Folks,

I ordered an received a four-can set of spray paint and clearcoat for my 1968 April Gold car, and the paint appears to match perfectly. I noticed on the clearcoat cans, it states that for the clearcoat to truly do its thing, an application of rubbing compound is in order. I don't recall ever hearing about that. Might be why my previously painted/coated parts are slightly duller than the car body paint. Anyone want to provide guidance on this process?

Long time, things change, life moves on. Still the same #? Let me know if not.

If I could have finished my car in time, I was going to drive it to Canton, TX, to Hatfield Restorations’ open-house & car-show. One of those deals where you just pop out of the woodwork, sitting there in the lineup. When Master walked by, I would say, “What do you think of Grasshopper’s home-garage paint job?” And I would have stopped by and cashed in on that steak dinner. Although I could contact him, Master still doesn’t know, and I would like to have him to wander up on the car, not having a clue. Maybe someday. So don’t do something silly like selling out because we would have to take the cars to your local cruise lot before or after the steak dinner!

As for your question, it’s a hard call sitting behind a keyboard. Since it involves repaired collision damage and existing paint, variants in paint go with the territory. Are you saying that the older paint doesn’t have the surface luster as the newer paint? If that’s the case, most likely, the newer paint is harder than the old paint. You might be able to burn the old paint to match the new paint’s shine, but I don’t want to imply it as flat-out gospel. I know lots of folks will, but I’m hesitant to play arm-chair quarter back because I have no clue what’s going on.

At what part of the process do they suggest using compound? Do they suggest that you use compound before applying the base coat? If the paint manufacturer suggests using compound before applying base coat, the compound gives the surface ‘tooth.’

My basecoat had a wide selection of tooth, from #800 to #1.5k, so I used #1.5k. Tooth is important. Too coarse of tooth, and scratches will show; too fine of tooth, and the paint may flake off.

One thing I do want to point out about compounding the paint. DO NOT compound the base before clearing it because if you compound the metallic base, it will cut away the metallic’s random pattern, and the paint will be dull.

One more before I bail. Can you post a picture of what you are trying to fix? Often, fairly significant buggers can be fixed by carefully ‘floating’ some base in. Shoot some base into the can’s lid, and daub it in. This allows the base repair to be contained to a small area. For instance, if you have a 1.5” square of base damage, the misalignment is contained in that 1.5” square area; likewise for a scratch. After you get coverage, clear over it, sand it, and burn

It isn’t a case of what you can see. It’s a mater of how much you can see. The 1.5” square requires close inspection. The problem with spot spraying is that it can turn into a bucket of chit, something that people can see while you’re driving by @ 55 mph.

Holy cow! That's a shiney car!

TY. I painted it in my garage. $300 for paint, and I shot it with a $9.95 harbor freight hvlp using an air line running direct from the compressor, about as ghetto as it gets, minus the spray bombs.

Actually it’s extremely dull, much less shine then what you see on other cars. I just don’t feel like rambling on with a why-it-shines technical explanation. In a nutshell, the surface manipulates the light to create an optical illusion.

As the first week of June was passing, I was beyond sick and tired of working on it, so I roughed it up, burned it a little, called it done, and spent the summer enjoying it.

I picked up where I left off on the second week of December, but I haven’t been relentless at getting it done. I have never pretended to be someone whom I’m not, so I don’t mind saying that I’m in uncharted water at this point.

I know that I can bring it to a higher level than in the pictures. The thing is whether it will be minimal or an explosive before-after. I’ll have to burn it to be positive, but it looks like the difference will be exponential. But there I go thinking again. I’ll post pictures when I’m done because it cannot turn out worse.

What products you have under the paint

As per paint manufacturer instructions, it’s metal, bondo, primer, base/clear.

Wow, awesome paint job Merv! The set of cans says basecoat first, then clearcoat, then rubbing compound to "activate" the clearcoat.....