OT kinda, painting car hood

Daughter smacked a deer with her 08 Focus.

Not going to spend a lot making it driveable. Needs a hood. Among other things.

Figuring on a couple spray cans of Duplicolor silver and a can of clear.

As duplicolor is a lacquer, do I need to prime/seal the hood before painting? With what?

I'm a fair wrench, not much of a body/paint guy.

Thanks

Fred

It's really not possible to spray a large area like the hood of a car with rattle can paint. When you paint you have to keep a wet edge and by the time you make a pass across the hood the first part is already dry. It would end up with stripes across the hood from the paint drying too soon. If you have an air compressor a little larger than one of these pancake compressors you could get a cheap sprayer from Harbor Freight that would spray the hood for you.

If you are going to use Duplicolor paint then use their primer. Generally unless there is an issue paint one type paint over another you only need primer on places where you used bondo or where there is raw metal. If you get a hood at a junk yard that is in good condition you shouldn't need primer. Just don't sand the urethane clear coat. Rub the sheen off with a scotchbrite pad. The scratches caused by the sandpaper can allow the solvents to get under the clear coat and lift it.

When ever you re-paint something assume it has wax on it. Before doing anything be sure to wash off the old paint with a wax and grease remover frequently changing rags. An accumulation of wax can cause the lacquer to peal off and depending on the wax may cause an issue wit the lacquer fisheyeing. Fisheye is where the paint won't flow out right, it beads up like water on a freshly waxed car creating little circles with indentations where there is no paint.

fred, speaking as a body shop owner, the paint is not going to match. a better option is to have a salvage yard find you a hood the same color and not worry about painting it. go to car-part dot com and do a search. your local salvage yard can order one and have it shipped in for you.

Fred, Forget the rattle cans. It's not gonna work. If you try rattle cans, you'll be thoroughly discouraged. If you're using two-part paint (base-coat, clear-coat) or any paint, for that matter, - over a large area, you're gonna have to put out a lot of paint in a short time and keep wet edges otherwise you risk streaks and lines. Spray painting large automotive panels takes finesse especially if the color is a metallic.

Excellent explanation of this problem.