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Repairing the Paint Job on Your Own Car: What can go wrong?
from: Scotty JohnsonRepairing a car's paint job is not easy. It requires skill,
tactics and a lot of patience. A car with a nice paint job is
something to be cherished. If you have enough time to spend on
your car and you are painting or polishing your own car at home
then three components that treat paint surfaces are polish,
cleaner and rubbing compound. All of them vary in
aggressiveness. They work by removing unwanted dirt or paint, in
small proportions, from the surface of the car. To choose any of
these products you must examine the condition of your car
carefully. If your paint has a dull look after car wash then
polish will be the better choice. If paint is extremely dull
then you need a cleaner and or rubbing compound.
Rubbing compound can remove entire paint where as polish removes
only the smallest amount and a cleaner removes in-between.
Removing paint is a serious job. You must choose product with
right amount of aggressiveness. First you start with polish and
if that does not get the job done or give enough effects then
try the cleaner. If polish and cleaner both do not succeed then
use rubbing compound. But do take safety measures while using
rubbing compound, as it is a strong abrasive. If there is some
minor fault or dull effects on your car then use polish. Polish
helps you to remove contaminates on the paint surface that may
include air borne pollutants, bird dropping or tree sap etc.
Rubbing compound can easily scratch the surface of some cars, so
extreme caution must be used.
In some cases painting your car with a spray gun is necessary to
remove some blemishes or scratches. For that you need an air
compressor and a spray gun. Before doing anything just take a
spray card and paint it to examine the color match because once
you paint the car change is quite difficult. Spray must have
high quality solvents to guarantee high performance. If you
avoid drying times, sanding times or flash times then this may
result in very poor presentation. Even if you follow the
instructions perfectly still you cannot replace a professional
painter. It is highly advised to take help of their experience.
Mainly there are four basic steps that are required to paint a
car and you must understand before going in for the process.
They are prep, primer, blocking and spray job. You must also
know that how to strip a car of all its trim, bumpers, mirrors,
grills and other things that need to be removed before painting.
You must strictly follow the instructions of mixing and spraying
paint to get good results.
Nowadays a thin adhesive film is available in the market that
comes in numerous colors. It is quite useful in creating large
areas of color or graphics. It is just like masking. If you
don't have enough time and fine painting skills then please
don't ruin your car's beauty at home. Just send it to a
professional car washer and detailer and they will work for you.
Only if you want your own satisfaction of doing it yourself, and
you have a lot of time to practice and perfect your skills
should you attempt to do any serious detailing to your own car.
About the author:
This article provided by Royal Auto Detailing and CAAutoList.com.
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repair and touch-up in San Diego, visit
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