Paint

Hef5.0weisen said:

For you guys/ladies that have painted your own car........

I used to finish cabinets prior to joining the Air Force. Sand, stain, spray sealer, sand, topcoat...was actually really good at it. Would like to take that talent and apply it to my car as it needs a paint job. I know wood and metal are two different beasts..hence the interagotive..

What is min compressor size? I don't own one, but am not agaisnt picking one up

CFM is more important than max PSI. When it comes to a spray gun, they are different from brand to brand. You might get a gun that may use 9cfm all the way up to 15cfm. Pressure might only be in the 50psi level AT THE COMPRESSOR depending on the length of air hose you are running. Typical gun pressure depends on the brand, but around 30psi AT THE GUN is common. (why 50psi at the compressor to get 30 at the gun? You get pressure drop over the length of the air hose)

What paint is currently on the car (factory)...I know (think) you can paint over what is on there, assuming it is cleaned up/prepped but one type will eat away at the other, or ....what can you paint over the factory paint with?

For our cars you will find a basecoat/clearcoat finish from the factory. There are horrible exceptions like E9 Laser Red (pretty color, horrible to deal with) but base/clear is easy to prep. Yes you can paint over existing paint as long as it is in decent condition. If it is cracked, flaking, peeling, checked or wrinkled it will have to be removed prior to repainting. Generally speaking, any quality modern automotive grade paint line will adhere fine over properly prepared OEM paint.

Speaking of prep, what did you do to prep it? (Assuming there are no dings dents) I have some fading on the front fascia and roof, guessing needs sanding, filled with primer, smoothed then paint...??

provided there is no body work to do, and there is no peeling of the paint then you can simply sand the finish, mask and paint. You do not need to primer or seal if you are painting over a stable and undamaged surface. I hate seeing cars that a guy is trying a DIY paint job on that might need a little work here and there but is otherwise clean, that the guy just trashes by primering the whole thing. Will it destroy a car to primer it before you paint it? No, but it's often a lot of work that really isn't needed. What do I prime then? Body work, areas that I break through to the underlying paint and areas that might need to be "held down" because they might be sensitive and react.

What did you do, go bare metal and start with a paint system, or go over factory paint? I'm not intersted in a show car finish, but not wanting half assed results either, if that makes sense

My Mustang had a mix of problems with the paint when I bought it. I had ****ty peeling paint up front, decent paint on the back of the car, and little dings here and there. I stripped off the peeling paint with a DA or at least sanded it back until I reached a point that the paint was adhering properly. I then primered said areas. The areas that were still ok and not peeling, I simply sanded and prepared to paint. The dings and dents were repaired, primered then prepped for paint. I would only go to bare metal if the surface I was painting over was totally jacked and I had no other choice. If the foundation for your house was cracked or falling apart, you wouldn't build your dream home on top of it would you? Same goes for your dream paint.

Just doing some homework., not commited to it yet...might just drop it off and get it painted, but I'd like to do it myself. Have access to a booth,(Air Force auto hobby shop) may not even get a compressor, but am not against doing it in my garage. Time is probably the big limp factor, which I have none of....

let me know, thanks!
-Brian

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MysteryMachine said:

You also gotta make sure you get the right additive for when you paint the bumpers. The paint needs a special flex additive or they will crack. You may know this but just throwing it out there

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