Painting advice needed

[casm]

OK, I know this is really XJ-related, but since I'm asking from a general 'how do I...' standpoint, I'm throwing it in Other Tech.

With that out of the way: I'm looking at repainting some trail damage sustained a couple of weekends ago before fitting rock rails. Not planning on taking the dents out, but I would like to get this cleaned up before it becomes a rust magnet. The damage is as follows (and note that I'm not planning on doing this to the flare for obvious reasons):

I've never really done much in the way of bodywork before, so could use a sanity check on what I'm planning on doing:

- Clean damaged areas.
- Wire wheel exposed metal.
- Rub down with alcohol to remove moisture.
- Primer with Rustoleum rattle-can automotive primer.
- Paint with Mopar rattle-can touch-up paint.
- Clearcoat, again with Rustoleum.

Is there anything I've missed here? I'm also curious as to how long I should leave it to dry between primering and painting, and if I need to sand the primer or not. Getting a perfect match isn't what I'm aiming for here so much as rust protection.

 

[Brian Carpenter]

Living in California, and working on a trail jeep (which I assume this is since you are not fixing the dents) I wouldn't worry too much about rust. I say this living in Vermont where they pave the roads with salt, and I drive my 88 Jeep a lot.
I would try to push out the rocker damage with a pry-bar through the wheel well opening (with inner plastic removed I think you will gain access) then just scuff the surface with ~300 grit sandpaper so the paint will stick and just go straight to the MOPAR paint.. then clearcoat if you want to.. but on a friend's car, the clear-coat overspray looked really bad in a few years since it prevented the new paint from fading uniformly with the rest of the car..

Good luck anyway,
BC

 

[Matthew Currie]

I agree, don't wire brush it. Since there's no rust yet, you don't need to go down to bare metal, and it doesn't need to be pristine if you're not bothering to straighten the metal. Wire brushing just messes up the edges. Sand it to get the paint scuffed up for adhesion, don't try for bare metal, and make sure you wipe it down with a suitable solvent to get rid of any oil or wax. If there's bare metal prime it, otherwise go straight to the paint. Skip the clear coat that far down on the body.

Try to fix the bottom corner of the door a bit, and make sure that you get paint to any areas that opened up, such as split seams and places that did not originally get properly painted but are now exposed. You can try to bend out the rocker a little as long as you don't make the denting worse. But it would be good to get that open seam closed up a bit more.

 

[casm]

Living in California, and working on a trail jeep (which I assume this is since you are not fixing the dents)

Not really a trail Jeep - more of a DD/WW. The main reason for not caring about the dents is that I've got a set of Custom 4x4 Fabrication's double-tube rocker guards to go on there; they'll hide most of the damage, and that gives me an excuse to be lazy and not deal with the dents.

I wouldn't worry too much about rust. I say this living in Vermont where they pave the roads with salt, and I drive my 88 Jeep a lot.

Point taken, but having grown up in a country with a rust-promoting environment I'd just rather not take the chance. Yeah, the climate here likely wouldn't cause any problems - but if I move it could be an issue. Best to just do it and get it out of the way.

I would try to push out the rocker damage with a pry-bar through the wheel well opening (with inner plastic removed I think you will gain access)

Hm. If it's that easy to get to, I may just do it anyway.

then just scuff the surface with ~300 grit sandpaper so the paint will stick and just go straight to the MOPAR paint.. then clearcoat if you want to.. but on a friend's car, the clear-coat overspray looked really bad in a few years since it prevented the new paint from fading uniformly with the rest of the car..

Understood. I was really only looking into the clearcoat from the standpoint of adding an extra layer or two of protection against stone chips, etc.

OK, makes sense.

Try to fix the bottom corner of the door a bit, and make sure that you get paint to any areas that opened up, such as split seams and places that did not originally get properly painted but are now exposed.

Funnily enough, the door damage isn't too bad - a little bent in at the leading edge, but still operational. Kind of follows the new fender contour

You can try to bend out the rocker a little as long as you don't make the denting worse. But it would be good to get that open seam closed up a bit more.

Might have a shot at straightening some of this out tonight - and hopefully get to the painting part this weekend. Thanks for the advice, folks

 

[casm]

Finally got around to painting the trail damage today. I decided to let the actual dents themselves stay since the rocker rails I'm putting on tomorrow will mostly cover them. The process was as follows:

- Sand with 320-grit sandpaper. Did this three times, rinsing off the dust after each pass and waiting for it to dry before going at it again.

- Cleaned area with ammonia, allowed it to air-dry, then washed it down with isopropyl alcohol - again, allowing it to air-dry.

- Spot-primed areas that were down to bare metal. Wet-sanded them, then went through the ammonia / alcohol cleaning routine again once it had dried.

- Hit it with five coats (an entire 5oz. can) of Mopar touch-up paint. End result:

The flash on the camera exaggerates the amount of contrast between the new and old paint: from ten feet away you can't really see it. I'll give it a couple of days to dry, then go over it with some cutting compound to have it blend in a bit better, though. Pretty happy with how it turned out - certainly not show-quality by any means, but there're no runs in it and I shouldn't have to worry about it rusting anytime soon.

 

[bcmaxx]

Fine job!,I did the whole side of mine from turnsignal to turn signal, I got a rattle can mixed up at napa for twenty bucks and emptied it on my scrape .