Ahh, yes. The Miata paint job.

which everyone said would come out terribly because you can't paint a car with rattle cans.

Actually it wasn't the entire car, it was the upper half of the front bumper cover. I was seriously thinking I should paint it matte black. I got the paint code and started scouting around.

While the car still had its factory paint job and is in excellent shape, I do have to realize it's a 33 year old car and garage kept or not, it is still a 33 year old paint job. Things fade. The truth is that the color was so far off that when I was done it looked like it was intentional instead of being a poor attempt at matching it.

Off to find out what to do and where to get the paint. The bumper cover really looked like hell. Internet search time and of all places, I found the paint at Walmart on line. Done deal, I ordered 2 cans of paint. I also grabbed a can of primer and a can of clearcoat locally.

The job itself:

I taped and papered everything off as necessary, roughed up the fiberglass surface and primed it. Primer is important because primer sticks to the materiel and paint sticks better to primer.

Then I did the test strip on a piece of white paper and discovered the red was darker and deeper than the rest of the car. Back to the think tank.

I recalled seeing NA Miatas the darker color before and figured that the company that made the paint had sent me that. Then I imagined the bumper cover that different shade and figured that the contrast would not look too bad on the bumper cover. Still, the mismatch was bad. In fact it was so bad it could never be mistaken for a poor match. It wouls make the bumper cover an accent piece instead.

Of course, if I was repainting a door there was no way in hell I would use it. 

I decided to go for it. I figured that if it sucked I'd simply repaint the whole upper bumper cover matte black.

I applied the color coat, three coats and while the color was OK, the finish looked like hell. 

STOP! 

Back to the laptop and found someone else that had gone through the same problem and he reported that the clearcoat is what makes the difference. I was dubious at best but figured that sanding off a couple of extra coats of clearcoat would not be too much extra work. I continued.

The clearcoat can said to go with two or three coats but I know myself. I tend to overpaint things so instead I went with five light coats, waiting about fifteen minutes between coats per can instructions.

I was truly amazed as the coats built up. The roughness of the color coat disappeared and became smooth appearing and this morning I saw it and it looked damned good, all things considered.

While the color didn't change and even deepened a bit the nose took on a hue of its own and looks pretty good set off like that. The finish seems OK and while it certainly isn't a factory job, it's not too bad.

I suppose that it's about the same quality as an Earl Scheib or a Maaco job and when you consider it came out of rattle cans it's an amazingly damned good job. 

It at least looks finished because that nose sure was raggedy.

Frankly I have no intentions of entering the Miata in the Las Vegas annual car show. I didn't buy the car for that reason. I bought that car to drive. Still, I want it to look halfway decent and now it does so I'm good with that. If in the future I decide I don't like it then I'll just paint the damned thing matte black and call it good. 

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Update. Unbelievable!

The nose looks almost burgundy in the garage. When I took it outside and into direct sunlight the color is a perfect match although somewhat glossier than the rest of the car. Admittedly I did use a very high gloss clear coat.

I can't figure that one out.

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY