Re: Touch-up paint strategy

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- Colin Talcroft <ctalcroft@domain.elided> wrote:
> 
> Now for the question. Assuming I am not going to
> paint the whole car, I'd like to touch up the chips.

> The new paint will be too bright. How do you blend 
> it back to simulate the 24 years of sun the car
> got? 

You can't.  Start from that assumption and your level
of satisfaction with the job will be much higher.

Now, what CAN you do?  I'd start by actually driving
the car (if possible) to the paint mixing place and
seeing if there's anything they can recommend.  It may
be that their color guru can say "oh yeah, we need to
reduce the Alizarin Crimson in your blend by 9%, and
up the Chrome Yellow by 4%, and then dull it all out
with Titanium White by about, oh, 7%."  Or better yet,
he may know that 1984 Toyota Corollas came in a color
called "Mud Daub" that exactly matches the look of
your Spider today.  Either way, get help from someone
who can look at the car AND who knows something about
paint.

When you set out to "match" the paint on an old car,
you really have two separate problems:

1 - matching, with modern color compounds and
technologies, the color of a car made two and a half
decades ago, using the color compounds and
technologies of another country and another time.

2 - matching, with off-the-shelf products (even if
blended), the color of a 24-year-old car that has
faded, oxidized, and scratched.

Do you see why they suggest it might be easier just to
paint the whole car?  It's really the only sure way of
getting the whole car the same color, and keep it from
looking even more like some form of camouflaged sea
creature than our Spiders are often said to.

As for technique: Use a very small brush.  Place a
drop of paint in the middle of the chip and let the
paint flow out to the edges.  Let it build up slightly
at the edges of the chip, where it meets the factory
paint.  Let dry fully for a couple of days, then
wet-sand it as follows:

1.  Start with an inconspicuous location till you
learn the technique.

2.  Add a small amount of dish soap (washing-up liquid
for the English-speaking countries among us) to a pail
of lukewarm water -- not enough to make it foam, just
enough to be a lubricant and detergent.

3.  Take 2000-grit sandpaper and wrap it around a
rubber sanding block (available at good auto shops, or
probably from the paint folks).  Make sure there are
no creases in the surface of the sandpaper.

4.  Dip the sanding block in the water/soap solution
and, while still wet, wipe very gently over the raised
edges of your paint repair.  (How gently?  Imagine you
are sanding your eyeballs.)

5.  Wipe with a dry towel and inspect.

6.  Repeat steps 4 and 5 till you're satisfied with
the results.  The goal: to flatten out the edges of
the new painted areas where your touch-up paint pooled
at the margins of the chip.  This will eliminate the
bumpiness that interrupts the highlights.  Note that
it's better to stop early than to stop too late --
which is why I suggest starting with an inconspicuous
area first, as you are likely to go one application
too far before you learn where to stop.

Wet-sanding is a LOT of fun, though it's best if you
start on something you don't care a lot about and are
willing to risk, like the fender of a race car that
you've just spray-canned in your garage and want to
drop some of the worst of the orange-peel.  Actually,
if you have an old barbecue or steel bookshelves or
something, they might be good to start on.  Just
remember it's easy to take more off, it's much harder
to put it back.

Best,

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
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