Because I'm an idiot!
So I scored a near perfect IS spoiler for $15 at the junkyard. All it needed was a fresh coat of paint.
Yesterday I spent 2 hours meticulously wet sanding it to perfection.
Then I set up a stand to paint it that only touched the middle of the under side of spoiler. Next I turned up the open flame propane heater in my garage to bring the temp up to 60 degrees. I applied 3 coats of Adhesion Promoter, let that dry and then started with the bumper coat. The first 3 coats went on perfect. Nice light and even. I should have stopped there, but I noticed a few uneven spots where the spoiler curves in at the back.
It went down hill from here. I stood the spoiler upright so the back would be flat. Then I applied a thicker coat to fill in the unevenness. It worked like a charm until I accidentally bumped the spoiler and it fell on the cat hair covered carpet I was using as a drop cloth below my stand. I lunged to catch it but it was too late. I fumbled with it before I dropped it, which just added fingerprints.
I tried to save it, by plucking out the cat hairs with tweezers and smoothing the fingerprints with more paint. Of course, it only made it worse. I knew it would! With a fresh night of sleep I tried a more rational approach by re-sanding the worst of it and re-spraying. No joy! I knew it was lost, but I pressed on. With each coat of paint it got worse.
At this point it was still usable. The most uneven parts were in the rear indent of the spoiler. All I would have to do is ignore the imperfections, but no, I pressed on continuing the train wreck. I knew the damage was done, but clung to the delusional hope that I could save it. I hit it with a few more passes causing a semi-hardened layer of paint sludge to form over the distortions. All it did was highlight the unevenness. I was getting impatient and the paint was too thick to dry. In an act if shear brilliance I held the wet spot close to my heater. It was about 18 inches away, but that was enough to ignite the flammable molasses turning the spoiler into a handheld torch. In another act of brilliance I blew the fire out quick, my face was fine, but the spoiler was not.
The fire had caused spider cracks in the paint along a two-foot swath of the right rear of the spoiler. This would not hide easily. Luckily I had to stop at this point to go to work. The question is where do I go from here. I’m tempted to just wet sand the affected area with 800 grit and blend it in. I think it’s possible to get it close. Here's a few pics:
The Good
The Bad
Think I can save it?
So I scored a near perfect IS spoiler for $15 at the junkyard. All it needed was a fresh coat of paint.
Yesterday I spent 2 hours meticulously wet sanding it to perfection.
Then I set up a stand to paint it that only touched the middle of the under side of spoiler. Next I turned up the open flame propane heater in my garage to bring the temp up to 60 degrees. I applied 3 coats of Adhesion Promoter, let that dry and then started with the bumper coat. The first 3 coats went on perfect. Nice light and even. I should have stopped there, but I noticed a few uneven spots where the spoiler curves in at the back.
It went down hill from here. I stood the spoiler upright so the back would be flat. Then I applied a thicker coat to fill in the unevenness. It worked like a charm until I accidentally bumped the spoiler and it fell on the cat hair covered carpet I was using as a drop cloth below my stand. I lunged to catch it but it was too late. I fumbled with it before I dropped it, which just added fingerprints.
I tried to save it, by plucking out the cat hairs with tweezers and smoothing the fingerprints with more paint. Of course, it only made it worse. I knew it would! With a fresh night of sleep I tried a more rational approach by re-sanding the worst of it and re-spraying. No joy! I knew it was lost, but I pressed on. With each coat of paint it got worse.
At this point it was still usable. The most uneven parts were in the rear indent of the spoiler. All I would have to do is ignore the imperfections, but no, I pressed on continuing the train wreck. I knew the damage was done, but clung to the delusional hope that I could save it. I hit it with a few more passes causing a semi-hardened layer of paint sludge to form over the distortions. All it did was highlight the unevenness. I was getting impatient and the paint was too thick to dry. In an act if shear brilliance I held the wet spot close to my heater. It was about 18 inches away, but that was enough to ignite the flammable molasses turning the spoiler into a handheld torch. In another act of brilliance I blew the fire out quick, my face was fine, but the spoiler was not.
The fire had caused spider cracks in the paint along a two-foot swath of the right rear of the spoiler. This would not hide easily. Luckily I had to stop at this point to go to work. The question is where do I go from here. I’m tempted to just wet sand the affected area with 800 grit and blend it in. I think it’s possible to get it close. Here's a few pics:
The Good
The Bad
Think I can save it?
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