I'm painting my car at home, fixing rust, shaving doors, etc..

[cutlass1991]

I'm getting my car ready for paint and am curious where you can actually purchase automotive paint. Body shop?? I'm willing to put out the extra cash for pearl or kandy house of kolor stuff

 

I've never painted a car before but I have google and watch overhaulin' so it's gotta be easy...(kidding)

 

I'm planning on buying the equipment(tank, spray gun, etc...) when I get to that point and doing this in my garage. All the horror stories about shitty macco jobs has me thinking if I take my time and get good advice, it will turn out very nice.

 

Some questions:

--Is there an absolute list of things I will need to spray it right>? I've heard different people insist on using things like moisture seperators and special adhesive promotors. I've always thought it was primer, base, and clear.

 

Here's where Im at so far... fenders, hood, bumpers removed and most of the trim off:

[J]

i don't know much about it, but i do know you have to be good to lay a nice coat of pearl or candy, especially candy colors. There are only select shops that will even attempt to lay a quality coat of candy paint.

 

I would spend a few weeks on a forum dedicated to paint, then paint your car. JMO

[Grand Moff Joseph]

i don't know much about it, but i do know you have to be good to lay a nice coat of pearl or candy, especially candy colors. There are only select shops that will even attempt to lay a quality coat of candy paint.

 

I would spend a few weeks on a forum dedicated to paint, then paint your car. JMO

 

I'd definitely defer to a professional shop if pearl/candy coats are in your plans. Otherwise, just do a lot of research before you start, and try to fix the body rust before you paint to complete the new look.

[slick]

Just in a decent sized tank(your not going to want the engine running filling the tank while you are painting so it needs to be decent enough size to put down a coat), a decent primer gun, a decent paint gun, and all of the other necessary stuff to paint your car correctly, you will probably be looking upwards of $1200-$1500. Then, you need to factory in the cost of all of the sandpaper that you WILL use, the basecoats, paints, clear, and you will probably be a bit over the $2000 mark. By then, you could have had a professional do a good job(for a daily driver atleast).

 

Also, since you layed down that aircraft stripper, you need to get all of that off. I've used it before, it keeps stuff rough. You will need to really sand that car like hell to get it smooth. Also, before you lay down a basecoat or a primer, your going to need to atleast have that car sanded up to a 600-800 grit paper. Starting from about 80 to 100 to 200 to 400 to 600 to 800. Then basecoat, then sand again.

 

I think if you have never been with someone during a proper preperation and painting process, you really should do that.

 

Just my opinion though.

[Intlcutlass]

http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

 

First thing you need to decide is to what extent you want to work, and what kind of paint.

 

I chose to go all the way down to bare metal, and to use a Base coat , clear coat. I am sure after you have read more you will decide on a base coat/clear coat (bc/cc) to.

 

Equipment needed: Compressor, paint gun, water seperator, strong arms, and a garage.

You need to decide on a paint gun. That will dictate how large of a compressor you need.

I chose a Astro DX3 with a 1.3 mm tip. There are other name brands and styles. Name brand I leave up to you, but you should shoot with a gravity feed gun. Other name brands: Sata & Finishline. Also... READ about the gun tips... they range from 2.0 (primer) to 1.4 (paint & clearcoat).

 

Chose your products: Do NOT use rattle can primers, or autozone bondo. You will need a couple cans of rattlecan primer... but only to use as a guidecoat.

 

You can intermix products... in other words... if you use a Dupont base coat, you CAN use a different name brand clear coat.

 

General steps:

Sand down to metal

lightly spray a cold galvanizing compund

Apply a sealer AKA- epoxy primer.

Fill in your dents- with Body filler.

Prime again with a high build primer

blocksand

shoot your base coat

shoot your clear

polish

 

 

Terms you need to learn/read about:

Flashtime

Blocksand

Guidecoat

Activator

Urethane primer

Epoxy primer

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

[br]Posted on: June 09, 2006, 09:34:45 AM_________________________________________________

Just in a decent sized tank(your not going to want the engine running filling the tank while you are painting so it needs to be decent enough size to put down a coat), a decent primer gun, a decent paint gun, and all of the other necessary stuff to paint your car correctly, you will probably be looking upwards of $1200-$1500. Then, you need to factory in the cost of all of the sandpaper that you WILL use, the basecoats, paints, clear, and you will probably be a bit over the $2000 mark. By then, you could have had a professional do a good job(for a daily driver atleast).

 

I have spent:

$100 on the gun

$300 on the compressor

$80- sealer

$120- clear coat

$90 Urethane primer

$120-base coat

 

I estimate that with sandpaper, guidecoat, and a decent bodyfiller...$1200.

