Major Paint Screwup

[jikelly]

My paint job has pretty much been on hold since last month so I have a portion of the car covered only in body filler. Where the problem comes in is my roomate and I managed to get some oil or transmission fluid on my car when we pulled his tranny the other day. Some of the oil stuff is on the applied filler.

I know they sell cleaner to remove the oil, but will it damage the body filler if I use it?

Do I have to strip and redo those spots? Would starting over be the safe thing to do?

 

[ForceFed70]

My paint job has pretty much been on hold since last month so I have a portion of the car covered only in body filler. Where the problem comes in is my roomate and I managed to get some oil or transmission fluid on my car when we pulled his tranny the other day. Some of the oil stuff is on the applied filler.

I know they sell cleaner to remove the oil, but will it damage the body filler if I use it?

Do I have to strip and redo those spots? Would starting over be the safe thing to do?

Well, now you know why you are supposed to ALWAYS prime your body work when your done for the day. Just a quick coat with a rattle can will work.

To answer your question.. the body fillers I've worked with have all been pretty porus and will absorbe water/oil. I don't think you'll be able to properly clean off the oil...meaning those spots will probably need to be redone.

Hopefully someone else has a better option for you.

 

[jikelly]

That's what I was afraid of. Dang those spots were nearly perfect.

 

[bnickel]

try cleaning it really good and then sanding down until you can no longer see a spot where the oil was then go a little further just to make sure. it's not as bad as it probably seems. how much did you get on the car? was it just from handprints? if so it should be pretty darn easy to put it back right, if you spilled a bottle on it or something like that, then you are probably screwed

 

[jikelly]

A couple drops a few handprints and a backprint from where I leaned into my car while I was jacking up the fox. I'll see what it looks like after cleaning and light sanding. Really if I need to it's a lot better to take it all off now than to have to do it when the final coat peals off.

 

[bnickel]

if you clean it well and sand it down some and you're still unsure of whether or not you need to re-do it, then that would be the time to do it. if you can clean it without to go that far i think it would be just fine. the back print will probably be the worst i'm guessing so start there and if it turns out ok then the rest should be fine.

quick question, is your car red or at least partially red with with 94-95 cobra wheels?

 

[oboebrian]

Well... you run the risk of it really absorbing into the filler and cause the paint to bubble when applied. If the spots were just roughly shaped in I'd say sand it and try it. But if the areas were close to being done and about 1/16 to 1/8" thick, then Id' say sand it down and start over unfortunitely. That is why I always spray a coat of sealer or primer on after working with filler. Moisture will also be absorbed by the filler causing a lot of problems if not coated.

 

[bnickel]

Well... you run the risk of it really absorbing into the filler and cause the paint to bubble when applied. If the spots were just roughly shaped in I'd say sand it and try it. But if the areas were close to being done and about 1/16 to 1/8" thick, then Id' say sand it down and start over unfortunitely. That is why I always spray a coat of sealer or primer on after working with filler. Moisture will also be absorbed by the filler causing a lot of problems if not coated.

on the smaller spots you can probably get away with just grinding the filler out around the area about 1/2" or so, that would make it easier to re-fill that area. on the big spots i would still do what i suggested earlier and then put a good coat of sealer on it afterwards. i'm pretty sure you're a couple months away from actually shoothing the paint right? if so you'll know by then if just cleaning it as best as possible like i said earlier will do the trick or not. i seem to remember you saying that thi was just going to be a temporary paint job to get you by for a couple of years anyway right? if so and the sealer holds up for a couple months without peeling it should work great for a couple years until you can afford to have it painted like you want, they'll grind off the old filler before they paint it anyway.

if i'm off base on this just tell to me to shove it and go with what everyone else says.

 

[jikelly]

Thanks for the suggestions. My car was covered in red black and grey primer for the last 4 years. But I do have 94-95 cobra rims on the stang. I've got to do some reading and writing for school but I'm going to get my lazy butt out there and get the rear finished and primed this weekend. Well maybe not totally finished, but at least where I can leave it for a couple weeks till I get my school work out of the way. Boy do I miss summer. Nothing like being able to spend three straight days out in the garage with the stang every week. I figure I probably have already put in around 400 hours.

Holy crap, I never thought about that before, I must really not know what the hell I'm doing to have put in that much time and not be finished already.

 

[Wootdog]

well iv done some body work if you have tranny fluid on it the filler is done redo the spots that you have oil because it will bleed though and bubble the paint even if take thinner to it wootdog