After various shades of paint, I finally found a color that was very close to the original brown on my son's 84 GSL. I sanded, primed, wet sanded, primed, wet sanded, painted, and then wet sanded the header panel, headlight covers, the windshield wiper panel and the front bumper. The paint matches real good, but I have no shine, it's like I painted it with a flat paint. What step did I miss, do I need to apply something else like a clear coat or paint sealer? This was done with paint cans, however the color is very uniform and looks real good, just no shine.

Blueraven

 

Yea, I think you missed the clear on that one.. lol its ok, you still can apply it. You have to be dead certain its clean before, or it'll show. Theres solvents you can get where they supply paint at.

 

Ouch. I've never cleared over paint can stuff before, IMO it doesn't seem like you could be all the uniform with it. Keep in mind that with a clearcoat, any changes in shade or any imperfections on the body are going to be multiplied to say the least.

With that said, I'm not sure if they sell clearcoat in a can? But if you find it, you're going to need one hell of a lot of cans because after the clearcoat is done, standard procedure is to watersand it down with high sandpaper (1000 works best IMO) and buff it to make it look very smoothe. However when watersanding you sand only the clear and not through it to the base or you will have no shine.

Cliffs notes: Unless you have an spray gun you have more trouble then it's worth IMHO.

 

What sandpaper grit did you use on the final sanding? It should be 2000 or so. Then you need to use rubbing compound and then polishing compound and then a good polish. Wax it in about a month. If the paint isn't totally dry when you wax, it will cloud the finish.

Paint cans can do a decent job of getting the paint down, but you might run into some problems with light pitting. It's because the can can't get the paint down as evenly as a real spray gun. If you're doing alot of wet sanding, you should get a pretty nice looking finish. The big problem with spray cans is the paint you get is usually a cheapo enamel or laquer. It won't be a long lasting paint job.

Also, you don't need clear coat for a nice finish, but it will keep the finish looking nice longer.

 

if its a rattle can. just put one last evenly smooth coat on and let cure.

 

I was under the impression he was using a paint gun. If so he should take my advise.

 

I'm using a paint can, I know the finish will not last a long time, or look as if it was painted by a professional. I'm doing this as a favor to my son, he had the money to have the car painted, but choose to go on a trip, which is ok, I just thought I would do this for him at no charge. As far as the paint job, I think considering I'm using a paint can, it looks damn good, it just doesn't shine. I test sprayed a filing cabinet and the paint shined there. My guess is because I primed the area first, the paint is absorbing and should shine after more coats are applied, at least that my thinking. In any case, it looks allot better now than before, so it's not a lost cause. Well I've got to go, I NEED MORE PAINT

blueraven

 

I think you should post your questions on http://www.autobody101.com/ these guys are pretty smart when it comes to painting and they are just as friendly as us RX7ers

 

Thanks for the advice all, well it appears my problem is paint absorbtion. In my attempt to prevent runs, I decided many light coats were better that a couple heavy. Well when I placed the nozzle about 4-6 inches from the panels, the paint obviously goes on thicker and after two additional coats, the paint is starting to shine. My guess is I've got two or three more coats and then after a couple of weeks, I'll wet sand w/2000 grit and rub it down with rubbing compound and wax.

Blueraven

 

in order to get the light scratches that the sandpaper left when u wet sanded (causes the no shine look on enamel), u will HAVE to use rubbing compound with an electric buffer and a compound pad and then finish with compound and a buffing pad to get the micro scratches that the compound may leave, the foam pads are best to use, 3M makes them and should be availabe at any automotive paint supply store,