repainting burb hood need some help

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

need a little assistance
the last couple days ive been workin on fixing the heavily oxidized painjob on my suburban and ive had a few setbacks
first attempt is i started wetsanding with 800 grit till the whole hood was perfectly smooth just about and i put down about 3 coats of the dupli color medium green metallic wich turned out pretty decent but still wasnt close the the factory clear coat finish so i put down a couple coats of the dupli color perfect match clear coat and it looked like shit the finish turned out a little glossier then previous but very uneven looked like total crap

so i sanded it down and started over ll and this time when i was at pepboys instead of paying 8bucks for the dupli color clear in that small can
i asked the guy if there was a clearcoat equivalent to that in the larger spray cans and he gave me this dupli color laquer clear coat and holy crap with that stuff it turned to out even worse not to mention it was a freakin pain to get all that stuff off

so now i sanded the whole thing down before i start painting again
what do you guys recomend using for clear coat
and do they sell

 

[SRTH8R]

Rattle cans are ok for small stuff. Trying to get a hood to not look like a zebra is going to be pretty hard. If you are serious about doing it yourself for the least amount of money, go to harbor freight and get a paint gun. Then go to your automotive paint supply and buy some real paint and clear. Hopefully you have a decent air compressor. Otherwise make friends with a body shop owner.

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

okay i got an HVLP gravity fed wich i actually got from harbor freight
now i was at napa the other day and i asked how much to for like a quart of paint and clear and they wanted like 30 bucks for the paint and another 30-35 for the clear does that seem kinda high becuase i got a little sticker shock
now her in the valley theres only 1 large store that sells automotive paint other then the typical autozone orileys napa and pepboys
but we do have alotta body shops around here are they typically inclined to sell paint

 

[SRTH8R]

That isn't a terrible price for the paint. 1 quart will be plenty for a hood. My dad did a whole wrangler with a quart. Body shops don't typically sell materials to the public. However they are getting it from somewhere, and most likely local. It's not a cheap diy project. Have you got a quote from a body shop by chance. Some times it's just worth it to not mess with it. My local shop charged me $250 to add a black center and reclear my TBSS hood. They do all the little stuff for the Yukon too. They just color matched my eBay bumpers and installed them for $220. I get wanting to diy, but sometimes it's just not worth it.

 

[about20ninj45]

Hey bud, try sherwin williams. They sell automotive paint. A gallon of clear was 90 bucks and so was the silver birch. A quart was enough for both my bumpers and tailgate with three coats each

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

thats awsome cuz there is an actual sherwin willaims store like less then a mile from my house it never dawned on me to go in and check it out

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

okay that kinda sucks out of all the sherwin williams stores here in the valley only one is an automotive paint store

 

[about20ninj45]

okay that kinda sucks out of all the sherwin williams stores here in the valley only one is an automotive paint store

I ran in to that issue as well. You should be able to order it and have it shipped to a nearby store or to yourself. The closest store to me was like 30 miles away, but man was it work the drive!

 

[Brian Woodiwiss]

You're going to need a quart of solvent based color, and clear is only sold by the gallon. OMNI is made by PPG and is the ONLY clear under $100 worth a shit, and it's not great, but it's EASY to paint with.

FIRST: You need to sand all the crap you put on the hood. Rattle can is garbage and will react to the base and clear. It's gonna take a while so man up and start sanding. 80/120/180/220
NEXT: Prime the hood. Use an etch primer, it inhibits rust.
THEN: Sand the hood by hand, we call it "blocking", to assure it's flat with 1000 grit
NOW: Pull the hood off and do the following in a warm area, should be tough in AZ. Shoot the base, two solid coats. When it doesn't look "wet" anymore, shoot the clear. HVLP gun you have should work okay, practice on scrap metal. When you spray the clear, two medium coats, 15 minutes apart.

This is bear minimum for it to looks decent. When it comes to paint, you get what you pay for, more than most things. Paint is a pain in the ass, thats why we charge so much. Feel free to PM me with any questions, I run a body shop in Northern California.

GOOD LUCK!