Expert: William Forster - 7/26/2007

Question
I have a 2006 Dodge Magnum. I was attempting to sand and paint a large but shallow scrape on the right rear plastic bumper. I used 220 grit paper first, then 000 steel wool until it was smooth. No problem there. I then used 2 coats of factory spray paint and let it dry properly. Then I used factory spray clearcoat. When it dried, the area was dull in color, and was rough to the touch. What did I do wrong?

Answer
Jim, did you use aerosol paint? That will produce a poor result 100 percent of the time. You used far too coarse a grit to sand the bumper. 220 is fine for sanding damage, but not for paint prep. The part should have been spot primered, and wet sanded with 600. The 00 wool will work on the blend out, I suppose, but it's unorthodox. A grey scotch brite is the industry standard. Once painting and clearing is done, the clear edge (assuming you did a spot repair) must be melted down with a blending agent of some sort. If you used Urethane clear coat, a high temp urethane paint reducer will melt the edge in. It needs applied slowly, sparingly, in light fuzzy coats RIGHT AFTER YOU APPLY YOUR LAST COAT OF CLEAR!! I like to leave a little clear in the gun when I do this, so the mix is 90% blending clear or reducer/ 10% mixed clear. It gives a great result, and has a little bit better resistance to running. apply about 3 fuzzy coats with low air pressure. The next day, hand polish the blend out by hand with some light rubbing compound. I guess I recommend repainting at this point. Bill