Steps to DIY sanding car back ready for respray....

[silviaz]

16 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

@silviaz 

Maybe have a play with dry guide coat and using the compressor liberally and report back if its working better for you. 

Ah maybe worth noting. I'm not using a compressor but a blower

[silviaz]

21 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

It's just that it looks like it's all gone dry, but when you wet it the different materials darken differently and you can see the traces of the remaining guide coat, which are otherwise too thin to see when dry.

So does that mean i shouldnt be able to see any guide coat after wetting the area?

[silviaz]

1 hour ago, Murray_Calavera said:

I'm confused, so your saying after blowing the area off, the guide coat is gone. But then when you wipe it down, the guide coat residue becomes visible again?

This isn't a trick question like there is guide coat residue on the rag that your wiping the area down with? 

I cant see how once something is removed, it comes back when cleaning with wax and grease removed?

Yep correct. Or i guess maybe im wording it incorrectly. It's not as visible when blowing it off compared to wiping it with wax and grease remover.

 

I'll experiment with it again and post some photos

Edited June 22 by silviaz

[Murray_Calavera]

3 minutes ago, silviaz said:

Ah maybe worth noting. I'm not using a compressor but a blower

100% invest in a compressor. 

How many panels were you planning to paint? High quality paint rattle cans are super expensive and coverage is always depressingly low. Cost will add up very quickly.... I'd rather put the money into a compressor/gun then thousands of dollars worth of rattle cans (may sound crazy but at $50ish a can, you'll get into the thousands very quickly). 

5 minutes ago, silviaz said:

So does that mean i shouldnt be able to see any guide coat after wetting the area?

I'm keen to see a photo of what your talking about. 

4 minutes ago, silviaz said:

I'll experiment with it again and post some photos

Please do. Also try the dry guide coat and compressor, keen to see how much of an improvement that is for you too.

[silviaz]

4 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

100% invest in a compressor. 

How many panels were you planning to paint? High quality paint rattle cans are super expensive and coverage is always depressingly low. Cost will add up very quickly.... I'd rather put the money into a compressor/gun then thousands of dollars worth of rattle cans (may sound crazy but at $50ish a can, you'll get into the thousands very quickly). 

I'm keen to see a photo of what your talking about. 

Please do. Also try the dry guide coat and compressor, keen to see how much of an improvement that is for you too.

I got a compressor just dont use it. I'm fixing every panel. Full car is getting a respray.

I'm using dry guidecoat to not the spray. Similar to 3m stuff.

I'll be paying someone to spray paint it professionally, I'm just doing prep. No rattlecan jobs.

Yep I'll try get some photos up. I might actually have an example. I'll get back to you soon.

[silviaz]

10 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

100% invest in a compressor. 

How many panels were you planning to paint? High quality paint rattle cans are super expensive and coverage is always depressingly low. Cost will add up very quickly.... I'd rather put the money into a compressor/gun then thousands of dollars worth of rattle cans (may sound crazy but at $50ish a can, you'll get into the thousands very quickly). 

I'm keen to see a photo of what your talking about. 

Please do. Also try the dry guide coat and compressor, keen to see how much of an improvement that is for you too.

Oh i got a quickle example. Here you can see hardly any specs of guide coat then you can see in the other photo it's much clearer after spraying it with W&G remover.

I suspect i have a low spot here though

Edited June 22 by silviaz

[Murray_Calavera]

2 minutes ago, silviaz said:

Full car is getting a respray.

Oh god, you're doing all the hard work and none of the fun work  do you have access to a garage you could paint it in?

[Murray_Calavera]

1 minute ago, silviaz said:

Oh i got a quickle example. Here you can see barely any specs of guide coat then you can see in the other photo

Thanks for the photo, those are pinholes in your filler  

So yeah, guide coat is working as intended. If your going for a perfect finish, you'll want to fill those pin holes. 

[silviaz]

11 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

Oh god, you're doing all the hard work and none of the fun work  do you have access to a garage you could paint it in?

I could paint it outside technically and i do have a garage spot just need to take out the other shitbox lol. Id rather do it myself for the experience but I don't think people in my household will be ok with the idea

[silviaz]

13 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

Thanks for the photo, those are pinholes in your filler  

So yeah, guide coat is working as intended. If your going for a perfect finish, you'll want to fill those pin holes. 

What the. I thought putty removes pinholes from body filler. I didnt use any filler there i don't think only glazing putty. I also got the example ready.

As you can see? Guidecoat not visible and only visible after wetting the area.

They arent the regular pinholes i had before. Can primer fill this in? Edit: i had to really put my eye to the panel and can see the holes sort of.

Maybe i need to put 2 coats of putty instead of 1 after the first coat dries? 

Edited June 22 by silviaz

[silviaz]

25 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

Thanks for the photo, those are pinholes in your filler  

So yeah, guide coat is working as intended. If your going for a perfect finish, you'll want to fill those pin holes. 

