Update on my 2500hd Carbon Metallic repaint

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imported_Mighty HD1

New member
Went to my friend's shop yesterday and worked on the truck for about 10 hours getting it back together.



The paint booth? No heat. Cure time? about 4 hours. The hood, valance, fenders, and driver side door was repainted.



He used a clear coat that was about $300/gal and says it's the best he could find. I believe it. The truck looks great. *perfect* match in all lighting conditions. I was quite suprised.



The truck was painted Wed. night sat in the booth with the fans on for about 10 hours.



WOW! Talk about SOFT paint. I washed the truck as I usually do with my sheepskin mitt, dried with a blowgun and touched up with a WW Big Blue II. Swirls? Yes, my goodness yes. It's not really bad to most people but *I* can see them. All my towels were clean as usual and the truck just had a light coat of dust on it when I washed it.



Not sure what I'm going to do to be honest. :sosad :grrr I've really worked hard to keep this thing perfect and swirl free.
 
steveo3002 said:
if the paint wasnt baked it will harden alot more...give it 6-8 weeks and it should be alot better
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+1 on that. I try to give new paint about 90-120 days to fully cure before I do too much to it. I do try to keep a glaze like Meg's #5 on it during that time. It isn't very durable, but it does offer at least some protection and it still allows the paint to cure. It's very easy to use so frequent applications aren't too much of a hassle.
 
Just polish out the swirls with a fine finishing polish and a finishing pad. Then top it with megs #5 or #7.
 
I am really, really torn on what to do here.



Looked at it in the sun--it's got machine marks in it...you can smell the paint outgassing REAL strong.....I'm really concerned with swirling and how hard it will be to keep it out of the new paint: hood, fenders, drivers door and valance







Keep the truck.....

Picture008.jpg




Or get a white one just like it and put the same lift, tires, toolbox, nerf bars, tinted windows, etc onit.

Picture005.jpg
 
I just have to say it. For someone to rather sell the car than wait for the paint to cure because it has too much swirls now? Dude you are a true Autopian! :D With all sincerity. Off the scale in fact LOL :D



We should have an Autopian of the month award!
 
I wouldnt consider that a true autopian.

A true autopian would take his skills and know how and fix the problem.
 
Yeah, you are REALLY getting worked up for nothing. I'm not really sure why you washed it so soon, but at any rate, you HAVE to give paint time to cure, even if you did bake it. Trust me dude, in a few weeks to a month you will be fine. Just live with the swirls for a while until the paint cures and then polish them out.



I just can't see how anyone would get rid of a car that they have been looking for just because it has a few swirls that can be fixed.
 
That is one of the reasons I never wash my vehicles by hand in the winter months. I never touch them or let anything touch them while in the winter months. I run them through a touch less car wash or spray them off by hand. Once winter is over (witch is about 6 months in Idaho) I will give them a very very good detail. I figure the less I am causing swirl marks by washing and drying by hand the less that will be there in the spring. This works for me, but mite not work for every one. In the spring after detailing. My cars look like they just came off the showroom floor.
 
Mighty HD said:
Went to my friend's shop yesterday and worked on the truck for about 10 hours getting it back together.



The paint booth? No heat. Cure time? about 4 hours. The hood, valance, fenders, and driver side door was repainted.
Click to expand...

Since my car's in the shop now as well and they don't have a heat booth, I asked my body guy today about curing. He said he let's it sit in the booth at least 12 hours to cure before he goes to polish it. It's a small one-man operation where he focuses on custom work, so he doesn't have a lot of pressure to get another car in the booth right away.
 
Well.........I ended up trading the truck in.



The body lines werent perfect like they originally were, small other things under the hood (core support not flush with the fenders, minor scraches here and there) soft paint, didn't really feel like it drove right.



Normal people couldn't tell anything happened to be honest.



Trade in? I got very, very good $ for the trade in. The sales manager said he hasen't seen a truck come in on trade that clean in 25 years. The guy asked if I was sick or just had a lot of time on my hands to keep it so clean. I said a little of both.



I ended up getting the white one pictured above. I cried when I got rid of the grey one. I loved that truck.



The fun begins now. I tinted the windows, ordered the lift, bed rails, and tires should be here this week. I think it will look good once I'm done. I also will have to add a stripe for sure.



The night we bought it, it's around a 15 mile trip from the dealer to home. Bugs of course minimal but still there. Typically I would nearly have heart failure to get home quickly (or pull over) to clean the bugs off. I was able to resist and just leave it for the night. I haven't been able to do that in 3 years.



Yesterday I did clay it (LOTS of junk in the paint), FP-II, glaze and FMJ the paint. Turned out great with about a 50% increase in shine.



I'll get some pics soon.
 
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