*HOW TO* Jimbo's How to get rid of runs..

[Old man Jimbo]

I thought I'd post a quickie up about how to get rid of runs in paint. As it seems quite a lot of you are doing a bit of painting on your own cars which is :cool: IMHO. So as an old bodywork man I thought I'd share a couple of hints and tips with you.

A few things to point out first I've only ever done this with 2K paint and never with 1k cellulose rattle can paint. I've never tried it so I can't comment on if it works with 1k or not. Secondly your paint must be well cured as in a few weeks old at least or baked of with an infrared lamp otherwise it will be to soft an it will tear the topcoat.

So what I'll show you in my first instalment is the razor blade method.

You'll need some razors like this... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-Single-Edge-Razor-Scraper-Blades-Personna-Window-Oven-Cleaning-DIY-JOBS-/270899284869?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f12db0b85

You'll also need some 1500 grit wet and dry paper. What you need to do is take a razor blade and run it along the wet and dry. This will cause a burr on the trailing edge and this is what you're after. So draw the blade in one direction only along the paper towards you like this...
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_003.jpg

Then you need to put a very slight bend in the blade to stop the edges catching and causing nasty scratches like this...
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_005.jpg

Now you flip the blade 180 deg so that the burr is paint side down and start to scrape away the run. You'll be surprised how aggressive you can be without any fear of breaking through the paint like the traditional flatting with a block and wet and dry method.
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_004.jpg

Then once you've gone from this...
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_001.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_002.jpg

Some action shots lol
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_006.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_007.jpg

You should be left with this kind of thing..

(sorry tat piccies and I've only took the run out the centre)
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_008.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/20120131_010.jpg

a quick tickle with some 1500 or 2000 and your ready to polish back up..

Easy as funk and much much better than using a block and busting through the paint.

Next issue I'll show you how to knock a run off with some polyester stopper (like dolphin glaze etc) and a DA sander :eek: