buffed down to bare metal

[qarlwithaq]

Oops. A few weeks ago, a bird dropped a bullseye turd on my fuel door. I cleaned it off at a gas station with the paper towels for the squeegee. And oh my goodness did that scratch it up. A while later, I decided I would fix it up, so I got out my rotary buffer and some medium polishing compound (because they seemed to be semi-deep scratches), painters taped up the surrounding area, and went to work. After a few passes, the scratches were gone, but so was the paint, primer, and another layer of something from the nub on the fuel door that I forgot to tape off.
It's just a tiny little sliver, but touch up bottles of primer, nhbp paint, and clear coat would cost about $25, and there's a pretty big chance I'd just make things look worse. Fuel doors don't come painted, so I can't just order a new one. I've decided that taking it to Maaco is my best bet, but because I trust the collected knowledge of the internet over the "knowledge" of a paint/body shop salesman, I have some questions.

There were three distinct layers, paint, primer, and something else before the bare metal. What else goes on besides primer and paint? It wasn't clear coat, because that's clear and I couldn't have seen it.
Obviously they're going to have to prime the bare metal before they paint it, but would/should they just prime the little area where the bare metal is and then paint over that, or prime the small area and then paint the whole thing? Prime the entire thing and then paint it all? Strip the whole thing down to bare metal, prime it all, and then paint it? How should that be done to give the best results?
How long would the paint take to cure? Would I need to wait until we have a few days of nice weather on the forecast, or could I go in tomorrow, with rain scheduled later in the week?

I mainly just feel silly about it. A total learning experience. I should have known and been more careful, and I'm really glad it was just one little area on an easily replaceable and cheap part. But still, man, I'm a goof.

But in case you're wondering, the scratches did go away and the rest of the fuel door looked great, except for that part with no paint on it. . .

[Super Mario]

Rotary's are dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Should have gone with a DA, but I guess you know that by now Anyway, we live and we learn.

[qarlwithaq]

Well, it was a $40 ryobi "orbital buffer," it does have a dual-action movement, with the pad's center being offset of the main shaft. I've had good experiences with ryobi tools in the past, and wasn't a fan of paying $100+ for the PC. I used it before without problems, but never with so much gusto, I guess.

[Elite Auto Detail]

Before you think of repainting it why dont you look around honda recycling yards, They have crashed fits of all colors, I bet you the oem cover would not cost more then refinshing it and repainting it...

The gascap cover is mostly plastic, the black stuff you see is prob the base black plastic

[koolkevin1107]

Originally Posted by Elite Auto Detail

Before you think of repainting it why dont you look around honda recycling yards, They have crashed fits of all colors, I bet you the oem cover would not cost more then refinshing it and repainting it...

The gascap cover is mostly plastic, the black stuff you see is prob the base black plastic

Na fo sho it's metal, i've taken mine off numerous times.

But if u dont wanna pay a grip and mabye u want a little custom-ness, go to ebay and order a carbon fiber gas cap cover. Taht's ballin.

[billedoc]

ahh i never even touch the gas station cleaning stuff... sorry about your car tho

[secondspassed]

The gas station cleaning supplies are for emergencies only. For me there have been very few times my car would actually be cleaner after using them. My entire windshield was literally covered in bird shit once, that was one of those times.

[kenchan]

talk to your dealer. they have mobile painters touching up their used cars on a weekly basis. carnica i think they were called.

[Yes, I Vtec]

Originally Posted by secondspassed

The gas station cleaning supplies are for emergencies only. For me there have been very few times my car would actually be cleaner after using them. My entire windshield was literally covered in bird shit once, that was one of those times.

lol that's hilarious... now explain

[secondspassed]

^I parked under the wrong tree for like 6 hours and all the birds who live in it had apparently been chowing on raspberries and shit cause 95% of the front glass was covered in black, white, and purple shit... all dried! I tried my windshield wipers, they made a horrible noise and didn't do a thing. I had to stick my head out the side window to drive to the gas station... so pissed, haha.....

[Btrthnezr3]

That suuuuuuucks! Bird poo FTL.

[Yes, I Vtec]

fml... lol do you know how hard it is trying not laugh while reading that because you have to answer the phone at work...

[Btrthnezr3]

Haha...that's classic.

[OneStopCustoms]

Rust prevention, primer, paint, clear... Paint it yourself. Take it off of the car. You should had tried a claybar 1st, if used correctly it works wonders.

Nacho