How to Blend Paint Patches on a Car
Car repair can cost a lot of money, and it's always tempting to save by doing work at home, especially when it comes to body work. Repainting your car is not challenging, but learning how to blend paint patches on a car takes some effort. With the right tools and enough patience, you can get your car looking good as new.
Instructions
1. Sand the area to be painted with a rough sandpaper. This will remove any grit and paint scratches so that your blending job will go on smoothly. After you have finished sanding, wash the area with a wax-free car cleaning fluid and rinse thoroughly.
2. Dry the area with a cotton cloth.
3. Cover up areas of the car that will not receive paint with newspaper and masking tape. If you're working on a small area, tape off the surrounding areas. If you're working on a large area, such as the hood, tape over windows, windshields and hood ornaments. Leave an overlap of three inches between the area to be blended and the car's surface; you will blend them once the paint has dried.
4. Apply the automotive paint to the area using a spray can, working the can back and forth across the area. If you're working on a large area, consider renting a spray gun. Check the paint can to see how long you must wait between coats of paint. A typical wait time for automotive paint is 15 minutes.
5. Apply additional coats in this manner until you are satisfied with the color. For enamel paints, three coats should suffice; if working with lacquer, six to eight coats should do. Leave the paint to dry overnight.
6. Spray an equal number of coats of clear coat on the area in the same manner as you applied the automotive paint. Leave the car to dry for up to two days.
7. Immerse 1,500-grit wet sandpaper in a bucket of water. Remove the wet sandpaper from the water and rub across the surface you've just repainted in long, fluid strokes. The sandpaper will remove any bumps, paint flecks and impurities in your paint job and will blend the new paint in with the old. Work over the entire affected area with the wet sandpaper, re-wetting the sandpaper as often as needed. After you have gone over the area in 1,500-grit wet sandpaper, change to 2,000-grit wet sandpaper and repeat the process. Wash the car to remove all paint chips.
8. Examine your car under natural sunlight. If you still see a difference in the color of the paint patches, wet-sand the area again.
9. Apply a wax-based polisher to the blended area to restore the natural shine of your car's finish. The patches should be fully blended with the rest of the paint job.
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