Careful using Sharpies where you're going to paint...

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Thought I'd throw this out there, since I have never experienced it before...

I have a couple fenders I was removing dings and dents from. I had sprayed on the first coat of primer, and I wanted to spot-putty a few small imperfections that were left, so to make it easier I circled them all with a RED Sharpie. Did the spot putty and sanded everything and prepared to prime again. Sprayed a coat of primer, and a few seconds later like magic the original marks I made with the Sharpie started to reappear! I have sprayed three or four coats of primer now, and each time it is more and more faint but I can still see the marks I made. It's not like the paint isn't sticking to those parts, like I used a grease pencil or something, it just looks like the paint is so thin you can see the marks through it, but it's not. It's very strange. Don't know if the color makes a difference or not, but I was using red. I'm worried I'm going to have to sand it all the way down to get rid of it.
 
Next time try a guide coat in a contrasting color and block sand. Your imperfection will stand out clearly.
Sharpies will bleed through even black paint.

Sent from my N860 using Tapatalk 2
 
Rubbing alcohol or some Lacquer Thinner helps clean the frame and should help minimize that.
 
lacquer thinner will eat the primer. Plus, on bare metal,it leaves a film. Rubbing alcohol is OK to use. Acetone is fine on bare metal, and factory paint.NOT primer,nor body putty.
 
Some of it got sanded off, some did not. I thought I had it covered, but it is starting to show through the final color now. Going to let the first coats dry for 48 hours and spray another coat to see if that takes care of it. It's almost like it gets re-energized every time you paint. It's not near as noticeable now, but it's still there. Big mistake.
 
That is strange, as I have user the sharpie trick before (red, blue and black). But if in doubt use laquir thiner. USed lightly it will not eat the printer, just take the sharpie out, use to much and you will be respraying the printer.

+2 on the contast paing and block sanding. IF you are going to paint alot, I recomend a Durablock set, they are great.
 
Voyager Al said:
ever hear of a pencil?

Pencil will do the same thing to a lesser degree.

Enamel reducer is your best bet for gentler removal. I've used it a million times to remove glue residue from decals like pinstripe tape on car finishes.

Sorry about your troubles man. :(

Sent from my N860 using Tapatalk 2
 
You may as well stop wasting materials by trying to bury it under primer. It will eventually bleed through. Plus you are bringing the mil thickness up and that will mean other headaches in the future(think crazing,mud cracks,chipping, and delamination). Suck it up and bring it back down to raw steel and start again. It sucks, but it's better to do it now before you waste more time,money,materials,and effort just to have to redo it.
Yeah, when you prime and are looking for lows like said before use guide coat.When circling them I find one of the little pocket screwdrivers the tool trucks give away works great. If you don't want to carve it in China(Stabillo) pencil works also and it won't bleed through
Oh. I do have some knowledge and I'm not just talking out of my rear end. I've been a A.S.E. & I Car certified collision and paint tech for the past (I forget. It seems like forever!)17 years.
 
Had a guy in my Street Rod class find this out the hard way. He had an old shorty van with a mural of a big triumphant horse climbing a mountain or something great and groovy or whatever they thought would get the ladies back in 74. Anyway, a few of us added a little something extra to his triumphant steed (think organic hardware)

He sanded it off but never bothered to wipe it down with laquer. Needless to say, that "organic hardware" we added to his horse bled through his paintjob and he wasn't too happy with us. I'm sure you get the visual :lol:
 
bump, since this topic has come up again on some builds
 

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