# Guide to flatting primer.



## Andyb0127

Heres a guide on how to flat primer even tho its 2k high build you can adopt the same sort approach for aerosol primer. but with aerosol your never going to get the same build quality.









above pic is the repair in primer with a guide coat applied. Guide coat is a very light misty coat of black paint which when flatting will indicate highs lows and imperfections helping to make sure the primer is completley flat and smooth prior to painting.










In this above pic you can see where the primer has been flatted around the repair. This was flatted with a block using P320 flatting paper this can be done wet or dry. 
























Above is primer all flatted see how all the guide coat has been removed this was done with an orbital sander using P500. same approach can be applied if your wet flatting using P600 then use P800-1000 for a finer finish, rest of the panels that are to be painted are flatted with P1000 then a 3m grey scotchbrite is used to make sure the paint is keyed up ready for painting.








In the oven masked ready for spraying just needs to be solvent wiped, then waterbase degreaser blown of and tacked off then ready for colour to be applied.

















above is finished product all painted and ready to be fitted up. 
if your using aerosol cans use the same flatting approach but with finer flatting paper, a tip with aerosol primer is apply 2-3 coats then let it fully dry flat it with some P800 then apply another couple of coats and flat with P1000 it will give you a better finish, but remember to leave it 10-15 mins between coats to let it dry before applying more coats .

ALWAYS REMEMBER GET THE PREP WORK RIGHT AS ITS THE PREP WORK THAT WILL MAKE THE PAINT JOB DONT RUSH THE PREP WORK.


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## ianFRST

i would love to learn how to paint


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## Yozza

Same here. But dont know of anyone round here that does courses


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## sean20

same hear iv got a compressor and gun. i have resprayed the side of my old car and i was very pleased for my 1st attempt but there were a few areas there were orange pealy.
but i did enjoy it


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## Ultra

A little more detail would nice andy, words like tacked off and keyed will leave plenty of interested people a tad confused, i know what you mean but i,m sure that there are plenty that dont


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## Andyb0127

Tack cloth/rag is h) is a specialized type of**wiping cloth**that is**treated**with a 'tacky' material. It is designed to remove loose particles of dust, dirt and lint that would contaminate a surface that is to be painted, coated, laminated, photo-etched, or otherwise finished.

Keyed up is a description used in the bodyshop trade it means that the panel has been appropiatly flatted ready for colour/blending when a panel is keyed up correctly it should matt. If any shiney areas are left the new paint will not adhere to it properly and will result in the paint flaking of eventually.


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## Andyb0127

sean20 said:


> same hear iv got a compressor and gun. i have resprayed the side of my old car and i was very pleased for my 1st attempt but there were a few areas there were orange pealy.
> but i did enjoy it


an idea mite be to buy a scrap panel llike a front wing to practic spraying the more you practice the better you will get. Wouldn't advise getting a bonnet tho because its to easy to paint a flat panel it needs to be a side panel.


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## Andyb0127

Yozza said:


> Same here. But dont know of anyone round here that does courses


Evening classes maybe your best bet unless you know someone in the trade who's willing to help you.


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## DEEJAY

i noticed you didnt use or describe using powder guide coat? did you do the repair ? i know that i use a different technique to you but the end finish is the same ,but most panel beaters dont finish off very well and leave pin holes or craters in there work and, giving a light coat of aerosol black wont show these until its to late, i know if you are unsure you could give it a coat of wet on wet, but does take more time and product usage , also isnt wet flatting prohibited ?


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## Andyb0127

DEEJAY said:


> i noticed you didnt use or describe using powder guide coat? did you do the repair ? i know that i use a different technique to you but the end finish is the same ,but most panel beaters dont finish off very well and leave pin holes or craters in there work and, giving a light coat of aerosol black wont show these until its to late, i know if you are unsure you could give it a coat of wet on wet, but does take more time and product usage , also isnt wet flatting prohibited ?


thats because we dont use powder guide coat we use upols 20:20 spray guide coat as shown over primer in pictures, our panel beaters will do every repair using P80 once repairs having the final skim they will use P120 and finish it with P180 so not all panel beaters are the same specially with the cars we repair very rarely will they leave pinholes or craters. why would you wet on wet it to see if the repairs right thats just a waste instead use terosons quick check which is a black paint sprayed over repairs to check them hence the name quick check. as for wet flatting that approach was for people using aerosol cans ninety percwent of our work is dry flat but we do occasionally wet flat some things not every body shop is the same as with panel beaters,preppers,painters,fitters,polishers, all do things differently but end product is the same.....:thumb:


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## mm289

Really usefull as always Andy 

Question on how you have blended. 

