[72bowtiestepper]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Do some tests yourself, I really believe in tests like that so you feel comfortable using stuff. If you push the limits of a product until it fails you can use that product so much more confident in the future. And if you go a little too far accidentally you don't freak. LOL

I have done this for years with these things, not sure why I started it but many years ago I started doing this. It blows me away when I see the mistakes guys make on the job where I have worked that just a little test on a junk fender that would have taken a few minutes would have taught them so much.

I have a fender out in the back yard right now that I did ten years ago. It's a complete repair done without a spray gun, 2k aerosol cans and a "prevalv" sprayer for the paint.

I got the cans from a paint rep and wanted to see just what can you do with this stuff. I fixed the dents on the fender I pulled out of the metal bin at work and finished them off in 40 grit paper. I sprayed the 2k filler primer over that out of an aerosol can and blocked it out. It filled the scratches without a problem! I finished it off in 320 or 400 I don't remember. I then sprayed the waterborne paint with the preval sprayer following all the same rules as with a gun letting it flash off, getting some air movement to pull the water out of the paint. I then put two coats of urethane clear out of a 2k spray can on it. I got that fender out the next morning, not even 24 hours after and cut and buffed it just it was shot out of a gun! I then put it up on the roof to expose it as much as I could. It stayed up there for years and I would check it once in a while. After a few years it was covered in crap tree sap and what not, I clay bared it and hand polished it and it looked like the day I shot it. Someone threw it out and I found it all scratched and bent and I brought home and put it out in the back yard to see how it would continue to hold up. It still looks damn good.

I just get a kick out of doing these. When I was painting everyday I would get a junk fender and when I painted a car I simply applied the same to the fender but with abuse, piled it on way too heavy without any flash time, that sort of thing, it often failed, other times it didn't and I learned how bad something has to be before it is a goner for sure. The big thing being when I made a mistake how big of a mistake was it? Often going a little out of the box isn't a big deal. But more importantly it told me how going right by the guidelines the manufacturer set would produce the best possible job and staying within it is the best way to do that.

Just talking a little too much here being it's killing time time in the morning, sorry. LOL

Brian

Interesting....I like the idea of testing ! I have learned much about bodywork & painting from your detailed posts ! You are a great asset to this forum..Thanks a bunch !!