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Blending colours
After all repairs, priming and preparation has been done, consider what will be a reasonable area to "lose" your repaired panel into. This will ideally be a slim rear pillar or narrow section of bodywork, or a moulding or break line further along from the repair. If using basecoat and clear, it is usually easier and quicker to lacquer complete panels either side of your repair to completely hide any slight colour difference, blending the lacquer only if needed across pillars, etc. Thoroughly flat all areas to be lacquered with ultra-fine abrasive pads (usually grey Scotchbrite), nothing any coarser. If lacquer is to be blended away up a rear pillar or suchlike, use a fine grade compound to restore the gloss to the last few inches of the abraded area.
Apply colour coats to the repair area as normal until covered, preferably using a lower pressure than usual to reduce overspray. To blend the colour into surrounding areas apply two or three extra coats, extending the colour coats a few inches further out for each coat. Arcing the spraygun at the edges of each coat helps the paint edge to fade away, rather than a sharper cut-off to the colour.
Finish the repair by applying lacquer as normal if using a basecoat and clear system. If a section is to have lacquer blended as well, apply each coat in advancing stages of a few inches across/up the area that is being blended, so that the final coat finishes just short of the abraded edge without overlapping on to unsanded original paint. Finally, melt the overspray edge with a very light coat of thinners,
so that the edge of the repair can be compounded into the original paintwork without trace. If lacquer strays on to unsanded paintwork it will always compound back to a visible edge.
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