Project: Don't mess with texas update

[themixer]

Good things are happening stay tuned:

[DTMAce]

Just a tip there fellas.....

You should mask or remove your trim, prior to sanding the hell out of the body. Have you ever done body work before? Those in the business would cringe right now, like I am.

However, if you never have done it before, props to being balzy enough to take it on. I hope it turns out ok, but you may have some issues with it being as smooth as you would want. Recommendation, remove the body strips, since you are going all the way to the metal. Its easy enough to get new tape for them. Highly recommended that you do that at least. In fact, the more stuff you can remove out of your way, the better it will look. Trick will be to get as much off the rough grit sanding smoothed, hit it with a good coat of primer, get it really smooth then you might have something. But leaving the strips with a layer of the white paint underneath them is going to be problematic. If they ever get removed someone will have to completely repaint those areas to make them look right. Be sure to pull your markers and other lights as well. Hopefully you didn't sand your trims all up bad either.

Good luck!

[3X00-Modified]

MOAR SHEETMETAL LESS PAINT!

[themixer]

I removed all the window trim that I could, except for the back side glass. window as i am not removing it, and it didnt have screws to remove. i have done a bit of bodywork never professionally and its all for fun! I am glad i don't do that everyday.

The car was sanded in 40 60 then 100. Then 1 liter of epoxy sealer primer to go on, and then 1 gallon of high build primer to fill all scratches, will be sanding of 400 then single stage OEM white color will be applied.

To be honest i have no idea what i am doing, it seems that everyone i talk to has a different way to do everything. i just all learned along the way. If it is all one color and it looks ok from 50ft away when its done. At least i can say i did it myself. Won't learn if you don't try.

[99GaGT3X00]

did you paint it with the door molding on or off.

[Chad91GTZ]

Beyond that your primer isn't going to fill a 100 grit scratch, you are doing things fine.

Maaco wouldn't have taken as much time. Whatever you end up with, its going to be better than what you had.... That's for sure lol.

[themixer]

no i am defiantly painting with the door trim on. I have never had a problem with that. I have used this primer before to fill in scratches from 80 grit paper i think its gonna be pretty semi ok.

[themixer]

well 6 coats of primer on the car, 3 of epoxy 3 high build cant see a single scratch from paper now its time for a final sand will hopefully have it painted sunday! wish me luck

[Chad91GTZ]

Well with 6 coats I guess not.

[themixer]

nothing but the best for the beretta!

[DTMAce]

*shakes his head

[SuzukiGhostRider]

Dizzam. You have more coats of primer and build on there than some guys put paint..... WOW!

[themixer]

A lot will be sanded off, again i am not a pro it may turn out terrible or it may turn out OK never will it turn out perfect i did follow the directions. DTMAce isn't it better that the car has paint job than rust to the scrap yard?

[DTMAce]

I agree. I repainted mine 2 years ago. But I didn't go through that much effort, as it didn't need it.

Admittedly I did not paint mine myself, but then I grew up with someone that was a professional painter. Sorry, but I have a unique viewpoint. lol And from that viewpoint, I can see that you are working harder than you need to.

The rust box of a base I bought last week is just that. A complete rust box. It wasn't worth fixing, though I hoped it was when I bought it. Rear shock towers are rotted, most of the lower front pillar/sill is rotted gone, engine was junk, interior is junk. Not much left to fix. It was going to serve better as a parts car then scrapped, unfortunately.

Props to taking it on yourself, especially without the skill or knowledge. While you did some things like sanding down the paint to the metal (which you really don't have to do) and yet didn't take the body moldings off (as those are really easy to put back). Things like that strike me as a common sense sort of thing. I understand not taking the trim off around some of the windows, that is something many of us have done, but not taping them up prior to sanding, means you will have sand damage now to your trim. Stuff like that again, is common sense. And just because a spot of the body feels smooth when you sand it, doesn't mean you will have a smooth finish. You will most likely have ripples and ridges show up in the final work, once it is done that you simply cannot see right now. Anyways.... Not trying to be harsh, just coming from experience of working with painting a long time.

I truly hope it turns out decent, I just see that there are things you are doing that is requiring you to work harder, not smarter.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[themixer]

Have you ever painted anything with the 90s GM flake syndrome? The paint lifts around all the flakes when you apply product regardless of the sanding. Its one of the most interesting and frustrating issues I have ever run into. I will take a look around for the pictures of it I know I have them somewhere. But I know this because I have done it. Painted the roof, rear quarter, grill, trunk lid, and spoiler on a fellow beretta.net members car, after screwing around for days we ended up stripping it high build primer and it turned out great. The only person that knew we needed to do this from the beginning was his father. He worked at a Chevrolet dealership for mostly all his life and actually saw the same process in the body shop. Would have been nice to know from the start. But whatever you learn from your mistakes. My entire car had this, so with $600 of materials I didn't take chances. I am looking for 85% good quality paint job, i want to drive the car, shes not gonna look like your z26 thats for sure. So yes in short I have put in effort thanks for noticing, i also hope it turns out great!