April 2012 - Hx was purchased with its compliment of lacquer peel issues. Both 'offside' RH door panels each had 3/4 of their lacquer removed leaving only the shoulder area relatively intact. Initially this state did not bother me... Love is blind as they say...
The shoulder area did a good job of disguising the lacquer peel below it. Things remained this way for a very long time..
Initially I was very much 'in the dark' about the condition of lacquer peel. I noticed how when wet, the door panels looked great and were as shiny as the shoulder areas are when dry. I had to learn that the lacquer coat is what creates the shine. It is like a varnish and the metallic colour coating below is naturally flat and dull looking without the lacquer.
Sumner 2013 - Talking to Pete the fitter at work was always an education! He took a passing interest in the condition and even offered to respray the lacquer for me. That set me off on a long drawn out period of picking away at the remaining lacquer from the shoulder area to avoid any ridges being visible.
I had taken to researching lacquer peel on the Internet and the consensus of opinion was to remove any existing peeling lacquer before applying fresh lacquer as it was only a matter of time before the remaining lacquer would separate from the base coat.
At this point I had not even thought that the base coat would need to be resprayed at all!
MARCH 2014 - At this time I started to notice that the remaining areas effected by the lacquer peel were beginning to lift at their edges and the question of what to do with them would now be down to me and my own effort..
AUGUST 2015 - Starting to think more about the lacquer peel situation. Began to think that it would be easier to replace the doors and wing panel rather then go down the re-lacquer route.
SEPTEMBER 2015 - Bought two cans of 'U-pol' clear lacquer from EBay for £11.10. Also got a bottle of T-cut for £5. I used the T-cut first in the belief that it would get rid of the blotchy finish to the de-lacquered door panels leaving a perfect base for the new lacquer. At this time, I was still thinking all I needed to do was respray the lacquer.
This photo was taken months later and shows what the T-cut did to the shoulder of the door. Admittedly, it might be down to my technique and after a good wash and wipe down the milky stain nearly vanished.
From now on, I began to think about the need to respray the base colour.
MARCH 2016 - Finally accepted that to achieve any kind of acceptable result, the base coat will need respraying.
APRIL 2016 - researched on the Web about using rattle cans and the best techniques to employ. Started to get together the materials I would need, lining paper for the masking, 1200 and 2000 grade wet and dry, 'tack-cloths' , masking tape and er. .. the paint.
Had to look up the factory code for the original paint.. It is 'Alverston Red 696 ' I thought this would be readily available off the shelf but no, it does not work that way. I would have to get it made up at a paint - shop.
Settled on 'Autopaint UK' for the paint. Made up there on the spot (400ml for £10.80) and the service was good..
By the end of the month, I had everything needed and was starting to focus on the task ahead. Even began to get ahead of myself and consider doing the n/s wing once I had acquired ..."a particular set of skills"...
Took some photos for the record and began to 'knife' the remaining remnants of lacquer from the doors. I found using a hand held Stanley blade very effective at this and used it both wet and dry..
Put up with this paint finish for 4 years before finally doing something with it!!
MAY 2016 - Still thought I could do the work without removing the door handle or window seal. Reluctantly realised that to do it properly they will have to be removed. Stripping the door down created a lot more work but it was needed to do the job properly.
FRIDAY 13TH MAY - a significant day In the process. The door handle and the sealing strip were removed and the lacquer residue knifed away. Then the door panel was rubbed down with 1200 grit...
Removing the handle gives easy access to the recessed 'knuckle bowl' and the lacquer beneath the handle pads.
Here is the same area all cleaned up. I stuffed a rag into the rear aperture to protect the electric door latch from the wet and dry treatment.
1200 grit wet and dry was used very wet. I soaked the grit paper in a water bath and sprayed the panel liberally as I worked. The sun was hot and direct and quickly dried out my efforts. Never a good idea to work in direct sun, but a good learning curve.
Never used 'wet and dry' to this extent before. I found that it only needed gentle hand pressure and lots of water to do its job quickly.
I became aware of the 'sound' of the cutting action and the way the white deposit would develop as a cue to move along the panel. It can be seen that I only worked small areas at a time and it was possible to feel the difference with a bare finger..
Really like this image. There is something about that water stain on the floor.. its shape, it has transient meaning on Friday13th.
Remember feeling inspired that day and keen to progress further, but it was to be nearly two weeks before the panel was sprayed. Having to work outdoors is a challenge in itself. Having no control on the weather environment calls for great patience. I had decided to spray only on calm, overcast warm days, ... a big ask around here!!
Even when conditions are good, there is only a short window of opportunity as I found out when having masked everything ready to spray the wind got up to frustrate me...
Waiting for the right conditions provided the opportunity to work on other aspects of the doors condition. The handle was sprayed.. The rusty quarter-light window frame cured....The speaker panel modified and the marker light and cabling installed..
Friday 27th May - After two failed attempts due to weather conditions, the morning presented itself with overcast sky and calm winds...
All masked up and ready.
The front door was opened to allow the very leading edge of the rear door to be sprayed. This meant using a large cardboard box to mask the open door and a large piece of bubble wrap to cover the front door aperture. Like they say, never throw away the packaging, it will come in handy one day!!
Five photos taken after the colour coat was applied. I put about five coats on there, slowly building the finish up and leaving an easy ten minutes between each coating. That gave me time to assess as I went along.
In between coats, the spray can was sat in a warm water bath to keep it toasty and given plenty of rattles...
I decided to press ahead and lay down the new lacquer coat. Noticed immediately how the lacquer gave a different surface finish and it began to show up like 'orange peel'.
I carried on spraying giving a total of four coatings with 5 minutes between each coat. I naively thought that the high-gloss finish would appear the more the lacquer was applied.
Finished by noon/early afternoon. The sun started to break through and I took this as a cue to step-back.
Took this photo to try an get a comparison with the other panels. There is still a bit of masking tape to be removed.
Learnt not to use 'ordinary' masking tape in direct contact with metal, glass or plastic under direct sun.
A sticky grungy residue will be left behind... Time to get the proper painters 'blue' tape me thinks..
After the initial euphoria from doing my first ever panel respray (a kissed out red floatboat) I entered a period of doubt and questioning why I didn't get a high gloss finish. The answer was real simple and put me back on track...
This photo shows the fresh paintwork on the door next to the original rear body. Zooming in close to the shoulder line will show the fine 'orange peel' texture that prevents the door from matching the rear body reflectance.
The 'orange peel' finish to the paint job was to some extent a natural consequence of rattle can application. The answer is to mop the surface to polish in the shine.
To this end, I sourced a Silverline orbital polisher from Toolstation for £22 and a tube of rubbing compound. I bought two tubes, one was Halfords own brand for £4.50 and the other Farecla G3 which was £9 from the paint people..
Another steep learning curve was climbed as I set about rubbing down the fresh paint with more wet 1200 grit. At first it seemed crazy to destroy the finish but the idea is to flatten out the orange peel texture before using the rubbing compound which is essentially a very fine abrasive to restore the shine.
I was starting to get results when I figured I should hold back till the other door panel is resprayed and have a better chance to match them up.
To be honest, I was really worried about burning through the lacquer layer and kept checking the polisher mop for any red paint tone appearing.
It is quite a challenge to get a good photo to illustrate the process. I tend to favour general before and after photos.
As I write this, the rear door is still not a finished article, but it's looking a hell of a lot better then the front one. ....
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