How to do spot repairs, please help!

[Stretch]

I painted some ghost flames on my buddy's bike (blue pearl over black base). He got a ding on the top of the tank down to the base. I sanded a the ding down to the base, applied some filler to even it all out, rebased, then redid the ghost flames and topped it off with an intercoat clear. I then sanded a large area around the ding with 800. I sprayed clear in this area thinking that I could let the clear setup, 800 the entire tank and then rebuff.

What has happenened is I have a line where a can clearly see a difference between the old clear and new clear? Sanding just seems to move the line? If I spray on degreaser it's unnoticeable till it dries. Can I sand the entire tank and clear (which is what I should have done originally) and expect it to work?

Any ideas what I did wrong, things to avoid in the future?

TIA-Stretch

 

[rex]

It will dissappear 99% of the time.As long as you can't see it when it's wet with g&w remover you're fine.That's actually a way to lose the edge on a decal without plowing tons of clear on the whole tank,you just have to be careful because certain colors will get very vibrant with extra clear so you have to stretch each blend out farther to camo it.

 

[Stretch]

Thanks Rex. So that's the fix, but what do you think caused the problem? I'd hate to have to reclear the entire tank everytime I do a little repair. Is is possible to sand as I mentioned and just clear a smaller area? If so, any suggestions on how to do it without getting the edge I did?

On a similar note, what would you recommend for the tank emblems. They're raised plastic and I'd prefer not to remove them. Is it best to just tape around them and pull the tape quickly to let the clear flow up to the edge?

Thanks-Stretch

 

[TAZ]

Hi Stretch,
I would recommend removing emblems when clearing. This way, there will not be an edge in which the clear can peel from. ALways tell the customer that you will put them on best as possible. Working with 'used' emblems is always a pain in the behind.

As far as the first question/problem, I would always recommend sanding the complete part which was a tank in your case, then reclearing. it is much easier and will last quite a bit longer if you do it this way instead of trying to spot an area on the tank, fender, or any other "small" part.
It sounds as though you fixed the area *then* sanded the area.

 

[Stretch]

Hey Scott-

I'm thinking what happened is that I sanded the area around the repair and then fixed the ding but when I went to clear I got some of it outside of the area that I sanded. The clear didn't adhere well to the non-sanded area so didn't form a good bond. When I started sanding I think the clear started lifting. Sound reasonable?

Thanks-Stretch

 

[rex]

Oops,I missed a little of the first post.Anytime you spot in clear it'll pull that ring or line,and it will buff out but it will come back to show.I thought originally you were going to reclear the whole tank so that line will go away,which it will.ALWAYS,no matter what,the final clearing needs to cover the entire panel to lock down everything and leave a lasting quality finish.I know it's a pain in the ass but it's the only way.As I said in the last post,you can do some partial clearing to do things but the last one needs to be a full clearing,and don't listen to those that say just sand down the previous one and put one flow coat down,do the required 2 or 3 or it could cause you probs down the road.This [censored]'s too expensive to scrimp and have to strip it off and redo it,$40 or 50 worth of clear and a little time is nothing compared to a redo-and just sanding it down and starting over on top of it is not the thing to do at all!

 

[tcmustang]

For spot clear repairs, I keep a product around made by DUPONT for "burning in " clear. After you spray on your clear in the area needed you add this product to you remaining clear at a 1:1 ratio and mist around the outside area. This melts in the clear. after 5 min I spray another mist coat over the entire re worked area and this maks the clear flatten down and very seldom needs buffing and you cannot see the repaired area.

 

[Jim]

TC,what's it called?Blending clear?

 

[rex]

Yeah,it's a blending clear or blending solvent-DON"T DO IT!If you're pulling a 1/4 sail blend for insurance purposes in a production shop bail right in there,but don't do it on your personal work because it will do just as I said in many posts,eventually that edge will break down and show and then you have one pissed off customer.This IS the only way to do it-your last clearing needs to be the reqired 2 (or 3) coats of clear to gain the millage for protection,period.I know it sucks doing it and costs more for materials but you will get burnt down the road by pulling a blend if it isn't a quick sell job or an insurance job mandate-it's you're name so protect it for future work.

 

[tcmustang]

I checked my can last night, its Dupont, clear coat blender. I used it last night on a run on a car fender. Misting it in several light coats melted the run untill you cant see or feel it.

 

[airartist]

I had to spot touch up a paint job I had done and what I learned right away is....Do it right the first time. I had used a different gun to shoot the touch up then i had used for the original. It looked great until I cleared it. That's when the ring from the sanding just jumped out out you. The gun I used laid out the paint much finer than the original gun therefore creating a different deposit of pain. I had to re-scuff and shoot with the original gun and clear THE ENTIRE tank to make the perfect touch up job. there are many factors to consider when doing touch up work. If need be, sometimes you need to redo the entire piece.

 

[rex]

Airartist,that's one that just about always gets learned the hard way on anything but a solid color /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crap.gif

Stretch,I doubt the clear was peeling back for the most part.When you buff out the edge it'll pull that ring but when you polish it it will dissappear-for now.If you need to blend do your outer sanding with ultrafine (I like 2000) and them buff the surrounding area with compound.When you clear make your last coat cover the sandscratches.Now mix some of that blending solvent with some clear and just wet the edge,then run straight solvent over that edge to melt it in.Dont hose it on tho because it'll sag easy on you.If you don't need to buff it great,if so you end up right back with the edge and have to polish it out.Either way the edge will show after seeing weather for a little time.The only reason we do it on cars is because insurance companies usually make you do it,they don't want to pay to clear your roof and other 1/4 because you're painting or blending color on one 1/4 and there's no seams to break it on anymore.