When I purchased my '87 GT the roof panel was cracked and chipped along the top and at the top corners of the windshield. I repaired the damage some time ago and have been waiting for decent weather to paint, finally got it done today. I used base coat (GM77) from Automotive Touchup and Spraymax clearcoat. It turned out pretty good, excepting that the color match is not the greatest. Also, the base coat can did not spray with very much pressure and was not atomizing the paint very well and produced a bit of spatter which I wet sanded out here and there before clearcoating. I have used the Spraymax clear before and as usual it went on great. I think that next time I will try a different source for basecoat.

As a hobbyist who does some of his own painting my secret is to use a HVLP spray gun. Believe it or not the Harbor Freight $15.95 one works well but you need a big compressor to feed it. Now that warmer weather is approaching I try to spray in the mornings. I've achieved the smoothest finishes when the temperature is in the low 70's with about an 8" fan pattern and spraying at no more than 25-30lbs at the gun. Its really hard to spray at home without a spray booth but you can make one from sheets of clear plastic and 1 x 2 wood.
If you are using the "rattle can" route, I would think that it would be hard to get a good result.

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For larger jobs I do use an HVLP gun from HF. But for smaller stuff & touch up I go the rattle can route. I rattle canned the BMW in the photo with Rustoleum for the base and Spraymax clearcoat.

The key to this is the Spraymax 2K clear. You could almost paint the car with a marking pen and the Spraymax clear would make it look like a million bucks. I love using that for small touchup jobs rather than setting up all the pro equipment and dealing with the cleanup after the job. Spraymax is a great product but I hope you wore a respirator as the fumes are dangerous.

Creaky, did you spray the entire Roof and down the Windshield sides or did you just feather it in partway?? The job looks great to me. I have a spot more or less like that around the top edge of my Windshield ...

[This message has been edited by Notorio (edited 06-18-2020).]

I did the whole panel including alongside the windshield. I am curious as to why the panel was damaged above the windshield. Maybe water trapped under the windshield rubber trim froze and caused it??? Ideas welcome.

quote Originally posted by creaky78: I did the whole panel including alongside the windshield. I am curious as to why the panel was damaged above the windshield. Maybe water trapped under the windshield rubber trim froze and caused it??? Ideas welcome.

The SMC fiberglass will soak up moisture and expand if the paint is damaged. Usually what happens is the paint was scored when the windshield was replaced many years ago.

[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 06-19-2020).]

Thanks Gall757. I guess this not an uncommon problem. I am going to need a new windshield trim, is the one from the Fiero Store the way to go?