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As promised, slow progress. I'm still working on the fender rust repair. This is the second coat of filler nearly sanded out half way. I've got a high spot in the mesh and kitty hair I'm trying to blend into, but it is giving me grief. I keep finding the high spot first before I've got the rest blended into it. I'm still trying to restore the fender line but I can't sand over the high spot to get it sanded out and shaped.
Bottom line is that i really dont know what im doing and im learning as i go. I think I'm going to have to settle for less than perfect.
Can you see the problem area?
Offending high spot
Wide angle with the trim off so I can sand into the bodyline.
Got a little farther this weekend. I've just about hit the "good enough for government work" stage. It is pretty well flattened out and the bodyline is almost right. It looked better before the primer, but thats what it is all about - each stage makes it just a bit better than before.
If you look close at the picture with the primer you can see my body line is a tad too high as it comes into the filler and it is a bit too "sharp" so I need to change the angle on the top and bring the body line down about 1/16" or so, then round it all off so it isn't so angular.
This is the high build primer before any sanding, so you can still see some of the rough spots in the filler, but the primer should flatten it out pretty nicely.
So this is 1 very rough coat of kittiy hair, then another smooth coat of the same, with two coats of regular filler on top of that. Then two coats of high build primer. Which sounds like a lot of filler, but you end up sanding most of that out.
The wheel lip is the roughest part. It is ok, but not perfect. Looks better from the face than it does from the bottom, and I'm ok with that.
Little bit more progress tonight. Got the first coat of high build sanded down and put another three coats on last night. Got those sanded down and all the imperfections in the filler leveled out.
Unfortunately, I'm still not happy with the body line. It is still too high and still too sharp. Of course you cant see these things until it is all in primer and you get some low angle light on it.
It's pretty flat on the face, so if I can sand down the filler on top to lower the body line I should be done at that. Then it is just trying to match the curve of the body line as best as I can. If you look close, you can see where I lost the body line at the bottom. Ot kinda takes a Wrong turn where it goes into the trim piece. Not sure if I can fix that or not. We will see when I get the bodyline on top straightened out.
The high build primer left more porous spots that need to be filed. I used a primer that is thicker than the sealer but thinner than the high build and put on a sloppy wet cost of primer to fill the micro bubbles. There's runs and drips bit it doesn't matter because ill end up sanding almost all of it off anyway when I block sand It.
Slow going, but it is getting close.
Had some help
There's some promise here
High build sanded flat and ready for regular primer
Sloppy wet coat of a scratch filling primer.
Not quite right. Close, but need to do some more shaping
I'm learning more and more that body work is more about sanding and knowing when to quit than it is anything else. Spraying color is relatively easy, but the shaping is where the real art and skill is at.
Kids went down for a nap so I worked on it real quick today. The primer I used filled in some of those micro bubbles, but either not all of them or it left some of its own.
Getting these all filled in is getting old.
Left with another runny mess to sand down.
Yes, Virginia, spot putty would be the best way to fill those, but I still don't have any. And this works, I guess.
Was hoping to spray bomb it blue with the cheap stuff so i can see how the contours look, but thats not going to happen today.
Are you using filler primer or just regular primer?
The stuff I sprayed a couple days ago was a "scratch filling primer". And it did what it was supposed to do. But because I'm putting it on so heavy it is leaving solvent pops below the surface that show up when you sand it down.
The stuff I sprayed yesterday is a "sealer" which is basically a really thin non-sanding primer.
As said above, a spot putty like the nitrostan or any other brand would be easier. From my perspective, they are all a lacquer based product (unless you spring for the good stuff which is catalyzed) so whether I'm using a lacquer based filler and sanding that flat, or using a lacquer based primer and sanding that flat, in the end there is no real difference in the end product.
The only real upside to filling in everything with the primers is that the whole thing just keeps getting flatter every time you block sand it, so by spraying 7 or 8 coats of primer and sanding almost everything off every time, you can really level it out, which probably wouldn't happen if I just used the spot putty.
I'm probably walking the line between "too much" and "FAR too much" primer as it stands, but it is pretty flat so it should look good untill all the solvents finally come out in 2-4 years and it cracks the top coat. But by that time i wont care
Sanded everything flat down to the primer this morning and resprayed it with sealer then color bombed it with my color match rattle can to check the body line.
I think I'm done shaping except for the inner wheel well. Need to hit that with the dremmel sander again so the edge of the lip is straight again. All jn all not too bad for a guy who doesn't really know what he's doing.
Sanded flat.
Those holes still didn't fill in.
This is the high spot. You can see the clear kitty hair and wire mesh behind it. Good time to stop sanding.
This corner is high as well. Again, a good time to stop sanding. A little more high build here would level it out but it is probably flatter than when ford built it.
