Yeah it all comes down to good quality attention to detail prep work. My paint is now 9 years old.... And still looks perfect!!!

_________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

I doubt that you'd get many $2000 shop jobs that would do that........

_________________

Yes but your car has rarely left the garage in 9 years.

With all paint as Brad says, it's all in the preparation and attention to detail, and use good quality products as well as taking your time with it all, the end result will always stand out.

_________________

I've just about finished my Mk 1"S". The body was pretty bad, plenty of rust & small dents, plus some kids had used the roof as a trampoline. I reckon it's taken 6 months of week-end work to get it to this stage.

Now that I've been thru this exercise, I can easily see how it costs a motza to get it done at a shop. The labour required is unbelievable. All sorts of things can go wrong and your'e pushing sh!t uphill if you haven't got decent space & equipment.

Anybody who tells me $20 gorillas to prepare & paint a car, I now believe it!

_________________
1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

pfft, that wouldnt be the 2k doing it, ive never seen a good 2pak paint job bubble or flake off.. the guys probably used it over a 1k primer or something, ive got race cars sprayed in autothane (cheap ppg) paint and they look great and they dont get any love at all really.. its all in the prep. all the show cars we do are 2k, all the best show cars are 2k

_________________
Potato

Not all the best.
But considering that most spray jobs these days are 2k, then there are more great 2k show cars out there.
I'd never put down a great acrylic spray job, to me, if it is done right, then theyre all great.

_________________
Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

I've seen plenty Arylic jobs do that too.

As the others have said...... PREP WORK It doesn't matter what system you're using prep work is everything.

Shops that still use Acrylic are as rare as hens theeth these days... 99.9% of shops use 2k now.

It is a much better system, It's tougher, its harder to chip or scratch, it holds its colour much better.....

Infact its so good, that even though Europe is trying to out law it, they're struggling to find a suitable replacement...

Even the new waterborne paints... no they won't kill you, but they're only good for base, you still need 2k clear over it...

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ACRYLIC THOUGH... one of the best things to come out of australia... when it came out Duco and Auto enamel were the only choices... Duco is high maintaince and dangerous to store... and Auto enamel is impossible to touch up and brittle.

Acrylic was a god send because it had a much higher UV tolerence, and was a tougher finish.

However, it is more labourious to use than 2k and not as durable......
.
.
.
Any back yard jobs I do, I do in acrylic, but if I had a spray booth at home I'd use 2k.

Yeah, dont get me wrong... but its just that we (Ivan and I) have seen at least 4 cars come in for mechanical work which had 2k on them and ALL of them were cracking around the seams, front guards, roof. All of them in basically the same places.

Mine is the 5th... its bubbling around the seems, cracked just behind the drivers door (on rear quarter) I agree... ITS ALL IN THE PREP - thats what I said first... but it seems that with Acrylic its less forgiving...

Mine was prepped with 2k primer, etc all done the 'right way' and sprayed and baked in 2k. Off the gun - amazing, however within about a month things started showing.

The roof has pitting - not orange peel, but little divets. Originally the primer actually bubbled on the roof for some reason (like it took in moisture) then we redit it all (cut it all back, new 2k primer, etc) and it was like glass really, nice and smooth.

Then went for the painting and looked great, within about a month like I said the roof had this pitting and some areas had cracks, etc.

Not saying 2k cant work, not saying its not good... dont get me or Ivan wrong at all... do what you want and think... I was just saying HE doesnt like it, and based on my experience with a mini, Acrylic will be the next car... just personal preference.

Cheers,
Pete

_________________

Click here for the Turbo Conversion Thread!

Pristic, was it a bare metal respray? I actually like to find out what caused problems with the paint to give me better understanding with my spraying.

_________________
Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

Not bare metal no... it was cut back, 2k filler used to smooth it out, then 2k primer... sat in primer about a week... then we noticed these like little pimples on it. So cut it all back again, 2k primer (high fill?) then it was great.

Sprayed about 2 days later.

The little pimples are now like dimples if you know what I mean, sunk back.

I am really thinking it was moisture or something cause it was POURING those days when we were cutting it etc... not sure. Maybe we sprayed it too early instead of letting the 2k primer settle - dont know...

Wierd.

Pete

PS: Darryl has painted a few minis I refered to him and those people are really happy... came out great. I know its prep, just not sure why or what went wrong. Their cars are 2k also.

_________________

Click here for the Turbo Conversion Thread!

Sounds like silicone.

Even if you cut back the existing paint, if a silicone based wax was ever used on it you will get that effect.

Cutting it back the second time would have helped.

Failing that it could also be solvent bubbling.... too many coats to quickly without enough flash off.

Regarding the random craking... its not uncommon around the seam covers when people don't treat rust properly.

Regarding cracking on the front panels if its around where the scuttle panel meets the gaurd then I would say either too much paint, or, someone took to it with a little artisic licesnse and filled the gap. There is a lot of movement between the gaurd/A pillar/scuttle..... so if the gap was bogged in it will crack. If too much paint was used it will crack (especially 2k because it is much harder).

For the inexperienced, GENERALLY, acrylic is a better choice as it is more forgiving. (Its softer and "moves" more)

If it is randon cracking in the centre of panels, I'd be looking for filler that was applied in correctly at some point in its past.