How to paint a car?

[Mixxen]

Anyone know of a good tutorial on the web on how to prep and paint a car?

 

[Fireman]

The last 2 issues of Car Craft magazine have had some good step by step stuff.

 

[Colt45]

you need a room that has damn clean air. you need a good gun, and a good primer gun, you have to have the right equipment, and some practice or it will look like absoloute sh|t

im not sure where a tutorial would be.. run a search on google..

 

[Mixxen]

Actually, I want to read up on how to prep the car for painting (stripping paint, sanding, priming, etc). I doubt I could do the painting myself

 

[purplehayes]

Painting a car is TOUGH! Like Colt45 said, you've got to have everything just right, or it will look like poopie! Best of luck.

PH

 

[purplehayes]

Alright, stripping paint, sanding, priming is tough too. It's all a very long task. If one step along the way is messed up, every layer that goes on top of it will look bad too. You can't cover your mistakes with paint. Again, best of luck.

PH

 

[gittyup]

If that doesn't work out, there is always Maaco.

 

[hippy]

First, go here. Read all the threads, including all the archives. You will learn more than you ever wanted to know.

If, after that... if you still want to paint a car on you own... Save your money because it ain't cheap getting started, But! Above all!!!! Be very carefull, the chemicals used in today's paints are extremely dangerous! If not used correctly, they can F U up very bad or even kill you.

 

[Mixxen]

Thanks for the link

Okay, no car painting for me

Anyway, I still do want learn more on prepping the car for painting. Anyone know other links or tips on prepping (stripping paint, priming, etc.)?

 

[MrBond]

Here is a picture of a car my dad painted. He's done it before, but it was many mnay years ago when he still drag raced. He hasn't raced in probably 30 years, so it had been a while since he painted anything.

He used an HV-LP gun, which is the best option, because it uses less paint then conventional guns. I think it took one of two quarts to paint the black, less for the flames of course. The masking of the flames took him a day and a half.

He didn't do much prepwork over the unpainted car, some areas were sandblasted with a campbel-hausfield sandblaster. The rest was sanded, then primered. The black went on first, then the white for the flame base, then the yellow, then the orange, then the blue. Clearcoat went over top it all. The paint isn't perfect, but you can't tell it from the road (or a picture )

Thats a chevy blazer underneath all that fibreglass and paint

 

[Soybomb]

I've never understood why a hvlp gun (high volume, low pressure) uses less paint than the alternatives. Doesn't the very name make it sound like a paint hog?

Anyway I don't have any good links for you, I can just say its hard work. You have to sand very smooth. Start with a high grit in the areas that need it and work your way down to maybe even wet sanding with 2000 grit or something. Its quite time consuming. If you need body filler to make it smooth again its even more difficult.

 

[Belegost]

Talk to the painter. I've worked in a paint & body shop as a helper in the past, and painter's like things done a certain way. One painter liked da'ing the entire surface with 400, whereas another just scuffed non-damaged areas with 3M pads. I really suggest though, that you take some time, and learn how to sand from an experienced painter or bodyman. It looks easy enough, but requires the right touch, and a good feel for it. You sand it wrong, especially with a da, and you'll be stripping and resanding, or you'll have lumps and warps in your paint job. Let the painter do the priming, since paint flows onto primer that's fairly fresh better then primer that's weathered.

[edit] Soy, I've never heard of going to 2000 wet/dry for prepwork.
HVLP is only slightly more paint efficient, the main reason for using it is to reduce air pollution. High pressure guns hit the surface with greater force, and led to more overspray. HVLP guns reduce overspray by not reflecting off the surface as much. Think of the difference between squirting a wall with the hose, and then squirting it with your thumb on the end. [/edit]

 

[CattyKathy]

use paint? go to a shop?

 

[Lvis]

HVLP, or high volume low pressure are used due to epa and state laws. They aren't required everywhere, yet.

The idea behind them is less overspray, thus less polution, less paint etc.

We had one of the first to come out, it used a shop vacuum as an air supply, with the motor in reverse. Lots of air, but at a low pressure.

The old fashioned high pressure guns are easier to use.

It really isn't a great idea to spray a car yourself, if you haven't done it before. The prep work however, is really where you can save a bunch of money. It isn't too hard to figure out, and if you have a pro do the paint job, you won't have to do the prep work twice.