frogman

99.99% sure that they would fit.

I have a pair of 215/45/17 'Bridgestone B500is' tyres. They have heaps of tread, 1 has a scrape on the sidewall (see pic). I asked the dude at the tyre shop about it & he said it would be no problem. Price: $80.00 the pair Pick up from Quakers Hill, Sydney. Just reply here or pm me, thanks.

My brother has put 15's on his old school 'line, so the 4 stockers are for sale. They come with chrome dress rims & the 'S' centre caps. Tyres are 'Sime Tyre 195/65/14 Monza HR7'. 2 are just about on the markers, 2 are still pretty good. Price: $80.00 Pick up from Quakers Hill, Sydney. just reply here or pm me, thanks.

move along people, nothing to see here.

I already have a website for my company... but the original designer/host has moved overseas. My 'friend of a friend' offered to do it, but has been unreliable & only has limited ability. Is anyone on here, or can anyone recommend, a professional web designer & host to keep my site updated? I'd prefer someone local to north-west suburbs (I'm at Baulkham Hills), but someone that will actually do it would be a start! Please PM me if you can help me out, thanks.

Sorry to hear about your car.. Without getting to technical, Most normal metallics & pearls ( & some solid reds, yellows etc can be too) are a 2 layer... That is they have a base coat & a clear coat. The 'base' part is just the colour, with the pearl or metallic already suspended in it. This is followed by the clear for protection & gloss. To get a very bright or 'clean' colour, they usually have to be very transparent. This means that they don't cover very well & reqiure several coats. So to achieve coverage without putting 1000 coats on, paint companies developed a 3 layer system. First, to get coverage, you put on a 'ground' coat, which would be a solid(no metallic or pearl in it) colour. Then you put on the pearl or metalic colour with the 'flake' in it. This is then followed by the clear coat. As for Bayside, I havn't painted it, wouldn't have thought it was a 3 layer, but could be. Yes, 3 layers are harder to repair. After colour matching, you either have to try to blend out the ground coat without getting a shadow, then blend out the colour/flake without getting a shadow... or... colour match it perfect & paint the whole panel... or a combination of the two... or... yeah... 3 layers can suck! Some paint companies are now able to do bright clean colours as 2 layers as paint tech evolves. For example, I painted my brothers car in Mazda Velocity red (on the rx8 etc) From the side the colour is nice & bright, but when you get it out in the sun on the right angle the pearls really stand out. PPG & Spies Hecker only had 3 layer formulas, but Standox was able to do it in a 2 layer with their new pearls (it still took 6 coats to cover,... & was expensive...) Hope this helped, & your car comes back good as new.

Umm.. yeah... you kinda need some reducer Is the basecoat already thinned out? Still need to thin out the clear though... usually need around 10-15%. If you have 4lt of clear & 2lt of hardner, the ratio would be 2:1. Should say on the tin. So 2 parts of clear to 1 part hardner + 15%(?) reducer... 2lt of clear will need 1lt of hardner + ~350ml of reducer. Yeah 0.8 would be about it, so 1 part base coat to 0.8 parts of reducer.... 1lt of basecoat would need 800ml of reducer.

