paint problems

[druidsam]

recently i tried to paint my front mudguard, so took it off the bikr and gave it a rub down with 600 grade wet and dry, then applied paint and it looked great, but as the paint dried it started to bloom and looked like shit, so i rubbed it down again and repainted only for the same thing to happen, i tried to polish it up, but it didnt make a lot of difference, so i rubbed it down again and bought different paint and a primer, the primer went on ok, but when i sprayed the gloss on,it bloomed as it was drying, what am i doing wrong. its driving me mental and i have just about reached the stage of buying a replacement mudguard..i need help



..........................Sam

[GTDave]

what temp is the place your spraying the guard? is it nice and warm or is it in a cold shed or garage. For best results when painting, doing it in a warm (room temp - 21 degrees C) room usually leaves the best results. I once sprayed some parts in the spare room in my house....didnt turn out too well, we could smell spray paint for weeks afterwards.....lol

If its cold you usually end up getting some gloss bits, some matt bits, some rough bits, etc all over the paintwork.

[FirestormMike]

I'm no painting expert, but have done a few "rattle can" jobs that come out pretty good. For a start I assume you are using plastic primer ? One of the problems that does occur is when you have rubbed down through the paint to plastic, and you get a reaction in these places. A good tip that works for me is to slightly warm the piece to be painted (I have an old fan heater in the garage) then apply primer in a very thin coat, let that dry for half an hour and repeat, rubbing down with 1200 grit paper in between. Once I've built up a decent layer and rubbed it down, I take a slightly damp cloth and wipe the surface to pick up and paint residue and leave to dry in front of the heater again (not too close)
I then use a proper custom mixed paint, Halfords do them for £10 a can in bike colours too, and give it a very thin coat, let it dry and then a couple of good coats, and once that's dry you can rub it down if it needs it and laquer.
Do not spray in cold or damp weather. That makes it bloom too.
The tail plastics in this picture were painted using this method, I got a very satisfactory result.

[druidsam]

the second time i painted it was in the shed with the heater on,it may not have been the ideal temp,but i sprayed the hugger outside and it turned out ok.



.............................Sam

[FirestormMike]

Have you rubbed the paint down right through to the plastic ? If so is it in these areas that the paint is blooming ?

[druidsam]

its blooming all over and i didnt rub back to the plastic, i have painted it before and it was a straight forward process,i suppose tomorrow i will start again.


.........................Sam

[druidsam]

i have followed all the advice given and pre heated the shed,its about 22 c in there the mudguard has been rubbed down,cleaned, dried and warmed on the radiator, primed, in 3 very light coats with about half an hour between and rubbed down with 1200 grade wet and dry, then cleaned again to remove any dust and has now had 2 coats of black and its so far so good... cheers guys, keep up the good work



................................Sam

[FirestormMike]

Nice 1, that method's always worked for me