Painting a Wing

[Turtle]

Hi all,

since hitting the deer I need to replace my drivers side wing. The question is, how shall I paint it? Will a spray can be a good enough finish, or should I get it sprayed professionally? Or should I go hunting for a white wing at the scrap yard?

Same questions with the front grille really, I guess this is easier to paint though.

Also, does the MSC need a guide for replacing the wing? Since im doing it I can take photos and write one? :glance:

Thanks everyone!

 

[simmo]

if you wanna spray your grill with a can it will probably be ok. Although using proper equipment will give a better finish. Have you ever attempted to spray anything on a car before? if not i would find someone who knows what they are doing, especially with the wing. U'd need at least 6 cans of paint to do a half decent job on a wing.

nasty little bump that by the way. looks like my car a few months back, but in my case a country lane hedge jumped out in front of me!

 

[Ed]

Youll never get a wing to match the rest of the car if done by cans, and as its a white car, your be unlikely to ever get an exact match anyway.

 

[Turtle]

Well ive sprayed the mudguards, amongst other smaller bits and bobs... so I think that will be OK.

but I guess I'll have to get the wing professionally sprayed, anyone know how much this will cost?

 

[K10]

I've had one sprayed for my celica, think it was about £80-£90 cash job. I assume the celica one is bigger too, lots of paint required- so could be a lot less for the K10.

Good luck! :k10:

 

[SammoHung]

I sprayed my own on metallic black Both wings

I used:
one huge can of primer per wing.
One and a bit cans of colour (bought 3 colour matched cans from HF'ds)
and one huge can of lacquer per wing
Half a small tin of smooth hammerite for the inside after the outsides were complete.

the rest of the car had faded compared with the wings a bit.

you need:
somewhere dust free where you can hang the wing and where you don't mind a bit of overspray onto anything else that may be in the same room.
lots of patients don’t rush anything. Lots of thin light coats allow drying between each one.
If you can get a mirror smooth finish on the primer and no major paint runs. You will enjoy yourself.
The colour matched spray cans usually have an adjustable nozzle.

I also used a non-Nissan wings they were £29 each...the passenger side wing had a profile difference....give me a sec and I’ll try to get some pictures while it is still light

(first time attempt at spraying)

 

[SammoHung]

here goes....

no comments on my apparently bean shaped haed!...lol

notice the slight 'egg shell' texture on the close ups...this was because I wasn't patient enough to wet & dry the primer to a mirror finish...

the final two shots show the neer side profile is not flush with the door hinge (didnt use nissan original wings)

 

[Fordy]

sammo give the wings some t-cuting and polish and they might come up a bit better

when painting with spray cans a few tips ive learnt are:

1: the object to be painted is clean so the paint wont react with anything, white sprits is easy to hand and will do the job

2: the spary can is warm and not cold

3: the hotter the weather is, the better and if its raining dont do any painting you will just waste paint

4: apply alot of paint so you can t-cut without going down to primer

5: on the final go with the paint put down a nice glossy coat but be very carefull of runs

5: when the paint is fully dry and gone hard, give the painted object a rubbing with t-cut (colour restorer not colour specific) and then polish it with a good polish

ive done these methods with my moded grill, side skirts and wheel arch extensions and they all came up brilliantly so i know it works

 

[SammoHung]

Some good advice cheers,

I missed some of those when I did mine!

I will remember them for future jobs though cheers nice one!

Since I have metallic: My final stages were wet & dry the colour to a dull scruffy looking surface, (without rubbing through to the primer) clean with plenty of water and allow to dry. Then when dry & hard "ooer missus" apply the clear laquer coats.

Here's another tip...

The laquer will be dry to touch in a day but it wont be properly hardened it really needs a week or two for the laquer to fully harden.

any prolonged pressure on the laquer at this stage will dent the laquer

I ended up with a few dimples (no photo) because I only waited a day to dry then laid them butter-side-down (laquer-side-down) on some bubble-wrap to apply the hammerite....boohoo!

 

[Turtle]

Great advice, thank you. This is what i'll be doing if I cannot find a white wing in a scrap yard.