- Jul 22, 2015
- 2,724
(I know @xavierny25 seems to be good with painting, and has used paint by AutomotiveTouchup, so hoping he'll weigh in, at a minimum...all responses welcome, since I'm a total newb at it)
Background:
- Sierra came with a dented tailgate.
- I decided to get a new one, and try and paint it
- Never painted auto body parts before; don't have a spray gun (although I do have air)
- Figure that even if a rattle can job turned out bad...it's a tailgate. Easy to take off / redo.
As it turns out, the color ('Arrival Blue Metallic') is only available from two vendors, and the one I mention above seemed to be preferred by those who used them. Ordered up 3 cans (@ $20 per). Waited 10 days for them to mix it, can it, and finally get it to me. And I paid for expedited shipping! Suffice to say, I wasn't too happy.
Now the part was supposedly 'primered' (let's call it 'pre-finished')... but someone on Amazon suggested primering it before putting basecoat on. So I went and got some Rustoleum primer, as well as 'X2' clear (ppl didn't seem to like the vendor's clear, and the Rustoleum X2 clear was rated pretty good (although it's not real UV resistant). It ain't SprayMax 2K 'glamour', but for my purposes, on a 15yr old truck...good enough for now.
Along with that, I picked up 600 grit 'waterproof' sandpaper, along with one of those 'can triggers' (fyi - didn't use it for the 1st two coats of primer or basecoat), and a Scotch 'ultra fine' pad to scuff up the surface, pre-primer.
Got the primer on, front / back. Since I was going to also put on some of the Rustoleum 'bedliner' on the inside of the tailgate, I only wet sanded the 'outside' of the tailgate. I thought it came out pretty good, and I knew I didn't sand off all of the primer. But I did have some visible 'lines' (not raised; I felt them)
I let that cure for a couple of days, and then broke out the basecoat. Followed their application instructions, and I did the 'inside' of the tailgate first (the side I didn't care about too much). Used an entire can on that side, and since I didn't care so much about that side, I saved 2 cans for the 'outer' side of the tailgate. Let that dry for a day before doing the 'out' side. For this side, I stood up the tailgate so that the long end was vertical, figuring that would be the best approach.
1st couple of coats, I used the 'short stroke' side to side method, and I did overlap my strokes. I let that sit overnight.
Today, I came back and decided to use the can trigger, as the 'short strokes' didn't seem to be getting good coverage. While the primering wasn't perfect, it seemed to give a little more 'even' coverage.
I'll note that the can nozzles for the basecoat have a pretty narrow dispersion angle / width (but so do the Rustoleum nozzles).
For the last can of the basecoat, I pretty much did a continuous spray, rather than short stroking it (no jokes, please!) And I'll admit - I did try vertical as well as horizontal strokes.
This was two FULL 12oz cans. Where did I go wrong? And how many more cans will I need to get something of an even coat on this? (note that I've not sprayed the clear on this yet - why would I ?)
When evaluating, don't worry about the color tint...the lighting is dark. I'm concerned with the uneven coverage.
If I spend another $40-60 on paint, I'll have $100-120 in spray paint on this. With no guarantee that it'll look any better than this, tbh.
While my body shop charges handsomely, they do fantastic work. Starting to think I should've just taken it to them, for the time / work / aggravation I went through for this result.
Background:
- Sierra came with a dented tailgate.
- I decided to get a new one, and try and paint it
- Never painted auto body parts before; don't have a spray gun (although I do have air)
- Figure that even if a rattle can job turned out bad...it's a tailgate. Easy to take off / redo.
As it turns out, the color ('Arrival Blue Metallic') is only available from two vendors, and the one I mention above seemed to be preferred by those who used them. Ordered up 3 cans (@ $20 per). Waited 10 days for them to mix it, can it, and finally get it to me. And I paid for expedited shipping! Suffice to say, I wasn't too happy.
Now the part was supposedly 'primered' (let's call it 'pre-finished')... but someone on Amazon suggested primering it before putting basecoat on. So I went and got some Rustoleum primer, as well as 'X2' clear (ppl didn't seem to like the vendor's clear, and the Rustoleum X2 clear was rated pretty good (although it's not real UV resistant). It ain't SprayMax 2K 'glamour', but for my purposes, on a 15yr old truck...good enough for now.
Along with that, I picked up 600 grit 'waterproof' sandpaper, along with one of those 'can triggers' (fyi - didn't use it for the 1st two coats of primer or basecoat), and a Scotch 'ultra fine' pad to scuff up the surface, pre-primer.
Got the primer on, front / back. Since I was going to also put on some of the Rustoleum 'bedliner' on the inside of the tailgate, I only wet sanded the 'outside' of the tailgate. I thought it came out pretty good, and I knew I didn't sand off all of the primer. But I did have some visible 'lines' (not raised; I felt them)
I let that cure for a couple of days, and then broke out the basecoat. Followed their application instructions, and I did the 'inside' of the tailgate first (the side I didn't care about too much). Used an entire can on that side, and since I didn't care so much about that side, I saved 2 cans for the 'outer' side of the tailgate. Let that dry for a day before doing the 'out' side. For this side, I stood up the tailgate so that the long end was vertical, figuring that would be the best approach.
1st couple of coats, I used the 'short stroke' side to side method, and I did overlap my strokes. I let that sit overnight.
Today, I came back and decided to use the can trigger, as the 'short strokes' didn't seem to be getting good coverage. While the primering wasn't perfect, it seemed to give a little more 'even' coverage.
I'll note that the can nozzles for the basecoat have a pretty narrow dispersion angle / width (but so do the Rustoleum nozzles).
For the last can of the basecoat, I pretty much did a continuous spray, rather than short stroking it (no jokes, please!) And I'll admit - I did try vertical as well as horizontal strokes.
This was two FULL 12oz cans. Where did I go wrong? And how many more cans will I need to get something of an even coat on this? (note that I've not sprayed the clear on this yet - why would I ?)
When evaluating, don't worry about the color tint...the lighting is dark. I'm concerned with the uneven coverage.
If I spend another $40-60 on paint, I'll have $100-120 in spray paint on this. With no guarantee that it'll look any better than this, tbh.
While my body shop charges handsomely, they do fantastic work. Starting to think I should've just taken it to them, for the time / work / aggravation I went through for this result.