Hints and Tips to help me prep my a4 for its Rallye Green respray.......

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Dan TheMan Welburn

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Hi all, when i bought my car i bought it knowing it had been a cat C in 2003, fully repaired, but not painted very well, all the paint on rear quarters had reacted and cracked, and the numpty who painted it just kept piling on more paint so a lot of the cracks were very deep, ive lived with it for a few months knowing ill eventually get round to painting it, so recently i seen the new vrs green paint colour and fell in love with it, now i aint got the money to go out and buy a new octavia vrs so i decided to get my car painted in that colour, now i have a very reputable painter who has agreed to paint the car this colour for me for between £300 and £500 depending on how well prepped it is when i take it to him, ( bare in mind this is for external and door shuts),

So a few days ago i made a start on my offside rear quarter by hand using 800 and 1000 grit wet and dry, after 3 hours i had blistered fingers and hadnt got very far, (even had the missus giving a helping hand) so i was thinking of using a DA sander or orbital sander but not sure whether theyll be any good? and im struggling to find any reasonably priced that isnt an air sander, i dont have a compressor,

any ideas how i can get through this mammoth job? i have a few minor repairs to do along the way too, rust on N/S front door sill, couple of small dents, i still have s-line doorblades to fit and a new front valance, as ive got the quattro rear bumper with two exhaust exits ready for a custom exhaust :)

All hints and tips will be appreciated :) i will try and post pics of where im at tomorrow
 
You need some specialist advice from someone who's seen the car and experienced in such matters. Surely your reputable painter is in a better position to advise?
 
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I've got no advice to give I'm afraid, but still really interested to see how you get on with the project. Some photos would be great. Good luck! Sounds like a pretty big job.
 
I have used air tools in the past to sand - they make easy work of it.
DA polishers are made to avoid heavy abrasion so stay away from those.

If you have the time, remove as many items as you can, i.e - bumpers, bump strips, doors, headlights.etc - so they can be sprayed separately, you will get better coverage and help avoid any areas where the paint may crack.
 
you can us a DA sander/ Dual Action sander on it halfords did a good one for 20 or 30 pounds and will do the job very well for you and it also has a side to side movement to help with swirl marks witch you dont want when re painting a car as they will show up after. i did car body work about 10 years ago so no the prep work is the hard part and also the most impotent
 
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I just got myself a random action orbital sander from machine mart, but the finest pads they had was p320, just to the feel i reckon they might be too coarse? but a friend of mine reckons aslong as the car is being primered before paint which i assume it will be with the colour change, it should be fine... now i need to find me extension cable so i can get started, hopefully 50 pads will do the full car and doorshuts, i am however going to need to use a little filler in places where the small dents are,

Im gonna get a few pics of the car as it is now and put them up and ill try and update the progress as i go :)
 
Work ive done so far aswell as some of the rough parts ahead......

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Ignore the sticker on the bumper its been there since i fitted it, lol i dont see the point of cleaning it loads while its like this, my drive is a little tight so ill get a few of the rest of the car in the morning
 
it would be better if you could go higher mate some thing like 500 would be good as for him priming it you may want to ask to be sure as he may well have priced it just for the colour and top coat as 300 to 500 pounds seems really cheap to paint a hole car door shuts and all so id ask him if he is or not as you dont need the car sitting around with no paint on it
 
also where will i get 5" 500grit pads from? machine mart only sold upto 320 and theyre classed as "Extra Fine" cost £20 for the pack of 50 i got
 
woah!! u are just wasting alot of time and causing u and ur painter lot more work for yourselves with the way you are doing it, i am a prepper and have been for the last 7 years, way to muchto type but ill help over the phone if u want. pm me
 
hope that helps mate, goodluck, take your time with it,and like i said giza text if ur stuck
 
