I’m painting with hardened alkyd enamel and have some questions about spot repairs.

I had some fish eyes and a run that I tried too hard to remove and now need to fix. The surrounding paint has hardener in it and has cured for over a month. The fish eyes are not open to the base, just in the last coat (I forgot to drain the tank and water separator and got water in the line). The run went through to the base when I attempted to sand it out.

How can I fix these? For the run, can I blend it into the surrounding paint with 220 grit followed by 500, then paint several coats, let it harden and level it with 1200 grit? Will that show after I buff it out? This is on the nose, so I have the option of just repainting the whole thing.

On the fish eyes, I was thinking of mixing paint and hardener (no reducer) and dripping it into the fish eyes to build them up, then level with 1200 after it hardens. Will this work or leave me with spots? I know I could have drizzled some paint into the fisheyes when wet, but they didn’t appear until the next morning.

Should I use a deglosser in the fisheyes since I can’t really sand in them? Could I use some Japan drier to speed up drying times? Could I use a heat lamp to speed curing time? The paint is black, so I’ll set it out in the sun as much as I can, but it’s in the 60’s here and sunshine has been in short supply.

Will I need to use a blending agent? What do I get? Is there one specifically for alkyd enamel or will one for acrylic enamel work? Will an auto paint store have it? (We're talking old-school alkyd enamel here)

This is single stage enamel with hardener. I can’t seem to find any info online that deals with this type of paint. The only info I can get is basecoat / clearcoat oriented.

Thanks!


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1986 SE Aero coupe.

3.4 DOHC swap is complete and running, now just have to finish the rest of the car...

[This message has been edited by tesmith66 (edited 10-18-2013).]

Not sure, if it were my Id likley sand that entire panel and respray it.

No doubt the best solution, but I'm trying to avoid that because of the cooler weather and the extra 3 or 4 weeks I;ll have to wait for the paint to cure before buffing.

You are going to need to talk to your paint store guys. You can blend enamel but it's not easy. I use a blending solvent for the base/clear that I use and I would expect that there is a solvent for enamel in your brand of paint. If not then the paint guys should be able to direct you to the proper product. Give it a shot.....if it works, great. If not, then you can repaint the entire cover. The less paint that you have on the cover the better because the more paint that's on the cover the better chance of it cracking.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Mark the paint guy

shoulda went with urethane.

If you ever have a problem with fisheyes, you can buy some of these:


They are a micro sanding needle that will allow you to sand the fisheye and then hopefully loosen and remove any dirt which allows you to do what you mentioned and drip paint into the fisheye. If you are doing black, you will see a slight difference in color within the dot but it will be so subtle that it won't matter.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 10-20-2013).]

Excellent! I didn't know those even existed.

My fish eyes were the result of water in the lines (verified after they appeared) and only go down 1 or 2 coats. I put on plenty of paint and have been succesful sanding the smaller ones out, but those will be a big help on the larger ones.

Thank you.

Ive never seen anyone, or blended in enamel myself ever. For good results, and faster, just sand it down and respray the panel. Ive had fisheyes only appear in the top coat occasionally. I just let the coat dry almost dry, then dust on clear lightly over the fisheyes for several coats (NOT GLOSSY). The dusted paint is dryer and wont fisheye nearly as much. You can also use a small brush or paper matchstick to drop a drip of clear into the fisheye. Then put on a final finsh coat of clear. Then you can block sand the area after its cured and buff. Fisheye will be gone.

Good info Roger, but there is no clear coat involved here. Additionally, the fish eyes didn't appear until after I was finished spraying. Everything looked good when I quit for the night. The following morning (after the hardener had kicked in) I saw them. Too late for "wet" repairs.

My timing on this couldn't be worse weather-wise. It was 30 degrees this morning and our highs aren't going to break 50 all week. Fall is here. I don't have heat in the booth and (as always) time is short. I'm gonna try the needles and spot paint them with a heat lamp for curing. If I screw it all up I'll just have to wait for spring or find a safe way to get heat in the booth and shoot it all over again.

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1986 SE Aero coupe.

3.4 DOHC swap is complete and running, now just have to finish the rest of the car...

You are using oil based semi-gloss over urethane based paint. Two completely different products. You can not fad it or spot paint it.

[This message has been edited by Spiders1 (edited 10-22-2013).]

The ONLY paint Ive seen in 50 years that perfectly blended in was lacquer. It will soften with thinner 50 years after its painted. Every other kind of paint always leaves a ring around the spot. If you get away with it at all, its showing within months. You end up with a glossy panel, dull ring and a glossy center where the spot was. Buffing just makes it get worse and worse. I can blend in a lacquer job and it still looks perfect and undetectable many years down the road. Ive never got any form of enamel to do that. People tell me they blend in basecoat/clearcoat perfect...but apparently their def of perfect is different than mine. I can spot one from 20'. All you have to do is see the reflection in the panel and it pops right out.

Well I'm gonna find out. I've pulled it off with spray can enamel when I built models as a kid, so...what could go wrong?

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1986 SE Aero coupe.

3.4 DOHC swap is complete and running, now just have to finish the rest of the car...

I guess those sandpaper needles are far better than just folded sandpaper.