I decided to have a go at painting the bumper and bonnet after some damage.
The replacement bonnet was ink black and also had some damage, but wasn't bad. Not a great start but I couldn't find a better bonnet.
So far it's gone pretty well. I have prepared everything. The repairs took a while but looked OK so I moved on to primer. I did think that if the primer went OK I would try the painting myself. It went well enough so I thought that I would give it a go.
I started with the hinges and inside of the bonnet as these don't really matter. They have next to no paint on from the factory anyway.
The bumper was a real pain due to all of the crevices. The bonnet is OK. Its not perfect, but I can already see that I can get a decent finish once I tackle the top side.
I did do some bodywork and painting years ago, but it was small stuff and it was at least 35 years ago. I do remember some points, but as usual YouTube came in very handy.
The key is taking my time with the prep. It's taken many hours and redoing work that I was not 100% happy with. I have gone through quite a bit of paint too.
All in all worth a go and I believe it will be a good finish. Time will tell and I will post more pictures once complete.
Yes definitely good prepping is the only way to go.
Very nice looking job so far, and how lucky you are to have the facilities!
When finally done empty some cans of waxoil down the side creases, you'll know when there's enough as it will start crying each side with the bonnet closed
Looks like you might have painted over the fitting marks on the hinges so one alignment issue is making sure the wiper clears the trailing edge.
Did you purposefully spray over the headlight studs? Guess you can always run a die over the business end
I did go over the marks on the hinges. I know it will be a pain to align but I did take some photos to give me a fighting chance. I also warned the wife that she has to assist me fitting it and that it could take some time. It's the bit I'm not looking forward to.
The headlight studs are actually masked off. I only removed the tape after the photos. Same for the hinge studs too.
Just finished the bumper this afternoon. I will put a couple of photos up tomorrow. Looks good. I'm happy with the finish. A couple of blemish marks but not too worried on the bumper. A couple of runs in the top coat but they are low down and can be removed later fairly easily.
I finally got around to painting the bonnet a couple of days ago. Only 1 run and only a couple of minor blemishes.
The finish is not fantastic and has the orange peel effect. I'm not bothered as it just means wet sanding and polishing down line. I will fit it and leave it a month or so first.
Still very pleased with the finish and very pleased that there are not many problems with the finished product considering that its done in the garage with the door open for ventilation.
Yesterday I managed to get the bonnet fitted with help from the wife. It did take quite a while to get it lined up correctly but it wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be.
All being well I will get the car back together in the next week or so if I get the time. I don't anticipate any problems, but you just never know!!
Looks fantastic, most lacquers need a couple of months to fully cure, then can be tough to polish, check the data sheet for the lacquer to see when best to nib and polish