It's blue!
Body line seems to match ok and seems pretty straight so I'm calling it done with the filling and shaping.
Inner wheel lip. Need to straighten the edge back out. Not that anyone but me would notice.
Got carried away....
So the plan from here is to sand all this color off with some 600 grit and spray it with the good stuff. Hopefully later this week.
Honestly, I could just be done here. But this rattle can stuff doesn't hold up very well and it will always stand out. And i've got the good stuff so might as well use it.
The equipment i used to do this was about as basic as you could get. I've got a cheap 11 gallon compressor which goes through a cheap regulator. I used a cheap disposable filter/dryer in front of my clearance HVLP touch-up gun i bought on clearance at Tractor Supply. I was able to get decent enough spray pattern and it looked pretty good. The rest was done with just a long thin sanding block and regular wet/dry sand paper.
i've got one bubble on the tailgate in a corner that i painted. i'm not sure if i didn't take enough out when i did it, or if it started outside of my repair and worked in. but everything else i touched is still holding up really well. there is a nasty spot up by the brake light that may or may not have been there when i did the rest. if it was there i didn't notice, but it's pretty ugly now.
the fenders both have some rust under the paint now. i think i just left them exposed to the elements too long and trapped moisture between the metal and paint. primer absorbs moisture pretty easily when exposed to the elements. in hindsight, i should have blasted those areas with a heat gun before painting to drive the moisture out of the primer. A word to the wise, if you are going to do this like i did and take all summer doing it, put a top coat on it at the end of every night. any cheap rattle can paint would do, so long as it is covered to keep the primer from absorbing moisture. i may or may not redo the fenders this summer. its got 215,000 miles on it now, so i'm starting to care less and less how it looks
all in all, it cleans up really well, but it is usually pretty dirty.
I joined this site after seeing your post on your Expedition. I know someone with a 2006 Expedition Eddie Bauer 4x4 5.4L. It has no rust that I can see but the paint is peeling on the front hood and tailgate. I read online and saw a YT video where Ford was sued for this because the paint had corrosion in it? Almost like acid? I can get this Expedition with 160K for $800 BUT it has a transmission problem so I'm going to assume it needs a new tranny. My friend can drop it, rebuild it, and reinstall it for $650 parts and labor. The rear bumper cover is cracked but I found one for an Eddie Bauer. Then that leaves this peeling paint issue. The hood it barely noticeable, mostly under the hood. The tailgate area is peeling right around the hande by the license plate. Can this be primed and painted like you've shown above? I was thinking if I fixed it, it would stop peeling but if it's going to keep peeling at different spots on the tailgate then that would be a problem. This Expedition also has the ABS light on but that could be related to the transmission problem. It drives, but has problems in first gear. The engine runs like new. The inside is decent. I can get it for $800. The person is selling it for $800 to me, otherwise it'll go to the junkyard most likely. I have a mechanic that'll redo the tranny for a cheap price and I was trying to save this vehicle but I don't want to go in over my head. Can you give me advice at least on the paint? Oddly, for being a Ford and being in Indiana, I don't see any rust on it but I'll look it over more depending on if you give me a thumbs up or down. Thank you in advance!
Welcome to the forum. I’m honored that a post of mine would inspire you to join.
Regarding the paint, I’m sure it’s the same issue as mine was and I don’t see any reason you couldn’t do what I did. From my experience, anything you fix will stay fixed, but other areas will probably show up as time goes on unless you take the whole lift gate down to metal.
My understanding of the issue is that it is iron filings imbedded into the aluminum from using the same prep materials on the aluminum that was used on steel. These imbedded steel particles start a galvanic process under the paint which is what causes the blisters.
If you are going to tackle it, don’t use a wire wheel to remove the paint or you will cause the same issue. I used an eraser wheel with mixed success, but ultimately wet sanding it was what worked the best. Be prepared for pitting under the blisters. You will need a high build primer or some filler to get it flat and fill the pitting. A catalyzed high build would be the way to go if you can swallow the cost. The lacquer stuff i used worked well but I fought those solvent pops to the bitter end.
Obviously it is your call, but I was able to make mine look good again for a couple hundred bucks in material and some time, and it still looked really good when I got rid of it, considering it’s age and mileage. If you are ok with doing the work and seeing some bubbles slowly come back after a year or so, then you’ll be fine with what I did. When they do come back, it will still look better than it did and you can always fix the new spots as they show up.
I’d worry about the mechanical first.
Also, check the radiator core support. Mine looked really good, but underneath things were starting to go. The core support was staring to get pretty bad toward the end.
Good luck. If you get it and fix the paint, start a thread and send me a link so I don’t miss it!
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