Hello All:
We have taken so much advice from this forum and hope to be a source one day for others.... while we gather knowledge... a question on prep work has left us stumped.
We will have a paint shop do the final work, but would like to know what we can do to prep the car (plus get that close feeling of working on our Spider- you know the feeling)
Painted silver/no rust, but faded. Do we apply a solvent to strip paint? Do we go right into sanding?
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Well, I work in a paint and collision shop so maybe I can help. First thing to know is that some shops will not take in cars that the customer has worked on. For the same reason mechanics don't want to repair what was already "fixed" by someone else. We do and I can tell you in 80% of the cases we have to do additional work to clean up what the customers have done. But if you take your time and work carefully you can do most of the work yourself.
You have to decide what work your car needs. Any dents, rust or whatnot you'll have to take care of first and realize that paint will not hide them. New paint is more likely to show up defects. Then decide what kind of paint you want on your car. Most shops use an enamel single-stage paint for all-over paint jobs with additional money for a clear coat. Usually 3 layers of clear. It's much cheaper than basecoat and usually has a warranty of 3 to 5 years. Basecoat is much more expensive and is just like the paint that is put on cars at the factory. Basecoat needs a diferent kind of clear but will be included with the cost. Basecoat has to have a clearcoat.
Second is to prep the car. DO NOT use any kind of paint remover. You will ruin the car. Sand the car instead. If you can take off every piece of trim, handles. and rubbers that you can. This will minimize the overspray on those parts and give you a more professional job. The shop you go to will tape your car up but you'll still get overspray on any parts still on the car. Headlight bezels, Chrome trim, All lights take them out. If you're changing the color you'll also need to take off all the stuff inside the door, trunk and hood. Short of taking the car down to the frame you'll probably have some indication that the car has been painted even if only you can see it. Just remember if the job's done well no one will know the car's been worked on unless you tell them.
Next sand the car. This will be easier if you've removed as much trim as possible. for an enamel job you can use a 220 to 320 grit paper without sand scratches showing. You can use an offset sander for the big areas and make sure you get into the tight spaces by hand. Thouroughly sand every part of the car.If you go through the paint into the metal it's a good idea to put some primer on those spots and sand that out.
For a basecoat job you'll want to use a finer sandpaper. 400 to 600 grit so no scratches will show. Basecoat is much thinner than enamel and will show imperfections much easier. They make both wet and dry paper depending on what you want. Haynes has a manual for bodywork and sanding that is pretty good for novices. I'd recommend a little reading to save a lot of money.
No matter how much you do to prep your car the shop will probably still insist that the car needs more work. There's not much you can do about that unless you're friends with the owner. No paint shop I've ever worked for is completely honest. But most of them are professional and want your car to look as good as possible. They might not be trying to screw you when they suggest more work is neccesary.
I know I've rambled on but this work is fairly complex and if you want the best job you'll take the time to study what you need and how to do it. And it will save you money.
Oh, and to answer Mark's question. No automotive paint since the sixties has had lead in it. But I would recommend using a respirator when you sand. The dust is noxious enough even without lead.
