Which fender line to mask off?

MikeS

Camaro Nut
Hello Group,
I was finishing up my 5 year restoration and was at the point of installing the convertible top so I left the car outside in the sun to help stretch it. I found my neighbors car sleeping on the hood. It jumped off when I came near it and when inspecting the car I found what looked like a claw scratch on the fender side near the emblem. Needless to say I was furious. Anyhow.....I wet sanded the deep scratch down and unfortunately to get it to blend into the surroundings I can see a very faint sign of the white sealer showing through an area about 3/16" wide so I know the UV clear is gone in that area.
I know I have to shoot some spot base then clear over the whole fender (vs. a spot blend) but my question to you advanced painters is which break like to use. In the picture the orange arrow shows where the damage is and the two red arrows are my choices. If I go with #1 and back tape against the top ridge, would that be OK? I thought I would smooth that area with p2000 afterwards. Or would #2 be the more correct way.
The picture is an old one and the fenders are now on the car so I can remove the hood, emblems, tape over the black stripe (it is on top of the clear) and bumper and trim.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Mike
 

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I don't fully understand what you are talking about. If I was doing it, I would sand the whole fender, get it all ready to go, then simply mask off the black portion of the fender to protect it from basecoat overspray. Once the basecoat is applied, remove the masking from the stripe and clear the whole fender. It's even simpler than I make it sound, since the repair is far away from the stripe, the masking need not be precise if you keep the gun away from the stripe.
 
Hi 'Crash'
I was trying to, if possible, not spray the clear onto the section of the fender that folds down into the engine bay (the point beyond the #2 arrow). By not having to do that I could keep the hood mounted and mask off where only the outer fender area is exposed. I figured the #2 edge would be a good break point and I could back tape masking paper along that edge, sort of how I sprayed the door jambs first, back taped and papered the edge, then sprayed the body outer panels at a later date. But....as I write this reply I now realized there is a folded edge on the fender inside the engine bay that was used by the factory to spot weld the hood hinge mounting plate that makes a perfect break point. I'll use that spot.
I thought about clearing over the black stripe but my concern is if I did that, the section of stripe that is not cleared over (top center valance and left fender) may show a different texture and gloss. Right now it is PPG's DBC sprayed over UC.

Thank you,
Mike
 
If you tape it you'll have a pretty nasty tape line (ridge) from the clear. I'd do the whole fender and simply re-shoot the black stripe on the fender after you have painted it. Only way to keep it like the rest of the stripe.
 
Removing one bolt after another and before I knew it, 20 minutes later the fender is off the car. Just as well because it makes sanding and masking easier and also allows me to remove the nuts the hold the emblems to the fender that would otherwise be inaccessible when mounted.
What I may do with the stripe is to wet sand it down, to thin it out, until I see signs of yellow under it and then clear over that area and repaint the stripe as Chris suggested. Do you think that putting the stripe back over the sanded one would possibly have a (for lack of a better word) 3-D or ghosted look? In other words would it be possible to see the two stripes with a clear coat sandwiched between them?

Thanks!
Mike
 
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I don't often disagree with Chris, but if the basecoat spot is really small and can be confined to an area away from the stripe, there's simply no reason why the stripe would have to be redone. But to each their own, I guess. But if the stripe was painted after the the car was clearcoated and it already has a big ridge, that could complicate things because the repair would end up looking better than the rest of the vehicle. If I was there, it wouldn't take long at all to demonstrate a time saving technique that won't hurt quality at all.
 
Yes, the stripe has a raised edge that catches a fingernail.
Let me post a photo of the area that needs to be fixed and a good view of the fender side.
The area that needs to be fixed is about 45" from the stripe edge.

Thanks guys!
Mike
 
I guess repainting the stripe would be the way to keep consistency with the rest of the vehicle, then. I prefer my stripe edges to be buried in clear or at least cleared over, so I made a bad assumption.
 
Fender_X.jpg

The two pictures shows the fender. The area that needs to be repaired is 45" away from the black stripe edge and is where the red X is. The base color is DBC (catalyzed) butternut yellow and the sealer is SPI white so the area that needs to be repaired is hard to see.
 

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The right way to do it is to re-clear the entire fender, and if the intention is to for the black stripe to have a raised edge, it will have to be re-shot too, afterward. There's really no getting around it, unless you want a quickie repair that may not stand the test of time.

If it was my car, I would repair the yellow, then re-clear the whole front end to bury the stripe edges. It's less original, but higher quality, imo.
 
Hmmm....
Option 1 - I have seen stripes that do have a slight, smooth edge even though they were cleared over. My initial thought is to re-clear with 2 coats of UC over the fender including stripe and then spray a 3rd coat on the fender but not on top of the stripe. The 3rd coat is the layer I'll wet sand and buff so it's more of a sacrificial layer. I'm hoping the 2 coats will still leave a slight ridge on the stripe and if I don't have to sand it then there may be enough texture to be close to the other stripe sections (it is the 67 Camaro bumble bee stripe that wraps around the nose).
Option 2 - wet sand original stripe down enough to thin it out, clear fender and put stripe back on top. That would keep consistency with the remainder of the bumble bee stripe. My feeling is if I thin it enough (vs. just scuffing) then I reduce the chance of seeing an edge 'ghost' due to the clear sandwiched between two stripe layers.

A side question- I have a roll of P500 and P800 wet/dry paper. Is P500 too course to wet sand the clear prior to re-clear with UC?
Thanks for the suggestions!
Mike
 
I don't understand the part about the 3rd coat of clear not being over the stripe. This seems to be adding unnecessary complexity to the job?

If you aren't willing to clearcoat the whole front end for consistent appearance, it would be better to do Option 2, but I don't understand about "edge ghost." If your second stripe attempt is accurate, you won't see anything, period. But masking back perfectly over a partially existing stripe is a pain in the butt, that's partly why I would just bite the bullet and re-clear the front end. That way, the stripes don't need any repairing at all, just light sanding/scuffing, and a brief bit of masking (that doesn't need to be perfect) just to cover them from getting overspray while you spot in the yellow base. As long as the base is kept away from the stripe, all you are doing is protecting against light overspray.

If you do decide you need to redo the stripe, sand as much of the black off as possible without breaking through the clear. The less you have to exactly follow previous lines, the better off you'll be.

I personally would use the 800.
 
Hi Crash,
The car is assembled which is why I don't want to spray the whole front end, and I can't get to the nuts that hold the emblems on the side so my concern there is not able to scuff between the letters. I have a small garage so I built a temp spray booth when it was painted then disassembled it to reassemble the car.
I'm going to sand the stripe down, clear and put the stripe back on top. I have a small temp spray booth going up now.

Thanks for the input!
Mike
 
The right way to do it is to re-clear the entire fender, and if the intention is to for the black stripe to have a raised edge, it will have to be re-shot too, afterward. There's really no getting around it, unless you want a quickie repair that may not stand the test of time.

If it was my car, I would repair the yellow, then re-clear the whole front end to bury the stripe edges. It's less original, but higher quality, imo.


That's what I was trying to say Crash. :)
 
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