If you can paint acrylic successfully, you can paint 2 pac. If you have already done a bit of painting then you'll probably know this... but...Did you buy the base coat as a 'kit'(1 tin of colour + 1 tin of reducer)? Or do you just have 4 litres of the colour(not thinned out), make sure you have the correct reducer(thinners) for the base coat. Some brands use the same reducer for the base coat & for the clear, but some dont. Make sure you mix everything to the correct ratio that it tells you on the side of the tin too, if you dont have a proper ratio stiring stick, get one. First, its always a good idea to thoroughly wash the car (the day before) you paint it, including all around the inside of the doors, under the wheel arch lips... everywhere! Then get your air blower & get all the water & crap out from under the moulds etc. Painting in the shed is ok, but they can be a bit dark, if you can get some more lights from somewhere, get them too! Putting up plastic disposable drop sheets on the walls is a good idea, just make sure they aint gonna fall onto the car! Also give the floor a hose down before you put the car in there. You can also carefully tip some water from a bucket around on the floor inbetween coats to keep the dust down if you want. Just be carefull of the airline being wet & not hitting the car with it. Ventilation is also important, 2 pac takes a while to dry, so when you have a shed full of mist after you have finished spraying it can settle on the car while its drying. You wanna try to have some air movement in & out without letting to much dust in. Try using a fan to suck the air out a bit. 'Tack Rags' are a good thing... they are kinda like a kitchen 'chux' cloth but are sticky. After you have the car in the 'booth', masked up, blown off again, prepsoled(wax & grease remover, wipe on with 1 rag, wipe off with another) You use a Tack Rag to wipe down the car & masking paper just before you spray to get any last bits of dust. You can also wipe down the car(not the masking paper though) inbetween coats of basecoat & before you clear, after it has flashed off of course. Wear disposable gloves, & a pair of disposable overalls are a good idea. The white 'paper' ones are fine but you get a bit sweaty, the blue 'silky' ones are tops & are washable so you can keep them for a while. Depends on how much you wanna spend. You will need a 'particle/charcoal' mask. Sundstrom or 3M make good ones. Air fed masks(a.k.a respirators, that you see in smash repair shops) are only used when you have a proper filtration system on your air compressor, you cant breath the air straight from a compressor. You are right, base coat doesnt need hardner. Its is purely & simply a colour (no protective additives in it, no gloss etc) But you do need to thin it out to what % it says on the side of the tin, with the right stuff. It should also tell you how long to leave it between coats. But generally you can see when its 'flashed off', it goes dull. By the time you have done a lap of the car & filled the gun up it should be ok. The clear doesnt 'activate' the base coat though. It protects the base coat (by going hard) & makes it shiny. You also need to mix it properly with the right ratio of hardner & % of reducer. Once you have cleaned out the gun, mixed the clear & tack raged the car,(10-15mins?) the base coat should be flashed off & ready to clear. Spraying comes down to experience...& without a booth/heat you gotta go by what you can see. I would start with a light/medium coat of clear, just to get the feel of it. Once you have done a lap, top up the gun. Then do a nice coat. Wait for a few mins... stick ya finger on the masking paper & pull it off again, it should still be sticky, but not too wet, before you go for your last coat. Remember, 2 pac will continue to 'flow out', so be carefull about runs! You should find all the gear you need at a smash repair supply shop, look them up in the yellow pages. Goodluck

You'll get a better finish if you 1200 it before you re clear it. Putting more orange peel over orange peel can magnify it. Don't go crazy & rub thru everywhere, just get it as flat as you can. You can put a little bit more thinners in the clear then too, to make it flow out more, the smoother you can lay the clear on, the easier it is to buff up ...& buffing sux

Good work for your first spraying effort thats a big flake... yeah you would need a big tip for that!! All you will need to do now is rub it back nice & smooth with some 1200 wet, re clear it, rub it back & buff it up. Yep, see, prep is the key, but its good that you have learnt early that you can always spend a little more time on preping stuff... still a pretty good effort & like ya said, the flakes will distract your eye anyway. Gun drip sucks doesn't it! It happens when the needle doesn't seal properly against the tip. If it does it once, stop... nothing worse than getting a big drip in the middle of a panel. Un plug the air line, take the air cap off & have a look at the hole on the end of the tip while pulling the trigger in & out. The paint should flow out easily & completley stop when you let the trigger out. Check if there is a bit of clear that is drying over the hole or if there is a bit of crap stuck to it or something. Wind the fluid knob in & out & wipe the tip with a thinners rag & pull the trigger in & out a few more times. If it looks fine, but still drips, then there is probably something on the inside of the tip or on the end of the needle, it only takes a tiny little thing to stop it sealing. You'll have to pull the gun down & clean it. Always pull the needle out before undoing the tip, & put the tip back on then the needle back in. A few tricks when cleaning... let the air cap & tip soak in thinners for a bit & put some vasoline on the needle where it goes through the gun (about half way down) for a nice smooth trigger & to keep the little rubber seals in good nic. Put the gun back together & run some thinners thru it, hopefully it won't drip! Starting your stroke with just air then flicking your wrist & letting the trigger 1/2 way out again just takes practice...

Yeah, prep is the most important part, you should always rub something before you paint it, no matter what it is. A green scotchbrite pad will do the job. Then clean with a wax&grease remover (or just some metho will do ok). Wipe it on with 1 rag & off with another. If they are bare metal, you will need to prime them. I havn't looked in the spray can section for a while, but if you can get a heat proof epoxy etch primer, use that, if not, then just normal epoxy etch. You will only need a thin coat of this, the thicker it is the easier it will chip off, so don't go overboard. Wait for it to tack then go the colour. Heat proof enamel will be fine. Do a few thin even coats, wait till it has tacked off between coats, don't try to paint it in 1 go! Enamel over spray can travel a bit, so spray out in the backyard away from stuff, & they dont like being sprayed when its too humid or cold, so wait for a nice sunny day. With spray cans, try to stick with the same brand for everything, that way you won't have any problems with different types of paint reacting with each other. Normal spray cans should be ok for ya rockers, but if you want them to be the same colour as the shields just use the same can. If you want a gloss finish on them, its a good idea to use a couple coats of clear too.

