Murray_Calavera

It happens, that's what your single stage filler is used for. If it is still visible after the 3 coats of 2k primer, it will be visible after the paint is laid down. Its hard to give 100% perfect advice without being there in person, I'm very tempted to say stop where you are, fill your pin holes with a single stage putty first then keep going.

My first thought is to use something like this https://www.bunnings.com.au/goof-off-177ml-adhesive-remover_p1580913

You beat me to it, I was going to say this - And this - Sounds like things are coming along pretty well and your learning heaps along the way.

@RA708 All good mate. Once you get your first car and can get hands on, that's when you'll really start to learn. There are a million channels worth watching on youtube, but I'd like to make a recommendation. Check out the project binky series. Just a little bit of modding happening there, I think you'll find it interesting https://www.youtube.com/@BadObsessionMotorsport

Not trying to be rude here, I'm guessing your currently not old enough to drive yet? If this is the case, I'd stick with just watching stuff on youtube. If you find the right channels you can actually learn quite a bit there.

What are you planning to do specifically? I would be very surprised if you need to learn any math for these 'few builds' you have planned for the future.

Sounds good. Might be worth double checking what size rim the tyres you are running want. Generally I'd expect to see a 235 tyre on a 8.5 rim. Any possibility of an easy to source OEM 9.5 wide rim? Also with the thoughts of the square setup, I'd still say wider is going to be better. Say your currently on 235 front and 255 rear. Going to square 255 will be better. But say you could fit, 255 front and 275 rear, that will be better again. In hypothetical land there might be a world where you go so wide that performance starts to go backwards, but I don't think you'll ever bump into that situation in real life.

I would be very surprised if you could tell the difference between 8kg and 12kg wheels in a blind A B test. What you will be able to notice is going to wider wheels (+wider tyres). If you don't have to abide by any rules, I'd fit the widest wheels you can get under the guards.

What type of track driving will you be doing? Do you have a set of class rules you need to abide by that will limit your rim / tyre width?

Oh I probably didn't speak enough about the small sanding block for blocking large areas. In the video about 3 minutes in, he talks about creating valleys in the panel. This is the issue with using a small sanding block for a large area, it's way too easy to create the valleys he is talking about. With a large block its much easier to create a nice flat surface. Hard to explain but in practice you'll notice the difference straight away using the large block.

Yep I guessed as much. You'll find life much easier with a large block something like this - https://wholesalepaint.com.au/products/dura-block-long-hook-loop-sanding-block-100-eva-rubber-af4437 This is a good demo video of something like this in use - You have turned your small rock chip holes into large low spots. You'll need to fill and block these low spots. It's always a little hard not seeing it in person, but yes I would go ahead and lay filler over the whole area. Have a good look at the video I linked, it's a very good example of all the things you're doing. They went to bare metal, they are using guide coat, they are doing a skim coat with the filler and blocking it back. If what you're doing doesn't look like what they are doing, that's a big hint for you

I'm guessing you mean something like this size? https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/bodyworx-bodyworx-hard-soft-sanding-block---70-x-135mm/594184.html?cgid=SCA01100303#srsltid=AfmBOoq_qZTEe3boann9BaHiB2f59dxJlosWLzCr0zm_weHgUlDX-N5f&start=6 Are they sanded completely flat?

Say you've just laid all your filler and your about to start sanding, how large is the sanding block your using? Like a high fill primer? Technically possible but would be a nightmare. Just guessing from the photo, but they look small enough that you might get away with using a 1k spot putty. Normally you'd use something like this on pinholes but with the type of project you're working on I'd give it a go.

lol nice, I wouldn't worry about sanding back the filler to check for rust then. Yep very much a thing. Personally I don't do the panel beating, its very easy to have a panel beater sort that out for you. If they aren't doing any prep work the actual panel beating generally doesn't take long at all. Have you taken before pictures before you started this project? I'd be keen to see the before and afters when you're done.

Sounds good Hmm suppose the main thing is, how much do you care about this car? The filler doesn't make for a very good water barrier lol. If there was a tiny little bit of rust forming now, that in 3 to 5 years time becomes obvious under the paint (starts to bubble up), would it bother you?

Yep, if you are applying filler it sounds like there is something wrong with the body lol. Safe to assume there is going to be a lot of sanding going on if your still applying fillers. Picture a perfect bare metal panel, smooth as glass. You lay down your primer, it's perfect. (why are you going to sand it?) You lay down the colour and clear, it's perfect. No sanding at all took place and you've got a perfectly finished panel. You won't be chasing your tail, sounds like you were prepping to start laying filler. If your happy with the body after the sanding, there is some bare metal exposed and some areas with primer, no issues at all, start laying the filler. You are safe to lay filler on bare metal or primer (of course check your technical data sheet as usual for what your filler is happy to adhere to). This isn't a 100% correct statement. There is primer that is happy to adhere to smooth bare metal. There are fillers that are happy to adhere to smooth bare metal. Just make sure you're using the right materials for the job. Typically if you are using filler, you would go primer, colour and clear. I've never seen any instances before where someone has laid colour over body filler (maybe this happens, but I haven't seen it before). So your plan sounds pretty normal to me.

