Eagle Talon TSI

[ambico]

I used all Duplicolor Paint Shop paint for this entire project. And sprayed 2 coats of clear and 3 coats on the front end of the car. I also spray the driverside door with left over paint from my previous paint job (black) and the rest of the black was in very good shape and after using some polishing compound there were hardly any scratchs and came out looking like new.

I also wetsanded and polished up the headlights as well as polishing up any plastic peices that I removed from the car.
Here are some pictures of the car before I started the paint job, the paint was pretty decent on most of
the body except the hood, top parts of the fenders and wing which can be seen in the pictures below.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4492/dsc02565c.jpg
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/931/dsc02566vl.jpg
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http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3513/dsc02569u.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3497/dsc02570ij.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4191/dsc02572ea.jpg

I then removed all of the lights and the mirrors to make sanding easier.
Then I took a black sharpie and circle every dent that I wanted to fill because it was easier to find the imperfections with the reflections.


Then I sanded the entire car and got it prepped for the primer, unfortunately I was crunched for time (storm was coming!)
so I didn't have time to take pictures of the car after it was primered.

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4300/dsc02578wc.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/302/dsc02579hc.jpg
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http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7875/dsc02583s.jpg

Here is the picture of the car just after the paint dried, it rained but luckily the paint was unaffected!
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9245/att00002a.jpg

Then I took apart the mirror assemblies and sandblasted the corrosion off of the brackets and painted them.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9199/dsc02587m.jpg
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8031/dsc02591pl.jpg

Once I painted the car I popped in the headlights just to see how it looked.
Here is a picture the day after I painted the car no sanding has been done at this point. Also, the color is kinda wierd in the picture without the lights
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1185/dsc02592u.jpg
Some orange peel on the hood which seemed to be worse than the rest of the paint job .
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2999/image114t.jpg

After I wet sanded the entire car by myself, I decided it was time to get a couple friends to help with the buffing/polishing which too was all done by hand.
Sorry about the quality, a friend took these pictures with his cell phone and I don't think I took any with a camera.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/4135/photo1a.jpg
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/141/photo2wh.jpg

All-in-All a very awesome product, it dries incredibly fast and gives a fantastic look to a car for a great price. I will be pulling the engine out of the car and respraying the engine bay in the coming weeks.

[sgmcdonald]

How did your wet sanding go? I've been wet sanding on my project for three days in a row after work (about 3 hours a night) and I'm only half way done. I'm using 1500 grit and then 2000 grit. I have some orange peel in the clear and I'm getting most of it out but it's taking forever - doing it all by hand. Plus my project is not a street car it's a formula car body so it's not nearly as much to sand as a regular car.

I'm wondering if I'm sanding too much. I haven't cut through the clear but how much of the orange peel will buffing remove? Do I have just get it smooth with wet sand and then buff the rest out?

[ambico]

When your wetsanding take a squeegee (or dry the water off with a towel) and you will notice that there are low spots that are still glossy. To get rid of orange peel you need to make sure that there are no low spots left in the paint. It took like 20 hours of sanding between me and my friends and easily could have spent another 10 to get it much cleaner. Then once you have done that, use a rubbing compound then a polishing compound and you should have a pretty good shine.

[Dupli-Color-Specialist]

Holy crap! Nice work! Love to see detailed posts like this. Thanks!

[ambico]

No Problem! I know how much it helps to see other peoples work! I live in dayton, so sometimes there isnt much to do but work on cars :D

[ambico]

Just remembered after I saw this, I used Dupli-color's wheel spray and clear on my rims for the TSI. Cleaning just wasn't enough because the corrosion had gone through the clear coat (I will get some before pics up soon but look at the pics above for a reference) but I must say, this paint matches the stock color flawlessly. Super easy to spray and no runs at all! Another excellent product! :D

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/4596/rim.jpg

[Dupli-Color-Specialist]

Just remembered after I saw this, I used Dupli-color's wheel spray and clear on my rims for the TSI. Cleaning just wasn't enough because the corrosion had gone through the clear coat (I will get some before pics up soon but look at the pics above for a reference) but I must say, this paint matches the stock color flawlessly. Super easy to spray and no runs at all! Another excellent product! :D

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/4596/rim.jpg

Thanks ambico. I like the wheel paint as well. Prep is very important so make sure you sand all of the corrosion off. Also make sure you lay down plenty of clear. Heavy coats means better gloss but don't run it. If your restoring your wheels check out our promotion at www.restorationchallenge.com You can enter and win cash and prises. We have a wheels catagory.