paint a car

[h22akkord23]

does anyone know where i can get a DIY for painting a car(not spray painting) . a friend of mine wantst o learn how to paint cars, and he wants a DIY so he can practice and shit i guess.

[wed3k]

i had my car painted by a cheapy place but i idd my own prep work. i would suggest taking off all some parts like, moldings (window and side), my atenna was removable..., corner lights, bumper lights, put some crappy wheels on them.

the overspray is going to insane, so id suggest taking as much off as possible, maybe even the door handles since they paint right over them.

As for painting under the hood and trunk, just remove it and paint the underside, same goes with door jams.

after that, sand with 220 grit until you cannot see anymore gloss. it is best top go thru the clear coat but it is not nescessary. oh and right now would be best to fiz any dents or shave embelms.

[SecondGenZ28]

Tools you'll need to start: Primer gun with a 1.6-2.0 tip. A paint gun, and a clear gun, tip sizes vary by gun and material type. You'll need sanding blocks and boards of various lengths, and sandpaper ranging from from 80-2000 grit. A D/A sander, and a buffer/polisher. I'm sure i'm forgetting something, i'll add more later.

There are two ways you can go about doing this.

Number One: Strip the car bare.

This entails you taking everything off of the car. Moldings, trip pieces, lights, grille, etc. Use 40 or 80 grit on your D/A ( and 8'' hog sander works tons better) and strip all the paint and primer from the car, leaving you with bare metal. DO NOT do this to any plastic or fiberglass pieces i.e. bumpers. Sand them with 320 or 500 grit.

[SecondGenZ28]

Now you're ready for the body work. Pull out your dents and dings as best you can, and cover with a skim coat of plastic filler ("bondo"). Let the bondo dry, and spray it lightly with a can of spray paint. This serves as a guide and will show you any high or low spots in your work. Take care to make sure that the edges are smooth, and that the filler is straight. You may have to re-apply the guide coat and sand a few times to get it right.

Primer: After your body is striaght, you'll need to prime the metal to get it ready for paint. Blow the car off with compressed air, and tape off everything you don't want primer on (windows and the like). You'll want to spray a primer surfacer first,something like PPG K-36. Adjust the gun until you get a good pattern, and you're ready to spray.

[SecondGenZ28]

Hold the gun 6 to 8 inches away from the panel, and move at about 1 foot per second. Always try to keep the gun parallel to the panel. Apply 3 to 4 coats, and let dry. Once the primer is dry, you'll be wetsanding. You'll want to use the guide coat once again. Start with 320 grit wet, and work your way up to 600 grit wet. If you happen to blow through in any spots, you'll need to re-prime them. I would NOT reccomend painting over anything coarser than 600 grit scratch.

When you're satisfied that the primer surfacer is straight, you're ready to seal. Again, blow the car off and tape it up. Primer sealer does just that, seals up everything underneath it. I believe PPG sealer is "K200". Apply in the same manner as the surfacer, and do your best not to have any dry spots, as you won't be sanding the sealer.

[SecondGenZ28]

You must paint over the sealer within 24 hours, or you will have to sand it and re-apply more sealer. I'll assume you'll be spraying a Urethane Basecoat/Clearcoat system.

Mix the basecoat with the appropriate reducer, most BC mixes at a 1:1 ratio. Make sure to get the product data or "P-sheets" with all your material. They'll tell you mix ratios, temps, gun pressures, flash times, everything you need to know about what you're spraying. Depending on color, you'll spray 2 or 3 coats of paint. Lighter colors might need an extra coat.

A little advice. Do NOT spray Silver, or any metallic for that matter as your first job. Metallic paints are a lot more difficult to get right than normal.

[rebels]

There is no need for 80 grit on a stock body. The only reason you would need 80 is if there are major flaws in the body, and it's not straight.

You can just go over the car with 600, then prime it, wet sand the primer, prime another coat, then spray the paint.

Im not going to type it all since you live 5 min away from me, but there's no need for 80 grit. That will take you down to bare metal going over the same spot 10 times.. and theres no need to go to bare metal. The paint only has to be scuffed up to paint.

[SecondGenZ28]

After the paint has flashed you'll apply the clear coat, again, only two or three coats. Regardless of who says that they've got 20 coats of clear on their car, you don't need, or want that. Again, use the P-sheets you get with the material, they tell you all you need to know.

After the clear has dried, you're almost done! EVERY paint job is going to get some dirt in it. This is where the 2,000 grit paper and buffer/polisher come in. Sand out your little dirt nib, being careful not to bust through the clear, and polish it out with the buffer and buffing compound. Once you've got it the way you like it, re-assemble the mirrors, trim, grilles, etc, and you're finished!

[SecondGenZ28]

Ah, rebels beat me to Part Two!

I would strongly suggest that you practice your priming and painting on a junk panel. Most body shops will just hand you a fender or hood out of the trash pile. You're going to make mistakes, dont let them frustrate you too much. Practice until you're confident enough to do this to your car.

You'll run it, dry spray, get fisheyes, and a bunch of other problems. Get all those things out of the way with your practice, and go from there. You won't become proficient with a paint gun over night, trust me. I've been doing this for Four years now, and I still get the occasional run, or solvent pop. Just don't let it get to you, you can fix anything!