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Thread: My attempt at touch up with the Preval Sprayer

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2013
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    1997 328is

    My attempt at touch up with the Preval Sprayer

    The handle trim fell of my family's 2000 E46 328i, titanium silver. There was also an enormous rock chip, about .5 inches tall by 2 inches wide, down to bare metal. I got some titanium silver paint off of ebay:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/121289878254...84.m1497.l2649

    It was Pro-tek paint. Also got some rustoleum gray primer in a rattle can, and some clear from the same ebay vendor. The paint and the clear came in small jars.

    To apply it, I use a Preval disposable spray gun:

    It's pretty cool. A spray paint can where you can put in your own paint. If you clean it out with solvent, you can even run different paints with the same propellant cartridge. Cost me $7 and it wasn't even the lowest price in town. It's a pain in the @$$ to use, but it is far cheaper than a custom rattle can.

    First, I primered it. It took an embarrassingly long time to get it right. I tried sanding with 1500 grit, and kept sanding through on the corners. Then, my can started blowing chunks. I must have cleaned and sanded it 6 times. Finally, I cleared it and decided to spray a layer on it and not touch it.

    I thinned the paint with multipurpose solvent. I thought it was too thin, so I added more paint. Too much, actually. It was orange peeling heavily. I experimented with distance and pressure but kept getting issues. I pretty much ran out of paint.

    In desperation, I put some solvent into my paint bottle and swished it around to get more paint. I tried spraying, and it worked beautifully! I estimate 50% dilution. Too thin, and it doesn't cover so well, but too thick and it'll run before it goes on smooth. Probably better to err on the side of too thin. It was getting late, and I was tired of prepping surfaces, so I just sprayed onto the trim, after wiping the bad paint job off. The surface was a bit rough, but most of it looked good:

    I put the clear on at full strength, since it was pretty thin already. It ran a bit, so I guess it goes on much faster than paint.

    For the rock chip, I did pretty much the same thing, but I was dealing with peeling paint. I used a razor to try and feather out the paint and make the transition less abrupt. You can still see the outline:


    I am pretty pleased with the results. The color match was so close, it was scary. I wouldn't try to blend with this, as it tends to throw small droplets at the edges. But for painting small trim pieces, and with a near perfect color match, this was a very good setup.

    Now I have a lot of silver painted things to clean up!
    Last edited by DYL; 03-29-2014 at 02:38 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    McKean township Pennsylva
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    1999 M3 , 1999 328is
    Nice job. I have not seen such a product, an add your own paint spray can, I like it.
    Current fleet:
    1999 BMW e36 M3
    1999 BMW e36 328is with rotary valve engine head
    1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight
    1990 Jeep Comanche Eliminator
    1962 Austin Healey Sprite

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Orange County
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    E36 M3 & E21 320i
    Nice! We sell the Preval kits at my work and I use them for spray outs from time to time.

    They're a great alternative to a spray gun for small parts.

    Any photos of the end result?

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Those pictures of the trim piece and the sprayed area are the final result. I would have gone insane trying to get pictures of each step.

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Oh ok, it's hard to tell from the photo.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    I used a Preval product years ago to spray liquid urethane on a brick surface with crumbling mortar. A brush would've disturbed the mortar. And it was cheaper than renting a sprayer.
    Not so much a signature as a cry for help.

    Hold on, saw this in a cartoon once...think I can pull it off.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    NW suburban Chicago
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    hiss by my window
    Thanks for sharing your experience. I've had one of these Preval sprayers on the shelf for years and have been afraid to use it thinking the spray pattern would be lousy.
    Now knowing the thinning amount I have confidence to use it with the last precious bit of matching paint remaining from an earlier professional repair. Hopefully my feeble painting skills won't ruin the project.

    If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Uh... I have no idea exactly how much thinner to paint I actually used. I read online that it should be the consistency of water. Preval recommended something like 4 parts paint to 1 part thinner. 1 to 1 was the only ratio i can confirm, and coverage was not very good, tempting you to spray until it runs. Test spray, and keep adding thinner until it goes from orange peel to fairly smooth. The spray pattern wasn't so great, but a good paint match negates this. The layers it puts down are very thin due to the thinner you use, so a few odd droplets don't matter.

    I was amazed that it put down the metallic flake exactly the same as the original paint.
    Last edited by DYL; 04-01-2014 at 03:01 PM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Basecoat is generally reduced 1:1.

    Just apply several light coats until it's covered.

  10. #10
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    From my experience, more coats = more chances to screw up :P

    But I'm sure that some one that knows what they're doing would do multiple coats. I make no claim to knowing what I am doing

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
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    new york
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    They're a great alternative to a spray gun for small parts.
    Last edited by moyechua; 04-01-2014 at 11:03 PM.

  12. #12
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    Oct 2013
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    Thanks!

    Thanks for sharing. Looks awesome!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Thanks for the info. This product is going global
    Life is like a car wash and I'm on a bicycle.

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