# Need some help with auto body painting



## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

I moved to sunny AZ a few years ago and the paint on my 1999 Mitsubishi Montero has suffered greatly. 

The sun just beats down all day on the roof, like Dr. Evil's laser. Not sure if this is just "routine" oxidation or something else at work. THe rest of the paint on the body is still in great shape. 

I want to go ahead and repaint this section of the roof but I'm not sure how to proceed. I've never done any auto painting beyond ding touch-up.

This 17 year old vehicle is a workhorse with 175,000 miles. Still runs perfect and strong. No dents, just a few minor wear and tear type dings. I just want to stop any possible damage to the sheet metal and get it looking better, not necessarily perfect.

Any tips & tricks on sand/prime/paint/clear-coat would be appreciated.


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## griz (Sep 22, 2015)

try using a polishing compound first.


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

Agree with griz. Looks like the paint is chalking. Use a fine polish or rubbing compound (3M is good) first to remove the chalk, and then a good polish like Zymol to make up for the loss of the high gloss clearcoat.

If you want to repaint it, eastwood.com and paintscratch.com are good starting places. Car paint is expensive, and you need a compressor and a decent gun to respray it unless you go for spray bombs.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

Thanks guys. 

If it is "chalking", would there be some kind of residue on the surface? There isn't.

Does car polish just remove the oxidation, or does it actually restore the color?


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

ZZZZZ said:


> Thanks guys. If it is "chalking", would there be some kind of residue on the surface? There isn't. Does car polish just remove the oxidation, or does it actually restore the color?



Removes the oxidation. 

Compounding with an orbital buffer is great but not a rookie starting point. Follow up the rubbing compound with some polish and then wax.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

It's time for new paint.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

You might be surprised. Its hard to tell until you start compounding it, but often times the clear or top coat of paint will show all the abuse.

Some rubbing compound and a microfiber towel will tell you quite quickly.

Start with a small spot in the worst section.


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## IslandGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

If you do repaint, I suggest high gloss white, like on the tops of school busses.


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## bearded (Jan 14, 2016)

I've seen this a lot. When we get this in the body shop at work there are two ways to fix it. 1 tape off an area overlapping the undamaged surface, wet sand and taper your grit from fine to very fine from the middle out to the edges being careful not to remove the paint all off the way then using cheap match paint thinned down with spirits repaint,wet sand pint with clear wet sand and buff.... Pain in the but the cheap and easy way I suggest you get the following here's the links...

walmart.com/ip/Meguiars-MEGD30016-16Oz.-Da-Microfiber-Correction-Compound/28656616

harborfreight.com/power-tools/polishing-buffing-accessories/7-1-2-half-inch-wool-buffing-pad-90451


The first link is to Maguires correction compound its good up to 1350 grit depth if you apply this likea strip of toothpaste on the the buff pad for ever square foot it will work perfectly. 

The second link is for a wool pad I have tried synthetic pads before the tend to clot and scratch paint worse make sure its wool 

This is super easy if you don't have a buffing wheel you can get one at harbor freight for less than 20.00 and they usually come with a wool pad. So any way apply a 4 or 5 pea sized dropps to the pad use you finger to smear around star slow with light pressure and work in a circular motion in the same direction as the wheel don't stop moving while in contact with the paint it will burn. After 3 or 4 passes the shine will start to return wash car allow to full dry and using a clean pad use a high quality sealer wax ice makes some real good ones and buff on the same way as the correction compound.

Sorry for the long post hope it helps


Sent from my 5054N using Tapatalk


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

delete


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

OP, don't even bother.
It's clear coat peeling off. In addition, it's roof. You will NOT hand fix this or, the fix will look worse than what it is now. 
I had several cars like this and attempted roof fix twice. DON"T.. Go MAACO and repaint entire car or, simply drive as is. 
Honest to god.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

ukrkoz said:


> *OP, don't even bother.
> It's clear coat peeling off. In addition, it's roof. You will NOT hand fix this or, the fix will look worse than what it is now. *
> I had several cars like this and attempted roof fix twice. DON"T.. Go MAACO and repaint entire car or, simply drive as is.
> Honest to god.


Ayuh,.... I gotta agree,... That's why I Hate base coat/ clear coat,....

I shoot solid color urethane 2-pt paints,...
Easily fixable,....
'course, I'm usually shootin' a boat or dumptruck, but base coat/ clear coat still sucks for repairs,....

Ya might oughta go different color off a body line, or throw a rag on it, Diy a vinyl top,...


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

My neighbor gave me an old half-bottle of Maguire's Paint Cleaner. I gave that a try, and wow what a difference, though it's hard to tell from the 2nd photo.. I'll get a hold of some heavy duty polishing compound and give it a few more treatments, and it should be good enough for my 17 year old vehicle.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Looking good!


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Sure looks like the clear coat is the thing that have powdered----

Nice improvement---


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

Well, I think I'm back to the drawing board. I applied the rubbing compound and the roof was looking better.

But after sitting in the sun for a couple of days, I think it actually looks worse than before I treated it. Or is the oxidation really bad and I need to keep rubbing?

Any ideas whazzup?


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

The rubbing compound oils saturated the clear and temporarily darkened it. 

The clear coat is pretty smoked at this point. 

Short of sanding it in prep for re-spraying, you could wet sand it and polish it out. The paint would be unprotected via clear coat, but you can keep it waxed and polished.

You can also just use rubbing compound and try to get to clean material and then polish it out.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)




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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

Thanks WoW. I'll give it another go in a couple of days.


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