New Paint for the Family Car

That'll buff right out.

That’ll buff right out.

The Mazda3 family car at the revlimiter compound (named “Blue Car” by my daughter) has a hard life. It has to park outside every day and night, it has to run errands and park in odd places, and it has to deal with a little girl flinging food everywhere.

One of the items in that list finally caught up to poor little Blue Car.

Ooops.

Ooops.

This happened in a parking lot. The white truck had an e-brake failure and it gently slid into Blue Car’s driver door. Fortunately, the truck had insurance.

Fortunately, I know a very good paint shop.

Sun damage no1.

Sun damage no1.

Sun damage no.2

Sun damage no.2

The door damage was not really the worst part of Blue Car’s paint.

Sitting in the New Mexico sun for eight years had faded every flat surface badly. The water-based paint that Mazda used originally just kinda gave up after two years. It was badly clouded and always looked dirty for the next two. And for the remaining four years of that eight, the car has looked increasingly sad.

I’ve wanted to paint Blue Car for about four years, but the opportunity just never came. And then… the door hit!

Day One.

Day One.

I took Blue Car to Carmer’s here in Albuquerque. They’re the shop that painted Sharka in 2015. Hell, they’re pretty much family at this point. There was no other place I’d take the car. The work they do is just incredible.

The fact that they let me turn wrenches and play with cars right along side them is also a bonus.

Me sanding.

Me sanding.

I sanded everything seen in these pix.

I sanded everything seen in these pix.

Sanding a car was something I really wanted to learn to do. There really isn’t much to it but… when in life will I ever get this chance? When will I have a car to learn to sand on?

Removing so much of the crappy factory paint from Blue Car was like therapy. It was so damn satisfying. Words can’t really express. And I have a new car skill to add to my collection.

Door fixed.

Door fixed.

The huge door ding was apparently not too hard to fix. The dent mostly popped out. A few hours of sanding and long boarding the door finished it up. It’s more perfect than the other three doors now. No factory waviness at all.

Hood paint going bye-bye.

Hood paint going bye-bye.

Smooooooth.

Smooooooth.

The very-sun-damaged pieces needed to be stripped to the metal before painting. The hood, spoiler, and roof got the aircraft remover treatment. Watching that bad paint slide off the panels was nearly as satisfying as sanding the car myself.

Jerry is a wizard. That’s all there is to it. He’s a terrific mechanic and a magician with body tools.

In the time it took me to remove the door handles from the car, Jerry completely fixed the few door dings on the passenger side of the car. I looked up and there weren’t any more dents. It was amazing.

In the booth, all primered and ready.

In the booth, all primered and ready.

Mazda 32C Phantom Blue.

Mazda 32C Phantom Blue.

Ken spraying on the color.

Ken spraying on the color.

No more weak, water based factory paint for Blue Car. No sir. Blue Car gets a thick coat of Sikkens enamel. High solids, precision mixed, and sprayed with love.

And three coats of clear.

This paint should be able to handle another 20 years of sitting in the sun or more. And it shouldn’t show much sun fade at all in that time. I’m excited.

My daughter.

My daughter.

No one was more excited than my daughter. When Blue Car got hit, the first words out of her mouth were “Don’t worry. We can take it to Ken for new paint!!”

(Just in case you couldn’t tell, she loves the paint shop)

Primered mirrors.

Primered mirrors.

One sanded.

One sanded.

Both sanded!

Both sanded!

Spoilers wet sanded.

Spoilers wet sanded.

While the main body was getting painted, I focused my efforts on some small parts. I masked these off and started smoothing out the surface – wet sanding. Always fun.

And let me just say how much less stressful it is to wet sand a primered part vs my freshly painted Sharka’s clear coat. I just took my time, used the blocks, and kept it wet. I’m proud of the job I did.

Most of a car.

Most of a car.

And just like that, there was most of a car ready to be put back together.

So shiny. OMG.

So shiny. OMG.

A couple hours later.

A couple hours later.

Just needs an emblem.

Just needs an emblem.

Ken got the car all painted. I showed up the next day and helped Jerry get the small parts installed. About two hours later, Blue Car was whole again.

This whole process took roughly two weeks. That’s pretty close to light speed for a body shop. Most shops would take roughly two months to do this, if not more.

One more thing – there was NO buffing done on this paint. This is how it came out of the spray booth. I asked Ken to spray it as glossy as possible. The idea of not wet sanding the clear was to have more of it on the body to resist sun damage for as long as possible.

The paint that Ken sprayed has less orange peel on top than the car did from the factory. There’s just a few dry spots way down low where it’s hard to see. 90% of the car is amazingly close to perfect.

Without any wet sanding.

Amazing.

The reveal.

The reveal.

Brand new.

Brand new.

No sign of damage.

No sign of damage.

Might need some better wheels...

Might need some better wheels…

Since I was getting the paint all refreshed, I spent money and effort to fix some of the broken plastic pieces around the car at the same time. This included.

-4 new door exterior handles. They each have a metal latch held on by a plastic retainer. Each was in a various state of being broken.

-4 new lower window moldings / belt strips. The sun had destroyed each.

-1 new inner door handle. The driver’s side was broken by the shop that did the car’s tint.

-3 dead wiper blades (I don’t actually neglect these, it was just time to replace them all).

-1 broken sun visor retainer

and…

New tailgate badge.

New tailgate badge.

One new badge for the tailgate. I chose a black Prototipo. This is a new size for my store, 85mm. I’ll have those up for sale shortly.

For about 10% the cost of a new car, I got a completely refreshed car to drive for another 10-20 years. That, in my humble opinion, is a fantastic bargain.

Thanks again Carmer’s!!! Next time we’ll probably be painting Bucky.

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  • GT-Alex says:

    3 months later, a new article pops on the revlimiter blog :

    “Blue Car gets more homemade parts”

    But seriously, that paint is sexy !

  • madhat says:

    That or the purple were my first choices, but I fell in love with our true red 3 very quickly. Glad to see you keeping it on the road! Mine took a hit in the same place, but hard enough to break the cv joint. They take a hit well – didn’t even break the driver’s window.

  • Brad says:

    I’m a bit jealous of your headlights. The fiance’s 06 3 headlights have definitely seen better days. How I long for the days of glass headlights that didn’t cloud with age and exposure…

    • revlimiter says:

      Oh, Blue Car’s headlights were pretty awful too. I’ve tried to fix them a couple times over the years and kept them from being opaque, but never did very well. But a quick hit of a non-orbital buffer and some compound takes off all of the years. Jerry cleaned the headlights in just a few seconds with the buffer. It was almost magical.

      • Brad says:

        You know, I just bought a Mother’s Power Ball a few weeks ago… perhaps worth a shot with some compound. Not like they could be all that much worse.

        Also related, I may have to bring my Supra down there to have them do the body and paint. From the looks of things they do quite good work.

  • Nick says:

    I thought this car used to be called beep? Or is my memory deceiving me?
    Great stuff though Adam, wish my town had a paint shop even remotely this good.

  • Erick says:

    Wow, that paint job really made the car look alive again!

    My friend is selling some Fwd friendly JDM wheels if you’re interested..

    17×7.5 Advan RCII and 18×8 Kei office wheels. (mix and MATCH) haha.

    Also wish more body shops where this expedient with half as nice results!!

  • Leave a Reply to Brad