painting

[Snakesvt04]

anyone have agood write up on how to paint a car step by step. everywhere i search seems like people take different aproach. I just want something for a noob that i can follow. Car is a 88 cuope foxbody.

i getting it all preped up and will start hopefully in a week or 2 to paint. its a 1988 coupe that im trying to make it look good and go fast

 

[thebestdj07]

all depends how good you want it to look and last.

you can do a macco special and just use red scotch brite all over the car and spray.

or you can do it the right way and spend the money.

use 320 on a block or DA on the whole car. get your edges with red scotch brite or gray what ever you can find. i usualy use gray if im not priming

any rock chips you have to feather out with 150 and scuff the area around that for primer. you then block the primer wet with 600 untill the orange peal is gone and it feels like you never sprayed anything there.

same with any burn throughs to bare metal 150, prime, wet 600.

paint will cover 320 but nothing lower anything lower you must prime.

spray your base (color) untill you have your coverage wait 30 min usualy.

mix your clear lay the first coat semi dry wait 8-15 min depends on shop temp. second and third coat will be wet coats.

let dry a full 24 hrs at least 68-70 degrees.

wetsand with 1500-2500 and buff. using wool pad then yellow pad then black

think i got it all.

 

[Snakesvt04]

Cool..good way to break it down , thanks. I'm going to give it s try. I'm not to worry about show quality since itsd my first time. But definitely going to try some of these steps.

 

[SN95cobra04]

I also have a question about this. what about the air compressor? does it have to be a big heavy duty compressor or will a smaller one work the same? i need to paint a bumper and front quarter panel on my DD civic. i have a 13 gallon 5 HP Husky compressor if it matters.

 

[KTTrucks]

The answer is YES... you can do this yourself.. and expect great results... the time investment depends on your level of skill, but even noobs can get good results right out of thegate. The equipment is where most people get into trouble. There's no "single post" explanation of how to paint a car by yourself, my DVDs are over an hour in length, filled with condensed info. and each deals with a specific segment of the process. My participation on this website is to help with these types of questions, so lets adress the air compressor;

You need a minimum of a 5 HP 60 gallon tank compressor with at least 11 CFM of air delivery. Dont pay attention to pressure; it doesnt matter anymore, it's all about CFM and air volume, and to atomize todays paints and materials, you need HVLP guns and a good compressor with a high duty cycle. you also need to outfit the compressor with good driers and moisture separators... and they need to be plumbed in a way that they actually work ( at least 20 feet of pipe from the compressor manifold) Your airline needs to be at the very least 3/4 ID to facilitate the CFM delivery to the gun.

There are probably guys who'll beat the crap out of this post, and say that they painted a tractor trailer with an airbrush compressor and it turned out great... the truth is sometimes you can get away with things that are typically not the best setup. but if you think about your compressor as the heart of the shop ( it is...) and build everything off of that, you can eliminate a ton of problems before they're actually problems in your paintjob.


Yes, you need to invest some cashola in equipment, but you dont need to go crazy... this can be affordable, but depending on the type and brand of paint and primer that you buy, you can easily spend what it costs for a good air delivery system on a single paintjob, and to have it blow up in your face because of solvent trapping, water in the lines, and low pressure, eventually having to spend more cashola to repair things.... that puts a real bad tase in your mouth that doesnt need to be.


Dont neglect safety!!!!! these chemicals are concentrated and dangerous if you're careless.... be responsible for you and others around you.. no joke.


Is DIY dead? hell no! but it does take a little more time and money investment and practice than it used to.

Dont be intimidated by this process... but be realistic about what it takes to
do it right. :beer:
KT

 

[Snakesvt04]

i picked a gun up from lowes. Do i need to use another gun for primer? and how many coats of primer and do i sand every time?

 

[LGHTNG02GT]

i picked a gun up from lowes. Do i need to use another gun for primer? and how many coats of primer and do i sand every time?

you dont necessarily need another gun but it is a good idea. i use a cheap campbell haulsfield for primer with a 1.8 tip.
for base and clear i use a devilbiss with a 1.3 tip.
if you've got bare metal, i always prime that with an epoxy primer. that gets blocked down and then the high build goes on top of that...only thing with high-build primer is when you are done block sanding it, 90% of it ends up as dust on the ground lol.

