Windshield area paint restore

[edwinn]

Trailing edge of the hood

Just when you think it's a warp.. another task pops up. Instead of removing the hood and painting it (as discuss with body shop - and expensive) it should be relatively easy to touch-up/repaint the area on the trailing edge of the hood. Here's what it looks line from the driver seat..



This paint deterioration is seen on at least two or three of the "trailing edges" of the hood, and it's an eyesore from the driver/passenger compartment. The photo above was taken when during the last brake line paint work. It wasn't as bad as the pic shows, because I've scrubbed at it with isopropyl alcohol and lots of tiny 'chips' came off. It should be easy so sand, and BRUSH on some paint so no one would be able to tell.. I'd be the only one are of it, and as long as the surfaces are white!!


Wiper arms

The wiper arms are getting pretty ugly (a contradiction?) Here are a couple BEFORE photos, and I'd not recommend those wiper blades from Walmart.. get some good ones!







It's not difficult to remove the wipers. How about swinging them up 1/3 of the way and killing the ignition? Then marking the positions on the windshield with yellow carpenter's crayon and removing? Sand, paint and re-attach. Done!

Should have some AFTER photos this evening or tomorrow. It won't be prefect but who will even see it? So YEAH.. these are things to address in the CARE and FEEDING of your 90's Riviera!


-Ed

[edwinn]

Before

Activities yesterday were cut short by a severe thunderstorm at 3:30 pm, but part-1 of the job was done at 3:00. Some before and after shots of the hood trailing edge.







Working in tight space

First a camping tarp was laid in for sanding, then rubber floor mats and finally newspaper to catch paint drips. All this to avoid removing the hood.




Prep work

A view of sanded aft edge of hood. There are water droplets on the right.







After

First coat applied. We'll see what it looks like in the daylight (today) from the driver seat. It will probably need a second coat.. or maybe a flat white? Trying to get up the nerve to pull the hood pad off!!




It's going to need a second coat.




Wiper arm repaint

The wiper arms were simple.. new coating should hold for five years, or maybe it will rain erode right away?




Wet sanded with 220 grit, masked and painted.




Done.. you can see a scratch in the tool chest, but not on the wiper arms.




Here's a photo taken 9-22 of the installed wipers.




The goal is.. no one will be able to notice the difference.. except for me.


-Ed

[enslow]

I like! I used Tremclad (or equivalent on wiper arms and hidden areas like that before. For wiper blades I've usually liked Exact Fit.

[edwinn]

Originally Posted by enslow

I like! I used Tremclad or equivalent on wiper arms and hidden areas like that before. For wiper blades I've usually liked Exact Fit.

Yeah thanks.. the wiper arms came out fine. It was very easy to correct the paint erosion and NO ONE can tell any different. Even if the paint comes off again.. well it's a quick job to fix. I've posted an AFTER `windshield photo´ at the end of the last reply. The trailing edge of the hood will need a 2nd coat of gloss white for sure. This time I bought an expensive 1" wide trim paint brush with angled bristles. The cheapie brush was a bear to work with.. to get descent results.


-Ed

[edwinn]

The windshield area paint touch-up is done. After buying a horsehair brush, the second coat of gloss white Rustoleum was applied. After a couple days of drying and a road observation test, the hood trailing edge looks GOOD. No undesirable appearance at all. One cannot tell paint was brushed on... even I cannot tell and am especially glad that paint erosion problem is solved.







That's about it for touch-up paint this year. Would like to get more paint on the exhaust from the split back to the tips before the weather gets too cold.


-Ed

[Albertj]

...the hood paint is interesting, i wonder how long the paint will stay on the aluminum and if you etched prior to paint - wheel cleaner (like for mag wheels) usually works for that purpose.

...as for the hats (the rotors) the tolerances on brake systems are actually very small, I would not recommend paint. It is kind of a pain to scotchbrite the insides of the hats and the hub faces when I pull a wheel but that keeps them true.

[edwinn]

Originally Posted by Albertj

...the hood paint is interesting, i wonder how long the paint will stay on the aluminum and if you etched prior to paint - wheel cleaner (like for mag wheels) usually works for that purpose.

