DIY Paint Prep advice??

Painting is 90% prep, 10% spray. I painted my '26 myself in a relatively clean garage and it came out extremely well. Roughly 130 hours of body work(original 83 year old steel body so you can imagine how rough it was) and 5 hours of actual spraying.

You can take this in a couple directions. You can sand off all the original paint to bare metal, which is what I did, or you can scuff the factory paint. Imo bare metal is the way to go if you ever want to paint this car again or foresee yourself painting it again.

However if I was in your positions with I assume, little to no body work experience then I would just go ahead and scuff the factory paint. Most factory paint is baked on at 450 degrees and if you simply try to paint over this you will have problems with flaking and discoloration down the road. In your post you said that you already have a problem with that stuff so you may need to sand to the paint on the affected panels. The best route to scuff paint is to use a fine-grade scotch-brite pad. 500-600 grit works wonders on factory paint. You do not need to sand through the clear if the panel is in excellent condition(Not flaking, discolored etc). It's a waste of time and energy. All you need to do is get a nice surface for the new primer to grab onto.

Couple tips for scuffing is that you do NOT need to go in a single uniform direction. In fact I would advise you to go in many different directions to get the best possible results out of your primer. Also if you have an problem areas that need filled in with body filler such as dents etc. I recommend sanding that surrounding area down to bare metal unless the body filler you are using specifically says it can be used over paint. I use Rage Extreme filler, which can be used over scuffed painted surfaces. Downside to this is that it is extremely expensive compared to Bondo brand filler.

Not sure if you have very many dents or uneven surfaces but if you do here are some tips for Body Filler. I personally prefer to go the extra mile and do metal work rather then plastering body filler over the problem area but then again I have all the tools to do it and I was taught in person by someone with decades of experience, all the little tricks to it. Plus I am pretty anal about perfection and even though nobody would ever be able to tell the difference between body filler and actual metal given proper coverage I would still know it's there.

First thing you need to do is get a nice, smooth pattern going with the filler. Bondo brand filler is a little harder to work with the Rage Extreme because it's a thicker base. Either filler works but the smoother you can spread the filler over the problem area the easier it will make the rest of the process.



Hopefully you can spread your filler on smoother then that. You want to avoid the lumps and valleys that this guy has going on. Also notice how he just plastered the filler right over the accents in the fender. You want to avoid this at all costs. It is an absolute PITA to get filler out of areas like that without screwing up the rest of your body work in the surrounding areas.

At the end of the day you are going to spend 5 times as long sanding that down to get that nice, smooth, and most importantly FLAT. If your body work is not flat you will see ripples in the finished product.

After you have gotten your filler on you need to sand it. You can use an orbital or a jitterbug sander. I personally would not. Use 80 grit dry sandpaper to start. If you don't have a sanding block(below), jitter-bug, or orbital sander you can use a method called cross-sanding. It's basically as simple as it sounds. You want to triple fold your sandpaper. So that your fingers will be resting atop 3 layers of paper. You want to sand in a vertical, horizontal and diagonal pattern.



The purpose for this is to reduce your chance of getting finger marks/valleys in your work. You also want to use this technique in areas that you can't get your sander/block into. Such as round corners around windows. License plate frame area, around your spoiler, and other such tough to get to areas like that.

After your initial sanding of your bondo you may have pin holes in them such as these below. Sorry about the horrible picture. It's the only one I could find.



What you want to do is use a second layer of filler over the area and then sand over it with 180 grit dry paper. With the cheaper Bondo brand filler this may open up more pin holes with the higher grade fillers it probably won't. If it does just use a 3rd layer and that should clear up any pin holes that you have.

When you are finished you should have an area, variable in size, that looks somewhat like this.



This guy has old filler, primer and paint still on the piece. You can see the body filler in white/grey. Notice the irregular border of the filler and bare metal. This is a sign of flatness. If you have a straight border on your final sanded filler then that most of either been one hell of a straight dent or the filler is not contoured to the piece you are working on.

To tell if your piece is "flat" you want to run your hand over the surface. Stiffen your four fingers and bend them so that your palm doesn't touch the surface you're gauging. You want to feel it in a horizontal, vertical, and diagonal pattern. You WILL feel lumps if it is not perfectly smooth.

It is up to you how smooth you want to go. It's certainly not easy(in regards to time) to get a perfectly flat surface and it will take some effort to get the surface flat.

