Painting Advice For Blending A Color To Match

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:29 am
I've got a 1972 BMW 2002tii that was completed painted about 33 years ago with factory paint, a single stage probably an acrylic enamel with a hardener added. The car sat garaged and covered for 30 years. The paint is not in bad shape, needs a good polish and wax. There is a rust spot on the left rocker panel and some small rust spots on the right side door. I'm going to fix the rust spots and repaint those areas. I'm reasonable certain I won't get a perfect match on the color, so the problem is how to blend the new paint in to make it look the best. I am not going to repaint the whole car. I went to a couple of auto body supply centers and asked them about it. One said to use a single stage and just do the best I can, the other suggested a base coat with clear coat would make the mis-match disappear. What do the people on this forum think?

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:56 pm
Blending in a repair is way too much to go into, in a single post like this -- did you try the site's search feature to read the (hundreds?) of prior threads on the topic of blending?

Some colors (solid red) are easier to blend within a single panel than others. This is not an easy paint repair for a first time painter. It's a small car and with the rust remediation work you are going to put into it, consider just doing an overall repaint.

There is no magic answer like just go with base/clear and the repair will be invisible.



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 12:33 pm
:goodpost: need to know the color, but with any color its going to be difficult to get GOOD results with S/S A/E. it can be done but it might not look good, especially if you have no experience at it. to blend S/S and get it to look reasonable it's going to need a clear coat. that brings up another problem the clear coated panel is not going to look good next to an aged S/S panel. your best bet would be to use a B/C system for ease of application, but it also needs to be clear coated. there are other minor problems that might arise going over the S/S with the B/C. as above this is not a simple project
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:26 pm
@badsix - The color is Sahara, BMW paint code 006.
I have 45 years automotive repair experience. I have some, but very little experience with a spray gun. Used an airless sprayer to paint a Cub Cadet garden tractor once. Came out pretty nice, people raved about how good it looked. And have a ton of rattle can experience. LOL! :happy: I am very optimistic and confident concerning my abilities. :goodjob: How about S/S A/E with a clear coat, sand with 2000 wet/dry and buff? Do you think that would help hide the mismatch in the color?



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:46 pm
If the car drives you can take it to a local paint distributor & have them scan it to try & get you somewhat close to the right color. If you cant drive it, pull off a panel that you can just bring to the counter. It may not be an exact match but it should get you pretty close to what you're looking for & make it easier to match & blend if needed. I'm a big fan of Deltron DBC paint with DBC500 color blender! It's a little expensive but it works when used correctly! I use it all the time & it hasn't failed me yet. There's other ways to do it & everyone has their own preference but it's kinda hard to mess it up this way... it's a straight forward process. Good luck!



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:10 pm
as above, but Any base coat would be better than the AE S/S
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay

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