Painting car

[rjkoop]

Guys,
I'm getting the itch to paint my car (probably wait until spring but just curious right now). The paint is OK (5 out of 10 maybe) but I'd like to change the color anyways. There are some minor chips on the paint but nothing major and no rust or bubbling paint. Here's a few pics after I wet sanded it (ie. removed orange peel as best I could).







For financial reasons I'd like to prep and paint it myself. And I'd like to go with red or metallic blue. I have a tan interior and a tan top. With the proper equipment (15+ CFM at 40Hp compressor, HVLP paint gun, etc...) I think this is possible based on the you tube videos I've seen. Looks time consuming but possible with the right equipment and homemade paint booth. I have a nice big garage to use. I'm not going to fully paint the engine compartment (engine still in).

So I'm thinking I need to...
- remove hood, trunk, cowl
- remove all trim pieces (including bumpers)
- remove top
- mask off everything

I had a few questions.
- how do I know what my existing paint is? ie. 1 stage, paint and clear coat, etc...
- how do I know if I should remove all paint down to bare metal or just rough up existing paint?
- is epoxy primer best?
- what's the best paint to use - I assume 3 or 4 coats of paint and then 3 to 5 coats of clear.
- what's the best resource to learn how to sand and paint properly? (links to the best you tube videos?) I found these links helpful.

• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzA2PE ... bLiBSjCxEw
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsC58L ... SrX8daa-gA
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrPNtA ... 3n6KYYpIwA
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCywKec ... nSLc8IBrvg

- does anyone have any good links on this site for home paint before/after with pictures? I found these useful. Are there others that I may have missed?

• http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... me#p171843
  http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... me#p165401
  http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... t+car+home
  http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... ome#p70287
  http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... ome#p48143
  http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... me#p143386

- am I crazy?

[81SPIDERMATT]

metallics are a hard first time shoot ... clear coat will help ..... single stage color paints that you can cut and buff are nice because you can cut and buff them... cant cut and buff metallic .... let me say that again ... you can not cut and buff a metallic paint .. you got what you got after you spray it

with that being said .. heck no you are not crazy ... better gun ... BETTER GUN ... and you can and will get a great cheap paint job from your garage ... use a paint that you can color cut and sand then buff and the finish depends on the hours you put in before and after

it is a great project and quite satisfying

here is one scenario .... sand car to metal ... epoxy primer the whole thing ... now start your body work and get everything filled sanded and like it was ready for paint ..... then spray with primer filler ... sand whole car again only better than the first time .... paint then coat

here is another .... fix dings and such with filler of glazing putty ... rough up rest of car ... prime and paint

and probably the best way to save money .... spend a month of hours laboring over every inch of the car... learn sanding filling and basic body work ... get it to the point of when your primer coat after being blocked to at least 400 or 5 or 800 and the whole car when wet looks like a mirror then take it to a painter and let them shoot it


check out youtube for "blocking" or blocksanding .... the better you do at that before paint the better it will be after ...

and do not skimp protection for your skin or lungs when painting

" who is that guy that coughs all the time" ??? I don't know but he sure has a great paint job

[seabeelt]

It's even more specific than that. Most modern paints require a full face mask and a suit ( I believe they contain cyanide) with a fresh air supply. Base and clear coat systems more than single stage. Even primers and epoxies should be used the same way. A lot of the YouTube folks will regret their lack of safety precautions later. Hobby air makes a good home hobby air delivery and mask system and the suits are cheap.
R/

[rjkoop]

Thanks for the replies. Still not sure I have 'the guts' to do this but I think it's possible. And of course safety is important. I'd probably do the entire process on the hood (off the car) and ensure I can produce a great finish product. After doing the hood I could then decide if I should proceed with everything else.

[81SPIDERMATT]

Thanks for the replies. Still not sure I have 'the guts' to do this but I think it's possible. And of course safety is important. I'd probably do the entire process on the hood (off the car) and ensure I can produce a great finish product. After doing the hood I could then decide if I should proceed with everything else.

that is a great idea ... hoods are hard .. long and flat or bumpy or both and your looking right down them ... i did sorta the same thing with my project ... got the hood to where I thought it was ready to paint .... confident I started body work on the rest .... by the time I was done I had obviously gotten better with practice because then the hood looked like crap .so I did it again .and then proceeded to make 4 more laps around the truck.... with each grit finer sanding and your eye getting better at spotting imperfections a vortex can open from which there is no escape .. beware.... I was very happy how mine turned out ... granted it was an old scout and will be my camping rig ..but I did it all in my driveway ..... it is time consuming and endless sanding .... but very gratifying .and it gave me the confidence to do it again ... fiat is next. get some blocks and rolls of paper ...actually when you get around to it let me know and I will send you my set of blocks to use

