Painting a Miata

[Loren]

Paint is done, car is back home in bed.

More photos in the Album, but here's a quick look:

[jev61]

Outstanding!

[Loren]

It's beginning to look a lot like a Miata!



Got the back end all back together today. Windows are in. Door hardware and handles back together.

Couldn't resist doing a quick wet-sand and polish of part of a fender just to see how the dust-contaminated paint was going to come out. Pretty pleased with the results. Here's a before & after:





Also, since it's a 20-year-old car, I decided to replace ALL of the exterior light bulbs while everything was apart. Meant to order the bulbs online and maybe save a few bucks, but forgot to do it. Bought them all at Advanced. Standard "Long Life" bulbs all around, but brighter LED bulbs for the brake lights. Spent $100 on light bulbs! But, hopefully, I won't be plagued by failing bulbs over the next 3 years.

[CaptainSquirts]

That orange peel removal looks good! What grit did you use to wet sand?

[Loren]

I meant to include that info.

1200 and then rubbing compound.

Some sanding marks are still visible. But, I didn't spend a lot of time on it. When we break out the orbital buffer, that should make quick work if it.

[Loren]

Okay, so... there are flaws. The paint booth was imperfect. The weather was imperfect. Chris hasn't painted in 10 years, and was painting with unfamiliar equipment in an unfamiliar environment in very different weather from what he's painted in before... so, he was imperfect. And I'm an idiot and already created some additional blemishes! So, yeah. There are flaws.

I might take photos of some of them if I remember, but here's a rundown from the most significant to the least:

- Front bumper... that sucker tried to run away! It's bad. I played with sanding out one of the smaller runs to see what it would do. I got it flat and smooth, and brought the gloss back... but, there's still an obvious color difference where the drip was. The front bumper needs to be resprayed. No way around it. It's possible we could just paint the top half of it. That's where the runs are. (it was on a rack with the nose up... so, paint ran toward the rear of the car off of the upper front edge)
- Hard top has a fairly minor run right behind the driver's window. I smoothed it out, too. And it's not so bad that I couldn't live with it. But, if we're going to do any spot touch-ups, might as well hit that, too.
- Driver's door We wanted to get the windows in today, and before fitting the door waist seals, I wanted to do a light polish under them so that we don't have to worry about polishing right up to the edge of them later. Seemed like a good idea at the time. But, I swear it took all of 20 seconds to sand right through the paint on the top edge of that door! I'd just done some sanding on a fender, and sanded it A LOT trying to get the paint down to the level of a little divot in the paint. I mean A LOT. I expected the same amount of paint on the door... but, the combination of a hard edge, and maybe a little less paint... well, let's just say I hit primer really quick. It's gonna have to be touched up.
Rear bumper... there's a single run on the rear bumper. I'd be totally cool with just smoothing it out and calling it good. But, if we're doing spot touch-up... might as well hit it.
Passenger Door... I don't know where or how this happened, but the bottom of the door got scraped into something. Could have been a toolbox in my garage, though I don't remember opening that door in the garage. It's nasty, though. Goes all the way to bare metal. It's one that could be fixed with some touch-up paint, it's down in a less-visible area. But, again, if we're spot-painting...
Inside of trunk lid... it's blue. I was going to just paint it black if it bugged me. But, if we're breaking out the paint gun... maybe go ahead and prep and paint that. With that, the only visible part of the car that won't be green will be under the hood.

I think that's all. And I'll let Chris make the decisions on what to fix and how to fix it.

I did just order a cheap (but, the reviews say it's good) paint gun with a 1.3mm tip, and an oil/water separator. Should work well with my little compressor for the small work we have to do. We'll do it right in the driveway. I've seen the power of wet-sanding, so if results are at least close to on-par with the dusty paint booth, it'll come out fine.

[twistedwankel]

Considering the amount of work you did on this car it looks really good. ALL that you have described are why I will never paint a car again unless it's with rattle cans flat black or with some of that power wash off crap.

Hopefully you have a gravity feed spray gun. I had to use an old siphon design that came with my small compressor and after having a hell of a time painting horizontal surfaces I found (from the factory) the pickup was installed backwards. Arrrrg. Every time I pointed it down when 1/2 empty or less it sucked air. Top was a PIA due to that. Everything else I hung vertical. I hosed down my garage floor before painting, put a fan in the window to exhaust overspray with the door up just enough to allow air flow. I drilled a small hole in the brass outlet of the compressor fitting to allow water to blow out and minimize the air pressure. Worked very well actually. The prep work and the sanding and buffing are a crazy amount of work. I stuck with the factory color to avoid all your extra issues. You are brave.

