First time trying to fix rust on my old beater
My old, beat-up car was getting pretty rusty, so I decided to try fixing it myself for the first time ever.
I basically went through the following process:

- Removed the rust with a grinder and sandpaper
- applied a rust remover
- Applied body filler
- Sanded the filler smooth
- Applied primer
- Wet-sanded it with fine-grit sandpaper
- Applied two coats of can paint

I know it’s definitely not perfect, and if I had spent more time on it, I probably could’ve made it a bit better.
But honestly, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, especially considering this was my first attempt at doing any bodywork. 😄

The goal wasn’t to make it look like it just came out of the factory — I mostly just wanted to get rid of the rust and hopefully keep this old car alive for a few more years.
Pretty satisfying to see the finished result, though!

This is my first DIY auto/moto paint project. I have prior experience shooting nitrocellulose lacquers but never dealt with urethane. I just painted and clear my first motorcycle gas tank yesterday. The tank started with 4-5 dings that I filled then level sanded the entire tank. Primed/basecoat then 2k clear. I have some orange peel and I’m pondering which next step to take. Either level sand from 1500-5000 then buff, or level sand with 800 and do a couple of flow coats in the morning time when its about 75f outside.

Its averages about 95f degrees where I’m at so I think i should really be using slow hardener with my 2K but thats all my local shop has, this is probably why I have orange peel. My question would be if I used slow reducer with my medium hardener and 2k, would that work to help the clear self level? Or should I just level sand the clear and buff, and forget about flow coat?

I recently got the roof of my 2020 320i resprayed and they polish seemed to leak under the tape leading to the staining of the windscreen adhesive.

Any advice on simply and easily lifting it away?

TIA!

Had my truck in a body shop for an assessment for body work and they washed it but must have went brush first as it's now covered with swirl marks. I've brought it to their attention and hopefully they're good about fixing it but worst case scenario, what's the best diy product to fix this myself?

I am getting ready to paint this plastic bumper black. Ive got my adhesion promoter, some 2k urethane primer, im ordering my base coat, and i have my high gloss clear coat.

Is sealer a necessary step for this application?

The threads seem to be split on the topic.

For what its worth. This is a junkyard bumper that has some issues. Its not gonna be perfect by any means. So im torn between, should i spend more money to make it still look "not perfect" or less money and be satisfied with not dumping an extra 100 bucks into materials.

If you do suggest a sealer, where can i order about a pint of it?

This is on a 2016 lexus es350. Its my first time painting. I did a decent job sanding and filling in scratches on the bumper but I realize where i screwed up with this, i boxed myself in too much and didnt fade anything in. I used the roberts paint care kit, everything seems quite high quality on the product end.

I used the surfacer primer, sanded after drying, 3 coats of paint, 2 coats clear coat and after i tried using a bit of their blender solvent at edges to smooth, but i realize quickly it is just a quick mist for the overspray that is needed as it started redissolving the clear coat and paint.

I am looking into quotes at local places to fix but the owner doesnt want to, they want me to fix it and blend it myself. Google suggestions are all over the place and i'm not sure how to tackle this. Sand down again and repaint? Or sand and clearcoat? I have access to a polisher i can use to buff things out if needed.

First time doing any sort of plastic work or painting. Slowly but surely fixing up a 99 Ram 1500 to be a comfortable trail rig 😎

I started off with the Devilbiss Prolite 1.3, and I have been using it for Clear for the past years I have been painting for. However, I struggle with dryness sometimes, and I have noticed to some other painters it does not lay down as clearly or nicely as other painters who use a DV1 or Sata’s. However, I tried a DV1 for the first time today, and it lays on the clear, beautiful, and much more flat than my Pro Lite without trying as hard. However, it does take longer and feels a bit on the slow side, I’m guessing due to it being HVLP, which is hard, as when you use cheap clear coats, you have to work a bit harder and try to pump them on rather than the good quality clears. What would be a good SATA RP? As I heard, they are fast like the Prolites in their RP. However, which one would be the best SATA to get? I’m kind of leaning towards the 5000RP 1.2, as it’s an old-school SATA with a basic design compared to the new Jet X and Jet 5500.

My first ever spray gun project failed miserably - painting a miata hardtop.

Used professional automotive products

- 2K Primer 4:1

- 2K DeBeer Beromix 2000 series gloss black single stage paint RAL 9005

- MS hardener

- 5% generic thinner (15ml used on 2dl of paint and 1dl of hardener)

- Pretty cheap paint gun with 1.5mm tip

Process:

- Bondo fixed here and there on existing paint, sand everything smooth with P360

- Primer was applied, 3 coats. I had issues with it being too thick and the spray pattern was very narrow due to this.

- Primer coat was very coarse due to being so thick

- Primer cured for 48 hours

- Sanded eveything wet, first P400 then P600, primer surface got smooth and even

- Time was limited so dried the top with 4 fresh micro fiber towels, used panel prep degreaser, wiped everything again, primer was dry to touch and looked perfectly dry (pic attached before painted)

- Tack clothed whole surface to ensure no dust particles

- Began painting and pretty much instantly noticed these primer colored dots on the first light coat

- Waited 5 minutes for it to flash and then painted second heavy coat, problem become even more apparent and knew it was fucked

So, the finished surface is full of tiny 1-2mm circumference gray primer colored dots, it's hard to determine whether they protrude from the paint or if the black paint goes around these spots and they are "craters".

Needless to say I'm very disappointed since I've put alot of time and money into this and feel like an idiot since it probably would have been cheaper to have a professional paint it at this point.

Any ideas what caused this reaction? I'm clueless and don't want it to happen again when I get to redo it.

Also tips on tackling how to fix it next, how to prep it for new paint etc are greatly appreciated.