[azruss]

practice, practice, practice. the flat surfaces are the easiest to paint. vertical surfaces like to run, so practice on both. room temperature is very important. If you can shoot in the prescribed temp range, you will get a much better job. When you watch others paint, pay attention to the distance the gun is away from the car and the speed that they move across the car. Make sure you are watching someone shooting low pressure, there is a big difference in both technique and quality of finish. Remember what goes down on the car will change in the first few minutes. If its is perfect out of the gun, it will run. It will go on rough but will smooth out as it sits. be precise in the way you mix reducer with the paint. A small change in percentage will change how the paint flows. Once you have a gloss on the car, it will show every flaw. As others state, you will develop and eye for a good finish. also learn by touch. as you sand, run your hand across the finish feeling for bumps and dips. With practice, you can feel stuff you cant see. I used an 18" block to sand 95% of the car. A block can not remove a high spot that is bigger than the block itself. If you think you've got the bodywork right. give it a rubdown with red scotchbrite pad. wipe with a tack rag and spray with deluted windex. You want to look at the reflection and see if it is distorted.

[rjkoop]

After a little more reading/watching I'm thinking for materials (excluding sanding of course)...

• Strip to bare metal surface - aircraft paint stripper and sanding
  Vinegar/water or metal prep on any rust spots
  Epoxy primer
  Contour polyester primer/surfacer
  2 stage paint process
  Urethane base coat
  Urethane clear coat

I saw this HVLP gun from Eastwood that looks interesting.

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-concours-pai ... 2-tip.html

Anyone used this? Or there's this one.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Devilbiss-Starti ... 54156da05a

And people say to stick with the same manufacturer for all the paint products (ie primer, base, clear) to ensure proper adhesion. What do people think about Eastwood products? Any other recommendations that aren't too crazy expensive? Here's a few links to their site.

Primers - http://www.eastwood.com/paints/primers.html
Basecoat - http://www.eastwood.com/paints/basecoats.html
Clearcoat - http://www.eastwood.com/paints/clear-coats.html

[81SPIDERMATT]

eastwood would be a good gun for color and clear ... primer if I remember should be about a 1.8 ... I had a harbor freight version of the second link ... it was nice having a different gun for primer and finish .... some guns will interchange tips so you can get away with one gun ... but you get what you pay for with a good gun .... also find out if they can mail you a color sample chart for what you are wanting .... don't trust your monitor or their advertising to show you the true color of that paint ... the big sanding block is the one I used the most also ... pushed hard to beat the snow on painting mine... lost 21 pounds

[rjkoop]

Thanks. Good gun with interchangeable tips for sure. I think I read somewhere 1.2mm for paint and 1.8mm for primer.

Also I wanted to get a compressor (general use) for the garage and I think this one might be a good deal and would be fine for painting.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-power-tool/gatin ... 1039945245

Model WL650702AJ, 26 gallon, 6.5@40 PSI and 5.1@90PSI, 100 PSI max. Maybe get it for $100 CDN. Seems like a good deal.

[81SPIDERMATT]

not sure how to explain why that compressor is just barely big enough and may leave you wanting ... 5.5 horsepower it does not put out much cfm .... and a gun will chew up 26 gallons of air pretty quick ..... however that is just my experience ... and I had crappy guns ... the fix for me was to up the pressure a bit ... I could not seem to get a fine mist within the suggested ratings of the gun... and had to wait for my compressor to catch up ... not fun when you have a plan to move right along ... screws up your flash times and unless prepared to paint the car in sections will ultimately affect your finished product .... hope some one will chime in and say something different ... I also did the inside and outside at the same time and a much bigger vehicle than a spider

[rjkoop]

This guy also recommends LVLP paint guns as well for smaller tanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu3KxqH7mM0

[4uall]

Hi Richard, this may be of interest to you from a DIY'r

http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm

[81SPIDERMATT]

learn something new every day ... today this is it (so far).... low volume low pressure LVLP ... did not know such a thing existed ... that could be exactly what you would need for that compressor .... reviews of the gun are good and all talk about how their everyday garage compressor could not handle the other guns but these did a great job ....

[rjkoop]

Yep. The big thing about painting is realizing when you know enough to start the job. I think I'm close to understanding enough to make decisions. That being said I think auto body work and painting you can never stop learning more. I view it as a challenge to change the color of the car and end up with a nice finish.

[rjkoop]

Hi Richard, this may be of interest to you from a DIY'r

http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm

Thanks Jay. Great source of information.