Repairing Paint on Stainless

[mr_maxime]

Unlike many people, I prefer the way my car looks painted over the original brushed stainless. The paintjob on my car while pretty good, has some signs of wear. The are chips near the vents, a few scratches and the worst is cracking around the side molding on both doors. I'd like to know if there are any ways to repair it. The paint/primer seem rather thick seeing how deep the chips are near the vents. Because it goes down to the stainless, the temporary repairs that were done chip off even easier. The front and rear fascia are atrocious thanks to the summer heat, but that's easily repaintable.

[DMCVegas]

Nothing wrong at all with owning a painted DeLorean! :thumbup:

It really shouldn't be any different than repairing paint on a normal car. I don't know how the stainless was prepared for the primer (acid etch or Dual Action Sanding), but you should be able to easily sand down those certain areas, and then blend it back it with primer/paint/clear coat like any other vehicle. If you did hit stainless, just hit it up with a D/A sander to prep.

For the rest of the car where the paint is in decent shape, but the clear coat is perhaps just hazy, or you have light scratches, you might be able to just give the clear coat a light sanding and be able to revitalize it. I've just followed the instructions in those Haynes and Chilton's books, and they work perfect for me on other vehicles I've done paint repairs on.

Your biggest problem though is going to be paint matching. With a regular painted vehicle, you have quick access to paint codes. And if the colors are not already available in cans, any shop can easily create a batch for you. But here, you've got a non-standard paint of course since these cars never came from the factory with authorized paint codes. I know that house paints are easily matched by bringing samples in, so I see no reason as to why you couldn't do the same with a car. Unless of course the PO has documentation of the paint used including it's formula. Do you have any documentation like that?

[davidc89]

I know that they have something to match paint with. It's like a little camera Dingus. As far as paint repair, you should be able to scuff up the surface, prime, and then paint. Just like any standard car. That's what they would have done to paint the car in the first place. If its down to bare stainless, you may have to acid etch primer first then prime and paint as normal.

[mr_maxime]

The clear coat is good. I mostly wanted to get it done professionally and wanted to know if I'd have to get a special shop to do it.

[DMCVegas]

I know that they have something to match paint with. It's like a little camera Dingus.

That's the exact thing I was thinking of. Places you buy paint at normally have the thing permanently mounted, but there has to be a portable unit for cars or something.

Painting isn't all that much different from your regular cars.

For the scratches, you're going to need to wet sand and then polish the clear coat. A good, clean area would also help with the paint matching. If you go down through the clear coat and into the paint, you'll know it by the color your sanding media turns. So just polish and re-coat with some clear.

Chips and other paint damage like scratches or bubbling areas are a little bit different to deal with. There is a noticeable difference in elevation on the surface of the body panel. So if you just paint over the area, you can cover primer and bare metal, but you'll still have the physical unevenness in the surface. Having repaired that myself before, it's pretty easy to fix. You just wash the area with a good, non-wax car wash. Dry, and then mask-off the areas where you don't want paint and overspray. Then just take a DA Sander and sand the chip out to get an even surface, while tapering-off pressure as you move away from the damaged area. Picture it like this: The chip that goes down through the paint is like cliff that drops off from the top, down to the bottom of the pit where the damage stops. As you sand what you're doing is creating a gentle slope down from the top of the clear coat, like a valley, to the bottom area of damage is. It may be primer, it may be bare metal. It just depends upon the damage. Both in terms of how deep it goes, and in case of any water damage that could have compromised the primer, and with regular cars, if there is any rust. Which we don't have to worry about, of course. Then when you paint it, you'll be filling that area back in with primer, paint, and clear to fill the valley back in and even it all up. When you paint, use even strokes back and forth, and feather the primer/paint/clear away from the repair area, just like the layers of sanding look. This will create a nice blend.

It takes a few coats to be sure, and the paint should clue you in on that with it's instructions. Aside from color matching of course, the two biggest keys to a successful paint repair are Prep & Patience. Get the surface ready, and don't rush the job. Spray your coats, and let them dry before going onto the next one. That way you don't end up with running paint. And if need be, be prepared to perhaps go back and wet sand the new clear if you have some unsightly orange peel.

Practice is also important of course. If you want to, go to the junkyard and buy a body panel or something to practice on first if you like. Prep it, sand it , paint it, seal it. See how it goes. Even just a big piece of card board and a few rattle cans of automotive paint from the store to practice with will serve you well to get the feeling of how to feather/blend then paint.

Most importantly, just remember that if something goes wrong, you can always start over! Just let the paint dry, sand off your work, and do it again. The car is not ruined. That's important to know. Because sometimes we might make a mistake. More likely are kamikaze flies and moths that appear out of no where to land on your freshly painted surface... I know that paint & body work isn't something really big in the DeLorean community given the nature of our cars. Other than rattle can treatments of *some* trim pieces, fascias are the biggest thing, but most people just farm out the work because it has to be flexible paint. But rest assured, you're not alone with either liking painted D's, nor touching them up.

[davidc89]

Yes they do make a portable version for automotive applications.

[David T]

Of course the paint can be repaired. It will all come down to the skill of the shop you send it to. If they know what they are doing they will use the proper materials and will be able to color match well.

[mr_maxime]

One of my coworkers worked at a body shop so I'll be taking it there in the fall for a quote. The cracks on the door are fairly large and I just want it professionally done. I'll redo the vents and bumpers sometime when it gets warmer since those look much worse and a rattlecan paintjob would look much better.

[Parzval]

When I repainted the deck lid of my 71 beetle after an engine fire, my paint shop had me bring in the gas filler door and they put it on the paint camera dingus and matched it up. No chance yours is a gas flap car? I don't think any other painted part would be easily removable... maybe the mirrors?

[davidc89]

On a side note, I like how dingus has become the technical term.

[Dangermouse]

The clear coat is good. I mostly wanted to get it done professionally and wanted to know if I'd have to get a special shop to do it.

Max, PM Ben (soundkillr). He does PDR and works with a lot of bodyshops and would know someone good for painted stainless probably.