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Change of pace.


Stallard12

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Just been reading up and it seems both the Cadenza and Stinger are available in the US, while here we only have the Stinger but with a more powerful engine.

Funny you should mention stone chips and difficulty with paint as I decided to do the complete front end of my Alfa a couple of weeks back. I couldn’t get the exact paint over the counter so had to have it mixed to order. Sliver metallic is always the hardest to get an exact match, but as it’s an old car I’m not too worried. I did everything in situ because I didn’t want to risk breaking some of the rustier looking screws but that meant the masking off took ages due to the complex front end.

I’ve never attempted to respray a car before, it’s bloomin hard work but rewarding once it’s done. The only downside is that it’s like decorating one room in the house that then makes the other rooms look a bit shabby. My front end looks like new so I’ve just ordered more paint to do some marks at the back.

Bill :)

PS Note the piece of old grey carpet underneath. Wouldn't want to get paint on the living room floor. :) :) :) 

front20.jpg

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Looks good Bill.  I did the same with my last Cadillac because the front lower dam was peppered with thousands of stone chips.  Before that I had a Chevy Malibu and I took the whole front bumper of it and had a shop repaint it, cost $300.
However,for touch up I’m in love with a product called Dr Colorchip.  It’s one of those products that you see advertised and say that it’s a scam, but it’s not.

They provide a kit of paint (from your vehicle spec), a solvent and cloths.  You clean the spot with medical alcohol, dab on the paint with the brush provided, smear it with a latex gloved thumb, wait anything from an hour to two hours, then clean it off with the solvent - takes a few minutes rubbing and it is clean and the chip / scratch has disappeared.  Don’t know if you can get it over there, but you can watch their demonstration videos online and believe me, what you see happen is true.  I usually go over the cars once a month and mark any chips and scratches with a small piece of painters tape, cos once you’ve dabbed on the paint it’s such a good match it’s hard to find the spot to rub it clean.  I have a two year old Ford Expedition in metallic charcoal gray and it doesn’t have a chip or a scratch anywhere on it thanks to this product, you can go over it with a magnifying glass and it’ll be perfect.  

!

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I’ve watched the videos and it seems quite good for minor stone chips, but I had a good deep scrape on the bumper as well as 14 years of accumulated stone chips which would be far too much for a touch up. I might give it a try on the bonnet though because the paintwork looks fine apart from the odd few chips and trying to do that with aerosols would be really difficult and I'd probably end up making it look worse. Fortunately, the primer coat is grey so the stone chips in silver paint don’t show too much.

Would have thought you'd have had something to say about the garage being carpeted Sid. Seems a bit OTT but floor paint wouldn't adhere to a concrete floor that'd been recently been levelled and epoxy paint was too expensive. My mate said he's had carpet tiles in his for the last ten years and they're still ok so I went on ebay and managed to find a pile of them going very cheap. I had enough for the garage and my sister in law's narrow boat and I've still got plenty left if any get too badly marked.

 

Bill 😊

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Carpet is the way to go if you don't have any oil leaks, helps to stop any dropped washers and nuts going ping into the corners of the garage

Also helps to stop gravel rash on the odd times you have to crawl underneath to get at that one bolt that needs to come out but is in the most awkward spot you could imagine.

As you can probably imagine from my comment, i have spent many a cold wet morning underneath various vehicles wresting with clutches etc i would have loved a nice carpeted garage to work in. Especially in the middle of winter, trying to fit a bolt into a hole you can't see with fingers you can't feel is so frustrating.( edited to remove excessive bad language).......🤣

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The days of crawling under the car are long gone Sid. Even when cars were made such that they could be repaired at home, I struggled working underneath them as it would always make me feel nauseous and sick. How mechanics don’t get this I don’t know. I’ll have a go topside for anything simple, but when I open the bonnet, I just don’t recognize anything.

With my first car, the old Corsair, everything was instantly recognizable and easy to get at and you didn’t need any special tools to do anything. The thing I and everyone else did back then was to go out and buy a Heynes repair manual if one didn’t come with the car. They always ended up a bit oily but at least you could have them to hand while working unlike todays online versions.

If you’re ever stuck for somewhere to work on your car out of the elements Sid, you’re not that far away so you’re welcome to use it for a few days.

Bill 😊  

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fortunately i have little wrong with it apart from some problem with the ecm that stops me getting optimum mpg.

Anything else mechanical i tend to get the mechanic to do. known him for years and he knows his stuff when it comes to my car.

But thanks for the offer, besides wouldn't want to ruin your carpet.....🤭

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The product actually works exactly as they show in the video.  In fact the color match is so good that it is essential that you mark the position of each chip, otherwise they are damned hard to find.  As I said, I use a small piece of painters tape positioned about 2" above the chip, which leaves enough room for the rubbing with the solvent.  Do not remove the tape pieces until you are completely finished.  I usually wait an hour before using the solvent.  Keep rubbing until the slight haze around the chip has completely gone and you'll be amazed. 

I once had a truck throw a shower of gravel across my hood, a mass of tiny chips. The shop wanted $1500 to respray, it was candy apple red and very expensive paint.  I spent four hours one Saturday morning using Dr Colorchip, must have had fifty pices of tape on the hood.  It was absolutely perfect.

One tip,  if you have a wax and buffed car, I have found that it's better to clean each spot with a dab of mineral spirits rather than alcohol, but let it dry completely before you start the paint.  All sounds very complicated, but it's just a dot of paint, smear with your latex clad thumb, put the kettle on, drink tea for an hour then get the provided cloth and solvent and start rubbing.

I usually finish off with a rub of wax over each area.  Also, I have a roll-around seat which lets me scoot from spot to spot.

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I think I can beat your shower of gravel Stalard. I had someone use an angle grinder next to the Alfa that completely covered it with tungeston carbide particles that ate right in to both the paint and the glass. It just wouldn’t budge like it was glued on and the insurance estimate for replacing all glass and a full respray was £8.5k. Cutting a long story short it turned out that because I’d had the car Scotch Guard coated when I bought it, they were able to acid wash it off and recoat it for £400. Phew! I always though these optional treatments were a bit of a con.

 

Bill 😊

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