Blending Techniques

[mrsubaru]

well as the title states im looking for some advice on getting a decent blend. This weekend i took a dremel to my rear quarter panels trying to asses the rust blisters...not as good as i thought. The entire outter panel is rusted as the rust started on the inside and worked its way out. Ive worked it down to the point where the rust should be kept at bay for a few years. then smoothed out the area with filler.

Anyways ive applied about two coats of primer (last night), taped off about half the scratch area from sanding the bondo, will pull back the tape after i sand the primer down once or twice and apply a light layer to the scratch area. For the final coat(s) of matched paint what is a good technique to help blend in the freshly worked area. ive been reading a bit on this and there are fadeaway products to aid in the blending, these work ok? I will be applying clear as well, same technique?

thanks

[MARTINSR]

Post photos if you can. Basically, you prepair the entire panel with a fine scuff pad. You then paint over the primer and a little out past it and then clear the entire panel. This is the VERY short end of story. But you can spray a blending aid out like a clear base coat before you spray and blend the color and the blend will lay out better.

But if you are talking about an "open blend" where you don't clear over the entire panel, that is most always a looser and takes a bunch of experiance to pull off. I HIGHLY recommend to shoot the whole panel with clear unless you have a nice hard body line you can back tape or something like that.

Brian

[mrsubaru]

sounds like i will tape off a larger area, something like 6-8 inches away from the work area. i was thinking taping back about 6-8 inches after the 1st coat then paint a little further away to lightly spread in the new paint with the aid of a blending spray. the samething for clear as well.

how fine of a scuffing pad? something like 1200 grit paper applied very lightly?

[MARTINSR]

sounds like i will tape off a larger area, something like 6-8 inches away from the work area. i was thinking taping back about 6-8 inches after the 1st coat then paint a little further away to lightly spread in the new paint with the aid of a blending spray. the samething for clear as well.

how fine of a scuffing pad? something like 1200 grit paper applied very lightly?

You are "PROBABLY" going to have to go MUCH further than that. Without photos it is pretty hard. But you need to go WAY further than you think for the blend, you need a lot of room to blend it out. A gray scuff pad is what you need. There are products like "scuffing gel" you use wet, or just a fine gray pad dry has became the norm. Sanding it with 1200 is ok but a little too fine, 1000 is about as fine as you want with 800 being the norm. The problem with sand paper is you will cut too much off high spots like the edges of a panel or a body line. The gray scuff pad flows over them and scuffs the panel WAY more even than sandpaper.

Brian

[mrsubaru]

ill look for a scuffing pad when i pick up some fadeaway stuff later today. The area is right on the edge of my wheel well and quarter panel so blending as much as a foot isnt a problem. doing a wide blend like that has me worried the surrounding area that i dont paint directly will become spotted instead to a smooth transition, which is where i hope fadeaway heldps prevent this

and just to confirm what you said in your 1st post MARTINSR, so i spray the intended area normally with a few coats of paint with the taped area about 12" away, not spraying directly past the intended area and allowing the paint to lightly spread out. then use a blending aid as the base coat of clear then continue with addition coats of clear over a fairly large area.

thanks

[MARTINSR]

You need to do a bunch more searching for blending to before you begin. First off, you DO NOT mask where you going to paint. You mask off the ENTIRE panel like you are going to paint the whole thing. The car is all covered but the one panel you are working on. If I was home I would get you some photos but I am working on another computer and don't have them.

Anyway, there are tons of Youtube videos on the subject. You have the entire panel ready for paint, you paint the small area where the primer is, then blend the color out think of "shading" with a crayon, kinda lightly covering the area adjacent to the area you painted over the primer. Then you clear the entire panel. This is how it is normally done for an invisible blend.

You REALLY need to get yourself a junk fender from a body shop (they are MORE than happy to give you one being they have to pay to dispose of them) and play a little by doing a blend and clearing the fender. You do NOT want to do this for the first time on your car. Get your feet wet so it isn't so mysterious.

