bottle of scotch, if you are close to Canberra.

That would've been a great deal mate. Unfortunately for me in this case, I'm in Melbourne.
Thanx very much for the offer though.
Cheers.
Dom