Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

alrite all im planning to respray my corsa at home in a few weeks i have a good compressor and gun. i am just doing a respray the same colour as i want to get rid of scratches and freshen up the paint a bit (also means i can colour code everything. any advice on preperation of the job would be good as i really need to do it in a weekend.

also im wanting to smooth the crease between the coloured bit and the plastic part of the front and rear bumpers. im just wondering the best way to do this as i have had seen a few methods.

cheers

My advice: Take your time!

Make sure you prepare the surfaces properly and don't rush it! As for smoothing the creases, try some bodge. Smooth it into the create and sand it down into a smooth finish then spray it.

cheers for the advice mate but i herd bodge cracks easy if you hit a bump. i was thinking about using fibreglass for it as its a bit stronger and then just smooth it ova

ive also got a pair of morette side skits as well but there too long and will just scrape the bottom once there on i need to take about an inch 1/2 off them so they dont look massivly out of place ( i was after subtle and they arived lol) im going to take them to a body shop to see if it is worth getting them modified

if not does any one want a set of morrette side skirts for a 5 door

Depends how much for m8. Message me a price if selling them

a 5 door and a 3 door are the same lengh?

tbh fibreglas is just as likely as body filler to crack off the bumper because both are a lot harder than the plastic and don't flex the same imo a nice aftermarket bumper will be the best bet for longevity.

As for the actual painting once you have done all your repairs (if you have any), and primed any bits you needed too, leave it to dry for a couple of days to avoid sinking when you put your colour on.

give the primer a light coat of black and using a block and 800 grit wet and dry, wet flat the primer untill it is perfectly smooth (no black spots remaining) and make sure all the edges have been flated/ blended properly so that you can't see primer patches, then go over every thing with your 800 grit paper (even metalic paint will cover 800 anything finer and your paint can flake off, if your using a d.a. sander then you can use 600 grit) untill there is no glossy patches left on the car for hard to reach places use a grey scotchbrite (red is o.k. too but only for solid colours not metalic its to rough),

once you have flatted every thing wash the car off with soapy water to get rid of all the flating dust then let the car dry (blow out any awkward places where water can gather with your airline, once it is dry go over the car with a tacky rag (most paint shop sell them gramos is probably the most common) to get rid of the last of the dust.

the next step is using a degreaser (spirit/panel wipe) to remove any grease or silicone/wax from the body work (paint wont stick to grease etc and causes little spot/dips to form), put the panel wipe on with one cloth and then before it flashes off wipe it off with another dry cloth.

then you can mask the car up and get ready to paint, once the car is masked set your gun up to around 35-40 psi get your paint mixed up and start painting,

start by going around all the edges acrche lips, bonnet, boot, sills etc to ensure you get good coverage (its easy to go light especialy round the sill bottoms,

then paint the car panel by panel first going horizantaly with a slight overlap on the paint fan to ensure a nice even coverage then go vertcaly to eliminate any (tiger) striping,

try to keep any panels you are painting wet whilst you spraying to stop the paint looking dusty and dry and avoid spaying onto finished panels whilst doing others (if you do just get then an other quick coat to keep the even,

If your spraying two pack it is doubly important to keep the paint even and wet looking to maintain the gloss, if its just polyester base coat its not AS important but still do your best, dont get tempted to go for perfect coverage first time because you will end up with runs,

always let the paint flash off betwen coats two pack wil likely need at least 10 minutes between coat base coat will usualy flash off in five, like i said this is not a race, lots of thin coats will give a better more even cverage that one or two thick ones

If you used base coat then you need to let the base coat flash off, and then start appling the laquer, i like to start with sides and the back/ front get them nice and glossy coat on them then paint the roof to minimise over spray on the roof,

whilst your doing the roof you can go over the sides and back/ front again to keep everything glossy, it can be hard to see the spray pattern with the laquer so its easy to miss places, i tend to get a good light or something down the side and paint by the reflection (you can tell where is glossy and where is dry and you can see the laquer going on)

Thats pretty much it, i will have a read through this tommorow to fill in any gaps etc, but for now im off to bed its been a long day and im knackered.

thats bloody fantastic mate.
i reckon the most important thing thats comes across is to take time.
im goin to attempt it hopefully next week and start preping everything then spay at the satrt of the week after