Professional Opinions Wanted - Uneven Roof Damages - Need Pa

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:39 pm
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Hello all,

I wanted to post on the forum here to get some opinions from experts or people extremely experienced with my specific circumstance. No disrespect to other DIYers, but I am really worried because I have what I believe to be an unusually tough job.

I have a 2009 Sapphire Metallic Black BMW that has severe sun damage on the roof, which is nothing out of the ordinary, but my issue is, there are deeper scratches (probably from medium to large rocks that hit the car at some point) and some very nice looking paint in between/around the area.

Below are some pictures of what I am talking about. You can see that there is a pretty large area where the clear coat is toast, but the paint around the edges of the room is in great condition, and I have two spots in front of my sunroof where there were very deep scratches, surrounded by paint that looks great. My dilemma is figuring out if at all possible, there is a way I don't have to sand the roof down all over and paint the entire roof. I know there are limitations to being able to feather-in fresh and old paint, but there are areas where the old paint is immaculate, followed by huge damages. I have sanded everything "problematic" in the pictures and wonder what approach you guys would take. I plan on doing this with "high quality" aerosol cans that have my color match.

Any honest, straightforward, opinions from the REAL pros would be greatly appreciated. It would also be nice if you could let me know your experience so I know where to take a grain of salt or not. I just want my car looking good again is all :(

The first 4 photos are the back of the roof (you can't really see how much good paint is around the damaged area since I focused on showing the bad spots), the rest are of the gouged up spots (from rocks or something) that are surrounded by great paint
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:18 am
here are more photos of the front of the roof where the deepest, focused damage points are
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:24 am
im a DIYer/hobbiest.
waste your time hacking it together, have it end up looking like stale **** ,then failing in short time or do the whole roof( taking it down to metal)- your choice.

why to metal? wanna put new product on damaged or potentially damaged material?
blending paint is an art form. how much experience do you have at blending???
youll end up spending more $$$ to hack it together than to just do the complete roof.

my experience is that i follow the pros advise, do it right the first time and dont have problems.



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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:51 am
No shortcuts here. Just strip it to bare and proceed.

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 7:57 am
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes, what he just said..... First, whole roof or nothing. Second, down to bare metal or forget about it. Third, "high quality aerosols" that have my color match, uhhhhh, I don't like that whole sentence.
Look, a roof is "in your face" at eye level. You will see EVERYTHING as you look across that roof. I think you either need a pro or get ready for an exciting new/expensive hobby......
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:03 am
DarrelK wrote:... I think you either need a pro or get ready for an exciting new/expensive hobby......

What these guys are explaining to you is that if you just want your car fixed, take it to a pro.

Do not even bother with rattle cans on any car that you want to keep nice.

If you want to get involved with a very fun, though time consuming and somewhat pricy hobby, then start by reading this site's stickies.

The tools, materials and time involved for this hobby adds up to the thousands of dollars - FAST!

Good luck.
Sent by the random thoughts from the voices in my head...



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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:44 pm
Thank you guys for the honest opinions. So the thing about my car is, I plan on selling it as soon as I can, and the car is worth $4500 with the roof in good condition. It doesn't make economical sense to pay a pro to do the roof.

The caveat is, because of the computer chip shortage, cars are overpriced right now so I plan to drive this for another year or two, so I have no choice but to take a chance and try to do it myself or live with the ugly. But the "do the whole roof" advice provided value.

Since I'm doing it with aerosol cans, anyone have any tips on how much paint it will likely take? The kit comes with 16.9 of primer, paint, and clear coat. I've watched probably 50-60 videos on this and have experimented with body work quite a bit in my life (my dad was into detailing his car) but I am not paint expert.

I am wondering when you know you've put enough paint and clear coat, and also how much I should sand the paint and the clear coat between stages. Thank you guys for your advice!

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:54 pm
Can't really give advice on the rattle can thing.... You ever thought about just doing a vinyl wrap on the roof???
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:02 am
Best advice

Stay away from Aerosol Rattle cans!

Quart of primer, Pint of base coat, quart of clear. Money well spent. cheaper than Aerosol!
Dennis B.
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