No problem guys. Sorry frOst, don't know of any sites for colours. Probably better to go down to your smash shop supplier & asking them nicely if you can look at their colour chip books, that way you can find out how much they'll cost ya too. tmc_2, You don't neccesserally have to buff with an electric buff, but it will take you forever to get it looking ok, especially a dark colour. Start by hand & see how well it comes up/how long it takes before you get sick of it I guess... A proper buff (I got a top of the line 'Rupes' from cash converters for 80 bucks, the guy didn't know what he was selling!) is ideal, I've never used one of those two handle round things that you get from supercheap, but its probably better than nothing! Back in the day when I was using acrylic you would use a lambswool buffing pad with a green compound called 'Farecla'(I think thats how you spell it) I know it is still used & available from smash supply shops, but I've only seen it in big buckets. There is a small foam white & yellow buff pad which is designed for 2pac, but you could probably use it on acrylic, they are called 'G-mop'. I'm pretty sure there are a few cheaper versions of the same thing but I dont know their names. Maybe go for a softer one for acrylic, ask the guy at the shop what firmness would be better. I use a compound called 'Pasta Abrisiva', by Gelson. Its in a small black tin with white yellow & red stripes. Both of these compounds (which can be thinned out with a bit of water to make life easier), & pads will get all your wet sanding scratches out, from here you can go by hand or keep buffing... There is a larger black foam pad called a 'waffle pad'. They are a bit tricky to use but when you work it out the paint comes up sweet. I use a 3M compound, I'm pretty sure its called 'finess it', but I've lent it to a mate so its not out in the garage for me to check! There may be a new improved version of it now, but it still comes in a tall black squeezy bottle with red writing. Not sure how you would go trying to use this stuff by hand though, its ok for small areas where you cant get the waffle, but big flat areas, hmmm.. For polish, every one has their personal preferance. I started using 'AutoGlym Super Resin' about 10 years ago. I have tried others, waxes etc. but have always gone back to super resin. Its easy to use & has no silicone in it, silicone is a nightmare for spraypainters! The whole time I was in smash shops I just used clean white soft rags if i had to polish anything... the last time I bought some super resin they had a sale on proper terry towel polishing clothes, they are heaps better than rags !! P.S. All this stuff is just what I am used to. These products have been around for ages & are used by alot of smash shops. There are heaps of products & ways to do the same thing, if you use something else some other way & your car looks great, thats fine.

Yeah, buffing 2pac straight out of the booth isnt the best idea...you can do it if you have to(as in: smash shop, crap car, friday arvo, gotta get it out the door!) but you dont need to wait for weeks. It depends on how cofident(brave!) you are when it comes to acrylics, if your not sure then leave it, rather than wrecking all your work on the last step.

Sorry if I wasn't clear..when I said "just make sure you can turn the air all the way down" I meant on the gun, not on the compressor. Being able to wind down the air really low on the gun is handy when you want to paint small areas & for touch ups. My gun won't, but some do. If you feel that you have too much air, then yeah you can turn the pressure down on the compressor no problem. With your bonnet, that plan is fine. Let the primer dry for a few days before you rub it down. Acrylic is pretty workable, so if you think your black looks a bit dodgey or the flakes are a bit too chunky, you can always cut it back between coats, re clear it then cut & buff it.

2Pac is designed to have gloss "off the gun", meaning you don't need to buff or polish it after its dry to make it shiny. Acrylic never actually dries, and needs to be buffed to get full gloss. You only need to 'cut' acrylic to remove orange peel or defects, you can buff it without rubing it back if you want. Yes, you can cut & buff 2Pac pretty much straight after it has been baked. He would have been talking about "baked enamel" (which is old school talk, similar to 2Pac.) The only reason to cut & buff 2pac is to "de-nib" it, removing any little specs of dust that can fall into the paint when spraying/drying. Or to cut out runs or if you have stuffed it up & got too much orange peel. This is done by using a small block and 1000-1200grit wet&dry to 'cut' or flatten the spot, then buffed with a cutting compound followed by a finer type of compound, then polished. Some people talk about show cars getting "colour sanded," when you rub the whole car back and buff it up so there isn't any peel in it. The longer you leave 2Pac to cure, the harder it is to cut back & buff up. Most smash shops will de-nib(cut & buff it only) the day after it was painted. Then polish it before giving the car back to the owner. Every one seems to have a different tale to tell about acrylics... When I worked in smash shops I painted my fair share of cars & parts in acrylic as an apprentice. Parts, or something like a guard & door, you would paint first thing in the morning, leave it in the sun & buff in the arvo while it was still soft...if you get the right amount of heat into the panel you can flatten orange peel off ... so you wouldn't have to rub it back! Depends on how well you painted it to how much cutting & buffing you will need to do. Usually just let it sit for a couple days then cut & buff. I can remember respraying a silver VR Commodore in acrylic (when they were new cars, insurance companies would only accept/pay for an OEM finish.. not allowed to paint it in 2pac, ) that had been hailed on. Gave it a light cut, buffed & polished it 3 days later... no smash shop will let a car sit around for a month waiting for paint to dry. I think the main thing people talk about when they say you shouldn't cut/polish/wax fresh paint is waxing fresh acrylic. Theoretically, the wax can seal in the thinners that is still evaporating while its fresh, causing it to 'solvent pop'. Acrylic is old tech. You will probably find that most people that talk about waxing acrylic are also old tech, or havn't painted for a while or knew someone that was a painter, or whatever...