...as for the hats (the rotors) the tolerances on brake systems are actually very small, I would not recommend paint. It is kind of a pain to scotchbrite the insides of the hats and the hub faces when I pull a wheel but that keeps them true.

Thanks for replying to the paint restore post. Funny I didn't realize the hood was aluminum. Thinking of it more.. the hood could have been removed by sinking three hook-eyes into the garage ceiling and coming down with some rope/pullies to form a cradle, etc.

Good to get some feedback on the rotors. After the four wheels were pulled (see other topic) I noticed a LOT of rust on the rotors that were going on the front.. IIRC and I scotch-guarded and applied some flat black spray paint to keep the rust down. THEN.. when test driving on I-90 it started shaking a little at 65 MPH and definitely shaking at 70+ MPH. I attributed this to one of my wheels needing a bit MORE weight correction to balance.. which should be on the right rear.

So there are TWO issues.. 1st is the imbalance at 70 MPH after road force balancing, painting two rotor faces and rotating all four wheels. 2nd is fact that I spray-painted the faces of the NEW rear rotors that haven't been installed yet. The coat is very light!! however I remember having an issue with vibration before, and moved the front wheels to the rear. That fixed it.

Need to be able to cruise at 80 MPH like last year driving across the USA. The speed limit in Nevada is 75 so cruise control was set at 79 or 80 MPH for hours. There was no shaking or vibration for 3000 miles.

Please advise..

-Ed

[Albertj]

Originally Posted by edwinn

Thanks for replying to the paint restore post. Funny I didn't realize the hood was aluminum. Thinking of it more.. the hood could have been removed by sinking three hook-eyes into the garage ceiling and coming down with some rope/pullies to form a cradle, etc.

Good to get some feedback on the rotors. After the four wheels were pulled (see other topic) I noticed a LOT of rust on the rotors that were going on the front.. IIRC and I scotch-guarded and applied some flat black spray paint to keep the rust down. THEN.. when test driving on I-90 it started shaking a little at 65 MPH and definitely shaking at 70+ MPH. I attributed this to one of my wheels needing a bit MORE weight correction to balance.. which should be on the right rear.

So there are TWO issues.. 1st is the imbalance at 70 MPH after road force balancing, painting two rotor faces and rotating all four wheels. 2nd is fact that I spray-painted the faces of the NEW rear rotors that haven't been installed yet. The coat is very light!! however I remember having an issue with vibration before, and moved the front wheels to the rear. That fixed it.

Need to be able to cruise at 80 MPH like last year driving across the USA. The speed limit in Nevada is 75 so cruise control was set at 79 or 80 MPH for hours. There was no shaking or vibration for 3000 miles.

Please advise..

-Ed

...remember that advice is usually worth what you pay for it... that said:

- check wheels with dial gauge for roundness and flatness (runout and warp)
- maybe you have a tire belt slipped, a good tire guy can tell you. How this happens: supposedly tires are cured enough to roll when sold but cure some more in service, and if something is amiss a belt can move before they are 100% cured. I used to think the "slipped belt" was BS... then a tire guy showed me you can tell by measuring for out-of-round/skew on a properly installed and inflated tire. I still don't really believe it but Who Knew?
- you need to think twice about painting the insides of the rotor hats. The outsides don't matter all that much, paint away, but on the inside - let's just say that a properly set up brake system has such tight tolerances that if the rotor hat is cocked to the degree of a sheet or 2 of paper at the hub you'll feel it in driving. But instead of guessing, just measure - use a dial gauge. Take off the wheel, bolt the rotor hat down to torque spec (100#) and then set up the caliper and measure the runout. See, if the paint is absolutely even it does not matter. If the paint film is not uniformly evenly thick, it matters. And you'll be able to meaure it with the dial gauge. Your goal is no runout.
- if you only have a wee bit of runout you can usually deal with it by repositioning the wheel on the hub. That is, you take the wheel off, turn it 72 degrees (one position of the 5 possible) with respect to the hub held stationary, then reassemble. Remeasure runout... when you find the minimum runout position mark the wheel and hub (the stud) with a sharpie marker or some such. A number or some such on the stud end and corresponding by the hole on the wheel nearest that stud, at minimum runout, should work. If you move that wheel/tire to a different position just re-index and re-mark.