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MG TD TF 1500 - Paint Alert

My TF was treated to a very expensive and wonderful paint job last year. The old paint was totally removed, the body sprayed with epoxy primer and finished in red two pack. I recently needed to repair a very small scratch on a rear wing but had no paint left over from the original job so ordered some more from the original supplier. The paint was the best quality I could buy but unfortunately they supplied a water base product but to the correct code. Since I had removed the wing and would be doing a full panel I thought a water base and two pack lacquer would be OK. It wasn't. After machine polishing the gloss was a perfect match but the colour was ever so slightly orange. The contrast between the vertical part of the body and the top of the wing was fine. The noticeable part was in the corner where the wing is fasted to the running board. The wing has now been rubbed down and 1/2 litre of 2K red is on order. I did save some paint from the original respray and despite keeping it well away from hardener it did set in the sealed can. Perhaps store in in the fridge?

Jan T

J Targosz

The new paint has arrived and it still isn't the right colour! It is the same as the incorrect water based stuff. It now appears the problem is with the ORIGINAL formulation used to fully paint the car a couple of years ago. I suspect the paint supplier made a slight error and the paint was not exactly to the specification laid down by the code. I never thought about this as a problem before but if the full car is being painted how do you ensure it exactly matches the code if there is only a colour swatch to compare it to.

Jan T
J Targosz

Reds are notorious for changing colour on the car over time - so the original paint may have been correctly formulated and has changed.

One solution is to go to a specialist paint supplier who can scan the actual car colour as it is now and match that colour.

Alternatively, you need to blend the colour in and "lose" the edge.
Chris at Octarine Services

Every batch of paint will be slightly different, even if mixed on the same day. Many painters will intermix supposedly identical cans of paint to avoid this problem. A slight variation in tinting pigment quantity measurement is possible, or the paint guy let it drip a little longer, etc. The tint pigments could vary by batch also. If the type of paint not the same, pretty much no chance it will ever match due to differences in pigment particle size, depth, etc. In the US, paint jobbers or body shops have scanners that scan the paint and can produce a very close computer match. I think your best hope is to find a painter that has experience in custom tinting. They have to start with a base mix, do a test spray, let it completely dry, then start modifying and repeat until best possible match. Good luck! George
George Butz

Paint can be a PAIN IN THE ?????
Some time ago I painted a Midget about 10 PM.
Somehow a BUG had sneaked into the spray booth and landed in the middle of the bonnet.
The color was a light blue.As there was sufficient paint not mixed as a two-part I picked out the bug and came back in the morning.
Painted the bonnet and it was about 3 shades darker. Same paint different humidity.
I had to blend in the paint to match wing tops and cowl.
DAMN BUG.
Sandy
Sandy Saunders

I have a signature to all my paint jobs which is particularly appropriate to the MG. I bury a mosquito into the clearcoat

Bill Chasser
TD-4834
W. A. Chasser

BILL
What did you use to hide the two Merlins?
Sandy Saunders

I had a swarm of mosquitoes dive bomb into a fresh layed coat of acrylic lacquer some years ago. I didn't bother repainting, but rather waited for the paint to cure and sanded off their little bodies. To this day there are some little mosquito legs running around on a J2 bonnet.
Lew Palmer

I was real pleased with my first clear coat job 25 years ago...hard to believe it's been that long.... and after I cleaned everything up and made a glass of tea I came back to find a beetle doing the back stroke on the trunk lid...still signs of it three

L E D LaVerne

If the paint is still wet you can tweeze them off the paint and flash over the spot and it will flow out or if it has already become tacky then you'll need to wait to wet sand the area and respot the area if it is your base coat ( two stage). Unfortunately if using modern formulas you'll have to respray the entire panel if it is your topcoat. Lacquers are very forgiving and you can simply spot paint the area and buff out the finish but with urethane if you try to spot paint even a single stage you will always see the repair as it doesn't lend to blending even with a wet sand and polish. There will most always be a tell showing where the edges of a spot job ended which is why you'll need to paint the entire panel it's a PIA but no matter how fine you cut the topcoat it will show the spot repair.

Sandy as I said earlier I'll leave one gnat or mosquito in a as a signature. Your paint job isn't trick without one. Lol.

Bill Chasser
TD-4834
W. A. Chasser

This thread was discussed between 02/03/2017 and 11/03/2017

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