for wanting to have a go! First up, a 10cfm 2hp belt drive compressor would be ideal for parts etc, a 12cfm 2.5hp belt drive can do a car. The little mini compressors wont really cut it & will end up working too hard/ get too hot. Belt drives (looks like a fan belt set up, with 2 pulleys) are usually quieter than diaphram type (just the motor/pump on top, no belt or pulleys) too. Second hand or reco ones are fine. Most cheapie spray guns are OK, 'Star' make pretty good entry level guns, you will want a 1.2-1.4mm tip. A "Conventional" gravity feed is the way to go, don't get a "HVLP".(one of my SATA guns is a high volume- low pressure gun, so even with it wound all the way in a fair bit of air still comes out... good for hosing it on but can be annoying for tricky areas) Just make sure you can turn the air pressure all the way down till no air comes out at all. No, you shouldn't spray 2pac at home (but you shouldn't drink or smoke cigarettes either!) & you will get fined if you get busted. Acrylic is great for beginners, and yes you can get all colours, metallics, pearls etc in it. Always wear a proper mask(Sundstrom or 3M are good), and be carefull about overspray when spraying... spray in the garage or in the backyard... move everyones cars out the front/on the street... dont spray when windy... etc etc Look up your local smash repair supplies shop in the yellow pages, go say Hi & ask what gravity feed guns they have on special, should be able to do a package deal... gun, proper mask etc. Again, your local smash shop supplier will sell all paints, & should be able to match to the colour of your car if you give them the paint code & petrol flap. You can do short intro courses at TAFE, but costs money & time...if you're keen enough just have a go! Fill the gun up with water & "paint" your roller door/fence/wall/?? for a while Good Luck! try the trading post for smash shops closing down for good 2nd hand guns too

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Here's mine... but it could be yours! For Sale paulmac, to add pics: click "Add Reply", scroll down to File Attachments click"Browse" select pic from your files, click"Open" click"Add this Attachment" then click "Add into Post"

Here ya go...

please delete

Have you tried contacting Sportsclasic Cars at Castlereigh (near Penrith) www.sportsclassic.com.au I'm pretty sure he'll have some to choose from, last time I was there he had a nice mildly worked injected L28...

I have nav'ed in Targa Tas, & nav on dirt all the time. I have only ever used/needed a Terratrip 202,(& old school Haldas!) never really had any issues. The probe being hit by rocks & knocked about abit has happened a couple of times on the dirt though. Most of the top guys use Terraphones for comms, but there is a few people using Peltors now. You can definatley drive faster with notes, but we only used the RoadBook for Tas. The driver(my brother) figured it would be better to drive it how he saw it, not how someone else saw it, and we hadn't had much to do with notes before so we just stuck to what we knew. Driving to finish is more important than driving fast all the time though... It worked for us, 1st in class & a Targa Trophy! ps try looking or posting a wanted ad on www.bmsc.com.au maybe www.rallysportmag.com.au too

I go through a fair few 2nd hand rally tyres... I usually get good (~70%)Dunlops or Silverstones for $50 each, somethimes they have extra tread cuts in them though, from the tyre shop after the top guys use them for 2 stages & get new ones. I'd say $80-90ea for the Bridgestones? Try putting them on www.rally.com.au or www.rallysportmag.com.au

Nice!! Try posting on www.ozdat.com if you haven't already

They both make good quality paint. Depends on who is painting it & what they are used to using. Both have a couple of product lines, cheaper products for in & out quick smash repair work & higher quality lines. It basically comes down to what the painter prefers, if you ask someone who uses Spies all day every day to lay on a different line of PPG colour & clear you can have some issues as they all have their own characteristics when spraying & drying. Some people use this base coat & that clear, it works, but they are made by the paint companies to be used as a complete system of primer, colours & clears. If for some reason you have problems in the future from this, you have no comeback. Preparation is as important though, it doesn't matter how good the paint is if what you are painting over isn't right.