Repainting my Integra, need advice on prepping. UPDATE

[Harrod]

I've decided to get my Integra repainted to the factory color. But need some advice on getting it prepped for paint. As most of you can see the origonal clear coat has oxidized to a point that people ask me when I am painting the car thinking that I've already primered it.

Is the general consensus to sand it down the the bare metal, or down to the base coat? Also is there a particular grit of sandpaper that is considered too coarse to get the job done? I don't plan on doing all of the work, just getting it mostly to a point where I would get help from some friends to do some of the filling of the dings in doors.

The other side of the car was resprayed back in 2005 when I had some body work done, back then it looked fine compared to the rest of the car. But now there is a night and day difference between the drivers side and the passager side.

 

[phucheneh]

If the factory paint still has good adhesion, I wouldn't sand through it. If you go to bare metal at all, you need to cover it with epoxy primer. Or etching primer, but only if you're spraying whole stripped panels. And nobody uses that shit anymore, anyway.

I would start by sanding around your dings and doing your filler work. If there is any real depth to them get behind them and pound that shiz out. You don't have to be Jesse James or whatever; buttery smooth metalwork not required. A slightly lumpy area that needs maybe an 1/8" or less of filler to level it is a lot better than a 1/2" dent full of it. The thicker your filler, the more likely it is to shrink or otherwise buttfuck your paintjob down the line.

You can do as little as just scuffing the rest of the car with red scotchbrite pads. But I'd DA it with 220, minimum. Maybe 320. Some people say you only need 120 before primer/sealer, but I think that's sketchy and means caking on your primer like makeup on a prostitute. Since the car doesn't look to need any major work, I'd aim for getting the factory paint and any small repairs smooth enough to just apply said primer and then paint. If you want, though, you can prime, then block sand, then do another final primer coat before your color. Clear goes straight over color, no sanding. Then you can wetsand your clear. Again, optional. When reading stuff online, it's good to be able to differentiate between 'collision repair' and 'show car.' A lot of people get sucked into all the extra steps used by old school hot rod guys when all they're really looking for is a factory quality paintjob.

 

[DaTT]

I always liked those Integra's. I would just pay someone to do it. Maaco will do a decent job

 

[Harrod]

I always liked those Integra's. I would just pay someone to do it. Maaco will do a decent job

While I may do something like that, there are some imperfections that I don't want someone to just paint over.

 

[Jimzz]

What year and condition?

Might cost more than the car is worth if you want it done well.

 

[franksta]

When I painted my Mercury I don't think we even got through the clearcoat. I think we used 400 grit on a DA sander. I'll dig up some pics.

 

[franksta]

Here we go.

Definitely 400 grit on a DA

I'm pretty sure we never got into the base coat.

Ghost flames, why not?

Here's how it came out.

Disclaimer: The work was done by an award winning painter.

 

[Harrod]

Thanks, looks like it came out nicely. I picked up a da sander and the pads today to finish mine.

What year and condition?

Might cost more than the car is worth if you want it done well.

You could probably say that about most of the cars in posts on the garage forum. But this isn't exactly a stock car at this point, and its not a question of money, I'm just planing on making the cars paint look like something besides primer.

 

[Black2na]

is the paint just faded or is the clear blistered? and fix the Dents before you sand the rest of the car keeps the dents easy to locate. also for your DA pick up something called and interface pad it makes the overall sanding a lot easier. and I need to know if it faded or blistered before I can suggest how to proceed.

 

[Harrod]

is the paint just faded or is the clear blistered? and fix the Dents before you sand the rest of the car keeps the dents easy to locate. also for your DA pick up something called and interface pad it makes the overall sanding a lot easier. and I need to know if it faded or blistered before I can suggest how to proceed.

The clear oxidized, but never really blistered. There were a few places on the plastic parts that flaked off, but for the most part it all faded down to a matte color from a distance.

 

[Aharami]

subscribing to this thread because my clear coat is peeling in some spots and I've been thinking about DIYing the paint (car's too old to spend the money having it done professionally)

 

[Harrod]

Yesterday, before going to work I stopped by Harbor Freight and picked up a dual action sander/polisher, and 3 abrasive pads and a pack of hook and loop 240 grit sandpaper for around $85.

This is more of a comparison between the recently painted surface(2005) and the original paint.

Here is one of the paint on the hood.

This was my attempt at handsanding, I've since decided to only do this on the areas that are hard to reach, I have a few blocks, but for the larger areas I don't plan on doing those by hand.

This is the trunk area after using the da sander. I think I may have went alittle deep on the sanding part, but now at least I know what I am dealing with on the paint layers and depth. I don't plan on going this far on any of the other areas of the car.

Roof shot after da sanding.

This is the rear passager quarter panel. There is a small indention right above the bumper cover that I will have to push out and fill.

Thats all for today. I will probably update this with more progress tomorrow. If there is anyone with advice and or a better technique feel free to comment.

 

[phucheneh]

Ehhh...I would normally say electric DA's are the devil. But that one might be okay...most people try and use the small 'random orbit' palm sanders that are more like a dildo with a sanding pad on it; it just vibrates. Rotation stops when it gets loaded.

That might have decent torque, basically being an angle grinder design. Pad looks the same as what's on my HF DA. Which, if anyone is curious, is a pretty sweet little unit for $35. I continue to be impressed by their newer power tools. Not going to replace my Makitas anytime soon, but I weld, grind, and sand with 100% HF.

