Morning All,

 

So I tried to tackle a few jobs at once which required the front bumper off. Some of the parking sensors false read when wet and some lacquer was starting to peel from inside the aperture for the lower honeycombe centre grill aperture and was starting to creep wider.

 

I have sprayed a few plastic bits and pieces before, but this was trickier and more work and a larger area.

 

I also made a few school boy errors by attempting to spray too far out from the damaged area where as if I had of kept it contained, it wouldn't really matter what the finish looked like as it was pretty disguised and very low down.  Anyway, will put it down to experience.

 

So, I rubbed down the area with grey scotch pad before starting, wet and dried some of the flaking bits to get it fairly smooth - I wasn't looking for a perfect finish as there are still stone chips etc.

 

I then sprayed several grey plastic primer coats.

 

Then several probably 3 or 4 base coats black magic.

 

Did not flatten the base coat as it is supposed to be perlescent.  

 

Then final lacquer coats about 3 thin coats.

 

There are a couple of faults, when I masked I ended up with hard lines on the spraying - I can live with that. But the finish didn't change that much with the lacquer.  It is still very matt looking and the most prominent areas on the bumper , beside the lower grille, feel quite rough following the lacquer. 

 

I'm wondering if this is recoverable or it is a start again?  It doesn't look like it's going to gloss up much to me?  The spray packs I had for a couple of years in the shed and hadn't been used. I did get them to outside temps before using and it was sprayed over 2 or 3 days.  I've now put it on the car to fully cure, before considering if it is possible to polish up?

 

Advice very much appreciated from those with some successful experience! Thanks

 

  

Give it a heavier coat of lacquer than you normally would, then wait a week for it to fully harden off. Then wet sand it and polish it with some cutting compound.

 

If you can put up with listening to Chris fix, he does a fairly good job with some spray paint in this recent video: 

 

Just the "Hey Guys!" was enough for me followed by a few other annoying utternances whilst I scrabbled for the pause button, looking at the timer on the video I managed to shut him up in 2 seconds which was 2 seconds too long.

 

So its safe to say I could not put up with Mr Fix which is a shame as otherwise I would happily have watched the video.

 

If anyone knows of other good videos without narcissistic presenters then please post them.

Edited 16 April, 20206 yr by J.R.

It's awful isn't it? Made worse by the fact that some of the content is actually quite informative for an enthusiastic DIY'er 😂

yeah, that just needs more clear coating. its actually quite thick on the original paint, and its the thickness gives the deep black reflection.

i had similar when i tried rattle can fixing the lacquer peel on my old mk1, also black magic (its the fastest colour you know) right up on the wings beside the indicators.

after an extra few coats it looked better. far from right, but better

 

Thanks all. Yes, the guy in that vid is well north american through and through right down to the stars and stripes undewear but I can persevere and skip to the bits I need.  I will also try to apply some more lacquer coats maybe from a new can.

 

Thanks