Panel gap's and why they can be awesome.

[KRowe]

I love panel gaps between bumpers and fenders. Once again the tolerances between these two were too close. The fender and the bumper rubbed but fortunately the paint on the bumper gave out and not the paint on the fender. Non-painted fender = rust... I just cleaned and primed the 1 inch strip of missing paint on the bumper and I'll probably add a second layer of primer and try to paint it on car. I am however tempted to just pull the bloody bumper and do this all inside where it's warm. I've seen plenty of guys at auto X and track days with paint missing in the exact same spot so that makes me feel slightly better but blaa... Once I've painted and clear coated it I'll slap a decal over it and try my best to ignore it. Yes.. I've dealt with the dealer -who made it worst- and SOA who basically said.. 'so you want us to repaint and re-clear bra your bumper where this will probably happen again? LULZ!' I dunno if I nailed a cone, or someone backed into me and caused the pinch that is now just snow balling but I'm hoping adding some primer as adhesion promoter will help.

Picture is just for illustration and was blatantly stolen from NASIOC, I'll get some with my cellphone in about 20 mins when I go to add a second layer of primer.


Added a picture, primer before polish to remove excess.. I may not wet sand simply due to how small the area is.


After 3 layers of filler/ primer I applied coat one of 3-6 depending on how well it blends, then probably another 2-4 coats of clear over that. Didn't wet sand but I did use polishing compound and q-tips to try and even it up.


After 3 layers of paint applied in 2-3 hour shifts due to the low temps and a day between the second and third coat. I may in fact go for 6 at this point since it's supposed to be a **** show weather wise the rest of the week. The blending isn't perfect but it's not bad for being free and having to fight gravity.


Last update, did my clear; haven't polished it yet but this is after 4 coats. I know it's not even, I purposely made it thicker in the area to hopefully be more resilient.