Painting a car bonnet, advice needed

[bdr529]

As some of you may know, my E30 was given a nice splash of paintstripper by some of Telfords finest sewage life.

I've been given quotes from £300-400 to have it fixed, which is steeper than what I thought it would be. Searching for a bonnet is proving hard as well, loads of E30 bonnets around, but haven't found a black one yet.

Basically the paint obviously has been stripped off the metal completely, so I want to get it covered pretty soon. Unfortunately I have no experience with painting metal body panels at all.
I was thinking of brushing all the remaining flaking paint away and rubbing down the surrounding area where the metal meets the undamaged paint.
I would then spray on the coats of primer, then the paint coatings. However my mate has attempted DIY paint himself and the result is a bonnet with a finish rougher than sandpaper. The laquer is all uneven with the rest of the bonnet, and the area itself is all bumpy. Is this a consequence of inexperience with using rattle cans to fix car paint up?

Obviously I don't want it to end up like this on my bonnet. So my 2nd option is to go halves on a compressor and a spray gun, would it be worth doing this?

This is the damage done. At least no matter what I do, it can't get any worse.




I am a complete n00b when it comes to body panel painting, so if anyone with experience could give me advice with how to go about this and not bks it all up, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long post

Edited by bdr529 on Sunday 30th May 00:46

[AndrewW-G]

Please don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t bother painting it yourself you'd be better off spending an hour or two getting quotes from other paint shops, even if you could get a decent finish, it will still cost almost as much as getting a body shop to do it (approx. £130). . . . . . . . . Rough breakdown of costs as follows (most of which you won’t use all of, but will have to buy anyway!)

1 litre of barrier coat £15
1 litre of high build primer + hardener £15
1 litre of base coat £25
1 litre lacquer £25
Activator £15
Thinners / gun wash £10
Thinners 2k - £10
Abrasives, masking paper, masking tape, polishing compound etc. £20

Edited by AndrewW-G on Sunday 30th May 00:14

[bdr529]

AndrewW-G said:

Please don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t bother painting it yourself you'd be better off spending an hour or two getting quotes from other paint shops, even if you could get a decent finish, it will still cost almost as much as getting a body shop to do it (approx. £130). . . . . . . . . Rough breakdown of costs as follows (most of which you won’t use all of, but will have to buy anyway!)

1 litre of barrier coat £15
1 litre of high build primer + hardener £15
1 litre of base coat £25
1 litre lacquer £25
Activator £15
Thinners / gun wash £10
Thinners 2k - £10
Abrasives, masking paper, masking tape, polishing compound etc. £20

Edited by AndrewW-G on Sunday 30th May 00:14

Hmmm that's alot! In that case, the main concern right now is covering the damage until I can get the funds to sorted out properly. How long would you reckon primer+paint+laquer by itself would hold? I mainly want to prevent the bonnet itself from rusting for now.

Thanks

Edited by bdr529 on Sunday 30th May 00:47

[AndrewW-G]

If you can remove all traces of the brake fluid (rub down the edges of the damage and clean with thinners / panel wipe), a can of lacquer will seal the damage until you can get it sorted

[sunbeam_alpine]

It might be even cheaper to look for a replacement bonnet.

[bdr529]

sunbeam_alpine said:

It might be even cheaper to look for a replacement bonnet.

I have tried, though I can never find a black one. The closest I can get is dark gunmetal grey.

AndrewW-G said:

If you can remove all traces of the brake fluid (rub down the edges of the damage and clean with thinners / panel wipe), a can of lacquer will seal the damage until you can get it sorted

I'll give that a shot for now, thanks for the help!

Edited by bdr529 on Sunday 30th May 01:55

[tr7v8]

Had my Jaguar S-Type bonnet repainted for 200 quid by someone in Swanley, Kent. This included filling two dings that were caused by a chunk of metal bouncing across it. The car is also a flip colour in Blue Prism which is a blue/green. So I'd have thought you'd have found someone to do the bimmer bonnet for similar money.

[ExPat2B]

Surely a nice carbon bonnet is in order ? Would work out at the same cost.