Who has ever painted their car?

[08Elf]

Firstly sorry if this is in the wrong section......

Just wondering how many people have re-sprayed their own car?

I got all the gear to re-spray my car (currently black)

Just after some tips and clarification on what is needed.

I am thinking of doing a top coat on the paint for the moment, so i'd be keeping it black. Just to get rid of the little scratches it has.

Do I need to sand back the top coat of the paint back before applying the new paint?

Will I need to apply a clear coat after the paint?

Anything other info would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[GunMetalR33]

You have picked the hardest colour to paint. Painting a car black is the hardest paint job to do...

Sorry I cant be more help mate, I might not be so bad because you are painting over black. Good luck with it.

[igor]

You need to make sure that the room you are painting it in is VERY hot, like 40-50 degrees. And yeah, you ll need to sand it heaps, youll probably get away without getting rid of the top coat. It will be a pain in the ass, can gurantee that.

While you are at it grab yourself some putty and fill little scratches and pin dents as well. If you can heat up the room try to get hold of one of those heat lamps panel beaters use, the results will be much better.

If you want metallic-ish paint you ll definately need clear, and a thick coat of it on top, that is what gives it depth.

Igor.

[Abo Bob]

I don't know much about prepping the car although it would be good if someone who does would give us all a bit of detail, but I have painted two of my cars.

All I can say is, practice on something else first. My first car had about 15 runs mainly along the crease that goes the length of the car (not a skyline) and the second car I did had about 5 smaller runs.

It's harder than it looks, but I think if I was more patient it wouldn't have been such a problem.

[08Elf]

ok well I don't have heaters to heat the room up, but I could paint it during the middle of summer, because it will be painted in a metal garage. So that will get bloody hot during summer.

[low747]

Yes you could paint it in the shed in the middle of summer, but the finish prob won't be that good. The shed has to be spotless, and hosed down. Any dust floating around will find it's way into the top coat and will show up. It's almost impossible to eliminate dust. Not to mention the fumes which arn't good for you.

Best bet maybe to prep it at home, prime it, and do your repairs then get it painted in a booth by a professional, that will prob get good results if your prep is good and save you dollars too.

Cheers.

[browny]

What exactly do you refer to when you say "I got all the gear"?

2k or acrylic?

Are you a confident spray painter?

If you don't know what you are doing you could quite easily end up with something that looks quite awful.

[Beer Baron]

The shed has to be spotless, and hosed down.  Any dust floating around will find it's way into the top coat and will show up.

First prize! This is the most important thing mentioned yet. It has to be absolutely spotless and all gaps sealed (around windows, under doors etc) as you don't want even the slightest fart strength breeze. The place should be as clean as a laboratory and then the floor hosed down (and left wet whilst you paint). Yes you will need to sand back the car, and fix any dents, and yes you will need to put clear over base. Mate, I don't mean to sound rude, but don't do it. There is every chance that with the limited knowledge you have the car will come out looking like sh1t. My only suggestion is if you must do it yourself is make friends with a competent spray painter and have him advise/help you in exchange for some cold ones. The other, much smarter option is to do the sanding and prep work yourself then take it to a booth to be painted.

Best of luck.

Richard

[08Elf]

What exactly do you refer to when you say "I got all the gear"?

2k or acrylic?

Are you a confident spray painter?

If you don't know what you are doing you could quite easily end up with something that looks quite awful.

My friend painted his celica and i've borrowed all the gear he used.

I am a confident painter in general, i've spray painted a few times, never on a large scale like a car, but I think I can do it.

I haven't decided what paint to use yet, hence why I posted before I painted.

Also I was going to go down to a panel beater and talk to them about what is best to use. Also i've heard you can rent painting booths for like a week or somthing so maybe I might not need to paint in the garge.

[igor]

Mate, I don't mean to sound rude, but don't do it.

Hehe, i was going to say that too. I did alot of dodgy jobs on my laser with the can spray. During the three years i probably painted half of the car. Although my latter efforts are heaps better that the first couple of times, i m still not happy with myself. I cannot guarantee that i can do it without the paint running. Especially the clear, you bastard.

Another advice - Its next to impossible to get rid of the plastic strips you see on the side panels, unless you sand to undercoat. Be aware of that.

[browny]

Acrylic = easier and cheaper to work with but requires more post spray finishing, not as durable and not as good looking

2k = more expensive, more difficult to work with, poisonous

IMO modern cars should be sprayed in 2k. 2k means you need supplied air breathing apparatus because its toxic and i'm pretty sure the gun's are set up differently.

