Repainting and Color Matching: 71 Challenger Green-Go

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82firebird

We got a 71 Challenger a couple weeks ago and we've driven the daylights out of it almost everyday since. This weekend we noticed some key scratches that are showing up on the hood as well as a bubble in the clear. We knew before purchase that the hood and decklid were the only parts that had fresh paint on them and the rest of the body was painted 2+ years ago. So far, there are no signs of anything coming through on the decklid, but we will be prepared for it if it does. Long story short, the guy who painted the parts says "the hood was fine when it left here". This is an arrogant attitude, but it is what it is. I wouldn't have him repaint it anyhow because I don't want him repeating the same process for a job that he won't be getting paid for and leaving us back to square one.

Anyhow, the hood needs repainted, and according to Barry, we have yet to seen the worst of it and he is right - I noticed one of the scratches has progressed since then. Our main concerns with repainting it ourselves is the color and clear match to the rest of the car. We have a small amount (not enough to respray the hood) of the base that was used on the car years ago. If nothing else I thought this would help in the color matching process? The color is the factory "Green-Go" or "Sassy Grass Green" from 1971.

It appears as though the base was sprayed over a buff colored primer so I am assuming we should do the same? Or would spraying over white epoxy be fine? My final concern is with the clear. SPI UV clear has a shine better than any other. If we use UV on the hood, should we be worried about it out-shinning the rest of the car?

Any suggestions/tips or are greatly appreciated. Here are some pictures of the hood - ouch!

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prime example of urethane primer and a wannabe painter. i would let him know it would be repaired at his expense since he obviously does not have the talent or knowledge to do it himself.
as for the color get a close match then do the repair then use the orig paint to blend the edges after it is all covered.
 
Well after seeing the pictures, it is as I thought, he piled on the base and it is contracting.
I would suspect, the color was not covering good or he was just scared to death it would not cover.

After a while the clear will start pulling away from the edges of the hood and that is always a funny deal to look at.
I looked one time as a favor for a jobber at a PPG job and the rep had told the shop, he had piled the base on and shop maintained it was clear shrinking.
 
when i first read it i saw key scratches and thought he tried to bury scratches with primer. but i had just taken my pills so i'm a little fuzzy. barry's right. it is shrinking up .
still a bone head mistake.
 
Thanks guys. We will start from bare metal and do it right. Our first step will be to get the paint and see how it matches up with a sprayout. Shine, are you saying we should we spray the edges of the hood (where it meets the fenders) with the original paint on our last coat of base? If I am understanding you correctly, that sounds like a good idea that we would have never thought of.
 
Are you guys saying this is from hammering on the base and not enough flashtime? Just trying to get an understanding of this issue.
 
Ok thanks Shine. Btw I just realized about your comment regarding your pills...I'm very happy everything is okay. We wish you a speedy recovery!

To orangejuiced, yes. I should have stated in the beginning that the hood is a brand new Goodmark hood, so the key marks are from hammering on the base and most likely not due to trying to cover any huge imperfections or "actual scratches from a key." Hope that makes sense. It was completely weird, but now that I understand it makes sense. Barry also said that the car could have been inside for a long time and show no signs of them, but only because it's been out baking in the 85+ degree sun for about 5 days total that they started appearing. We drove it last night for a few hours and I'm already scared to go out and see the damage of just that! lol
 
Barryk;21263 said:
Well after seeing the pictures, it is as I thought, he piled on the base and it is contracting.
I would suspect, the color was not covering good or he was just scared to death it would not cover.

After a while the clear will start pulling away from the edges of the hood and that is always a funny deal to look at.
Click to expand...

When the basecoat isn't covering well, what is the correct procedure to build it up to get full coverage? thx.
 
Senile Old Fart;21303 said:
When the basecoat isn't covering well, what is the correct procedure to build it up to get full coverage? thx.
Click to expand...

Not really a problem as all you do is extend flash times., won't kill you if you have 8-9 coats of base as long as the flash times are right, what causes the problem is when someone tries to fill or hide by hitting the spot 3-4 times non-stop, even that is not a real big problem if base sets long enough before clear. (usually!!!! it is not a problem)

You can see by the clear bubble here that this guy slammed the base and clear right away., the bubble is where it was so bad the solvents broke adhesion as the clear was trying to cure.
I would suspect if I had to make a call, the base was cleared in ten minutes and he used a spot repair clear that also made matters worse.

Other then that, looks like he did a nice job.
 
Not really, but hopefully today or this week we can start on the underside. We just haven't had time due to weddings, etc taking up the weekends at this time of the year. We went ahead and bought a new hood so we could keep driving the car and the previous owner is going to buy back the other one when we're finished. Plus I now have a "go-wing" in my posession that I want to get some epoxy on and installed, bahaha. Happy Anniversary, to me.

We took the car down to a Dupont paint shop last week or so and the guy mixed up almost a perfect match of chromobase based off the reading of the fender. The left side of the picture is the fender we need to match, and the right side is the spray out. This side was sprayed over gray epoxy, the other side (which isn't shown) was over white and didn't come close to covering as well.

Lauren

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You got that right!

Well we finally got a chance to get the spoiler epoxy primed and installed and now we're ready to start working on the hood. This might be a dumb question but is there any benefit to spraying either side of the hood first? Naturally I feel it's right to do the underside first, but thought I better ask in case that's not the best way to go about it. Thanks in advance.
 
i paint the top first then do the bottom since i will be sanding and buffing the top anyway. any over spray will be sanded off .
 
I agree with shine, though it seems backwards. The other thing is that it's real easy to damage the flattened finish and it can't be buffed, so it's nice to put it right from painting the underside onto the car. That's how we try to do it, anyway.
 
We finally found time to start working on this. First off I just want to say I really appreciate all the advice. I never like that person who asks for advice and then doesn't take. We went back and forth on which side to paint first, and in fact stripped and started working on the top, but then changed our minds and did the bottom first. I'll blame Rusty, he always paints the bottom first ;) When I first sprayed the base it came out of the gun and was so bright it literally startled me. I hope it's a match. Oh yeah and don't you love my paint booth????

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