Just remember that the work you put into the body WILL be evident in the final product. You can not cut corners and expect a perfect finish. I can give you more tips and pointers in regards to the actual priming, painting, clearing, and the wet sanding process if you would like me to.

Edit
Pictures of my '26 so you know I'm not just blowing smoke. ^.^

Prior to clearcoat sanding and buffing.


After buffing.

Thanks =)

Basically what you want to do assuming an already straight body is scuff that paint as I said earlier with 500-600 grit Scotch-Brite. This gives the primer a good base to hold onto.

Next you need to mask off areas you do not want paint on. Paint will get into EVERYTHING. Don't just assume something is safe because it isn't directly in the line of fire. Double mask everything. Overlap the second layer about 1/16th over the first layer to prevent paint from getting under your masked area.

After you scuff the paint you will then want to use a QUALITY wax/grease remover on the entire car. After which you are ready to prime. It is up to you if you want to remove panels or not. If you choose to it will give you a more seamless finish and you won't have to worry about getting paint into all the nooks and crannies. If you want to paint them on that car you can potentially have seams in your work if you don't spray them at the proper angle.

If you are using a spray gun rather then a rattle-can then you need to take long strokes with it. Basically the full length and width of the car. You want to cross-spray to get the most potential coverage.

Cross-spraying in a nutshell is basically alternating between up and down strokes and side to side with each new coat. So the first coat you may go side to side and then the second you will go up and down. Ideally you want to be about 8-10 inches away from the piece with the spray gun. Your goal is to keep the distance as uniform as possible for the best possible results. Keep the gun straight as you spray. Natural instinct is to tilt the gun as you get to the ends. Do NOT do this. It will cause valleys in your final product that make clear coat sanding a horribly tedious process.

After you have gotten your 4 coats of primer built up. You want to use a sanding block and wet sand 400 grit the get the primer nice and flat. You don't want what is called Fat Lady's Ass or Orange Peel. If you see this on your paint:

View attachment 276584

It still needs to be flattened. Your goal is to eliminate all of that with 400 grit wet sand paper. The flatter everything is the better gloss you will be able to attain out of the final product.

After you have primed the car it's really just a matter of spraying the paint and clear coat. I do believe you said you had a friend who would be spraying the car for you so he should know what to do. At first I assumed he was going to spray the primer for you too, or else I would have covered that.

This place has a lot of good questions answered. I recommend you take a look.
car painting tips | steps on how to paint a car | paint spray gun | clear coat | paint mixing

I am thinking of doing the same thing should i use a single stage paint or a base/clear? This will be my first paint job also. Also how is the paint from tcpglobal.com? i can get the single stage kit for around 100 bucks and they have many colors. Sorry to hijack

saleen9973 said:

I am thinking of doing the same thing should i use a single stage paint or a base/clear? This will be my first paint job also. Also how is the paint from tcpglobal.com? i can get the single stage kit for around 100 bucks and they have many colors. Sorry to hijack

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Imo the single stage paint is a waste of money and should be avoided. That is just my opinion as I am a perfectionist. There is a lot of cheap stuff on the market now and it really isn't that much more difficult to spray Base/Clear in two stages.

You certainly can use single stage paint. It's really up to you. I will say that metallic/pearls are certainly not the easiest to paint and on top of that you HAVE to use Base/Clear over single stage because wet sanding(and sanding through clearcoat) will disturb the metal flakes and cause distortions in your paint.

When factoring in the cost of paint make sure you:
1) Get enough.
2) Get a quality wax/grease remover
3) Get quality masking tape and double mask everything
4) Get masking paper + masking plastic.

$100 sounds a little on the cheap side to me as with paint you really do get what you pay for but I am sure you can get satisfactory results with it providing you put in the work of wet sanding. Just don't expect a show car finish.

Also one last thing I should mention is that with Base/Clear you can choose how much clear you want on the panels so that when it comes to wet sand you know how much you can get away with in regards to sanding.

If you have any questions during the process feel free to PM me. =)

Edit
http://www.caseyspaint.com/search.htm
Worth a read for both of you.

i work with alot of people that know about body work and my dad knows how to paint and everything but my question that im wandering about is the plastic parts on my car,such as the bumpers and the side skirts,is there any special paint or attention to be given to them or do i just paint them as im painting the rest of the car with the same paint.and also wut is the best way to sand the side skirts where they say mustang gt,my back bumper is new and its primered and im getting a new front bumper as well.so any help that i can get on this will help me .

rebelcowboy said:

i work with alot of people that know about body work and my dad knows how to paint and everything but my question that im wandering about is the plastic parts on my car,such as the bumpers and the side skirts,is there any special paint or attention to be given to them or do i just paint them as im painting the rest of the car with the same paint.and also wut is the best way to sand the side skirts where they say mustang gt,my back bumper is new and its primered and im getting a new front bumper as well.so any help that i can get on this will help me .

