After refurbing the door hinges and stripping out the interior of my Minor I was hoping to set to work on the bodywork. I’m quite used to polishing paintwork and using heavy compound on a DA machine so was hoping I could really bring the paint up nicely and get rid of a lot of imperfections - but…….
Over the last several weeks, I have noticed what appears to be cracks in the paintwork appearing on the boot lid. My initial thought was that it had been filled previously but I’m not sure. There’s no sign of impact or repairs on the inside of the boot lid.
Does anyone have any idea what could be the cause of the pictures cracking??? I understand I am going to have to take the car to the paint shop to have some work done, but hoped to be able to do much of the prep work myself. My initial thoughts for the boot lid was to try some wet and dry sanding and then heavy compound and polish and see what happens.. what’s your thoughts please?
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My thoughts are that the paint has been applied too thickly and the paint is shrinking so causing the cracks.
This hot weather does not help either.
The solution - take it to a reputable body shop and get them to respray the boot lid.
As said above looks like poorly applied paint and an incompatibility between primer and topcoat. The body shop will be reluctant to give you a fixed quote as there is a good chance there is filler hiding something else under there as well.
You can probably save yourself a few pounds and agree a fixed price if you strip it back to bare metal yourself beforehand, if you have an angle grinder the fibre stripping discs linked below work really well I used 3 of them to strip all the paint off my TR7V8 bonnet with similar paint issues (that was the TPA paint Leyland used in the late 70's not being compatible with modern finishes).
Thankyou everyone for your responses. I’d really like to do as much work on this as I can… so I will speak to a body shop and see what their thoughts are. Looking round the rest of the car, although it’s not cracking, the paint is pretty thick and crappy in places.. I’d hoped some were and dry sanding, and a good session with my polishing machine might do the trick but I’m thinking not now.
Just scoping opinions - but does anyone have any recommendations of body shops that will have some experience with old cars like this in the Staffordshire area please?
If you want to try it yourself you could always sand it down and use a rattle spray can to get it looking good. May not be perfect but what have you got to loose.
So….. I’ve been mulling over what to do for a few days… and I bought my minor as a project and to learn different skills - so would really like to give the paint a go myself. Areas like the door sills need doing and as pictured, the boot..
I appreciate the finish isn’t going to be showroom, but part of me doesn’t want it to be. Don’t get me wrong - I’d rather it not look like it’s had paint applied by a wagging dogs tail, but a good finish I’m sure is achievable.
To help me make an informed decision -
.. would I be better investing in an air compressor and spray gun? Or are reputable companies spray cans able to provide a good finish?
.. where would anyone advise I get the paint from?? My car is Romaine (or is it Romain??) Green. Again, if the cans can be bought where would you advise I get them from? Or if the spray gun and compressor is the way to go - where would be best to get the paint.
I’m going to use the boot lid as a bit of a project to try and get as good a finish as possible as this is by far the worst area of paintwork on the car, so any guidance would be greatly appreciated. If all else fails - I’ll take it to a pro and swallow my pride..
Obviously the full compressor kit with spraygun etc is the ideal set up but it's pretty darned expensive and takes up a lot of space so unless you're intending getting into spray-painting in a fairly big way you might be better advised to get one of these:-
They're cheap, easy to use and can yield surprisingly professional-looking results - I speak from some experience as I've had one for several years and used it with entirely satisfactory results on car panels, motorcycle fairings etc; the picture above being one such example.
Perfect..!!! Thankyou Myrtles Man!! Exactly what I was hoping to hear! It all of a sudden appears achievable now!!
The bike pic you post is and outstanding example! If I can get a finish anything close to that I’ll be happy..
Taking the boot as an example, am I still best taking it back down to metal using a Grinder and discs as suggested by Kevin S..?? Or as I’m DIYing - do I get a sander on it and get it as flat as possible?
Ah well, there's the question. One thing I will say is that, with painting, preparation is everything so you do really need to try to get down to bare metal and then attend to any rust spots, blemishes etc before even thinking about reaching for the paint gun. You could try your luck with a chemical paint stripper (it always used to be Nitromors but I gather that elf'n'safety have rendered that pretty ineffective now so you should perhaps take advice from your local friendly paint supplier in that regard). Then when you've got the old paint off you need something like an acid etch primer (again, take advice from your paint factor) then you can start applying the first of several topcoats. Practice your technique first on some scrap panels or sheet metal. Good luck with it.
No, I fully appreciate that preparation is the key so would rather give it a proper go than a half attempted rush job, so thankyou… I’ll be getting some discs as advised by Kevin and taking it back to metal.
Just out of interest and while I start googling the heck out of this - is there anywhere anyone can suggest to get the paint from?? I’m pretty sure my car is Romaine Green.. although has obviously had work done to it in the past so may be just off. Is there anywhere anyone could recommend to get the paint mixed in the midlands area please? I’d like to try and get the current colour shade to save spraying the whole thing, so would like to be able to take a panel to them to try and get a colour match.
Try taking the glove box lid, If you're sure it's the same shade, to a paint suppliers and they should be able to match it for you. I use P&L Panels in Warrington or Auto Paints International.
Thanks Panky.. good idea.. I’ll have a look and see if the glovebox is the same shade.. if not, Ill take the bootlid off and take it along in my other car and see what they can do.
