painting

hondakiller44 said:

This is a great thread keep up the questions. I am about to atempt the samething. You know what would be great maybe a simple list of the basic things and steps you will need to beable to do it right. I got one for you I have a 4 inch cowel hood and i want to paint the cowel black and rest white. How would get it so there isnt a defining line between the black and the white? Someone said wet sanding but they were not sure. I would ask M. Jackson but you know. lol

thanks

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crazypete said:

Here's the scoop: the key to great looking paint is finishing and detailing!

I went through the whole process, working with isocyanides (insanely bad sh1t. Basically nerve gas) and urethane paints, 2 months of sanding welding and prep work. Read everything on the net about painting, practice panels, practiced with the gun and adjusting it, got everything ready and 1 minute after the first drop left the sprayer, the air hose flipped over and streaked the paint on a door, some crap fell into the hood paint, there were drips and sags and runs and fisheyes and bleed through everywhere (despite following directions, proper temp, humidity, using professional prepaint degreaser and tack cloth, proper priming and surface cut to 400 grit). End result: a drippy, streaked, bleedthrough mess that looks like someone spraypainted it in the backyard. Cost: probably at least $750-900 in materials and the compressor and other little stuff and untold amount of aggravation from family members and neighbors about smells and such.

Then I got out some spraypaint and did a single section with the worst bleed through. 500 degree ceramic header paint. I found this is the most durable stuff you can get that comes out of a can. The duplicolor nozzle makes a nice fan too so no drips. After drying, I wetsanded 1000,1500 then 2000 then got out the polisher and diamond cut, medium then polishing compound then glaze. GUESS WHAT?!?!? You cant tell the difference between the 2 sections. I felt like a moron. I could have just rattle canned the whole car in ceramic header paint for about $120 (25 cans) then done the same polish all over with far far far far less sags and drips than the urethane and not spent almost $1000, not gassed the neighbors and needed anything more than a charcoal mask and definatley no air compressor.

The point I am trying to make:

Do your own prep work then have someone else who knows what they are doing to spray it in a BOOTH for a couple hundred. That paint is nasty nasty stuff and it is not trivial at all to apply it properly even if you take all the precautions. I've been spraypainting for almost a decade....I know how to control paint to not sag or run or drip and I really f-ed this up. The end result could be an expensive runny drippy mess like mine and guess what?!? It's urethane drips and sags. Boy that stuff doesnt come off easy so it's not like you can sand it easily and try again.

Just some food for thought.

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crazypete said:

That stuff is seriously bad.....just dont deal with it. Read up on the effects of those chemicals and you wont even want them in your house much less sprayed anywhere! Even ventilation and gasmask isnt enough since it gets in through your eyes too and affects your central nervous system! All this and you might end up with a messy paintjob. Cheap single stage urethane paint is $70 a gallon. Most of the above mentioned advice is for base/clear method. That means you get to paint your car 2 coats base, 3 coats clear. Thats painting your car 5 times, each step having the opportunity to make mistakes, drips and sags. Plus you're supposed to wetsand between clearcoats.

Most of the guys saying "just do it man" probably have professional experience and equiptment. To them, it seems easy. Trust me, it's not. It might be easy with a rattle can and a little respirator but when you are in a full bulky suit with airhose and airtight fogged up goggles, trying to manuver around your car with a semi-rigid airhose curling up around you and flipping over while crap and bugs falling into the paint as you are desperatley trying to time the coats so it's not too thick to sag but covers enough to hide the primer, you'll suddenly realize it's not quite as easy as it sounds. Painting inside.....unless you have serious serious ventilation, you'll gas yourself with possible permanent neurological results.

Just prep it and pay maaco to blast it with the nasty stuff. They do a half decent job with single stage urethane. My old 87 looked like a new car. Then buff and finish the heck out of it.

BTW......I have a test panel spraypainted then finished. It's like a mirror. You can achieve decent results for little money and saftey risk if you apply enough elbow grease in the detailing step.

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