I went well past the repair area with 1000 grit, masked close to the repair and started with primer just on the bare metal/filler, peeled back the masking a bit more for the base coat and then more again for the clear. I shot the base and clear away from the masking towards the repair area so as not to get a hard transition. Finally pulled off the masking and gave the transition a light blast with the aerosol. Next day I polished it all to get rid of the wider 1000 grit sanding outside the repair area.
I think thats the recommended procedure for smart repair franchises. Personally, I put a fast cut or G3 over the non painted blend area instead of 1000, otherwise the same method. I spray the blending/spot repair/fade out thinner before the clear has flashed off if possible.
Nick
That's very impressive. So you only use the blending thinners once, spraying on the join between the old and new paint whilst the clear coat is still wet? ie. you don't use it once after the base coat, then again after the clear coat.
Pretty much yes. It takes that dry area between the new and old and dissolves the edge, blending it. I think our friends across the pond use it or similar on their base coats but I certainly only use it on direct gloss or clear.
Nick
I sanded with 1000 grit a long way back from the repair area first then masked up the car.
A few coats of base coat applied with gun facing away from the masking, the colour match looked good.
Masked up again a bit further back with a soft edge.
Two coats of clear again spraying away from the masking, it had a bit of orange peel but nothing that couldn't be easily sanded out. I hit the dry edge with a bit of blending solvent but go easy as it almost created a run.
There was still a bit of a dry edge around the edge of the new clear that doesn't show up in the picture but after sanding and polishing it was perfect.