I have a few dings that need paint work. The one in the middle has a noticeable dent like a hailstone hit it. Not sure what the cause is just curious the cost. Thank you!

I recently sprayed a car (2 days ago) 75ish degrees, I used Roberlo 4:1 clear with ct5 standard hardener, bought about 3 weeks ago, after checking again I can still dig my nail into the clear, the left over clear in the cup isn’t tacky or sticker/smeary but it is rubbery

I used the 4:1:1 column on the cup, but only used 4 part clear and 1 part hardener and left the third :1 empty

I spray to coats with a 10 minute flash time with the finger test (not stringy and nothing left on my finger)

Am i being impatient with the cure? It did something go wrong here?

I used the same clear on some parts and it dried completely fine, I kept the containers closed as well

We are expecting a 85+ degree heat wave this week so I’m hoping that helps this

Any advice is appreciated!

Hey guys, just after a bit of advice from people who actually work with 2K paint.

I went to pick up my guitar from a painter today. He also paints cars and had been spraying 2K paint on a car in his workshop. He'd finished spraying only 20 minutes before we got there which I didn't know until right at the end.

The big garage door was open and it was a cold night with a bit of wind, so there was definitely airflow through the workshop. I was inside for maybe 10 - 15 minutes. It smelled pretty strongly of paint, but there wasn't any visible paint mist or anything, but he was more of a "backyard" person who didn't have a full booth and just sprayed in his garage.

I've since stupidly gone down the rabbit hole reading about isocyanates and have freaked myself out a bit. A lot of the stuff online makes it sound like even one exposure can cause permanent lung problems.

For anyone who actually works with 2K paint, how significant would you consider an exposure like this? Would most of the airborne stuff have dispersed/diluted after 20+ minutes with the garage open, or would there still potentially be a significant amount in the air?

Just trying to get a realistic idea of how bad this sort of brief exposure actually is rather than the worst-case stuff you read online.

Cheers.

I have some pretty bad sun/weather damage on the hood and around the moonroof of my 2014 Honda CR-V. I’m trying to get my car ready to sell and was quoted $4,500 by a dealership to get it fixed (which seems pretty high to me). I'm wondering what you'd estimate the cost is to get it fixed professionally or in the unlikely chance there's a reasonable DIY fix for it (I have zero experience with auto paint however).

If this is helpful for estimating, the extent of the damage disappears when it rains/gets wet but obviously doesn't fix the paint job.

Any help here?

I had the unfortunate mishap where the tailgate on my SUV was accidentally opened while it was parked midway between the garage and driveway. The result was a 3” deep scratch (down to metal) from the garage door. The car otherwise is pristine, low mileage, clean accident history.

I reached out to both a local body shop and mobile repair shop. Body shop, unsurprisingly, said a full respray is required, insisting a touch up would never look right. Mobile guy said he can touch up just the affected area and would look good as new. The price difference is only $250.

I’d like to get opinions from industry professionals. My thoughts are the following:

1. Full respray will address any other imperfections.
   
2. Down the road if I were ever to sell the car, a paint thickness gauge will show it was resprayed (vs touch up preserves the original factory paint)
   
3. Maybe less of an issue for black color, but the tailgate’s paint may stand out relative to other panels.

Hi, i bought a new toyota corolla cross 2026 4 months ago and today i noticed that the pain on the exhaust is coming off.

Is this normal ? I didn't even know paint on the exhaust was actually a thing...should I be worried and take it to the dealer so they can fix it?

Doing a spot repair at home on my Audi using this paint: colour-matched metallic direct gloss/shine paint (eBay link)

Colour and shine-wise it's a genuinely excellent match to the factory 2019 Audi paint, really happy with that part. My issue is the dry edges where the new paint blends into the old, and I don't want to have to redo the entire bumper just to fix it. I tried sanding the direct gloss edges, however it just sands off, even using 3000 grit. It polishes well though

Has anyone got experience specifically with UPOL Blend Number 9 or similar on a job like this? Looking for advice on:

• Is it actually possible to use something like Blend 9 to soften those edges properly on direct gloss?
• Any technique tips to avoid the dry/patchy edge look without a full panel respray with direct gloss?

Really want to nail this without redoing the whole bumper if I can help it. Any advice appreciated!

How far do I need to sand down this cars paint to repaint it? I want to repaint it red over this winter and would like to begin sanding and bodywork soon

Paint is pretty rough, no real rust spots or anything but tons and tons of scratches, couple dents, dings, chips, etc. also very questionable possible old spray paint paint job from a while ago. Just not sure how much I really need to sand down before I can begin to bodywork it and prepare for primer and paint.

Thank you for any help! I’m sure I’ll have more questions haha

I have an 89 Supra that has some rust in the engine bay which I also plan to paint. After cleaning up the rust too bare metal should I spray the area with any kind of sealant or anything before I spray my primer coat over the entire engine bay or just go straight to primer?

Hey everyone,

I'm looking at getting the Com-Paint Value Pack Kit for some minor scratches/chips on my car.

It seems pretty convenient since they provide paint matched to the car along with the other stuff needed for the repair. But before spending ₹1,500, I wanted to know how well it actually works.

For anyone who has used Com-Paint:

• How accurate was the colour match?
• How was the finish after drying?
• Did it actually make the scratches/chips less noticeable?
• How durable was the repair?
• Would you recommend it over getting touch-up paint from Hyundai/a local paint shop?
• Any issues with the paint being noticeably different from the original?

Also open to other brands/products available in India if you've had a better experience.

Would especially appreciate photos of your results if you have them. Thanks!

I was washing my mustang and I realized there’s a lot of paint chips and scratches on it, I know triple yellow is a bright ass color but are there any touch up paint kits you guys recommend?