Thread: Painting Tips Required.

The back corner needs panel-beating and has layers of crazed paint. So it has to go back to bare metal. It is all unbolted and water-blasted currently. I do have a corner from another vehicle if the panel beating doesn't meet expectations.
The fuel filler surround has broken some of the mounting studs off the back, repair for that will ensure it also needs taken back to shining.
The side panel doesn't need panel beating as such, just pushed back into original shape but it also has crazed and mismatched paint so it's a start again job too.

The paint match is done. It's LRC273 (Arctic White) which I have in spray cans. I completely happy with the match.
I have had appalling results with colour matching before on this vehicle which is why I've gone back to factory colour codes.

One hint I picked up from "Muscle car" was to use Scotchbrite to key the paint rather than sandpaper.
I gave it a try and it really flatted down the paint well.

I last week painted my D2 roof Silver as my car is Oslo Blue and the clear coat was going milky. I also wanted to have the car cooler .
I used Supercheap Generic silver , 4 cans of primer, 4 cans of silver and 4 cans of clear.
Unfortunately the day turned bad on me up to 35C and a 40Knot wind blew up., periodically blowing off my masking. I think the cans have very volatile thinners . If you were spraying in those conditions you would use a retarder.

The job turned out uneven colour, I think because the silver was drying too fast and turning to powder on the roof. When I sprayed the clear it mixed with the silver powder even though I wiped it over. I also had every bug, leaf, flower etc commit hari kiri in my paint. I flattened it with 400 and soapy water , then cut with a jigger and cutter, then polished, but it still is a bit blotchy.

The sides are excellent and that is all you see.LOL
I might have another go but it already looks much better than milky top coat and achieves the coolness objective.
White is a LOT easier than metallic. ( but I thought silver would look better with dark blue -sort of traditional Land Rover although AFAIK no Disco came two toned)
Regards Philip A

Factory paint is completely buggered. Why try to find someone who can bugger it up by eye when the factory mix turns out perfect?


The original is acrylic with clear. Exactly the same as the LRC273 paint I've got here.

I sprayed models for two decades with the 150 ml cans. The expense is more than offset by the convenience. Be patient, put on the coat of paint quickly in strokes (don’t hold down the nozzle continuously) and not too thick. Let it dry properly before applying another coat. Do NOT rush applying more coats. Go and do something else for an hour. Do not sand any of the paint at least for a few hours, 24 hours would be better. The longer you leave the paint the harder it gets. The paint needs at least a week to get the last diminishing returns of hardness. Get more cans than you need, the nozzles do block and if you are half way through the process you can quickly grab the next prepared can (already shaken for 2 minutes as well). The large 400 ml cans I avoid as I always seem to have problems with them. Shake the cans for the full 2 minutes as they have quite often have been sitting for months. Just before the first spay, spray for half a second on some scrap cardboard to confirm the spray is not spitting. Sometimes turning the nozzle around can help.

Use at the very least a face mask if you don’t want a cartridge filter mask. Also good for sanding to save your lungs.

After an hour or so with the hammers and a whole stripper disc later:



The panel beating isn't perfect, but it's good enough to be filled with paint now. The paint on that corner was about 2mm thick with evidence of at least two resprays and even some brazing to the steel panel. Turned me into a snow-man buzzing all the paint off.

So next question, what is a good sealant for closing up gaps between the spot-welded pieces so rust doesn't bleed out?

While I'm not too fussy about the finish on this one. It is also practice for tidying up the panels on the new rangie.

Looks good. If it were me I would spray it with cold gal, then acrylic spray putty, then top coat.

If you want to use a sealant then sikaflex polyurethane is the only one to use.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Looks good. If it were me I would spray it with cold gal, then acrylic spray putty, then top coat.

If you want to use a sealant then sikaflex polyurethane is the only one to use.

Talked to the Sika helpline today, they recommend 221 as the first choice and 11FC as the second.
11FC being a construction sealant is available locally so I grabbed a tube.

Did you manage to panel beat aluminium without buggering it up Well done!!! So long as you have the shape close, and no highs, I'd be tempted to go straight to plastic filler now ... stop beating the aluminium while your ahead!. If it was a mild steel panel you can stretch/shrink/play with it almost forever .... I'm not fond of alloy though.

Can you get Hi-chem paints over there. I have found there "super etch" primer sticks like **** to a blanket. Amazing stuff that's very cheap and available in pressure packs.



this is nearly 9years old this picture, these are shiny stainless steel decorative trim from a car. I painted them with the hichem pressure pack primer, then painted them with satin black. After 9years of hard use in the weather, these are still unchipped and perfect. The rest of the paint on that car is buggered....

Don't waste your time with pressure pack paints. Acrylic laquer is the easiest to spray as you can simply sand/fix any issues you have. White is also the easiest colour to get right by a long margin. See if you can chase up/borrow a belt drive compressor of at least 12CFM ... and grab a cheap spray gun from fleabay. I haven't painted in a while, but this is the last car chucked a quick dodgy splash of paint on ...

Xantia clearcoat restoration advice please.

I made a booth out of builders plastic. It come up really well. The 2 part urethane paints are brilliant... they last forever and are *really* hard to scratch... DO NOT USE THEM unless you have an air fed mask though.

If you are going to use acrylic laquer, you don't need clear. It a wasted effort, with acrylic laquer you only use clear where you have sprayed a metalic (otherwise you bugger up the metalic pigments when you try to colour sand/compound the finish).

acrylic laquer is great stuff for people that love painting and polishing, 'cos it doesn't last for ****. Dont believe any nay-sayers about it's finish though. It will come up like a gleaming show piece.





this is colour sanded and cut acrylic laquer. This is back in early 2006 though. The paint is now utterly stuffed and has been for about 5years. If I'd used 2pack urethane it would still be excellent.

If you want a laugh at my expense, here's a thread I did back in 2006 on painting that car.

Quick paint job anyone ????

seeya,
Shane L.