Yes correct. Also, I'd avoid applying it to soft paint (however I doubt you'll ever have to deal with it in practice). So any paint that hasn't fully hardened, could be a 1k paint that never fully hardened or it could be a 2k paint that was laid down thick and hasn't yet fully hardened.

Sounds good. Provided the panel is flat/level I'd be happy to start the painting process. While you are learning, for sure you could do this. Its only paint, you can always sand it all back and start again. Its only your time and money on materials, but while you're learning, really its time and money spent on your education. Once you know how to do this bodywork and painting, you won't want to waste your time and money on frivolous activities lol.

Prior to laying down the primer, you need to make sure the surface is completely level. For example, based on this picture, I strongly suspect that the areas marked in blue are higher then the area marked in green. If you spray primer over this entire area, then paint and clear it, the finished result will 100% show the low area. It will stick out like dogs balls. Unfortunately the paint won't magically level out the low areas as you lay it down. Without seeing it in person, I expect that the green area will need to be filled, then use a guide coat and check that the entire repair area is level with a large sanding block. With this picture, are you saying that even though you can see the scratches, the panel is in fact completely smooth and flat? If this is the case sure you could prep and paint it as it is. The picture with the paint you described as blistering, it's hard for me to comment on from the photo alone. It looks like the panel is wet? Dunno, looks strange. Does the panel feel as smooth as glass when you run your hand over it? **** Going back to your question again, generally you would only sand the primer if you made a mistake while laying down the primer. If the panel is prepped properly and you lay the primer down properly, you should not need to sand the primer. This wouldn't work - Don't prep the panel. Spray primer and see how it turns out. Sand the areas where the issues appear. Spray more primer and see how it turns out. Sand the areas....... Yeah you'd go round and round in circles getting no where.

They didn't work.

After reading this I think this is really important to mention - please for the love of god do not spray any 2 pack paint (typically advertised as 2K, it contains a hardener that is mixed before spraying) without a proper respirator, gloves, eye protection and preferably a full one piece disposable paint suit. That stuff is nasty and can really f*ck you up. Also worth mentioning, the filters on the respirator will require changing before you can smell the chemicals through them. So with a brand new respirator and filters, you shouldn't smell anything at all when spraying. If you later can smell the paint chemicals, you've changed your filters too late. Filters are cheap, replace them often.

@silviaz Ok cool, so much easier with a video. I can see why this video would be confusing for new players. It is obvious that this entire bonnet is going to be resprayed, have a look in the background around 2:05, you can see a bunch of bare metal on the left side of the bonnet. It's not an issue for the primer being laid down on the non-prepped clear on the bonnet. It will be sanded off at a later stage. This might not be obvious to new players, but working on bare metal and factory paint in this instance, the factory paint is like a mountain and the bare metal is a huge valley. The bonnet needs to be levelled flat before it receives it's final stage of colour and clear coat. During this levelling process, the primer that is landing on the clear that you are worried about will be removed. Also, this guy is out of control. Zero PPE while spraying, maybe he is a good example overall about what not to do lol.

Post up the youtube video your referring to, will be much easier then us playing charades together lol. Lets see the videos in question. If the car is in your garage and you sand it back to bare metal, you'd be surprised how much time you have to work with before it starts to rust. As long as you're actively working on the car in your free time, you're going to be fine. I assume everyone is reading the data sheets for all the materials they are using before using them. If you're not, please start doing this lol.

Sounds good. I don't 100% understand what your getting at here. When you say, "I keep seeing YouTube videos where people have new paint and primer land on the old clearcoat that isn't even dulled down" do you mean this - there is a panel with factory paint, without any prep work, they paint the entire panel with primer, then colour then clear? If that's what you mean, sure it will "stick" for a year, 2 years, maybe 3 years? Who knows. But at some stage it will flake off and when it does it's going to come off in huge chunks and look horrific. Of course read your technical data sheet for your paint, but generally speaking, you can apply primer to a scuffed/prepped clear coat. Generally speaking, I wouldn't do this. I would scuff/prep the clear and then lay colour then clear. Adding the primer to these steps just adds cost and time. It will stick to the clear coat provided it has been appropriately scuffed/prepped first. When you say, "but the new paint is landing on the old clearcoat" I am imagining someone not masking up the car and just letting overspray go wherever it wants. Surely this isn't what you mean? So I'll assume the following scenario - there is a small scratch. The person manages to somehow fill the scratch and now has a perfectly flat surface. They then spray colour and clear over this small masked off section of the car. Is this what you mean? If this is the case, yes the new paint will eventually flake off in X number of years time. The easy solution is to scuff/prep all of the paint that hasn't been masked off in the repair area then lay the paint. So you want to prep the surface, lay primer, then lay filler, then lay primer, then colour, then clear? Life seems so much simpler if you prep, fill, primer, colour then clear. There are very few reasons to go to bare metal. Chasing rust is a good example of why you'd go to bare metal. A simple dent, there is no way in hell I'm going to bare metal for that repair. I've got enough on my plate without creating extra work for myself lol.

Budget for sensors and wiring as well. Depending on how safe you want to be with the engine, you could be flirting with $2K AUD in sensors and wiring.