Painting my own car questions

Dupont is a great brand, thats all I use.

For the urethane parts you can scuff them the same way but i wouldn't go much rougher than 120 grit because you can leave little strands in it. But you know, then go over it with a finer cut

webshot said:

I really appreciate the support. And thatnks for the shopping list ....I am going to look at sanders and paint guns this afternoon. Hopefully if those 2 arent too expensive I will be starting this weekend.

I have a question on paint:
Is there a certain brand or type that is better than others?

I have always used Dupont. IF you want a cheaper paint, but still want to keep the quality buy Nason. I use Nason clearcoat. It is great...and it shines like crazy. I have heard Dupont shines better, but the Nason looks great to me...and it saves money.
Also
For the urethane parts do I use the same scuff techniques as the sheet metal?

Same. I alwyas hit the car with 320-400 on a DA before I paint. For black cars, I might hit them with a quick 600-800 before I paint because they show so much.

I remember over-hearing that some brands or types are hard to work with. Some of the compressor concerns has me worried. .

Mostly everything is the same...the compressor...should be OK, just do what I said. Put a fan on it and get it outside while painting.

Gonna take some initial pics today and post them. So you guys can see what I am starting with.

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Keep the pics and questions coming.

webshot said:

Please feel free to share any inside knowledge or tips.

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Doing the body work is the expensive part of getting it painted. Very time consuming. But with all the modern materials it's pretty easy to do - just time consuming and very dusty. I opened a side garage window and just put a cheap box fan exhausting. Put a board under the garage door to keep a modest flow of air in and out. BUY a GOOD FACE MASK to protect your lungs.

I did what you are intending ONCE. Start to finish. I made myself a promise to never take money out of a painter's pocket ever again. I used to do all the body and prep work and then go to Maaco for a special when they were slow. Always got a great paint job as they had very little masking to do. So what was I thinking?

Unfortunately I used a polyurathane enamel that was the hardest finish of all of them but turned out ok after I 1000grit wet sanded it and buffed it out with 3M liquid products. Cost me more for all the stuff than a real paint job would have.

Secret #1 get air drier for compressor or water will drip on wet paint. Wet down air and floor before starting to paint to settle dust. Pick a low humidity day.
#2 Pick a catalyst type paint like base coat/ clear coat so you don't have any vapors to kill you. They set up in minutes.
#3 The gravity feed paint guns are the best. I used the old style Sear's spray gun that came with my tankless unregulated compressor ( I drilled a small hole in the outlet to let the water drip out as I went...hahahaha...it worked great but kept running out of paint when I tried to paint the roof. I discovered later that the pickup pipe was installed backwards so it would suck wind at 1/2 full when tipped forward to paint a flat surface. Oh well....that's what the 1000grit is for.

I had purchased new fenders so primed and painted them hanging on a wire. The hood tipped forward so that was easy.

Have a long talk with your local auto paint supplier on which paint and primers to use. I used a bare metal primer then an intermediate sandable primer and a final coat primer which had to be painted over in a few hours or had to be redone.

It did look really good after I did the wet sanding and buffing with a hand drill - not a single scratch showed

I think the guy who does the buffing is king of a paint job.

The secret to getting a great paint job is learning how to fix the mistakes. That's why the professionals get so much money and guarantee them so long.

My "practice car" was an old Honda Accord for my daughter to learn on. It did look great for a few years. Never did rust out again and she never waxed it.

A guy up the road "Electobake" will strip my hood and trunk, remove all hardware and paint the whole convertible for $800 with a guarantee He will get all my paint work from now on The regular big name guys want $2000 minimum. My car needs no body work - just has two weathered old Maaco paint jobs from prior owners

Enjoy your experience. I think you too will become really appreciative of the true automotive painting professionals like I am. Otherwise I'm just about as well off to use a couple bug bombs to paint with - it won't last long but it only takes a minute

A far as the crack in your bumper goes, sand it really good on the back side with a 36 grit paper in an area about 4-5 inches around the crack. Get some fiberglass mat, resin and catalyst. You should be able to get this from your local paint supplier and some parts stores. Lay about 3 layers of glass on the back side where you sanded it down. Once this is completely dry youcan scuff up the front side of it and fill in the crack with your filler/bondo. You want to fiberglass it from the back to keep it from flexing and popping out the filler while you are driving down the road. I have done this before and it works great and saves the money form buying a new bumper cover. Once your car is painted and cleared you willl want to wet sand and buff it out. You can get wetsanding paper for your DA sander, you will want 1000, 1200 and 1500 paper. Then you wil use a 3M rubbing compound and a high speed buffer. I use a Dewalt buffer myself. paint wise, there are many great brands out there, just depends on what you can spend. Like someone else said, DuPont is adecent paint and fairly inexpensive. or you can move up to PPG, SIKKENS and so on. The better the paint you use the easier it will be to sand and polish it as they flow out alot smoother.

You pretty much have all the info you will need for now. Now just get to work on it and ask questions as you go.

