This sad looking little Mini was in desperate need of new paint. I think someone had painted the whole car with rattle cans and had done a terrible job!
The first job was to strip the body of the car of anything that would hinder painting later including the bumpers, lights, door and boot handles, windscreen, rear screen and the rear side windows.
The horrid old paint was then sanded down with 600 grit wet and dry paper on a DA. Repairs were made as we went along, removing and treating any rust prior to painting with etch primer and filler primer.
The Mini was then washed prior to a final sanding with 600 wet & dry paper. The residue from the sanding was also washed off of course and any imperfections sorted.
The paint has arrived! We have white primer, Tahiti Blue Pearl and clear coat. I have approximately 5 litres of each so we will see how well that lasts.
The bonnet was bent and kept bending at the same point whenever it was lowered down to the closed position. The only thing I could do was to oil the stiff hinges and reinforce the underside of the bonnet edges with a couple of 3″ ‘L’ pieces of steel. This worked well and the repair will not interfere with the fit of the bonnet on the body. It will also be pretty invisible once painted.
The top side of the bonnet had a couple of small dents and the white stripes needed removing together with the sticky glue that held them on.
The rubber around the front windscreen was very lumpy. Much of this was caused by manky old headlining bunching up in gluey knots. This was scraped away from the metal so when the screen rubber goes back in later, it’ll be a nice flat surface.
The Mini was masked so that the door jambs could be painted first. Once dry the doors will then be closed so the rest of the car could be painted too, including the roof. We’re using white primer and it’ll be great to see the car all in one colour!
She’s white! It already looks smarter in one colour. Next she’ll be lightly sanded with 600 wet paper to make sure the surface is perfect for the colour to go on next.
Here she’s had her base paint, Tahiti Blue Pearl. We then removed all masking and replaced it with fresh ready for clear coat. This is so we don’t get dried, flaky base paint flying off and sticking into the clear coat.
Clear coat on!
The next stage was to add all the chrome parts, many of which were new, lights etc back onto the car. The clear coat was also sanded back in several stages before being polished.
And here she is finished! She looks absolutely amazing with her new decals and the customer was delighted.
Off home!
