i have a spot of rust on the back hatch above the keyhole, and a spot on the driver side a-pillar.... my nx is white and i was wondering if anyone knows the best paint to buy that will match the closest? and what should i do... sand it all down and paint, or primer first?

go to www.towerpaint.com They will mix you a can or aerosol paint to take care of it. I have had two cans made for two different cars---matched perfectly. It costs $24 with shipping, but it's well worth it to have such a nice match.

Curt B. Shumaker

I wonder if they can match the saphire blue?

If you have metallic paint, even if they match the color, the metallic won't blend. Even a professional can't bland metallic after the fact, they have to shoot the entire panel. Another thing, our cars are base coat clear coat, and it doesn't take much to match the base, but it takes the whole panel to get the clear right. Since nx2000racer's car is white, if they match the paint right, and white can be the hardest color to match perfectly, then I'd just go with Curt's suggestion. You might want to check, some local auto paint places can likely do the same thing towerpaint can do and maybe a little cheaper. Curt, was that enamel they mixed for you? White hides better than anything, so I'd suspect that even if it is enamel, it'll blend fine if you feather the edges and buff the whole thing when you're done. I'd definately prime those rust spots with a primer made for bare metal adhesion, maybe even try that rusty metal primer, I've heard from professionals that it actually does work. Get as much rust off as you can though, because it's still going to come back later on, but the better you get it, the longer that will be. If it's really pitted, I'd get a small can of Duraglas (it's like bondo but better). Put a skim coat of that on and sand it smooth and then paint your primer over that. That'll buy you lots of time. I wouldn't mask off the paint though, just mask trim, taillights, glass, handles, and any panels of the car that wont' be painted. You said it's your trunk right? So mask so that only your trunk is exposed, but don't mask off any of the trunks surface. The reason is because you'll have a ridge of paint where your masking tape is. Not masking will allow overspray onto the rest of the panel, but will allow the paint to feather out. You'll definately want to sand the paint around the area to be primered with 400 grit paper, just dull it, and the same when the primered area is ready to be painted, except maybe use 600 for that. Then when the whole thing is done and the paint has cured, buff the whole trunk lid with Mirror Glaze Medium Cut and an orbital buffer. (I stay away from grinder style buffers, it's too easy to burn through the paint, besides, if you've got the right compound down, it'll do the work anyways, just takes longer with the random orbit) It'll take the overspray off and clean up the whole thing. You'll likely want to buff the whole car though. Good luck.

im so happy!!! i just sanded it down, i got 99% of the rust off!!! the rest is bare metal!!! no rot holes or pig pits... very very smooth... as of now i have primer on it... im gona give that i light sand, then primer again... when its good and dry ill paint!!! so far this is going GREAT!!!!!!!

im done with the hatch and im very very satisfied!!! you can go to my website below to see pics of the process... the link is at the bottom...

Originally posted by Toolapcfan
Since nx2000racer's car is white, if they match the paint right, and white can be the hardest color to match perfectly, then I'd just go with Curt's suggestion. You might want to check, some local auto paint places can likely do the same thing towerpaint can do and maybe a little cheaper. Curt, was that enamel they mixed for you?

Take a trip over to that site---www.towerpaint.com and check it out. They can mix almost anything you want guys. What I had was the enamel and then the clear coat. I used it to paint a small rust section on the rocker panel of my wifes old car. Did it look factory fresh? No. Did it look 98% there? Hell yes! In fact, unless you were within 1" of it, you couldn't tell. Keep in mind that they paint I used was in a can like you would buy rust oleum. You can get just a staright can of it that you add the activator too and then spray on with a spray gun and a iltered compressor. However, this was a small rust repair in an area you couldn't see. If you are painting an entire panel I would highly suggest you pass on the aerosol can that I bought and step up to the can of paint and the clear.

That process with the spray gun isn't all that tough. You just have to have an area that is clean with no dust. Tarp an area off in your garage and spray the floor down with water right before you paint in order to settle the dust. After you have the primer on and see that there are no imperfections in the body, go ahead and shoot the paint with one light coat so that it barely covers. Wait a min. or two and then shoot another coat that covers a bit more thoroughly. The idea is to get it thick enough on the last coat that it looks shiny---almost to the point it runs, but DON'T let it run. Also don't apply 10 coats---the paint will crack later when it dries. I try shooting for 3 coats where the first one hardly applies--I call it 2.25 coats:) Then wait and apply your clear coat--2 coats here, no more.

That's a VERY simple explanation to the process and some might not agree with the steps. However, I have painted two full cars that way and another 3 where I painted just a certain body panel. Each time they turned out about a 8.5 out of 10. My problem is corners. Next time I try this I am going to get the car up in the air as high as I possibly can. When it comes time to paint the lower portions of the car, it's hard if it's at ground level--i.e. on it's wheels.


Eitherway---good luck to you!
Curt B. Shumaker

Damn Mike! I am impressed! That came out damn good! Where'd you get the paint from? I saw you had some pits, if it starts to rust again, do the same thing you did this time, but do like I said and either use that rust inhibitor primer or put a skim coat of Duraglas on.

I just bought two brand new gravity feed guns. A 2.0 for priming, and a 1.4 for top coating. Got em for about $60 each. They're cheap Astros, but everyone I've talked to who shoots professionally, uses Astros for their stuff at home. I'll have to get some matched paint for my SE-R when I fix the rust on the rockers. I'll have to get that SOB way up high, you aren't kidding Curt, about shooting the lowers, especially with a gravity feed. As for enamel, first time I shot it was on my wife's '91 Tempo and I layed it down pretty good but it was still hazy from overspray, nothing a buffer didn't fix. Thing about enamel, the shit will stick to dirt! You can really botch a paint job with enamel and it'll last. (Suppose that's why Maaco uses it so much) My dad's got an old Binks I could use but it doesn't shoot worth a shit anymore. So that Towerpaint is pretty competitive price wise? I'll have to check them out, I'll need to buy some RM to finish my truck and that stuff's not cheap.

thanks toolapcfan! i was impressed with the results also... i used $1.99 sandable primer and $3.99 plasti-kote nissan white paint... both from advance auto... its the best 6 bucks ive ever spent! lol