I made an oops! Please help!

[Garage Troll]

Okay, so I used UC all over my car today and it looks great except for one spot in which it looks like the previous owner let something eat through the clearcoat considerably. When I rubbed over it the paint became much lighter.

The spot is about the size of a shirt button and the only thing I can think of besides having to get the hood repainted is to try the touch up/wet sand technique myself. I figure that if it doesn't work at least I tried.

The only problem is that there really isn't a "divot" for me to fill in with paint so I was thinking of using a pencil eraser with a piece of rough sand paper (maybe 300 grit) to make this "divot" myself and then fill it in with the paint (as if this spot were a paint chip from a rock). I have it all taped off and tomorrow I am going to stop by the auto store to pick up some 1200+ grit to try and sand the "blob" down.

Does this idea sound feasible? I'm not expecting it to be perfect but I would rather it look decent than have to spend $500+ at an auto body shop to have it fixed.

BTW... The UC worked great and I don't want anybody to think that it is the cause of this. This is my own fault and the fault of the previous owner for letting whatever it was sit on the paint.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: I made an oops! Please help!

Before you go buy any sanding paper there are several things to address and consider.

For starters, take a look at this THREAD.

Next, can you try and get a picture for us?

You may want to simply put some clear coat in this area after you polish the exposed color coat and not mess with a color. It will be more likely to blend in. Color matching with touch-up paint is insanely hit or miss, and is usually more of a miss.

Also, what experience do you have with wet sanding? Any experience REMOVING sanding marks from an automotive finish?

[Garage Troll]

Re: I made an oops! Please help!

Unfortunately I don't think the clear coat would work. The spot is almost a silvery-blue color because of the metallics I think.

I am charging my camera tonight and hope to have some pics tomorrow.

I was surprised that I really wasn't too mad at myself. The hood has some of little chips on it in the first place and a nasty little dent in the center. It is so little that is tough to see on first glance.

I'm actually thinking this may be a blessing in disguise since I really wanted to learn to wet sand and this may be a perfect test. Oh well, if it needs painted it needs painted, there's nothing I can do about that. I think if I do get it repainted I may get one of those 3M clear bug shields, you know the ones that are nearly invisible.

All in all the UC did a great job removing scratches and even made my touch up jobs on the side of the car blend in better.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: I made an oops! Please help!

Well, here's a little more bad news. Metallic paints do not take well to sanding at all. As you sand you expose the flakes and sand them as well, and you end up most often with a lighter, more silver section than the surrounding areas.

Your best bet may be to put an ultra thing layer of the metallic color coat, skip sanding, and then cover that with normal clear. Use the clear in layers to fill the area.

Then you can level the clear without over-exposing the metallic flake.

Glad to hear the Ultimate Compound is working well for you, though

[Garage Troll]

Re: I made an oops! Please help!

Ah, then I shall skip the parts store and try that. I did have to end up using 600 grit to sand that spot to scuff it up. Even after I cleaned it up the paint wasn't sticking very well.

I utilized the tape and an old credit card to "squeege" the paint into the spot as evenly as I could since with the metallic paint the brush left brush marks.

I'm going over the spot now, hopefully it comes out a bit better or I'll be giving the body shop some business.

I also noticed this morning that there are about 4 others smaller spots on the hood where the previous owner really let something sit in. The rest of the car is pretty good so it may be just better to have the hood done. I don't know yet, I'll see how it turns out.

[yalerd]

Re: I made an oops! Please help!

I think the problem you have is related to a very thin clear coat on those sections of the hood.

[Eddie6th]

Re: I made an oops! Please help!

I think you have a lot to do here.A touch up with a paint stick is a quick fix for something isolated.I think everyone has had to deal with this at some point or another.You say there are about another 3 or 4 spots.You might be better off getting the hood resprayed.If you want to do all this yourself,it might become expensive.