It is very difficult to paint an entire car the first time out. I painted my car in a friend's garage, doing it in pieces over a 7 month period. I thought it would not match and i had full intentions of painting the entire exterior once finished. The rebuild has been chronicled on my cardomain site: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2219901

You have a lot of good information in the posts above. The only recommendations that I would make over and above what you have been told to date are:
- Use the proper primers (etching for bare metal and high build for blocking out) suitable with the type of paint you are using.
- Never use any power or air sanders after you start priming. Use sanding blocks, long boards, etc and do it all by hand. I would suggest the same for smoothing out any type of body fill as well. (before you start priming) The only way to get a feel for what you are doing is to do it by hand.
- Practice your technique on pieces that are not going to show.
- If painting in pieces, get enough paint to do the entire car, do NOT pre mix it all, but only mix what you are going to use at the time. Mix it the same each time you paint (i.e. 1 to 1 for the base coat and 4:1 for the clear), use the same air pressure each time and finally use the same number of coats of paint and clear. I went with 3 coats of base and 4 of clear. That gave me enough clear to wet sand and buf without the concerns of burning through the clear.
- do not use the same spray pattern for every coat of paint, especially if painting with a metallic paint. You might find that you have a zebra effect with the tint. I usually go the same way for the 1st and 3rd coat but perpendicular on the 2nd coat. This will fill in and cover better.
- Hold the gun at a uniform distance to the panel when spraying.
- With respect to the paint gun, I have had good luck with a DeVilbis HVLP Finish Line gun that cost about $100.00. I run it at about 40psi at the regulator which is about 30 at the nozzle. There is some overspray at that pressure, no where near what a high pressure gun will produce, but there is some.
- Get a good mask, irregardless of whether or not you think you are creating overspray.
- Prep is the most important part of any repair job and then comes a clean environment to spray in. I usually stop work the day before I spray and clean the shop and then wet down the floor, blow off the car, etc. I then leave the shop and come in the next morning, wetting the floor down again and take a tach cloth to the area to be painted. I then spray the area, making sure to leave time between coats.

I think I have babbled enough here, I wish you luck with your. There is a lot more pride in cruising in your own work versus someone elses.

Regards
/paul

webshot said:

anyone got any advice on or if the crack in the bumper cover can be repaired (not the one currently on the car but the black on in the picture). If not I may look into getting a new one or a better condition one.

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It depends on how the crack came to be? Impact or age/shrinkage?

Given the option I would get a new cover on an old car that I wanted to keep. Usually there is a different coating for flexible panels when you paint. Check with your paint geru.

you better post pics as you go

AH HA, I see a 5-speed swap in the near future also!

78StangII2+2 said:

It is very difficult to paint an entire car the first time out. I painted my car in a friend's garage, doing it in pieces over a 7 month period. I thought it would not match and i had full intentions of painting the entire exterior once finished. The rebuild has been chronicled on my cardomain site: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2219901

You have a lot of good information in the posts above. The only recommendations that I would make over and above what you have been told to date are:
- Use the proper primers (etching for bare metal and high build for blocking out) suitable with the type of paint you are using.
- Never use any power or air sanders after you start priming. Use sanding blocks, long boards, etc and do it all by hand. I would suggest the same for smoothing out any type of body fill as well. (before you start priming) The only way to get a feel for what you are doing is to do it by hand.
- Practice your technique on pieces that are not going to show.
- If painting in pieces, get enough paint to do the entire car, do NOT pre mix it all, but only mix what you are going to use at the time. Mix it the same each time you paint (i.e. 1 to 1 for the base coat and 4:1 for the clear), use the same air pressure each time and finally use the same number of coats of paint and clear. I went with 3 coats of base and 4 of clear. That gave me enough clear to wet sand and buf without the concerns of burning through the clear.
- do not use the same spray pattern for every coat of paint, especially if painting with a metallic paint. You might find that you have a zebra effect with the tint. I usually go the same way for the 1st and 3rd coat but perpendicular on the 2nd coat. This will fill in and cover better.
- Hold the gun at a uniform distance to the panel when spraying.
- With respect to the paint gun, I have had good luck with a DeVilbis HVLP Finish Line gun that cost about $100.00. I run it at about 40psi at the regulator which is about 30 at the nozzle. There is some overspray at that pressure, no where near what a high pressure gun will produce, but there is some.
- Get a good mask, irregardless of whether or not you think you are creating overspray.
- Prep is the most important part of any repair job and then comes a clean environment to spray in. I usually stop work the day before I spray and clean the shop and then wet down the floor, blow off the car, etc. I then leave the shop and come in the next morning, wetting the floor down again and take a tach cloth to the area to be painted. I then spray the area, making sure to leave time between coats.

I think I have babbled enough here, I wish you luck with your. There is a lot more pride in cruising in your own work versus someone elses.

Regards
/paul

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Good advice here. Go with a good primer. I use PPG DP90LF (epoxy) for bare metal and DZ-7 for a surfacer/filler primer. I picked up a Devillbiss Finishline gun also. Works really well. Like Paul said, block sanding will give you a better job and for someone that's never painted before, guide coats will really help show you any low spots or imperfections that will show when you get a finish on it. Get yourself at least a good charcoal canister respirator and make sure you have some ventilation. These new urethane paints are nasty. Good luck with it.

ahhh Devilbiss, thats the name of the gun i have, its great youll love it

Just thought I would add one more thing if you are new to painting. Make sure you learn how to properly clean a gun after you use it. If you don't, it will become useless very quickly, especially if you let the two part primers set up in it. You might want to pick up a less expensive gun with a larger nozzle for spraying the primers. It still has to be cleaned well after each use, but it is not as chatastrophic if the primer sets up a little too long.
I guess that the next logical recommendation would be that if you are mixing any paint or primers, do your spraying shortly thereafter. If you let a two part high build primer sit in the pot for a couple of hours, you will have problems spraying.
Again good luck with your job!
/paul