Question about paint finish

I paint my x a few months ago trying to fix a scratch and dent left by a hit and run. The finish looks like crap though and I was wondering how to fix it. I used a acid etching paint, sanded everything between each coat, clear coated it several times, still it looks really flat.

and then what should I use instead of bondo to repair this corner, I bondoed it and it just ended up cracking and failin, dunno why.

Any ideas?

 

[mattferkey]

bondo is the correct thing to use... you need to grind down to metal with 36 or 24 grit then smear on the bondo... shape it with 36 and then 80 180 320sand down to a featheredge.. then prime over that.... then sand that to a feather edge scuff the panel out quite a bit further than you think u will need... put down your base then clear... wetsand the area u painted plus over all that was scuffed that u didnt paint with 1200... then buff... dont wax for at least 30 days. the key is not using hard tape lines except at the pinstripe..... blend everything way out

 

[mattferkey]

on the door just wetsand with 2000 grit and buff
any ? just ask

 

[MONMIX]

Instead of bondo I would opt for a better quality body filler such as Ever Coat. See my body work 101 thread stickied on the top of the body work and detailing section for details.

You paint looks like it is very very dry. I would switch to some thing geared more towards exterrior automotive finnish if you want quality results.

 

[Nocturnall]

Now I know shame on me but it's all spray paint that I was using, it was duplicolor I think spray paint. Is there a better spray paint I can use? I don't have a compressor or the proper gun for high quality paints... I would like for it to not be so obvious if I can do it. And the pin striping should be coming off soon.

 

[mattferkey]

if the pinstriping is comming off take it off now so you dont have a tape line.... the reason the bondo fell out is because of lack of adhesion... evercoat just has a more refined "space age" talc that is in it.... resulting in lighter weight and slightly better "gripping" charactistics. as far as a better spraybomb... all of the clears are going to be equilalent to a ready to spray clear used in bodyshops... and we only trust these in the jams. awhile back though i did a repair on my brothers black jetta in the middle of the door and blended in a clear coat spraybomb wetsanded it and buffed it and you couldent even tell.... but 2 years down the road i hate to think of what it will look like...

matt