Little update, not been able to get started with the electric sander till today, **Stupid weather** :mad: but i spent about an hour and half around the kids etc and this is where i am...... unfortunately the reacted paint is deeper so tomorrow ill have to take another layer off, also looks like ive found a few repairs some yellow primer under paint and tiny bits of filler

20120830_172412.jpg
 
Another little update, managed to get a bit more sanding done, (19 sanding pads worth) after realising how deep the reacted paint went, and the first layer of primer was stupidly thin too..... looks like it may be a bare metal job :(

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Wouldn't going down to the bare metal strip away the galvanising on the body? Are you sure you haven't bitten off more than you can chew? Prepping the car to save some cash might seem like a good idea, but after taking 19 pads to partially do a single panel, I would be throwing in the towel!
 
Well i only have 2 panels like this to do, and the bare metal can be etch primed before going into bodyshop, i wont be throwing in the towel, i knew it wouldnt be easy to begin with, few more days graft n itll all be worth it, i only need to key the majority of the car, its only the rear quarters that need the effort, as i dont want a reaction in the paint like the previous owner got,
 
Been out working on the prep again today, been n bought some fine filler, etch primer and some panel wipe, ive now etched all bare metal, (i may end up sanding some of this back off but its better than getting rust due to the showers we been getting) ran out of sanding pads, so ill go out and get some more tomorrow, also finally found a 8mm socket so can take tail lights out and rub down the edges properly, will do bumper edges closer to respray time, as theyre a headache removing and refitting
 
Been at it again today every little bit of reacted paint is off the offside rear quarter :) just needs the edges where bumper are doing which ill do tomorrow after i drop kids at school, as ill take the bumper off, and ill crack on with the other side, once ive done it all ill concentrate on the imperfections ie, dents, and flat it all off, then scotchbrite the rest of the paintwork :)

20120903_182701.jpg
 
Yes mate its certainly the bulk of the work done, the other side isnt anywhere near as bad ill take some before and after pics tomorrow :) (of the N/s quarter) and ill hopefully have the rest of the car all keyed up and ill make a start on the repairs of the few dents, then all i have to do before paint, is sort a front valance i like (cant for the life of me find an s-line one :( ) and get the flared door blades and boot spoiler and roof spoiler then ill be set for paint day :D
 
Todays progress :)
Everywhere theres primer i sanded all reacted paint away, and its all lovely and smooth, even dealt with a few dings and deep scratches, ill wait for the filler to dry then ill sand to a smooth finish

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looking good mate looking good im trying to picture it in green think its going to be the only one a ;-)
 
Yeah that's what i was going for, a completely unique look :) still a long way to go before ive finished putting "my touch" on it.

And as much as i got done today it ended on a bad note...... need a new alloy :( ones buckled badly, no idea how its happened tho as i havnt hit anything :-S
 
thats a shame but im sure you will not be keeping them wheels any way ;-)
 
yeah i am keeping these, balance between nice wheels and manageable price on tyres etc, dont like the cost of 18" tyres lol, got my eye on a single one its only at 30quid with a good tyre lol much cheaper than buying a new set :)
 
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Good work in progress there Dan
 
voorhees said:
Good work in progress there Dan
Click to expand...

Thanks :) ill update as i get further, going to get scotchbrite pads in the morning to key the rest of the panels, and i have a small area which needs rubbing back on the roof, and ill hopefully finish the dents/scratches etc :)
 
looking good
 
Well done fella get pics up when it's green suppose your even helping the environment by going green Sorry
 
Slinepete said:
Well done fella get pics up when it's green suppose your even helping the environment by going green Sorry
Click to expand...

haha never thought about that before, i guess im doing my bit eh! ;-)

I will try and get pics throughout the painting process if the bodyshop will let me :)
 
Nice one pal, hope my advice helped, if u need any more help u got my number
 
Thanks pal i dont have a phone at the moment and unfortunately the car is away at the moment too, till monday, so not sure how the progress will go over the coming weeks...
 
Only had a quick look, is this project finished yet? Not been on the forum for a bit
 
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