You just have to know where to get this stuff, and the quality of the materials your buying.

Dupont clearcoat was priced at $200, but "SPI" was half of that and is a better product.

 

More links:

 

http://www.spraygunworld.com/CompanyIndex.htm

 

http://www.1daypaint.com/1daypaintprocess.html

 

http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/

 

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/

 

http://www.autovations.com/autobody.htm

 

http://www.autobodystore.com/basics.htm

 

http://www.xs11.com/faq/paintfaq.shtml

 

http://www.signfinishes.com/default.asp?sid=65393&pid=494

 

EDIT:!!!!

You will need a buffer too..... Get a Makita! Add that onto the cost.

[slick]

I guess when I was around my buddies, they always used some higher end stuff, so I am used to those products.

 

They also had compressor air line filter's, which they said is almost a must, because moisture gets into the lines. Not good when painting.

[Intlcutlass]

I guess when I was around my buddies, they always used some higher end stuff, so I am used to those products.

 

They also had compressor air line filter's, which they said is almost a must, because moisture gets into the lines. Not good when painting.

 

My plant to beat the moisture issue, is to drag my compressor into my basement (air conditioned). It has a water seperator on it too.. I'll keep it cool and dry, then run the hose to the garage... Only 20 feet away.

I hear of people making copper coils and submerging then in icewater to cool the air, and get the moisture out of it.

[slick]

Good idea! They just bought a water seperator(well a few, one for the sandblasting box, one for the paint booth). They didn't worry about it for there air tools.

 

He also had a few 250 gallon tanks, a few 100 gallon tanks, and about 4 compressors, so I guess the investment in the water seperators was worth it to him.

 

What did you do about a paint booth in general? Like, did you completely box off part of your garage, or...?

[Intlcutlass]

What did you do about a paint booth in general? Like, did you completely box off part of your garage, or...?

I have not done this yet...

 

my plan is to staple plastic sheeting, and "tent" in a booth. Ventilation will be provided via a box fax, with a furnace filter on the front of it. No insects, no dust. When you do this.... Wet down your garage floor... this prevents dust kickup.

 

 

[slick]

Yep, I've heard the same about wetting the floor.

 

I think I've even heard somewhere that there are some people that even have water mister's in there paint booths I think thats a bit too far though.

[cutlass1991]

Thanks for the links and tips guys, I appreciate this!

[cutlass1991]

Well, I was able to talk to a guy that does mobile on-location automotive refinishing. They use a turbine air system rather than the traditional huge air tank. I am looking at these setups now because with the turbine and gun they range from $400-$1000. They are also really small and portable, which makes reselling and shipping on ebay easy. Here are a few links to show what I am talking about:

 

http://www.lexaire.com/mobile/index.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6064077680&fromMakeTrack=true

 

[93z34]

hmm.. that thing looks pretty cool. As for candy paint... I've seen a LOT of sloppy candy paint jobs... this crackhead in AR does 'em for cheap, and idiots keep paying him to.... and yes, I do literally mean a crackhead. Lots of tiger stripes and runs.... so yeah, candy painting is an art. Then again, ya gotta do it to learn, and it's your car... so have fun... cant wait to see the finished product.

[cutlass1991]

Well I found an industrial finish supplier near me and made a trip out to it. Heres what I found out:

 

1. Turbine sprayers suck for automotive applications. They have improved a lot over the last 40 years, but it is still not good enough to get a really good finish.

 

2. I am considering this color http://www.ripper1.com/airbrush/bikes/beezer/ It is a Kandy Brandywine sprayed over galaxy grey shimrin from house of kolor. I asked how much the paint would cost to do this on my car, and the guy quoted me about $750! So yea, I may be reconsidering the paint brand/color because he said a decent bc/cc would only cost $300. I may be checking out that SPI paint too..

 

3. OMG supplies there are cheaper than walmart or autozone/pepboys/advance. I got a gallon of this

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&itemID=1700&keyword=31155ZP for $17.99. carquest had it for like $35.00!

 

4. I got a nice sanding block for $11.00

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1703&itemType=PRODUCT

 

 

5. Bought a can of some metal acid corrosion prohibitor stuff for $14.00 dude says spray it on the bare metal and let it dry over night, and its compatible with all base and primer coats.

 

 

6. I think I'm gonna be repairing the rust damage to the rockers with fiberglass because it wont rust again, and I already know how to work with that instead of learning to weld. I need to find out if the fiberglass will bond to the surronding metal area because I think the resin has to be able to absorb into something like wood in order for it to bond to it. I think i should talk to a guy on here who has a red cutlass, I recall him repairing his rockers with FG.

