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Some DIY bodywork/ paintwork with the help of a friend...

21K views 255 replies 50 participants last post by  Kingsize 
#1 ·
I had originally planned to get the front end resprayed in a few years but when I traded the carbon hood for the 05 hood the repaint became a priority.

The 05 hood was a fresh respray but it was crap. The paint didn't match and the prep was very poor. Some of the paint actually pulled off when we taped up to paint the underside. There were several chips that were painted over and some waves. There was even some dirt in the paint. Upon sanding I found that they had actually put bondo over the factory clearcoat to fill in 2 deep rock dents.

The front bumper had some stress cracks in the paint from when I smacked a deer last october. The bumper had previously been repainted in 2006 so I had 2 layers of paint to sand through.

A good friend of mine had went to school for bodywork and worked at a body shop for a few years. We decided to tackle this in his garage. We went to a paint shop and started spending money. We had them give us a sample of the oem paint code, the variant of the oem paint code, and also use their gun to scan the paint and give us that sample. Out of all three the oem variant is the closest match so we went with it.

The teardown. The sideskirts, fenders, fender liners, hood, bumper, and trunk are all removed. Everything but the sideskirts will be getting some work.







The hood.

I started sanding on this with a DA. The whole hood had aftermarket clear, aftermarket basecoat, aftermarket primer, factory clear, factory basecoat, factory primer to get through so it took some time. The whole front of the hood had a nice layer of bondo on it OVER the factory clear. Crap prepwork by the other bodyshop.

Halfway done.



Notice the tan dot in on the left side of this photo above the scoop...that was a rock dent filled with bondo.



With the bondo removed this is what it looked like...unacceptable. The fact that they put bondo over the factory clear blew our mine. The front portion of the hood right above the latch was also dented down a tad. All we could tell is that someone pushed down in that area to shut the hood... repeatedly.



For this area the metal needed to be pulled back out. Here is the same area after the metal was pulled out.



Not perfect...but much better. Now there will not be a 1/4" deep crater filled with bondo.

Another shot.



Since the hood was going to have some bondo anyway I made another decision...

Notice anything here?



Maybe this will help...

 
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#3 ·
Ok if you don't have it by now this will give it away.



The deeper areas get some fiberglass filler then everything covered in a light layer of filler.





Still have some more work to do on the hood. Lots more bondo sanding. We are getting this hood as smooth as possible all over. Maybe even perfection...?

That is where we are at with the hood.

Onto the trunk. I decided to go ahead and fill the spoiler holes and eliminate the plugs I have been driving around with since 2005. All the paintwork on the hood has been wetsanded with 600 grit then the area around the holes taken to bare metal.



Then the smaller holes welded up, and a slug welded in the larger hole.





This stuff didn't warp at all.

A light layer of filler.



That's where the trunk stands.

The bumper is being stripped to bare plastic because of the 2 layers of paint. DA to the rescue.



A little more progress has been made on the bumper but I do not have pictures.

The grills have been taken apart and sanded by hand.



One fender has been wetsanded with 600 grit all over. The other fender still needs to be done.

 
#4 · (Edited)
The top edges of the fender to about the body line along with the front edge where it is contact with the bumper. Nothing that touches the door will be resprayed. Just trying to blend the paint into the old.

After wetsanding on the trunk and seeing how thick the factory clear is we have decided that we will most likely wetsand the whole car to a slick mirror like finish. Just something to push it over the top.

So far the total bill for this is over $1300. Paint and clear are expensive. Have also bought a gun and material to make a makeshift booth. Also decided to pull the plug on one of these.



Didn't think the porter cable was going to cut it for what we were doing.

For the booth we have decided to make a 10' x 14' foot room out of plastic sheeting. Going to cover the floor and the ceiling and put lights inside the booth. We are going to have a fan with a filter on the back blowing into the room and another fan sucking out. It will be the best we can do but should keep things clean enough to get a good finish. We plan to finish up bodywork tonight and get it in primer/ sealer tomorrow. Then let that stuff bake in the sun and put the color on saturday.
 
#14 ·
It will be redone after the car is wetsanded.

Wow that is a lot of work.
F yes it is.

Looks good so far. Big job to tackle.
F yes its huge and scary.