Renting a booth is a good idea but at the end of it all you are going to need to work out whether the money you save by going DIY is worth the effort.

[Dayna]

Ok, i've only painted one car in my life, but i used it as a stepping stone on my way to become self effecient car modifier! I am in no way professional, I have listened to many different painters/ people about how to paint a car, tried it the way i thought best and learnt about my methods. Please use this information at your own risk. And be fussy!

i'll stress the point that the preperation work is the most important thing in painting a car. Spraying the paint would be the easiest.

No matter how god like you are at spraying if the prep work isn't done it ain't gonna look good.

Example of what I am doing with my car to paint it. I am painting it in a 2K Black paint. It does not need a clear coat and comes out very glossy off the gun. Booth is a must, or a very well setup room.

I like working with 180 grit to sand down paint, if you have nasty bog patches you could go 120 grit, but the finer the grit the less work to get rid of scratches.

Ideally you would strip the car of its mouldings and extra bits, or you can mask them up,

you can use a DA sander which takes the strain out of the hand work, but a good board and some elbo work will be a good idea. Sand the car down, and look for indents or bits which may need filler to straighten up. Go over the whole car. This will take a good day. Mask up everything (don't rush the masking it is very important)

Primer the areas that may need filling, I use a good 2k Primer that is also good for filling small areas. Then primer the whole car. This can be done outside or in the shed, i don't think its that important cause your be sanding it all down again.

Guide coat the primer with a black spray can when the primer is dry. (you are trying to spray a light dust of black over the primer)

The next day or so, sand down the whole car again, now when your using your Straight board, you will see that any low spot will show up as the black guide coat will not be sanded. This is how you find your low spots/ ripples etc. I personally will try to sand the area down until i start going through the main paint again then stop. If the low spot is deep enough, use a good filler (bog). sand down, primer, repeat until its perfectly straight how it should be. 180 or finer 200 240 can be used during this process.

When you have your car looking straight, Primer the whole thing again

Now using 400 grit or finer sand the whole car down, make a good job, don't try to go through the primer, just trying to sand it for painting. Make sure you go around by hand with 400 around all the paint that goes up to the mouldings or areas that will be masked, fussy is best! this will make sure that your paint will stick all the way to the masking edge!

Blow away all the dust, every single bit. Mask everything that needs masking, spending plenty of time putting that tape very accurately close to the edges. Masking is VERY important, bad edges don't look good!, get good quality masking tape, thick and thin for corners. Try using the brown paper stuff you can buy. or newspaper, but newspaper only windows lights etc., do not newspaper over any panel work that needs to painted.

Your car is ready for painting! Wipe down the paint pre painting with a cleaner recommended by your paint supplier and a clean lint free cloth, you can also use a tack rag to make sure there is no hairs, dust bits on your paint.

When painting, For the 2k paint i use, the process is, firstly spray a dry coat, this is holding the gun furtheraway than normal causing the paint to semi dry through the air and go over the car lightly. This will help the incoming next paint coat to stick better.

The next 2 coats are WET coats, This means optimum spraying distance and applying a good 'wet coat' to the body work, With the paint i use its good to be on the verge of causing runs. The paint i use also has very good flow, which means it will flow into the other coats very well and spread even if the coat is heavy. Runs are hard to achieve. Dry coating is not a good idea with 2k as you are trying to achieve the nice gloss coat finish,

hope this helps some?

tips: talk to lots of painters, suppliers, if unsure ask questions. ask questions, and more questions.

I will be have my paint job finished over the next week or so. Will show you how it turned out.

Oh, and don't touch the car with anything but water for a good month. The paint takes a while to completely dry! then polish it with you favourite polish. hmmm plum crazy glaze polish!@ yum!

Dayna

[GTR-Ben]

Acrylic = easier and cheaper to work with but requires more post spray finishing, not as durable and not as good looking

2k = more expensive, more difficult to work with, poisonous

IMO modern cars should be sprayed in 2k. 2k means you need supplied air breathing apparatus because its toxic and i'm pretty sure the gun's are set up differently.

Renting a booth is a good idea but at the end of it all you are going to need to work out whether the money you save by going DIY is worth the effort.

Sprayed my own engine bay with 2k, I didn't use any breathing apparatus.. :confused:

Used a normal gun too.

Spat out a bit of paint for a while.. but i'm still alive.

