You'd be correct. A rattle jar and brush did the trick. The rattle ball bearings came from my recent ac compressor job. The coin is my pay for this job. The paint colour isn't a perfect match but it will have to do. At a distance, you can't tell the difference. My car is already multi-coloured anyway.
Dipping toe into painting
- Thread starter DiyNutJob
- Start date
Second panel (74x74mm) done today because the winds were calmer. Got a horrible result from spray experimentation. I had no expectation of a good result and was not disappointed. The result will improve after drying/shrinking and polishing. I started off with 1 bar gun pressure, then moved on to 1.5 bar for no particular reason. The clear coat was too thick and didn't run at all. In fact it struggled to flatten itself.
There was plenty to learn on the first go:
1. The gun put out plenty of material even though the tip was almost closed at 1.5 turns backed out from closed. The air jet was drawing the material out.
2. I prepared a stupid amount of material at 50ml including 5-10% reducer. Most of it thrown away. I thought I could use the material for testing spray patterns. With it being clear, I couldn't see sh*t.
3. Rushed the first coat after a gust of wind. Stuff blown by wind didn't come down to earth until some time after the wind was gone. So, the stuff all came down on the wet first coat. The white dot on the left was from that.
4. Gun cleaning was much easier than I imagined. The air chamber was well sealed and only the paint chamber needed cleaning. The tip cap didn't need cleaning.
There was plenty to learn on the first go:
1. The gun put out plenty of material even though the tip was almost closed at 1.5 turns backed out from closed. The air jet was drawing the material out.
2. I prepared a stupid amount of material at 50ml including 5-10% reducer. Most of it thrown away. I thought I could use the material for testing spray patterns. With it being clear, I couldn't see sh*t.
3. Rushed the first coat after a gust of wind. Stuff blown by wind didn't come down to earth until some time after the wind was gone. So, the stuff all came down on the wet first coat. The white dot on the left was from that.
4. Gun cleaning was much easier than I imagined. The air chamber was well sealed and only the paint chamber needed cleaning. The tip cap didn't need cleaning.
Last edited:
After analysis, the problem has been deduced to be a reaction between the reducer and the white paint. This caused fisheyes. The rest of the clear coat was fine, with orange peel. The peel was not as bad as I remember from rattle cans, and a bit of hand polishing would make them good. Using 600 grit wet sanding, I flattened the fisheyes as much as possible. At the same time, I removed as much of the dirt speckles as I could. This was a very good practice for paint correction techniques. The next step will be to clear coat the repair, and the panel should be good to go. I won't be using reducer this time. In any case, the gun's air jet has enough power to deal with thick paints to not need reducer. Thick paints could be handled with higher pressure, or, non-intuitively, lower flow.
Last edited:
I know! 20 pages into a thread about compressors and the finer points of spraying, to end up with a finish that a drunk, blind, one-armed man could have got with a bog brush!
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2022
- Messages
- 10,707
- Reaction score
- 803
- Country
He started as a complete novice and is now a full blown expert.
To be fair, he's now gained the knowledge that he knows fook all about doing the job properly
Weeks of faffing about, to make a dog's dinner of spraying a badge
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2022
- Messages
- 10,707
- Reaction score
- 803
- Country
It's a panel lol.To be fair, he's now gained the knowledge that he knows fook all about doing the job properly
Weeks of faffing about, to make a dog's dinner of spraying a badge
Could have bought a genuine BMW 1 for alot less than he has spent, and been quicker too
Or even an expert novice!!
Factory glass finish was discovered today. It was discovered on the final of 3 coats. I went in closer with the gun and an extra pass. On earlier coats, the paint was dotty resembling what I achieved with rattle cans in the past. I didn't understand what that meant. Now, it is obvious there was too much air and too little material. The dots will produce the raised parts of the orange peel as the paint settles and, flattens to some extent.
I prepared 12ml of material today. Again, most of it was thrown away. 6ml would be a good small amount to use.
I intended to use 1 bar gun pressure today. With so many steps in the painting process, I completely forgotten to adjust the pressure and ended up using 1.5 bar (22 psi) as I was using last time. The flow was reduced to 1 turn backed out from tip closed. I speculate this flow rate would have been compatible with 1 bar gun pressure. The down side of low gun pressure is that the spray is easily disrupted by wind.
I prepared 12ml of material today. Again, most of it was thrown away. 6ml would be a good small amount to use.
I intended to use 1 bar gun pressure today. With so many steps in the painting process, I completely forgotten to adjust the pressure and ended up using 1.5 bar (22 psi) as I was using last time. The flow was reduced to 1 turn backed out from tip closed. I speculate this flow rate would have been compatible with 1 bar gun pressure. The down side of low gun pressure is that the spray is easily disrupted by wind.
Last edited:
Despite the earlier drama, the paint job is a good'en. The panel is going on the car today having the following flaws.
1. Black dots on blue or silver: dust on first coat. I didn't want to risking burning through to the base coat, I left them be. (this website removed the black dot on blue because of lossy compression)
2. Some fish eyes remain on white. Again, didn't want to burn through to the base coat in order to flatten them.
3. Thinner/reducer reaction caused some loss/delamination of white base.
4. White dots on black are marks from removed debris. These marks are present on earlier coats and the final coat. Larger white patches on black are just light reflections.
1. Black dots on blue or silver: dust on first coat. I didn't want to risking burning through to the base coat, I left them be. (this website removed the black dot on blue because of lossy compression)
2. Some fish eyes remain on white. Again, didn't want to burn through to the base coat in order to flatten them.
3. Thinner/reducer reaction caused some loss/delamination of white base.
4. White dots on black are marks from removed debris. These marks are present on earlier coats and the final coat. Larger white patches on black are just light reflections.
Sounds like you got the m5 style caps. The e46 caps comprise thin logo sheets in carppy looking plastic holders. The sheets would blister after a while (I suspect by design because heat blistering shouldn't happen as the wheel usually stay cool). The m5 style is better, and I would really want a set. But I decide not too because it could be treated as a modification.These do look re markedly similar to the wheel centers I bought for my Sons 330D. At £7 for 4 it seemed like a bargain. Even came printed with the correct BMW logo and part number of the back.
Last edited: