painting

TryHOK
http://www.hokpaint.com/techman.html
this if is for hok paint but it works for all, just a basic understanding of what needs to be done and why, if you have to bondo anything, I just got an air inline sander, works great on making perfect fixes. These guys are saying painting is hard, well its not, the body work is the hardest, if you take all that time to prep, it only takes like 10-15mins to actually lay a coat of paint. I tried the spray paint method, it doesn't look as good as a car thats been hit with base/clear, wet sanded and buffed, its like a mirror, I love it.

dude just cause your not good at painting doesnt mean that it is dangerous, or im posible to do. if you use proper protection you are fine. yes isocinates are dangerious but so is gasoline, and you still fill up your car everyweek. second of all READ THE PROCUDURE SHEETS they will tell you what you need to do to have a good final product.

good point.

mustangman33 said:

good point.

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Thank You, just because your first paint job isnt ready for best in show, dont get discouraged, chauncy billups didnt start shooting 90% at the free throw line by not practicing. also your right get the car straight and PREPED is the hardest part. i could put a beutiful paint job on a turd and its still a turd with nice paint on it.

Just to argue a small point, I disagree that painting itself is "safe". Even if you whitesuit it, you are still gassing the area with nervegas and your wife, mom, dog and neighbors are inhaling seriously dangerous crap so keep that in mind. Do it when others are not home.

If you do decide to do it:

Degrease the car with a specific body degreaser. Dont touch it with bare fingers or you will have to degrease it again. Dont sand the car without degreasing it or you will rub grease, dirt and wax into the sanded areas.

You dont necessarily need to go to bare metal. If the paint in the area is in good shape and not peeling, feather the edges and prime/paint over it. Cut the surface to 400 or 600 grit. Obviously if there are more than 2 layers of paint, it is advisable to remove them so the paint is not too thick.

Use good bodyfiller. The rage gold stuff is so much better than fiberglass or bondo crap at parts stores. Sands so much easier. You can get it at the auto paint supply shop. Use machine sanding. Better results and blocksanding takes far too long and you wil get tired of it after the first week. I used a palmsander with good results. Dust will be everywhere.

Use high fill primer. This primer comes out real thick and covers scratches and you can even fill in small dents with enough coats. Sand to 400 grit or 600 grit (your paint instructions will say).

Make sure to blast down your car with compressed air the morning of the painting. Gets all the dust off the car. Lay down the plastic as the good man said.

Use sealer if you are painting over old paint. Paint carefully with long even strokes. Didnt work for me, might work for you.

You will have some imperfections no matter what so while you are practicing with your gun, paint a test panel, let it dry and practice wetsanding and buffing it. The results are night and day. Just put water into a windex sprayer and spray it continuously at the target panel while carefully sanding back and forth not circular with a wet sheet of 1000,1500, then 2000 grit. Then use rubbing compound on a wool pad and polishing compound on a foam pad then machine glaze not wax. Dont wax for 3 months or so until the paint has completely cured.

Get a fresh air supply. A chemical mask with one filter removed and a rubber airhose inserted instead (rtv sealed) hooked to a positive pressure air supply system. I used a CPAP breating machine as an air supply (old people use it who cant breathe while sleeping...7psi positive pressure filtered air). Gasses cannot enter your suit if air is being pumped out. Get a disposable whitesuit and wear swimmers goggles (cheap $5 solution to eye protection. I didnt have even a small headache when I finished after 2 1/2 hours). Practice moving around.

For paints supplies , I used the shewin williams autobody supply. Cheap and good materials (those urethane drips are hard as a rock). I had a good relationship with SW when I used to paint houses as a college pro manager (houses are much easier to paint, lemme tell ya!).

