FTO AUSTRALIA

Not perfect but not bad for my first full respray and i'm really glad that I did it as the bodywork has been bad since I bought the car.
Was Scotia white before.




I had already started peeling off the tape when I took the pics, didn't paint it like that.

I'll be cutting it in a couple of days to smooth it out.
Paint cost me less than $300, it's Toyota Voodoo Blue

I see you've gone the Vortex rear bar! I'll withhold judgement until it's totally complete, but props for giving it a shot yourself, I'd not be as brave lol.

Did the rear left quarter shape up alright?

Wtf

bjk wrote: ↑Sun May 13, 2018 11:55 pm I see you've gone the Vortex rear bar! I'll withhold judgement until it's totally complete, but props for giving it a shot yourself, I'd not be as brave lol.

Did the rear left quarter shape up alright?

Brave? It was that bad before I thought what the hell, and I couldn't justify the cost of getting it done by a pro, I think it will buff up fine.
Colour is a bit bright I suppose but I like it, i'll get some more pics up later in the week.

Rear left:

Not perfect, but better and it's not really a great picture.

A lot better I'd say! Better than it being written off at any rate

Body shop wanted 4K just for that panel (replacement not beating), don't know how they price things up and get to 4K.

My daughter said this morning - someone had the Lorax FTO, now you have the Smurf.

This will have to be Smurf #2, there's already been one.

What's the bump on the end of the sideskirt BTW?

bjk wrote: ↑Mon May 14, 2018 1:05 pm This will have to be Smurf #2, there's already been one.

What's the bump on the end of the sideskirt BTW?

I was just trying to make it look a bit different so I made something, didn't quite turn out how I envisaged but I don't mind it. Not a good look?

Need some dry photos, is there any clear on it? doesn't look too bad

No clear on it yet, i've got a bit of orange peel and i'm going to cut it which should sort that (hopefully that's the right thing to do) but it's not bad.
Do I definitely need to put clear on? i'm a bit scared now that i'm at this stage.

Rob Furniss wrote: ↑Tue May 15, 2018 3:50 pm No clear on it yet, i've got a bit of orange peel and i'm going to cut it which should sort that (hopefully that's the right thing to do) but it's not bad.
Do I definitely need to put clear on? i'm a bit scared now that i'm at this stage.

You can kinda tell from the pics it doesn't have clear, looks kinda 'flat' to me, hard to explain. I think clear would make it look better personally.

It will look better when i've machine cut and polished it, well it did when I was practicing, but i'm wondering if I need clear to protect it or if I can get away without it.

To get a good finish you gotta wet sand it then cut it. You'll be there forever if you try and buff out the orange peel.

Vectose wrote: ↑Tue May 15, 2018 4:59 pm To get a good finish you gotta wet sand it then cut it. You'll be there forever if you try and buff out the orange peel.

Ok thanks for the tip Rob, i'll get sanding tonight if I get chance - 2000 then 2500 then a cut?

Probably start at 1500 then 2000. A decent cutting compound should get rid of 2000 scratches. Also don't use a dual action or orbital polisher, they're no good for cutting.

Will assume this is acrylic, great paint to learn on as it's fairly forgiving. Bad paint if you want to step up to 2K later. Acrylic is a weak paint that never truly cures and does not like 2K over the top. If it does not craze or split sometime down the track it will delaminate. Keep that in mind.
Obviously you are going to cut and buff to get gloss, depending how much peel you have which being acrylic should be minimal. As Vectose said 1500 then 2000 will suffice. Sheepskin pad with buff compound first up then appropriate foam pad and something like meguiars medium cut cleaner then polish. Don't forget to wash in between.
Use a firm rubber block for flat and a soft block for the curves, wet sanding please.