Morris Minor Owners Club

so tonight I was watching an ancient episode of wheeler dealers where the guys prepare an almond green mini for sale, heavily patinated like my 2 door minor.

I was surprised to see that only repaired areas were primered before the new top coat was applied. OK so they used panel wipe and tack rags but is it normal/acceptable to spray top coat directly onto rubbed down original paint finish?

The answer is yes, provided the original colour, new colour and primer go together and don't react without having to apply a barrier. If they react, then you would need to apply a barrier anyway.

You could always just try one panel, stand back and take a good look.

The one thing a professional may pin point is the two differing colours as a base may cause the paint to have two slightly differing shades. To the likes of myself, I probably wouldn't notice and being an old car no one else probably would neither.

stag36587 wrote:so tonight I was watching an ancient episode of wheeler dealers where the guys prepare an almond green mini for sale, heavily patinated like my 2 door minor.

I was surprised to see that only repaired areas were primered before the new top coat was applied. OK so they used panel wipe and tack rags but is it normal/acceptable to spray top coat directly onto rubbed down original paint finish?

The paint job on that program was a cheap "blow over" and yes, you are right they should have primered the whole car. Plus, spraying two pack top coat directly over cellulose is going to lead to adhesion problems in the future. The paint will crack and lift. That was why I took my convertible back to bare metal, due to the older re-spray of 2K over cellulose cracking and lifting.

Watch the end of the program and you will see the paint finish in actually not all that good.

provided you are using the same paint,then if the whole panel is well keyed and flatted,grease and polish free,its no different than putting a second or third top coat onto a primed panel,infact if the old paint is sound and not too thick works fine.
An old ICI book that I have,produced by Belco ,actually gives this sort of info,IE( if the paint is sound,and well bonded to the panel,provided it is free from contaminates,then a good flat back will suffice).But that was in the days when celly paint was about a thousand times better that the cr...p you get now.And long before 2 pack.Think I would prime the whole panel,to show up blemishes then they can be flatted out.This of course isn't a respray,its ,as said a blowover,good enough for the average owner but not for a pro rebuild,where back to metal is the correct way.

Short cuts when doing paint work are just that,almost invariably they come back to haunt you,
We used to call these jobs (which other people used to do ) "knacker lacquer"

It depends whether you are after perfection or a paint job that 99% of people will think is good/great.
I see brand new cars with poor paint jobs, especially orange peal and I'm no car sprayer.
It really depends on you, what equipment you have or are willing to buy, and how much time you are willing to put into it.

i would recomend a full primer coat on what ever you're painting, regarding the wheeler dealer episode it was a bodge blowover with 2k for instant shiney results for a quick profit. its when the paint is a few months old where the problems can occur and you're the one stuck with a rubbish paint finish. remember you only get out of something by putting in a lot of hard work and doing the paint work right in the first place.