Help Al learn how to paint

[AL]

I bought a door for my black Sunbird, but the door is blue and I wanna paint it before it goes on the car... It doesnt have to be perfect but I would like it to be close... I need to know what kind of sandpaper to get?, Whats a good primer? What is a good brand of paint to use? I dont have anything on hand I dont think so I would have to go buy it all... HELP!

[RobertISaar]

are you trying to rattlecan it? or do you have a spraygun?

[carkhz316]

^X2. Are you doing/ does it need any bodywork done? Or are you just painting right over? If it's in good condition and you're just going to paint right away, it's not necessary to prime it even. Using sealer is a good idea, though not absolutely necessary. As far as prep with just a repaint, you could sand with at least 600 grit, or use a "gray Scotchbrite pad" (a "red" one is too coarse for just paint, as is any grit less than 600.) As far as brands go, the best would to go to your local paint and body supply and check with them. Though most shops, and these are good brands, go with with PPG or Dupont. You can save money and still have the same brand (kinda) and near equal quality by going with one of the aformentioned brands' sub-lines up paint. PPG has their Omni and Shopline brands, and Dupont has their Chromabase and Nason brand. All are good, but obviously the top/ more expensive stuff is going to be slightly better. I've used all of them with excellent results though. Hope this helps.

[RobertISaar]

another thing to keep in mind: nothing is going to affect the final outcome of the paint more than initial preperation. you'll spend more time doing that than anything else, so make sure you do a damn good job or else you'll spend a lot of time wet-sanding trying to hide all of the little problems that will pop-up. and even then, that might not be enough, you may end up taking that layer all the way off and starting over.

[AL]

I do not have a spray gun... I guess I am going to rattle can it with a satin black or something similar so it matches the car... I will most likely sand off the blue and start from there... The initial sanding needs to be with 600 correct? Then what? I heard something about sanding then painting then sanding then painting etc. Can I get some more details on that?

[RobertISaar]

i'll try and explain.

 

first, after you have all your supplies, you'll need to get the surface ready for paint. now paint DOES NOT stick very well to smooth surfaces, thats why you sand..... a lot...... and then a lot more.

 

now after you've ground off enough of the blue, and gotten it about equally rough everywhere, you're ready to start addin paint. first you need to remove whatever contaminates are on the surface, you do this with grease and wax remover(it will have LOTS of different names, so don't be surprised), you apply it with a non-linting cloth(or shop towels, they work pretty well too), and make sure there is NOTHING on that panel except for the roughed up paint. now actually painting... done(assuming you know the proper techniques).

 

now since you have one good coat, make sure nothing got in your paint while you were spraying it, or while it was drying. look good? do it again. if theres shit in there(dirt, bugs, bodily fluids) you'll need to remove it. know how? tweezers and more sanding... lots and lots of sanding, preferably wet sanding, since it won't take so much paint off.

 

now when you have the offending spot and the area around it looking as good as the rest, more grease and wax remover, dry it, then more paint. ask yourself the question above(is it good). then eventually you'll get to your fourth or fifth coat. it depends on how many coats it takes to completely cover the paint underneath. now look it over another time, making sure it looks perfect. is it? good it better be, you're arm is going to get sore sanding if its not.

 

now you're ready for clearcoat and its wonderfully sweet smell. same idea, except you don't want to grind off any paint if its not necessary, but the paint underneath the clear needs to look GOOD. got the clear on yet? i hope so, get about 3 good coats on it. see any imperfections in the clear? wet sanding time if you do, you're done if you don't.

 

got it?

 

oh and as for what grit sandpaper, i'll let someone else explain it.

[carkhz316]

another thing to keep in mind: nothing is going to affect the final outcome of the paint more than initial preperation. you'll spend more time doing that than anything else, so make sure you do a damn good job or else you'll spend a lot of time wet-sanding trying to hide all of the little problems that will pop-up. and even then, that might not be enough, you may end up taking that layer all the way off and starting over.

