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My Duchess has some small chips in the gel coat. Is there a way to identify the specific color and is there a source where color matched gel coat can be bought?
Steve
I was faced with the same issue with my Sabine. I bought a gel coat repair kit from a local marina but was warned that gel coat will age with time and it could be a challenge to colour match the original gel coat. I tried to use the kit but one has to be a bit of an artist to figure out how to blend the tints to produce the desired colour in sufficient quantity and replicate the colour in the future. I gave up on the gel coat repair. I painted the fenders with some two part primer then sprayed a two part automotive paint. Paint went on without an issue. When I applied the clear coat it orange peeled. Stilling mulling over whether to remove the clear coat and start over.David B Dixon
Port Perry ON CA
SabineMine only needs a few small chips touched up. After I started this thread I did a google search for “color matched gelcoat” and it took me to a website for a company that’s only about 10 miles from my home that sells fiberglass related products. They apparently sell a variety of colors of gel coat, and I’m going to drive my Duchess there, probably on Wednesday, and see if they can match my colors.
I was faced with a similar issue but I didn’t attempt to color match gel coat since I had a fairly significant damage to fender. Painted fender with color match to existing car, fender looked great but there was a significant difference in appearance between painted fender and gel coat car. Eventually wound up painting entire car, epoxy paint with clear coat.
Well, that was disappointing! My trip to the local fiberglass supply company didn’t bear fruit. That’s too bad. Fiberglass is easy for DIYers to work with, if you can find a good color match for the gel coat. I searched a sailing website and found a company in Seattle that claims they can color match gel coat. I have heard there’s another company in Florida that can do it, but haven’t been able to identify it. This is a link to the Seattle company. http://gelcoatproducts.com/ I’m going to contact them for more information. If anyone finds another company that can do it, please pass it along.
The Seattle company’s website says, if you can’t bring them an actual sample of the color that they can match, you can get a paint sample from a local paint store that matches your color, and they’ll match it. That might not be a close enough match to re-gel coat a large area, but it will probably be close enough to touch up small chips, such as around the edge of the door. You might also be able to just take a close-up, daylight photo of your car’s color, and have them match it. It should at least be close. I plan to give it a try.
on the gelcoat – wouldn’t the literature from the manufacturer help there? On the orange peel – clay bar and some elbow grease. Just think of it like you would if you had to sand off the clear coat. If you wanted to get there quicker you could wet sand with a 600 and then clay bar.
In wine there is truth, in water health.
I got lucky. I took a scrap of my gel coated fiberglass to a local auto parts store and was able to match the color to to an off the shelf touch up bottle. Good for small chips.
If you have a scrap, you should be able to get any paint supplier to do a computerized match.
Re: the orange peel… I respectfully disagree that using a clay bar will correct orange peel. Claying a painted/gel coated surface will remove particles of dirt from the paint/clear coat, readying the surface for wax. But as it does not remove any paint, I seriously doubt it will improve orange peel.
You might be able to improve minor orange peel by compounding the surface. But more than likely a good wet sanding is going to be necessary.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
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