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Plastic parts are no different. You want to either sand the paint off or scuff it so that the primer has something to adhere to. As for getting into the indentations such as the Mustang GT lettering. You can do this a couple ways.

You can use the method I stated above of triple folding your sand paper and cross sanding the area by hand. Or alternatively you can buy small sanding blocks. They come in a variety of sizes/shapes/grits. Your local autobody shop should have them.

I've always preferred cross-sanding but beware. It's extremely hard on the tips of your fingers.

so there is no special type of paint or adhesion promoter or anything for it,i was always under the assumption the paint would chip off when the plastic flexed.im struck between a cuople things on painting my car,its mostly white right now,it has a blue hatch on it and the passenger 1/4 panel and door are primered due to someone hitting it before i got it the 1/4 was replaced and the door and hatch were as well,and when they primered it the didnt do a very good job and they painted over the factory paint on those pieces and its not sticking good,so i dont know wetehr to sand just the primer off or go to bare metal on them.and also i was wanting to paint it black,but i was wanting to wait on the door jambs and stuff,would it be easier to just paint the car now and wait till i can to paint the jambs with some quality spray can type paint.

The way you get primer and paint to adhere to the surface is to scuff it with a 500-600 grit Scotch-Brite pad. The roughly finish gives the primer something to hang onto.


Before I fully answer your question are you trying to paint the entire car with spray can type paint or are you asking me if you can just do the door jambs and stuff with the spray can paint?

just the jambs im gonna use a gun to paint the car,i would never paint the whole thing with spray can paint.

rebelcowboy said:

just the jambs im gonna use a gun to paint the car,i would never paint the whole thing with spray can paint.

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=) That's what I was hoping.

I recommend using the same paint on everything. You can get away with using spray can paint. It's not exactly the best thing to do, mind you. Door jambs are a minimal thing. As a perfectionist it would bother me. It might not bother you.

Since you are painting the car black you can get away with it. Matching any other color would be a bit of a PITA.

I recommend doing the same prep you do to the rest of the car on the door jambs and what not and spray them before you spray the car. You still need to primer them. The reason you should do the jambs first is so that the over spray does not get on the quality paint that will be most evident on the rest of the vehicle.

So your painting process should go somewhat like:
Primer Jambs -> Primer Car -> Paint Jambs -> Paint Car -> Clearcoat

Plastic does require special prep. I tried to paint my plastic parts just as you would metal but I ended up with cracks. After going to collision repair school for 2 years you learn alot. They make an adhesion promoter that you spray over the primer that will help hold the paint. If you want a good quality finish on you plastic parts I recommend a plastic repair and reconditioner. They can media blast you bumpers and put the plastic primer on it so you can just spray it with the same paint. Plus that gets rid of old paint and stress cracks. I would definitely look into that. It saves a lot of prep time and hassle. I did it on my car and worked great.

Cracks are from dirt and contamination, improper scuffing of the surface, or lacquer primer. If you want extra adhesion you use epoxy primer which is the same thing as the adhesion promoter that you recommended but it's mixed into the primer rather then an additional stage of paint.

He is on a budget so I would assume going to a plastic parts reconditioner is more then likely out of his budget.

You very well may have used Lacquer Primer instead of Epoxy or Urethane. Both of with are 50 times better then lacquer do to the fact that once you spray them and they become activated they cannot go back to a liquid state.

Urethane and Epoxy primers are activated and go through a thermosetting stage. Thermosetting is an activated resin that is used in urethane primer becomes a plastic type finish. The new coating structure cannot go back to it's original state unlike Lacquer. It is designed to become a strong, durable, chemical resistant coating.

Laquer primer never cures which is why it is prone to cracking. It absorbs solvent unlike Epoxy/Urethane so you get no lose of gloss, no shrinkage or swelling, delaminating or cracking. I'm sure you probably know this but it was just clarification for others reading this thread.

well the only parts that would need alot of attention are my side skirts my rear bumper is brand new and it came in black primer,and im gonna buy a new fromt bumper mine is busted and has alot of layers of paint peeling off it where someone tried to touch it up with spray paint.so the new bumpers should be ready to paint shouldnt they?

anyone have any other useful information on this?