I think it looks pretty good for a home garage job. I would use a booth and prep a lot more for the outside of the car..

[Abo Bob]

Thanks Dayna.

[browny]

Isocyanates are highly a reactive chemical typically found in the hardener of two-part paints and primers. Isocyanates are present in two forms, monomer and prepolymer. Frequently, the isocyanate monomer content is indicated in product data information, but this is only a small fraction of the total unreacted isocyanate present in hardeners. Both forms of unreacted isocyanate present a risk to health when they enter the air during paint or primer spraying.

    There is a comprehensive history of illness among workers exposed to isocyanates. Sickness was noted among workers in Germany in the 1940's and deaths recorded in the 1950's. The major health effect from isocyanates is associated with the inhalation of unreacted airborne isocyanate. Exposure to these toxic chemicals can cause serious reactions from the extreme of mild irritation to disability to even death. Such exposure can cause coughing, chest tightness, fever, fatigue and sensitization. Sensitization means that further exposure to even very small amounts of isocyanates will cause distressing asthma-like reactions.

    One exposure to a high airborne concentration or several exposures to lower concentrations may result in sensitization. There is no proven method for predicting whether any particular person will become sensitized due to isocyanate exposure. Isocyanates are probably the principal cause of occupationally induced asthma.

    In May 1984, the Occupational Health and Safety Branch informed autobody shops that air-supplied respirators were required when spraying paints containing isocyanates. Testing by the Branch has shown that air-supplied respirators (such as our MC pump system) are also necessary when primers containing isocyanates are sprayed. Even priming jobs of less than 3 minutes duration conducted in the open shop will produce sufficient airborne isocyanate to present a risk of over exposure to the sprayer and other workers in the shop. All types of spray guns used to apply primers have been found to contaminate the open shop if a separately ventilated spray area or spray booth is not used. When spraying paints or primers containing isocyanates, the sprayer must wear an air-supplied respirator which is approved by the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as Type C constant flow or pressure demand.

    How do isocyanates cause these sicknesses? Isocyanates, together with related compounds such as cyanogens and cyanamides, are chemicals of the cyanide and nitril class, which contain the CN group. Hydrogen cyanide and its soluble salts are a rapidly acting poison. The cyanide ion released in the human body will inhibit many enzymes. Acute exposure can cause death due to chemical asphyxia at the cellular level. Less exposure will cause temporary or permanent damage. Harming the human body, isocyanates can essentially damage the plasma and internal cell membranes. For further information, check out a site from down under and a NIOSH web page.

...

[GTR-Ben]

Better wear a mask next time...

[ylwgtr2]

Dayna is pretty much on the money.....if its 2K pay attention to the type of hardner you use on the job as this will affect the flow ability of the material....for a top notch job use fast hardner and let that dry a week or so then knock the top/orange peel off of it with 1000 or 800 wet paper then recoat it...this process is called "flow coating"Its very easy to get runs flow coating a job so just be careful,dont load it up too much on the first coat then let it have it on the second coat.....also if be sure to let it dry a little before applying heat to the job otherwise you will get solvent boil......aplication temp for paint should be set on the oven at about 25-30 degrees then baked at 60 odd ...the biggest problem you have painting black is dust....it sticks out like dogs balls....i would be interested to hear what type of materials you have for the job....protech 606 is a good product as far as solid colours go and if you need to polish it it buffs up quite good

[ylwgtr2]

oh btw 2k is generally applied with a 1.2mm gun set up and acrylics with a 2.0mm....i havnt used acrylic for years but i have the following guns for the apropriate jobs.....

1X 1.2mm gravity feed w400 iwata for 2k clear

1X 1.2mm gravity feed w400 iwata for base coat metallics/pearls

1X 1.2mm gravity feed w400 iwata for 2k solids

1x 2.0mm gravity feed star(w400 iwata copy) for acrylics

1X 2.0mm sata jet putty gun for Hi build/primer

i have all these as theres nothing worse than painting a solid and getting traces of metalic fleck through the job or getting a spatter of solid in a clear over base job

[someonestolecc]

Better wear a mask next time...

Masks don't help.

You need a proper respirator.

[CroatianDlite]

isnt silver the hardest colour to paint ? i had my car done - did all the prep work myself - and had it sprayed at a professional booth with professionals... came out niceeeee (black) though now i wish i had chosen a colour like obsidian black so it sparkles more - but this black is ok! (the original black)