 

[Snakesvt04]

i have just a couple little spots to the metal. do i sand with 300? or higher. Where can i get paint and primer? I shouldnt even try advanced auto right? i want to pain it sonic blue

 

[thebestdj07]

yes deffentaly a good compressor. our 80gallon eaton cycles quite a bit when spraying a car.

your bare spots you want to feather the edge so you dont feel a lip where the paint is around it with 150. then prime. and block with 600 wet.

as for spray guns. hvlp. ive used a harbor freight and it was not bad. but i usualy use devilbiss GTI. with a 1.4 tip for base, and another gti with a 1.3 tip for clear

primer gun is nice to have seperate. you will want a 1.8-2.0 tip on that.

lay your primer heavy so it fills your scratch.

the euro primer and clear (orange can) seems to work well,

go to any of your auto paint stores. dont be cheep on your paint or no matter how good your gun is it will spray like crap! (duplicolor from advanced!!!!!)

metalux is not bad for the price. along with ppg shopline. both cheeper and have good coverage.

most of the ppg omni that i have sprayed was crappy so stay away from that.

 

[thebestdj07]

these all were rock chips in the door. so you will go from looking like this



to this



to this

 

[Snakesvt04]

Thanks guys really helps out. This will be my first time ever painting car. So I don't necessarily have to primer the whole car if there is paint down already? Or it will be best to prime the whole thin evenly. I have to many questions so bare with me

 

[thebestdj07]

post pics.

 

[65x2]

There is a lot to painting a car and having a quality outcome.

It would be best to take it in steps and try not to squeeze all the information required into one post. You can lay down the best paint job ever, but if its over poor prep work, its going to look like shit.

Auto Body Toolmart is a great place for products. You're going to have a tough time finding jobber that can beat their prices.

As far as information, you might want to head over to Auto Body 101 and read as much as you can over there.

You need to focus on having a proper prep job, then focus on paintwork. You can post up some photos of what kind of repairs your about to head into and we can give you some advice based on those.

You need to becareful spraying metallics or heavy pearl colors, if you finish sand in 320 like stated above, the metallics/pearls will lay in the sand scratches and look awful. Everything should be finished in at least 600 prior to paintwork IMO.

But something that hasn't been mentioned yet, respirator. Don't use some POS dust mask that you see guys hanging drywall use. Go spend the money on a proper respirator. These are not friendly products you'll be using. Treat them with respect.

 

[thebestdj07]

yes forgot to add 600 if your doing pearls n such. solid colors are fine with 320.

 

[flamedstang95]

Like others have stated, the key to an awesome paintjob is prep work. My buddy and I once painted my old GT in 3 days and it came out great. The factory black paint wasn't too bad but the car had been keyed when the PO had it and I couldn't stand to look at it. We used a DA to sand it with 180, 220, then finished with 320 before priming it. After is was primed we wetsanded the whole car with 400 then 600 before laying a few coats of sealer then the paint. I really wouldn't recommend a metallic paint to a first time DIY'er. Too many things can go wrong IMO(mixing paint wrong, tiger stripes) If you choose to go with Sonic Blue just take your time and be sure to mix every cup exactly the same. Dupont Chroma Base, PPG, and Martin Senour(Napa) are all quality paints I have used throughout the years.

 

[Snakesvt04]

i will be posting pics later today. Show you how guys far i am. Im definintly taking my time on prep work..not rushing anything

 

[Snakesvt04]

Computer wouldn't down load pics. I'll try tomorow. But the motor cam out and going to clean up the engine bay. Also the body got hit with 320 and its real smooth now

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

Good info you are getting here, Carlos! may have to come over some weekend and do some of the work with you. I need to learn this as well for my hooptie! Think I may join the Auto Body 101 Forum.

 

[Snakesvt04]

Here it is.

 

[Snakesvt04]

and some engine bay cleaning....welding some holes next week for smotting