Well, sun's out so thought it was perfect weather for some colour coding.

First job. Remove the cover off the front door. Easy with a flat screwdriver. Second job, remove all the gunk! Jesus, that took some time! :( Anyway, the handle is now roughed up a fair bit, has had three coats of plastic primer, and this is it's first coat of silver. I suspect one more will be needed at least before lacquer.

I got scared trying to remove the handles so have opted for the blu-tack'd A4 sheets of paper technique to mask off where I don't want painting. Whilst I was there I decided to give the LPG filler cap the same treatment although I am leaving the surround black to give a little contrast.

Once I see the results on this door handle, I will attack the others. Here's stage 1 picture. PS I also used blu-tack to mask off the door barrel. It proved very useful for getting in exactly the right spot.

hmmm you probably should have masked off the rest of the car a bit more tbh

hmmm you probably should have masked off the rest of the car a bit more tbh

Nah, it's blowing a fair breeze down here, and anything not going on the target is just being blown away toward the house (where pic taken from) You can tell this because what's missing the target is fairly local on the paper. I'm too careful to risk overspray.

Makes you wonder what else is held on the car with blu-tak :eek:

Well, all that springs to mind is I use a bit on my satnav (for sale ) mount to stop the unit rattling. Now, if you move on to cable ties, there's much more that's held together with those.

Edit: Have been out to inspect, and was NOT happy with the finish. I could see marks through the paint, so can only assume my prep was too half-ar5ed. So, I cut back all the paint again, and the layers of primer, and sanded down the whole thing with some fine sandpaper (think it might be wet and dry) Once I was happy with the smooth (but keyed in) surface, I started with another layer of primer, and will be heading out "dreckly" (Devon speak ) to apply another layer.

hope you put some tough clearcoat laquer over top, othewise tell all lady passengers to take off their rings, or play the perfect gentleman and open the door for them!!

Cheers

Bas

hope you put some tough clearcoat laquer over top, othewise tell all lady passengers to take off their rings, or play the perfect gentleman and open the door for them!!

Cheers

Bas

My paint from Skoda came with a lacquer, so yes - at least two layers I should think. I was also told apparently you can use wet & dry ON THE LACQUER to bring up a good finish? Is this right?! :eek: :confused:

Stage 2 is underway now. The LPG filler has now been painted and given two coats of lacquer. Looks a lot better now (I hope you all agree) The front door handle is now boasting it's first layer of paint since the re-try, and it appears to be going on much better.

The back door handle had some awful stuff stuck to it that I pretty much had to chisel away, so it was very rough. Gave it some sanding down but I think it will take lots of primer and more smoothing off before I can think of painting it. With this kind of progress I think I'm going to have to do the other side's handles another day....

better be at least #1200 to make it really smooth I'd imagine....

better be at least #1200 to make it really smooth I'd imagine....

#1200 referring to the sandpaper grade? I will take a look at it later on.

If you can get hold of them Mirka make a pad called Abralon. It is foam backed and circular. They are normally used on an air sander but can be used by hand. The foam holds water and allow a really fine finish. I used to use them for repairing laquered finishes on furniture and think they go to 3000 grit. There are no rough folded edges with wet and dry to catch edges.

You can get them from most body shop supply places. I may have one I can post you if I can dig them out.

Rob

Well, there's been some more progress. I keep on applying primer coat to the back door, but it's looking more likely that I won't get a clean finish, in which case I shall be forced to paint it as best I can (i.e badly ) and let it all get done as and when I can get a full respray booked in.

Front door handle seems to be holding paint OK and the first layer of lacquer has been applied. Might go for two more then see about wetting this sandpaper I and using it. I think it might be too rough in which case I will leave eu-naturele.

Try and buy some high build primer for the rough handle (think its available in rattle cans), it'll save you applying lots of 'thin' primer coats. Easy to sand to.

Re: Wet and dry paper. Make sure you use it wet, the wetter the better. Also if its still to rough, wear it out a bit first by sanding wood, plastic, metal etc, but make sure its clean before using it on your car

Well I'm also in the process of painting today.

Repairing a scuff on one of my alloys. Looking good so far just need to laquer. will post pics up early next week.

Good luck with your painting

Well, time is running out on my back door handle, so I'm going to have to apply paint soon, and possibly apply about 4 layers to hide the roughness. No time to nip out and get any kind of filler/primer. Ultimately I may have to get new door handles, or recover the ones from the scrapper near me, then paint them.

:eek: Home Paint.

looks really good mate, what % tints on front and back?

Did you get rid of those nasty dark marks on the bottom of your doors and the one on the fuel flap :P

Lol!