 

 

so for every person that tells me I might be able to finish this car, I have about 15 people telling me I'm retarded for trying. So now this job has sorta turned into a 'screw you, i did this myself despite your best efforts to deter me' job. I can't wait till this thing is done, and i will continuously post update pics here.

[pwmin]

go for it. its def possible to do it. i would start with the hood though to get some practice before trying the whole car. good luck!

[cutlass1991]

go for it. its def possible to do it. i would start with the hood though to get some practice before trying the whole car. good luck!

 

yep, just finished sanding the hood down to bare metal to get rid of some pitting, then finished it with 120grit, washed it with ajax dish soap (good for degreasing stuff), rinsed, dried and sprayed two light coats of this stuff on the bare metal:

 

It was suprisingly easy to use a hammer and dolly to work out the crease in the corner of the hood. I got it good enough to just use a skim coat of filler now. I also layed the hood flat on the ground to make sure that both corners were even height

[Intlcutlass]

I think i should talk to a guy on here who has a red cutlass, I recall him repairing his rockers with FG.

 

 

No , the glass does not need to absorb into the metal. The metal needs to be sanded with a 60-30 grit. That way the glass & resin has something to grab. Over a year now... no problems.

 

And I get that a lot too... 15 people telling me I'm crazy for painting myself.

The only problem with that is, I have talked to people at car shows, and the paint jobs that struck me as top notch, high end jobs.... all did the work themselves....

Body shops, and collision centers don't want you to know, that when they get in a car... they will put in just enough effort so that you will accept the work. They are in it for the money (obviously), and thats not a bad thing... They are good for the repair of a car that will likely be turned in as a trade down the road.

But, if you want attention to detail, and a all the steps done correctly.... you have to "Do it Yourself", because anyshop that would do it the right way, would

A) likely NOT be covered by insurance, and

be too pricey for me and anyone I know.

 

 

[ns87]

The hood looks awesome. Thats such a big project, don't lose motivation on it!

[cutlass1991]

still deciding between colors and I made some photo chops with everyones' favorite wheels! ---> http://dan.grantrocksit.net/restoration/colors

 

 

But the color is the least of my problems, those rocker panels are worse off than I thought!!!

 

 

But I'm not gonna call it quits, fuck that! I just spent $40 on an angle grinder and metal cutting wheels, and $30 on a pint of the highly regarded POR-15.

 

 

 

The good news is that I have all the doors apart and door poppers installed. By the way, if anyone is reading this and thinking of painting the car themselves.... leave the door glass in and just tape it off. what a PITA to take out, and I'm sure its gonna be 10 times harder to reinstall. Anyway, I need to get this car done before the end of august so expect lots of progress pics soon.

[Euro]

wow nice progress man. and the color's I'd narrow downt o even more are.

 

-Navy Blue

-GM Fusion Orange

-Blacked out

 

 

[Dirty Rockstar]

I want to see the 90-91 sedan tails NightShaded..

 

..Hell, Id like to see the 92+ shaded as well..

 

Great job man.. Get it done, and do it right!

[Pontiac6KSTEAWD]

Im with Euro94. The GM Fusion orange is a hot color..

[Intlcutlass]

Bump for progress?

[cutlass1991]

My $30 pint of POR-15 came today, so I finished cutting apart and sanding the driver side rocker panel. It's about as good as it's gonna get without cutting sections of the frame out. Except for a few holes , the frame is still solid.

 

So I said enough is enough and decided to get ready with the POR-15. I didn't buy the marine clean or the metal ready and I wanted to make sure I could still use the POR without it, so I did a quick google search on the prep and found this thread:

 

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/auto-detailing-appearance/284774-anyone-who-has-used.html

--It basically says that without using the Metal-ready first, the POR 15 will just flake off.

 

So great, that's another $30 I need to spend for that stuff, but the worse part is that you need to RINSE the hell out of the surface after you spray the marine clean and the metal ready, which means the car will have to sit for days before it is completely dry. maybe I'll pull the car out in the 95 degree weather if it promises not to rain

 

 

I guess I'm gonna order this stuff, cut the passenger side apart, and maybe start filling the holes where the door handles were.

[J]

i bought the marine clean with mine, u gotta use it. Also i don't know if you know, but make sure it doesn't get ANY moisture in the can itself, if so it's junk. Also make sure you don't leave it open too long, don't get por-15 in the gap of the can... blah blah blah. Oh and put the unused portion in the fridge SEALED. Good luck with it all!