Rant: The way I used to blend paint edges on repair jobs versus now with waterborne

I remember back in the late 2000s when I first started, I was using single stage enamel and blending was just a nightmare. You had to feather the edge perfectly with 600 grit, then spray the thinned paint in these real light passes or you'd get a halo ring that stood out like a sore thumb. Took me three tries on a silver 2005 Camry in Fresno last year before I figured out wet on wet blending with a modern waterborne system. Now I just spray the basecoat right over the prepared area and blend it out with a reducer, no more sanding between coats. The color match and texture come out way smoother, and I'm done in half the time on a door panel. But I still get nervous when I have to do metallic flake on a pearl white car. Anyone else struggle with blending metallics or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

palmer.ryan12d ago

And you picked the two hardest colors to blend too, silver and pearl white. Might as well start a fight with a sander while you're at it. I swear metallics in waterborne are like trying to herd cats with a spray gun. You get the flake laying down perfect on one side then you sneeze and the other side looks like a disco ball had a meltdown. Last time I did a pearl white bumper I just told the customer it was "custom texture" and hoped they didn't notice.

susan35010d ago

Actually pearl white is one of the easier ones if you use a sealer first... the trick is getting a solid base down before you even touch the pearl. Silver though, yeah that one's a nightmare. I've had silver come out looking perfect under the lights and then you walk it outside and it's a completely different shade. The flake orientation shifts with every coat and if you lay it on too wet it'll mottle every time. I think the real problem people run into with both of those is they try to blend too many panels at once instead of doing a proper spot repair. You can herd those cats a lot easier if you just commit to blending one panel at a time and let each coat flash off completely.