That said...ditch the hook and loop and use stick-on disks. And even out your pressure. It looks like you're sanding with the edge. You want constant movement and even pressure, which is why the 'palm' DA's like franksta pictured are popular.

 

[phucheneh]

Oh, and for hammering...HF. They have a decent hammer and dolly set. Not super smooth...but if you're like me, you're not at the skill level where any lack of smoothness is going to be the fault of the tools.

I'd also recommend removing your lights or at least masking everything up. A couple layers of tape can take an errant smack from a DA...just don't depend on it. It's just insurance.

 

[Harrod]

Thanks I'll pick one of those up the next time I am out in that area of town. I appreciate the advice.

 

[franksta]

Your progress looks fine so far.

Spoke to my painter (he's my wife's brother) over Independence Day. He confirmed the 400 grit paper on the DA sander and we never got through the clear coat. We did that then rinsed all the dust away. Hit the entire thing with a tack cloth immediately before laying down the sealer. I'm pretty sure he only shot 1 coat of that, then 2 coats of base, and 2 coats of clear.

I'm going to repaint my truck eventually but will only do a single stage system, essentially no clear coat.

 

[Harrod]

Thanks, I've gotten alittle more done on it, nothing worth posting at this point, I hope to get most of the sanding done this weekend. And do body filling later in the week.

I've switched over to a palm sanding and it has been alot easier to handle on this car. I'm waiting on some sanding blocks to allow me work on some of the smaller areas like the A pillars, and the lower parts of the doors, I found out that the sander didn't conform to that area of the car at all.

 

[Harrod]

I feel like I am getting close to getting the sanding done, with the exception of the front bumper and the lower panels, for those I am waiting on the sanding blocks which should be delivered sometime tomorrow morning.

I've identified all of the dings in the car and have the wrote down on some paper, these are mostly all the ones that I have noticed in the past 9 years of owning this car, and there were new ones that found.


In this my progress so far, at this point I've been using 240 grit paper on a palm orbital sander. The bumper have been lightly sanded with 320 grit by hand, but are by no means finished.


This is the quarter panel that has the small dent in it right above the mud flap, I plan on taking the mud flaps off soon, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

The front bumper has been the most time consuming part of sanding, tons of the clear coat has flaked off on that part. I am just trying to get those areas smooth.

This is the side that was repainted, I went over this side with 320 grit paper on the palm sander, I'll mess with the lower area tomorrow.

This is the side that was original. The darker areas are the base coat, the lighter stuff is the faded clear coat. I have no idea if it would even be possible to get all of the clear off.

I've got more work to do on this area of the car, every spot of the bumper has clear coat that has flaked off.

 

[halik]

Wow nice work so far!

HF sanding stuff for the win, two weeks back I loaded up on assortment of pads for my "dildo" sander ... works decent on wood and what not.

 

[sontakke]

Please don't tell me you actually have the blue ricer bulbs in the headlight :-(

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Please don't tell me you actually have the blue ricer bulbs in the headlight :-(

Looks like just tape in the last picture, can't tell otherwise.

 

[Harrod]

Please don't tell me you actually have the blue ricer bulbs in the headlight :-(

It's masking tape, each one of the headlight recesses is full of flaking clear coat, I'm not looking forward to the work involved of sanding in that area.

This car was slightly rice when I bought it, and it used to have the blue bulbs in it. Fortunately the previous owner was too broke to change much besides the shift knob and the headlight bulbs.

 

[sontakke]

Is it difficult to take the headlights out of this car? The sanding and repaint would be so much easier for you if you take entire assembly out of there.

I am really impressed as to how far you have come on this project. If you prepped it well enough and masked it well enough, just go ahead have Maaco or somebody like that handle the actual painting.

 

[Harrod]

Is it difficult to take the headlights out of this car? The sanding and repaint would be so much easier for you if you take entire assembly out of there.

I am really impressed as to how far you have come on this project. If you prepped it well enough and masked it well enough, just go ahead have Maaco or somebody like that handle the actual painting.

You have to remove the front bumper to do that, I am undecided as far as where I will end up taking the car for paint.

 

[Harrod]

I've got a small update on my progress. I had to chop this into 2 posts due to a 10 photo count limit.

The cliff notes are: replaced blower motor in the cabin, and the windshield wiper stalk, and ordered new side view mirrors and removed bumper, and the mudflaps and radio mast cover and stripped out the interior to remove mirrors and get behind some of the panels.

I ended up ordering some 98-01 side view mirrors, the previous owner smacked one of the old mirrors against something causing a large piece of plastic to break off on the drivers side of the car. I'll probably get these disassembled in the next week and get them sanded down a little so paint will stick to them.

This is most of the interior that was pulled out, this was to allow me to get to some of the panels that have dings in them and the largest ding in the rear passenger side quarter panel.

I also had to remove the door panels to remove the side view mirrors. The stuff on the door is a dyna-mat(fat mat) knock off that I used around 8 years ago when I first got the car. Some of it seems to have wept, but it's done a pretty good job at reducing road noise in the car. I've cleaned some of it up since this picture was taken, but mostly eliminated it to make the door panels squeak less.

Here is the pile of interior pieces, I'm thinking about finding an 01 that was wrecked in a junk yard to get a few new pieces, some of the 20 year old plastic in this car is starting to get brittle and break.

The next 4 pics are the sides of the car, mostly just to show that the mirrors are off. I really haven't done much else since the last update.