Oh i think i made some progress! Just fixed another simpler dent and the guidecoat is gone even when the area is wet! The filler shape now resembles that of the dent if that makes sense so it's flat. The photos are before during and after

The only issue, i think i can feel a low spot lol.

Edited June 22 by silviaz

[Murray_Calavera]

5 minutes ago, silviaz said:

I could paint it outside technically and i do have a garage spot just need to take out the other shitbox lol. Id rather do it myself for the experience but I don't think people in my household will be ok with the idea

I wouldn't do it outside, the contamination landing in the paint, the wind and a million other things will drive you crazy.  

 

11 minutes ago, silviaz said:

only glazing putty

That's a way too big of an area to use your single stage putty on. 

Pretend it's all filler and those pin holes appeared, you'd then use the putty on those pin holes. 

13 minutes ago, silviaz said:

They arent the regular pinholes i had before. Can primer fill this in

They are still pin holes, hmm I expect a few coats of high fill primer could deal with those. 

[Murray_Calavera]

Just now, silviaz said:

Oh i think i made some progress! Just fixed another simpler dent and the guidecoat is gone even when the area is wet! The filler shape now resembles that of the dent if that makes sense so it's flat. The photos are before during and after

The only issue, i think i can feel a low spot lol.

Yes correct, the guide coat is showing low spots, in this instance the low spots are pin holes. I agree wetting the areas makes it more visible (but you can see it's there before you wet it as well lol). 

Once the panel is flat, the guide coat will be gone  

[silviaz]

43 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

I wouldn't do it outside, the contamination landing in the paint, the wind and a million other things will drive you crazy.  

 

That's a way too big of an area to use your single stage putty on. 

Pretend it's all filler and those pin holes appeared, you'd then use the putty on those pin holes. 

They are still pin holes, hmm I expect a few coats of high fill primer could deal with those. 

Ah ok that makes sense and it's where i think i went wrong because before when i put filler then putty, i didn't have this issue and now i do because i only put 1 coat of putty. Thanks for that heaps man, it's a good way to put it!

With my putty I'm using the dolphin glaze which i just saw it says finishing putty lol. I didnt put filler cause it was a shallow area but i see what you're saying.

Also I'm an idiot, i just realised that while i put new putty there are pinholes! I probably saw it before and ignored it for whatever reason. I think because i thought putty is used to fill pin holes that itself wont make pinholes but that's incorrect of course.

I feel silly now haha. ok I think I know what to do next. Thanks man!

Edited June 22 by silviaz

[silviaz]

13 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

Yes correct, the guide coat is showing low spots, in this instance the low spots are pin holes. I agree wetting the areas makes it more visible (but you can see it's there before you wet it as well lol). 

Once the panel is flat, the guide coat will be gone  

You do sorta. In my instance they were little specs and I didn't even think they'd be pin holes but it all makes sense now. Huge learnings there!

[silviaz]

I put another 2 layers of putty and still getting pinholes. Think i might either try the filler first then putty or just leave the little specs of guidecoat as is and get primer to fill it in.

I think i misread understood what you said above when you said my glazing putty wasnt enough for the size of the area. I thought you meant 1 coat and i needed to. But i think what you meant was that I needed filler first? I also went a bit too far out the repair area as my spreader is a bit large.

Edited June 22 by silviaz

[Murray_Calavera]

9 hours ago, silviaz said:

But i think what you meant was that I needed filler first?

Yep, correct.

The way you are using the putty is incorrect. Its meant to be used to fill those tiny pin holes, its not a body filler substitute.

I'd sand back all of that putty and do it again with body filler.

[silviaz]

9 hours ago, Murray_Calavera said:

Yep, correct.

The way you are using the putty is incorrect. Its meant to be used to fill those tiny pin holes, its not a body filler substitute.

I'd sand back all of that putty and do it again with body filler.

Yep will do. Thanks! I'm keen to do a next update.

[silviaz]

On 22/06/2025 at 10:36 PM, Murray_Calavera said:

Yep, correct.

The way you are using the putty is incorrect. Its meant to be used to fill those tiny pin holes, its not a body filler substitute.

I'd sand back all of that putty and do it again with body filler.

Hey Murray, hope all is good. I took your advice and put the filler first then the putty. Seems like a much better result but i noticed there are still pinholes. I even had pin holes when i initially put the putty on the body filler.

Do you think it has something to do with my spreader being f*cked? I attached some images.

This is the intially body filler i sanded. No putty yet 

Applying putty.

Final result after using wax and grease remover can see the pin holes.

I just noticed as i look at the putty application it looks wavy not sure if it's supposed to be like that or because of the spreader.

Edited June 28 by silviaz

[GTSBoy]

More likely from tiny bubbles in the filler/putty. Maybe be less aggressive when mixing it. Perhaps invest in a vacuum chamber to pull the air bubbles out?**

**I don't know if this is a thing for body filler. I see hardcore epoxy makers degassing their mixed resin on the regular.