Here are the links I used when I was getting ready. Perhaps you shall meet with better sucess than I:

http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/Painting.html (wierd site but good painting info)
http://www.goodspeedmotoring.com/?page=sanding (detailing info with pictures)
http://www.levineautoparts.com/ (they have whitesuits, respirators and hard goods)

Good luck

Pete

i personally think that painting can be safer that wrenching on your car at times. also dont breathe in paint, or eat paint chips....... common sense.

crazypete: the rest of what you said about the prep and sanding work thank you now i dont have to type it. you pretty much spot on with that.

hey what type spray gun would you guys recommend and what brand and why? I know there are are a few kinds gravity fed and syphon fed. Also do you know what size air compressor is best for painting?

thanks

i have a HVLP gun, not sure what brand, that i used with a 35 gallon craftsman compressor, never had one problem with that.

brand is mostly a personal preferance, but as far as type goes the only thing ill spray with is gravity feed. my current top coat gun i a Divilbis Gti it is a well priced gun that produces and excellent product.

mustangjoe87 said:

brand is mostly a personal preferance, but as far as type goes the only thing ill spray with is gravity feed. my current top coat gun i a Divilbis Gti it is a well priced gun that produces and excellent product.

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I'll vote for the Devilbiss guns also: the GTi is great, but if you don't want or need hvlp, the Devilbiss Plus(my favorite) is also a great tool, it's not hvlp, but it's compliant is most states if you're worried about the environment where your spraying. The devilbiss Finishline series is a great mid-price gun also, you can possibly get 2 of these, one for primer and one for color/clear for the price of one of the top of the line guns, perfect for DIY'r for a couple paint jobs. If you wanna go absolute top of the line and you can affrod to drop 4-500 on a gun.....you can go SATA.

If your going to paint a lot, the minimun I would use is a 60 gallon compressor, especially if your running a hvlp gun or DA sander. Both of these consume 15-20 scfm of air, maybe more, and a good 60 gallon is the minimum that will keep up with these for an overall job.

I painted my 88 with very hardly ever having touched a spray gun before, and though it came out far from perfect, it wasn't half bad, and I never even cut and buffed it. I have painted a few things since then and keep getting better, it is all about practice. Don't expect a perfect finish your first time, your just asking for disapointment.

One thing about base/clear system is its fairly forgiving and easy to work with, just use common sense to stay safe. A few mistakes I made, just in case it might help someone, are 1. Seal your primer BEFORE you put the base down 2. If you have any close seams between parts on the car, open them up ie Between the front bumper and the fenders and take all the molding off, if you don't you can get "bridging" between the parts and when they flex later you can get cracks. 3. For the prep, go slow. If you think your going slow, go slower. The finish is all about the prep.

I think anything is worth at least one try, and if if it turns out good, you have one more thing to brag to your buddies about

stupid question but what does hvlp stand for?

thanks for the info guys

high volume low pressure

I bought the gravity feed HVLP from Camp.Haus....Works nice!
RC

I'm using the craftsman hvlp gun and 33 gallon compressor, all works great, but for sanding I use an electric orbital sander, hated waiting for the compressor to build up.

BEST ADVICE IN THIS THREAD : "Do all the prep work yourself, and let a pro shoot it"


I have 14 years experience.....and ill tell ya, even the guys that take alot of time, and spend a grip on materials, usually end up with a half ass looking job.
sorry, truth hurts!

guys that paint for a living, and shoot 5-8 cars a day for 30 years......still have problems laying it out right sometimes!!!!!!!!!!! thats a fact!

now, these cheap ass spray guns give you a cheap ass job, fact.
the "good" Sharp, DeVilbis and the like guns......cost in excess of 300 bux. A compressor that has DRY, CLEAN (NO OIL!!!) AIR, AND have enough volume to keep up with an HVLP spray gun are VERY, VERY pricey! air driers, and oil traps for a cheap compressor are also expensive.
there is no way to fix a fisheye, and fisheye remover does not work wonders....it can help with minute particles of oil in the air gun..... but can do nothing for a typical home compressor that shoot water/oil mixture out the nozzle....


anyway, you want a decent paint job that does not cost a thousand dollars for the two main parts??? (gun and compressor).....

prep your car. take off ALL THE FRICKEN TRIM, and loosen the bumpers at least 1/4 away from the body (leave moldings on unless you got 500 bux for new ones).....then, take it to a maaco, and get there "super-duper" basecoat/clearcoat system sprayed on. these guys spray 10+ cars a day, and can usually lay it out pretty good........ plus, their top of the line 2-STAGE materials are USUALLY Sherwin Williams good stuff.


anyway, i know, alotta ya doo it yourselfers want to do it, and i applaud it......but if you want a NICE looking paint job, practice on a pos till you get it right, or let a pro do it......


good luck!