I'm after some panels for my 91 polo mk2f breadie. Have to be dent and rust free and in alpine white ( don't want much do I ?? ). Would like wings / doors / tailgate. Cheers !!

Not being funny but trying to find panels that are 20+ years old in the same colour (especially white) is going to be very difficult as they are likely to be different shades of white. You risk it looking like a patchwork. Is there no way to repair what's there?

Probably mate just being a lazy fecker !! Tried to blow in rust repairs but holts L90e is a crap match. i do not have access to proper spray facilities so any advice for a good rattle can finish ? And what paint to use ?

Not really. Trying to match old paint is nigh on impossible. And white is especially bad I've found. A good machine polish of the paint work should help bring back the original colour then it's about spraying a larger area than the actual damage to help blend it in.

How bad is the rust that needs fixing?

And I always get my paint from a body shop supplier and get it mixes there

Rust is okay mate I've got it right back to shiny metal so was only surface anyway. Last time i sprayed the areas was 2 years ago and the rust hasnt popped through so all is solid. Just pissed off with creamy flat paint next to pretty good original paint. I've blown in the rear arches and the front wings .

i ordered spraymax aerosols from germany in l90e ....not cheap but spot on match , cant fault it

How did you get a pro looking finish as its difficult from an aerosol ?

all in the prep ...if youre strict with yourself and prep it 100% then the paint job can look great

So long as you get enough paint on you can always wet flat and polish it to a shine. Prep is important but so is getting the right amount of paint on. too much and its flat and thin too much and you'll get runs and sags. It's not easy and takes experience. If you can, always spray with the panels flat. But as I say, getting too much on and flatting with 800, 1200, 1500 and 2000 wet and dry, a cutting compound (such as g3) then a polish and wax will give a good finish. Just be careful not to go through your fresh paint so take it slow.

Alternatively use 2k from an aerosol. This is hazardous and requires good ventilation and ideally an air fed mask (although I have used 2k and not used an air fed, just good ventilation, high quality mask and not breathing in! Not advised). But you'll get a gloss finish out of the tin with that stuff. Goes on thicker, is prone to runs and takes longer to go off (so dust is more of a problem than with celly paint) but even a mug like me can get a good out of the can finish. If you do use this, then you only have a few hours to use the paint up as it's a catalysed reaction so make sure you have all of your panels ready at once. It's expensive too and is harder so mistakes are harder to polish out.

As a beginner, I'd recommend going with cellulose based paint, building it up in 5-6 thin layers (first should be a 'dust coat', just a little bit of paint to pepper the panel). Leave 10 to 15 minutes between coats. Never try and cover the primer in one go or else you'll get runs etc. Just keep layering it up and be prepared to flat back and polished as described above if you don't get it totally gloss.

Hope that helps!

Thanks mate you are a gent. Would you do all that prior to final coat of clear coat ? As L90E requires clear on top ?

id suggest you get the non clear coat one - vw didnt use clear coat on them and its a extra step where you can mess up

Whenever I've sprayed I've never used clear coat. As Steve says, its another stage to screw up.

If you do choose to use it, you must flat the white back first with 800-1200 wet and dry and then layer the clear coat on in several light coats, as described above. Some people will even say to rub down the clear coat between coats, but I'd not bother. In fact I've never used clear coat.

Patience is key when spraying with cellulose (something I don't have much of!) but I did once do a whole door and got the colour to match really well. In fact it was alpine white like yours. And I used Halfords paint back then!

As I said, if you're spot repairing, don't just try and correct the area but spray around it, being prepared to flat that whole area and even onto the surrounding original paint. You want to feather the repair in. If you're going to mask off areas, to avoid a raised boundary use a soft masking technique. Essentially only stick half the width of the tape down whilst folding the half closest to the repair back on itself. If that makes sense. This should create a radius on the tape along the boundary, hopefully creating a feathered edge naturally.

All makes perfect sense many thanks for your help guys now to wait for a dry warm day. May be a while !!