Blending paint (proper steps?)

dont know very many people to take pics of collision work to be blended, but i do have a car in my shop that will need blending..ill pst pics as soon as insurance approves the supplements

****This is how I do it at work every day. It may be different than other people's techniques, but it always produces great blends/adhesion this way. Different paint systems have different steps that may all produce a great end result****

After black sanding the primer down with 320 grit

Guide coat all the primered areas, this will ensure you refine all the 320 scratches down to the next level which is 500 for my application

This is after wetsanding with a foam block and 500 grit.

Then I use 1500 grit wet on the whole panel, this removes surface contaminants, some of the factory orange peel, and provides a good scratch for the paint/clear to bite to without being too agressive so that it will show sand scratches in the final product

Then to get all the areas that you may have missed with the 1500 Scuff with grey Scotch brite. We use this sanding paste too, is makes the water want to dry up or get off the panel faster.

Then with our old solvent based paint system, we would shoot a colorless basecoat on the entire panel which will allow the paint you are blending out to lay down as it would normally. If you do it over a dry panel, it will want to kinda stand up and look funky.

As the guys said though, already, if it's solid black, just paint to whole thing. You can bland it if you want, and it will probably look great, since you don't have to worry about the metallics looking wierd, but it may be an unnecessary step.

i see so many problems here first you seal over your primer no mater what it helps cover for your base coat and keeps every thing under the sealer from bleeding threw and covers sand scrathes second if you wet sand with 1500 grit your not to smart the highest grit you can go is 1000 any higher and your paint will delaminat i did not realize in my first post that it was black but you never blend black cuz black is black is black now if it has blue pearl or silver in it then id blend but deffinetly seal it

Sorry, black is not always the same. But it's unlikely to notice a slight change in it, most jobs we get that are plain black, we just shoot plain jet black. But volkswagens lots of time are 50/50 jet black/brown-black.

And no you don't have to seal over primer. Maybe with your system, but not with all systems. If it was required by Standox (our line of paints) we would do it. And it is not. I have seen cars come back to our shop after 6+ years for another repair, and the paint is not died back at all, with no adhesion issues. We have a lifetime warranty on every car that we shoot, against de-lam, die back, peeling.... anything really. And we never have any issues with it.

Best advice I can give for someone who wants to do it right. Take the time to read the data sheets on the products that you are using. You can't go wrong with that.

True black isnt always black, sometimes the standard variant of the color will look a bit too milky, ie ford UA, i always use the darker variant

Originally posted by Crazygenius13



****This is how I do it at work every day. It may be different than other people's techniques, but it always produces great blends/adhesion this way. Different paint systems have different steps that may all produce a great end result****

After black sanding the primer down with 320 grit

Guide coat all the primered areas, this will ensure you refine all the 320 scratches down to the next level which is 500 for my application

This is after wetsanding with a foam block and 500 grit.

Then I use 1500 grit wet on the whole panel, this removes surface contaminants, some of the factory orange peel, and provides a good scratch for the paint/clear to bite to without being too agressive so that it will show sand scratches in the final product

Then to get all the areas that you may have missed with the 1500 Scuff with grey Scotch brite. We use this sanding paste too, is makes the water want to dry up or get off the panel faster.

Then with our old solvent based paint system, we would shoot a colorless basecoat on the entire panel which will allow the paint you are blending out to lay down as it would normally. If you do it over a dry panel, it will want to kinda stand up and look funky.

As the guys said though, already, if it's solid black, just paint to whole thing. You can bland it if you want, an

i agree with everything on here except the 1500, i personally wet sand blend areas with 1000. unless i have 800 da lying around and a interface pad.

Another thing that will help. On your final sanding I guess in your case a grey scotch brite make all your scratches go one way your base will lay down a lot smoother. I am not one for wetbeds (transparent base coat) if you prep it right you wont have any problems and if it is straight black make sure you get a factory pack you dont want a choclate door and a deep black rear door.

Okay, I'm going to paint just the panel itself and not blend. This is a plain black. However, I'm at the point where I'm ready to paint and everyone keeps telling me about sealer.... I have never had good luck with sealer. But the only paint I have ever used has been Martin Senior and THEY SUCK!!!! When I go to lay my sealor it seems the whole panel wants to "fish eye" as if it's covered in some kind of oil. Everything I fix I usually pull it out of the shop wash it down with hot water and sponge. Then I pull it in and use a tack cloth and then shoot sealor.

I am now starting to use ppg on everything I work on. My question is, can I use martin senior sealor with ppg paint? I only have a small area with primer, must I seal??? DAMN THIS PAINTING!!!

someone mentioned using alcohol based whipes insted of tach clothes. But I didnt quite understand what kind of whipes he was talking about. I've tried using a t-shit with alcohol and left lent... so I'm looking for a new option...

You dont have to seal just dont burn threw your primer and finish with 600 grit. I never seal primer only new parts.