Brian

[mrsubaru]

You need to do a bunch more searching for blending to before you begin. First off, you DO NOT mask where you going to paint. You mask off the ENTIRE panel like you are going to paint the whole thing. The car is all covered but the one panel you are working on. If I was home I would get you some photos but I am working on another computer and don't have them.

Anyway, there are tons of Youtube videos on the subject. You have the entire panel ready for paint, you paint the small area where the primer is, then blend the color out think of "shading" with a crayon, kinda lightly covering the area adjacent to the area you painted over the primer. Then you clear the entire panel. This is how it is normally done for an invisible blend.

You REALLY need to get yourself a junk fender from a body shop (they are MORE than happy to give you one being they have to pay to dispose of them) and play a little by doing a blend and clearing the fender. You do NOT want to do this for the first time on your car. Get your feet wet so it isn't so mysterious.

Brian

i did try this a few years back on an older car, but i was doing a much larger area (half a door)and the color was flat black to begin with, wasnt terribly difficult. I have a really good idea on what to do now, probably will even more if i check out some youtube vids. as well a friend has been working in a body shop for the past 6 months, so he definitely has some spray experience and is going to give me a hand.

thanks for the tips

[dwaynecooper]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but the advice given is very pertinent to my current project.

I'm replacing the left rear quarter panel on my car and thought I'd take care of a couple of chips on the edge of the left door (where it meets the panel-to-be-replaced) at the same time. My car is color sanded, so I"ll be color sanding the replacement panel. I was planning to spot repair the door chips by blending the color and the clear too -- since I'd have to color sand it to match the finish on the rest of the car anyway. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks,

Dwayne

[Len]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but the advice given is very pertinent to my current project.

I'm replacing the left rear quarter panel on my car and thought I'd take care of a couple of chips on the edge of the left door (where it meets the panel-to-be-replaced) at the same time. My car is color sanded, so I"ll be color sanding the replacement panel. I was planning to spot repair the door chips by blending the color and the clear too -- since I'd have to color sand it to match the finish on the rest of the car anyway. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks,

Dwayne

Hi Dwayne, welcome aboard.

I'd highly recommend that you blend the color then clear the entire door. This will eliminate the most typical problem of the top coat breaking back when you color sand and polish.

[dwaynecooper]

Hi Dwayne, welcome aboard.

I'd highly recommend that you blend the color then clear the entire door. This will eliminate the most typical problem of the top coat breaking back when you color sand and polish.

Thanks Len -- I painted my car (74 TR6) with the help of you and this board a ways back. It's been so long that when I went to my jobber to get some new hardener for a quart of ppg k36 that I had left over he told me it was no longer compliant here in California and hadn't been as long as he could remember! I'm glad you and the board are still going strong.

[gsracer]

check my thread

http://autobodystore.com/forum/showthread.php?17883-Check-my-blend-procedure&highlight=gsracer

I stressed the blending thing for a long long time... and with the help of the guys on here i was able to pull off an invisible blend.

[tech69]

Hi Dwayne, welcome aboard.

I'd highly recommend that you blend the color then clear the entire door. This will eliminate the most typical problem of the top coat breaking back when you color sand and polish.

Hey Len, the first time I blended a clear I didn't have that problem at all and burned it in with reducer but is that cause the clear was fresh? They were two different clears as well. If so, could Dwayne find success if he buffs out the panel he plans on blending with clear?

[Len]

Why take a chance on blending the clear on a door, and having it break back if it's not done properly, when you can easily blend the color and clear the entire door? I'd prep the door, apply color on the door's edge, blend to color on the old color then clear the door. Stopping the clear before it covers the entire panel is fine when you're dealing with a panel that can not be masked off from the rest of the car but on a door it doesn't make sense to risk blend problems.

[tech69]

Why take a chance on blending the clear on a door, and having it break back if it's not done properly, when you can easily blend the color and clear the entire door? I'd prep the door, apply color on the door's edge, blend to color on the old color then clear the door. Stopping the clear before it covers the entire panel is fine when you're dealing with a panel that can not be masked off from the rest of the car but on a door it doesn't make sense to risk blend problems.


Makes sense. I didn't read the whole story but for panels with one plane I don't think I'd want to break it either.