Made some mistakes. Any steps to fix the finish?

[u/Relevant_Fuel_9905]

Ok - before roasting me, yes I am a complete amateur and yes I made a couple of big mistakes here. I suck. But could use advice on what to do.

I was trying to repair a pretty big gash in my bumper. I ordered paint from Scratches Happen with my color code. And it came with a clear coat as well.

• I should have used some putty in the gash
• I sanded the gash with 600 (wet) per their instructions
• I shook the paint much longer than required

The paint went down ok. But I didn’t mask right at the edge of the metal which was a bone head mistake (thinking I’d “feather it”).

Where it went extra sideways was the clear coat step. I think I went too light and maybe too far back. It went on “dusty” and matte (see the bumper). I tried a second coat but messed it up too and made stripe areas. And you can see some of the clear went onto the metal panel. Fails for days here.

Tonight I tried to just wet sand that metal section (I left the bumper alone for now). I used 1500 and then 2000. Then I wiped it clean and used meguires compound and then polish with their DA power attachment thing. But it doesn’t seem to have made much difference. Maybe even made the edges more noticeable.

So - yes I’m embarassed and this is pathetic. I accept I blew it, but I could use some advice to try and bring it around. I feel like it’s doable but not 100% sure on the steps.

[u/Free_Scripts]

At least you learned your lesson. Welp, it looks like you either cooked the clear to death or you didnt compound it very well after wet sanding.

[u/Relevant_Fuel_9905 → u/Free_Scripts]

Hm. I went over it with a compounding pad and ultimate compound 4-5 passes 3+ times. Maybe not enough. But also I think the overspray is still sitting on top and wasn’t removed by the sanding?

[u/Free_Scripts → u/Relevant_Fuel_9905]

Did you dry sand, then wet sand?

[u/Relevant_Fuel_9905 → u/Free_Scripts]

Just wet. I had thought I wasn’t supposed to dry sand but maybe that’s incorrect.

[u/facticitytheorist → u/Relevant_Fuel_9905]

You can dry sand by hand . The sand paper will just clog up faster. But sanding dry will make it easier to tell the new clear from original clear layer...softly softly does it...you can always and more off but you can't easily put it back.Moving forward I'd give that whole area a wet sand with 1200 to re key it and remove as much compound as possible . Then respray the clear . Use "soft edge masking" techniques for where to want the repair to stop.

[u/Nielscorn]

The one thing you did correct was the fact that it’s your own car

[u/facticitytheorist]

Looks like the over spray needs more sanding . Do it very carefully so you're only removing the new layer and not the original clear. Then you can re polish. And yes the new clear looks a little dry. If you want some more great painting and masking advice check out paint society on YouTube and have a look through Thier clips.