Its going to look great.
What a shit load of work though. brah.
Too much work. Need to hire some penmac people to help.

I need to do this to my bumper hood and fenders too.. My bumper paint is spider cracked thanks to some idiot in a parking lot (hit and run)
Yes those cracks do suck. They go through all the layers of paint too.

Looks like a lot of work but sure looks good so far
I would like to say the worst is behind us...but I do not think it is.

Putting platic on the floor gets to be a huge mess. Ask me how I know :( Paint collects on the plastic then you step inthe paint and the plastic sticks to your shoes. FTL

your better off wetting the floor down with water it has worked better for me in the past. just my 2 cents.

Lota work there though good luck

Good advice...that makes sense. We will probably just wet down the floor then. Any other tips?
 
#11 ·
I need to do this to my bumper hood and fenders too.. My bumper paint is spider cracked thanks to some idiot in a parking lot (hit and run)
 
#13 ·
Putting platic on the floor gets to be a huge mess. Ask me how I know :( Paint collects on the plastic then you step inthe paint and the plastic sticks to your shoes. FTL

your better off wetting the floor down with water it has worked better for me in the past. just my 2 cents.

Lota work there though good luck
 
#15 ·
a local painter that does amazing work out of his garage just puts plastic up around the garage, wets the floor and sprays. The fans will disturb the air to much and your going to create more work for yourself having to sand down imperfections in the paint layers because of airborne contaminates. An exhaust fan would be fine but I would advise against the intake fan.
 
#18 ·
I was going to say the same thing but I wasn't sure of the filter he was going to use. I've never used a fan just cracked the door to let ventalation in. Don't want to hot box the Garage. You really don't want to have a huge about of air flow just don't want to die from the fumes. hahaha
 
#16 ·
This came at the most perfect time. I am about to paint a new fender I have and redo my front end from some idiot who hit me.

Awesome work man! Excited to see the painting pictures
 
#20 ·
Oh and paint the panels as they will be sitting on the car. I'm asuming your going to hang the pieces with some wire or saw horse or something.

What I'm saying is don't paint the hood standing up paint it flat becuase if you paint it stanign up the mettalic will dry differnt and the panels will not match if you paint with them in the orientation they will be on the car they will match better.

Be sure to place the panels in such a way that wne you paint the 1st piece you will not be blasting the 2nd piece with overspray. You need to set up the parts in order that you want to paint.
 
#23 ·
As far as the "booth" goes, it is better to have the fans sucking air from the booth with a filter in front of them, and have 3-4 filter panels on the oposite side of the booth allowing air in. Having a fan blowing air in is not optimal and can mess up with the flow of paint especially if you use a HVLP gun.
 
#27 ·
Well the bumper is almost done. All the places the DA will reach have been sanded. I have also hand sanded around the aarowhead spot and inside one of the grills. I probably have 2 more hours of hand sanding then the bumper will be ready. I did not wipe the bumper off for these pictures that is why it looks blotchy.







My friend is almost done with the hood. Not a ripple or wave or low spot to be felt.











It looks like a lot of filler but it is all SUPER thin.

The trunk still hasnt gotten much love.



We still have to wetsand the other fender, the back portion of the trunk. DA the fenders where the rock chips are. Finish the filler work on the trunk. Finish the hood and the bumper. The plan is still to get in primer today and paint tomorrow.
 
#28 ·
So when are you doing my car , again? I forgot
 
#34 ·
Day after tomorrow.

Holy shit.
I'm still tired from your detail job.


Use fans to blow air out of any booth you make, and buy several good home HVAC filters for both ends.

Good luck, and I'm sure it will come out better than new.



And did anyone mention the shaved washer nozzles?
We will try a few different things with the fans. Shaved washer nozzles FTW

Coming along nicely..
Thanks guy
 
#29 ·
Holy shit.
I'm still tired from your detail job.


Use fans to blow air out of any booth you make, and buy several good home HVAC filters for both ends.

Good luck, and I'm sure it will come out better than new.



And did anyone mention the shaved washer nozzles?
 
#31 ·
Be prepared to have to color sand the living hell out of the clear once it's painted. When we sprayed mine in the garage. I had to color sand a majority of the vehicle. you look to be taking your time. It should turn out great.
 
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