I am guessing a repair was done on the door. Once the panel beaters have sorted the metal i presume they are filling onto bare metal and you have flatted back the rest of the door to blend in the repaired area but not taken it back to bare metal?

Then flatted the front of rear qtr and roughed up the rest. Does this approach allow you to not get any edges on the rear panel when you are painting? How are you blending in the edges to achieve this?

Cheers,

MM


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## Andyb0127

mm289 said:


> Really usefull as always Andy
> 
> Question on how you have blended.
> 
> I am guessing a repair was done on the door. Once the panel beaters have sorted the metal i presume they are filling onto bare metal and you have flatted back the rest of the door to blend in the repaired area but not taken it back to bare metal?
> 
> Then flatted the front of rear qtr and roughed up the rest. Does this approach allow you to not get any edges on the rear panel when you are painting? How are you blending in the edges to achieve this?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> MM


thanks mate.

Yes repair was on the door and edge of the quarter. and all filler will be applied over baremetal and rubbed down with P80,P120,P180, preperation for primer is all the paint edges are sanded back with P180 so no edges can be felt, quarter and front wing are sanded with P800 then we use a grey scotch brite for those areas that are not possible to get in to with an obital sander all the paint will need to be completely matt, next is to solvent degrease and mask it up.

priming we will apply a light coat first, then a full wet coat total of three coats will be applied. each coat will be taken a bit further than the last coat so as to not get to much of a build up and the primer edge will just blend into the paint work leaving no edges, any other questions just ask mate :thumb::thumb:


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## DEEJAY

Andyb0127 said:


> thats because we dont use powder guide coat we use upols 20:20 spray guide coat as shown over primer in pictures, our panel beaters will do every repair using P80 once repairs having the final skim they will use P120 and finish it with P180 so not all panel beaters are the same specially with the cars we repair very rarely will they leave pinholes or craters. why would you wet on wet it to see if the repairs right thats just a waste instead use terosons quick check which is a black paint sprayed over repairs to check them hence the name quick check. as for wet flatting that approach was for people using aerosol cans ninety percwent of our work is dry flat but we do occasionally wet flat some things not every body shop is the same as with panel beaters,preppers,painters,fitters,polishers, all do things differently but end product is the same.....:thumb:


i agree i shouldnt of brandished all panel lads with the same brush, but even our senior ata panel lad is a bit rough, making our jobs harder as you well can expect and they finish off in 80 grit, no less, i wasnt stating to give it a coat of wet on wet to see if the repair was right , i didnt relise you had a system like that teroson quick check, we dont have anything available to us like that,we are dictated by vw what to use and unfortunately we arnt allowed to use this product and also didnt know it was available but i think i might have to have a word in the managers ear to get some as watching the demo on it , it looks a good product so thanks for the good info there:thumb:


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## Andyb0127

DEEJAY said:


> i agree i shouldnt of brandished all panel lads with the same brush, but even our senior ata panel lad is a bit rough, making our jobs harder as you well can expect and they finish off in 80 grit, no less, i wasnt stating to give it a coat of wet on wet to see if the repair was right , i didnt relise you had a system like that teroson quick check, we dont have anything available to us like that,we are dictated by vw what to use and unfortunately we arnt allowed to use this product and also didnt know it was available but i think i might have to have a word in the managers ear to get some as watching the demo on it , it looks a good product so thanks for the good info there:thumb:


no worries mate you should defiantly see if you can get that quick check works really well, no what you mean about panel beaters ours only do it now because that know if it's not right or finished properly we send the car back round to them, we do have same problems about being dictated to by bmw and mercedes nearly all the products we use have to be approved by them plus all the methods we have to follow as to the repair.


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## Luke M

Bump bumpety bump bump.


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## theshoe202

This is a great guide. 
I have this in with over 100 dents and scratches. Repaired then primed with lechler green ti. Need to put a guide coat on then Let the flatting commence.


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