Painting Dashboard

[Dougie212]

Hi.

Just wondering if anyone else had experienced this….. I’ve stripped out and begun sanding and prepping my MM for painting. It’s currently a very rich dark green. The paint finish on the outside left a lot to be desired. In areas I think the paint had been put on quite thickly and had cracked. When sanding it, before it actually would sand it would go through a stage of almost rolling into little waxy bits before eventually sanding through.
Inside - the dashboard seemed okay and so I sanded it to score, cleaned it with panel prep and primed..
the primer in areas hasn’t adhered to the paint and actually, the previous green paint has become tacky. I can literally wipe it off, all be it very sticky, with a cloth and panel prep. I’ve sanded again but realised that the green paint is very thick like the outside, so the areas where it hasn’t adhered I’ve began sanding. This is like trying to sand a candle though as the green paint is like sticky and almost tacky.
My gut is saying to stop what I’m doing and paint strip the lot off and start again. I’d thought about getting a flap wheel on my drill and trying to sand it off but I think it would take so much to try and get through the sticky stages of the paint.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this at all and what would your suggestions be? I’m leaning towards a bottle of nitromors at the moment.

Many thanks

Duncan

[Steve Phillips]

Unfortunately I've been here several times.

The fact the existing paint has cracked in places woul indicate it's very thick as you say.
The fact it's not hard underneath (rolling into little balls) as you say means your not going to be putting your new paint over a good base.
And some paints are just not compatible with cellulose/ 2pack paint and will react when you try to spray them over the existing paint. So stripping it is probably the best option.
There are sealers available like barcoat that should allow you to over coat almost any paint but they can be troublesome on their own sometimes, so again not a guaranteed solution.

If you do go for paint stripper I wouldn't bother with nitromors. Due to regulations it's so gentle it almost doesn't work as a paint stripper. We use starchem synstryp. PS50. It's available over the net or from most refinisher suppliers. We use it on steel and aluminium bodied vehicles most of which have layers and layers of paint on due to their age and this product works well.

Steve

[Dougie212]

Hi Steve.

Thanks for your reply!!

I was going to go down the coach enamel route from paintman as they seem to sell the sage green which I’ve discovered was the original colour of the car - this was found when I removed one of the rear lights.

The outside, although laborious, seems to be sanding with a bit of success. After the rolling into little balls stage it does seem to be getting there. Inside, well, it’s a different case.. I’ll try and add some pics of the outside to show..

I am considering definitely paint stripping the inside. Would you take a look at the pics if I can upload them and advise if you would strip the outside too please?

Thank you!!

Duncan

[Dougie212]

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[ManyMinors]

Having done such a thorough job of dismantling the car so far, I would carry on a little further: Take the opportunity to remove the rear wings too and get fresh paint and protection around the fixing flanges before re-fitting them with new wing piping. Also, I would definitely strip all the previous layers of paint off until you reach clean bare metal. Who knows what paints have been used in previous repairs or what reactions you'll get with your new coats of paint. You'll likely be disappointed in the long run if you don't do this You've done a great job so far. It'll look spectacular with a new coat of Sage Green

[panky]

These are excellent for stripping paint and they don't damage the metal

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155492555704 ... 5730197297

These are the ones I got but seem to be out of stock but there's plenty of the same on there

[Dougie212]

Thankyou all for your answers!!

Manyminors, your absolutely right.. I’ve put so much time into the car that I’d be disappointed if the finish was sun standard just because I didn’t prep properly.

Panky, thanks.. I’ll have a look on eBay for the discs.

Steve, you’ll know the frustration I felt seeing the paint peeling off this morning then..

I’ll definitely be taking the rear wings off and getting some fresh paint on there.

Should I go down the line of chemical paint stripping and then mechanically with the discs to finish it off or should the discs do the job without the need for paint stripper..?

Many thanks

Duncan