X2

 

Don't sand off the blue paint. You can roughen it a bit, but don't grind anything off, not to bare metal anyway. Think about it like this: What has stuck on there this long must have a pretty good bond to the the surface metal right? Why remove such a good stuck down base, and replace it with shakey can at a chance of it coming right off? Bottom line is to not remove original paint unless you have to (unless its been obviously, crappily been repainted before.)

By the sounds of it, you just want to do a quick job to get it to match right, as indicated by the choice of using a spray can. At that rate, just take a gray scotchbrite pad to scuff it really good. You can also use 600-800 grit to scuff the blue, but if you dry sand it'll take forever, as the paper will plug up very easily. Wet-sanding works, but still takes awhile, as you can't really tell what has been sanded when it's still wet. Ulitimately, a scotchbrite pad works great for spot repairs like this, goes much quicker and you can do it dry since it doesn't plug up. And don't worry about how many you'll need. A whole pad (all of a couple dollars, I think at most) is *supposed* to do a whole, small car. Use some sort of wax and grease remover, with a blue shop towel or equivalent, and a tack cloth wouldn't hurt as there will probably still be bits of lint and dust. After that, the spraying is all you and your ability. Though a simply guideline is to do to the first couple coats of color light, followed by a couple medium-heavy coats. Similar with the clear: couple medium coats followed by a final heavier wet coat.

When all is done, and you're not happy with the overall finish of the clear, you can sand the clear with a DA sander, or you can wetsand with a block. Since rattle can doesn't have any hardeners or activators in it, it will be fairly soft, so 1500 would be coarse enough. Then step up to 3000, followed by cutting and buffing compound. If for some reason, you have some hella orange peel or texture issues that aren't sanding out at this time, you could go down to 1200, but I wouldn't go any less.

[AL]

I wanna do a quick job, but I also want it to last a while cause this car is going to a friend of mine

[xtremerevolution]

This will be helpful for when I need to re-clear my jaguar's front fenders as the clear coat is peeling but the paint underneath is fine.

[RobertISaar]

I wanna do a quick job, but I also want it to last a while cause this car is going to a friend of mine

 

when it comes to bodywork

 

quick =/= long lasting

[slick]

For a $300 car, 2 cans of black spray paint, 1 can of primer, 1 can of clear, and sandpaper will do (100, 300, 600, 1000, 1500 grits).

 

I wouldn't spend a lot of time, or money, on that car. Just not worth the effort. If you take your time spraybombing the door, it will turn out fine.

[AL]

Alright, sounds good... In an above post it says dont use less than 600 grit but you are saying use 100 grit... Just kinda confused

[RobertISaar]

using 100 first the first sanding will make it go by MUCH quicker. you really don't use it after that...

[slick]

Yeah, use the 100 to break up the paint thats on the door, but don't scratch too heavy!

[AL]

Oh ok... Ill start on this tomorrow

[carkhz316]

I'm sorry kids but 100 is way more than enough; too coarse to "break up" or otherwise scuff the paint. 180-220, which will take paint off just as quick as you would ever need, is kinda borderline if you're gonna prime it, which would be necessary at that grit. 320 is still advisable to prime over. 400 on up you could get away with just paint, which I would do since you don't need to prime, especially with just a rattle-can job, over an existing undercoat/ basecoat.

[Brian P]

400 FTW

[Leadfoot]

Had you called around to place like Maaco or some smaller independant body shops. They may shoot it for you pretty cheap if its already off the car. By the time you buy the supplies and spend the time, it may not be worth it.

[j_mezz]

If you do go the rattle can approach I found Express paint had a great color match if you can provide the paint code and the quality of their spray cans is fantastic, the best I've found anywhere. I was Very impressed! They give you extra paint nozles too which helps.