Good project. You did mention you bought 25 sheets of 1200 grit btw in a previous comment. Buffing compounds are the salvation for a first time paint job. I have really enjoyed having nothing to do with this project

[blacksheep-1]

this really looks outstanding, let the paint "dry" as long as possible before you go back over it, block out the runs, then shoot it again using a method that will pally the paint a bit "dryer" that way it won't wake up the prior run and you won't be able to see it through the new top coat. Unbelievably, it really takes months for the paint to actually dry , it seems dry, but it really isn't, that "run" will stay wet for awhile. it just takes patience..of which, I have none.

[Loren]

Today, I learned that I actually enjoy the process of wet sanding and polishing. Kinda fun to bring it to the next level. Yes, it does take some time and effort! And I'm glad someone experienced was running the power buffer.

[Loren]

Couple photos showing today's progress:

Wet-sanded most of the car. Didn't do the hard top or the bumpers (front bumper needs repaint, might not bother with the rear bumper). Need to do some more sanding on the hood. Chris went over both sides of the car with Ken's power buffer. I hand-polished the side mirrors. I think both of those tasks took about the same amount of time.



Here's the artistic shot of the day. This is just after buffing with rubbing compound. We've got another round of finish polishing to do, and then wax. The car's gonna look amazing. Not perfect (that was never the goal), but really, really nice!

[Jamie]

CWe've got another round of finish polishing to do, and then wax.

I thought new paint had to wait a couple of months before waxing, to let the solvents evaporate completely.

Very shiny -- it'll be a shame to put cone marks on it, so drive wide around them.

[Loren]

I should read the tech info on the paint and see what it says about that.

The paint definitely stunk up my garage a bunch for the first couple weeks. Seems to have settled down now.

If the last time I autocrossed this car was any indication, if I try to drive wide, I *might* actually end up in about the right place.

[Native]

Ya gotta love it when a plan comes together. Looks great!

[Loren]

The power of wet-sanding. Started working on the hard top today.

This was the worst of it:


A few quick thoughtless passes got it here:


And a bunch of work on the problem areas and a finish pass got it to here:


Ready for a polish!

[Loren]

Today, we got the front bumper and a few other problem areas resprayed. Should be the last of the painting!

Amazingly, we got better results in the driveway with a $40 paint gun than in the paint booth!



While I had some paint mixed up, I wanted to try filling some of the pits in the paint. These are really hard to sand out without risking exposing primer. If they'll fill, sand and polish and be nearly invisible, there are a bunch more of them I could consider filling.

[blacksheep-1]

Today, I learned that I actually enjoy the process of wet sanding and polishing. Kinda fun to bring it to the next level. Yes, it does take some time and effort! And I'm glad someone experienced was running the power buffer.

Really??.. have you ever seen a Mustang paint job..up real close?

I do agree, there is something therapeutic about the mindless wet sanding that leads to a great paint job...

[Loren]

No photos to share (think "lots of smooth matte finish"), but I've been busy.

Saturday, I got the side mirrors installed (broke the glass in one of them ), door waist seals, door panels and other interior odds and ends. Basically, the interior is all back together. I still need to install the hard top brackets, but it's mostly done.

Today, I spent a few hours on the car. Installed a few missing lights. Replaced the broken side mirror glass. (thanks to Philip) Installed my license plate frame. And then spent several more hours wet sanding. I got all of the resprayed areas done, and blended nicely. All the tight detail areas around the edges of the hard top. The 4 or 5 "divot" fills that I touched up came out nice. (will do some more of them the next time I mix up some paint... maybe) Gave the hard top and the trunk lid a final pass.

All that's left, I think, Is to give the bumpers a once-over. I'm probably not going to do a full wet sand on them. Just the very top surfaces, and a light touch-up of any rough areas. Too many contours on the bumpers... too easy for me to screw them up!

Once that's done, it will be ready for buffing of the panels that haven't already been buffed, and then a final polish and wax!

[CaptainSquirts]

Cant wait to see the painters tape bumper and side skirts this weekend .

[Loren]

Cant wait to see the painters tape bumper and side skirts this weekend .

I'm not that guy.

[Van48]

What is a painters tape bumper?