 

https://www.expresspaint.com/productcart/pc/mainIndex.asp

[Venom]

I'm sorry kids but 100 is way more than enough; too coarse to "break up" or otherwise scuff the paint. 180-220, which will take paint off just as quick as you would ever need, is kinda borderline if you're gonna prime it, which would be necessary at that grit. 320 is still advisable to prime over. 400 on up you could get away with just paint, which I would do since you don't need to prime, especially with just a rattle-can job, over an existing undercoat/ basecoat.

 

When I spray bombed my fender.front bumper last spring I scuffed with 320 and primed, scuffed with 320 again then paint. I only primed because the parts were black and my car is white.

 

I used 150 the other day when I shaved the lock on my new trunk and after I primed I could still see some fine scratches. So 320 would be borderline.

[xtremerevolution]

Ok, so painting is all well and good, but how does one clear coat? Also, how do we buff clear coat?

[carkhz316]

I'm sorry kids but 100 is way more than enough; too coarse to "break up" or otherwise scuff the paint. 180-220, which will take paint off just as quick as you would ever need, is kinda borderline if you're gonna prime it, which would be necessary at that grit. 320 is still advisable to prime over. 400 on up you could get away with just paint, which I would do since you don't need to prime, especially with just a rattle-can job, over an existing undercoat/ basecoat.

 

When I spray bombed my fender.front bumper last spring I scuffed with 320 and primed, scuffed with 320 again then paint. I only primed because the parts were black and my car is white.

 

I used 150 the other day when I shaved the lock on my new trunk and after I primed I could still see some fine scratches. So 320 would be borderline.

This is pretty much what I was implying. You can hide 180-220 with a few good good coats of primer, so long as it's blocked out real good. Even then, after a few weeks of shrinking, you might see 180-220 scratches, if you didn't use enough coats of primer. I have always gone to 220 prior to primer, but it always gets blocked out afterwards. The same goes with 320, As paint will never cover over 320 scratches.

[RobertISaar]

Ok, so painting is all well and good, but how does one clear coat? Also, how do we buff clear coat?

 

clear coat is EXACTLY like paint... except it tends to run easier, so don't lay it on so thick... buffing clear is exactly the same

[mrl390]

If you have a nice coat of paint on the door already and the clear on it is in good shape then you can just scuff over it and shoot. If that is the case here is what I would do. Get yourself some 1000 grit wetsand paper, a soft block, grey scotch pads and some scuff gel/scuff ez/scuff-it. Any scuff prep gel will work. Get your soft block and the 1000 grit and soak it in a bucket of water. Then get yourself a spray bottle full of clean water. Wrap the soft block with the paper and using the spray bottle to keep the surface and the paper wet and clean, sand the large areas of the panel until it is smooth. Sand out any heavy orange peel or factory dirt. Sand lightly and keep away from the edges so you dont burn through. You dont have to get every area with the 1000 grit, just the large flat areas of the door. Once you have the surface relatively smooth, get your grey scotch pad and scuff gel, wet the scotch pad and apply a quarter sized amount of scuff gel to the pad. Scuff over the entire surface that you wish to paint until it is all dull and scuffed. You want to keep the pad wet but not so wet that it washes off all your scuff gel. Once you are all scuffed, wash the panel off with water and let it dry. Once its dry, get some wax and grease remover and clean off the panel. Wipe-alls work the best with wax and grease remover. Use one rag to clean the surface and one rag to dry off the wax and grease remover. You dont want to let it dry on the panel. Once its clean mask off any areas you dont want sprayed and give the area a quick clean with the WAGR again. Then apply your paint in light but wet coats until covered. If you are applying clear, wait about 20 minutes after you paint to apply the clear or follow the directions on the can. Put down 2-3 coats of clear. I dont recommend sanding and buffing spray can clear but if you want to, let it fully cure and then wetsand it down lightly with 1500 and then 2000 grit. Buff it witha good cutting compound and a wool pad and then a foam pad and a good polishing compound.

 

 

 

[RobertISaar]

^^ thats like the exact method maaco follows.... and their shit lasts MAYBE 2 years. then again, the horrible paint doesn't help either.

 

scuff-and-shoot...