Gonna spray my car myself

[ivo316]

All this roller painting success and the fact that Rustoleum is not sold anymore in Chile, had me make up my mind to spray the car myself, the fact is that it can't look any worse than it does now, half my lacquer is peeled off by the sun, I bought a spray gun and I am thinking of spraying one part at a time, I think i have gathered enough info from other people's experience, unfortunately the experience cannot be gathered, I figure that lots of sanding with fine grain paper will correct my spraying issues. Will post pics as i go, I will start with the dings, scratches and prep work tomorrow.:p

PS, Cost so far:

Spray gun: US$ 40.00
Paint: 34.000 CLP = 62.00 US$ (1 gallon)
Primer: I was advised, ( By the paint guys) due to the condition of the car and the color not to prime.
Bondo: US$ 8.00
Sandpaper: US$ 10.00(so far)

[Mike325]

Good luck. Remember, its all about the prep work.

[ivo316]

Of course, everybody made it real clear, it's all about the prep work, and if i do it wrong, just sand it offf and do it all over again.;)

[VAPORBLADE]

prep work - it's so easy a cave man could do it. :-)

[mtechnik]

goes to show HOW MUCH money can be saved when you do it yourself.

[ANDRÜ]

Eh? Why would you not prime it? Thats a really important step to let the paint bond to something. Primer to surface, paint to primer. I dont think the paint will be very durable without primer.

[mrsleeve]

^^^^^^

If you have a good solid body and orginal paint all you have to do is skuff up the factory paint with some 500 grit (wet or dry) and squirt with color. The factory paint job acts as the primer.

[turbo_negro69]

^^^^^^

If you have a good solid body and orginal paint all you have to do is skuff up the factory paint with some 500 grit (wet or dry) and squirt with color. The factory paint job acts as the primer.

FINALLY!! someone who understands this concept!!!
you don't have to prime on every single paint job. it all dependson the job at hand.

[BDSax]

man........ the paint im looking at is like $325 for a gallon. i guess thats what you get for OEM

[trent]

man........ the paint im looking at is like $325 for a gallon. i guess thats what you get for OEM

That isn't too bad. A good quart of henna cost me $120. 4 x 120 for a gallon is 480.

[mrsleeve]

PPG bronzit was about 480 a gallon retail. I got mine for less then half that (a good friend of mine is a painter an got most of my supplies donated for me)

[Jand3rson]

^^^^^^

If you have a good solid body and orginal paint all you have to do is skuff up the factory paint with some 500 grit (wet or dry) and squirt with color. The factory paint job acts as the primer.

That's what they did when I had my front valence repainted after I fucked it up. I primed and painted it myself, and it didn't turn out right, so I just sanded the paint that I applied down slightly and then they just painted over that. So now if anything, I've got a few more layers of paint than I'd normally have.

That isn't too bad. A good quart of henna cost me $120. 4 x 120 for a gallon is 480.

And that is why you gotta love Schwarz. 086 Schwarz is pretty much just industry-standard gloss black, so it was hella cheap.

[808BMW]

I would spray the whole thing one time.

If you spray it all seperate its harder to get the paint to match.

[ivo316]

Thanks for the tip, I started sanding today, it's going to take me ages, i found out that the car was (factory) laschsilber metallic, then someone sprayed with the same color (kinda) and then, someone seems to have sprayed the car with transparent lacquer over the paint, that coat simply got baked, cracked and peeled off in some areas, now i need to sand everything off and make it all level, I started with the trunk (nice flat area) and it seems that it'll take me around five hours to finish sanding it by hand (I might need to buy an orbital sander), I am using 400 grit paper, and did about 20% of the trunk in one hour. Do you think i should go hiher than 400 grit before painting ?.
I asked the guys that made the paint for me (they used the inside of the trunk to match the color) how could i do to avoid color differences, they said that i should thin al the paint at the same time in a large can adn stir it well every time i fill my spray gun, keep it clean and not thin it as i go. That, (according to them) will give me a uniform color.
Anyway, this is a new world for me, so the consolation is that even if i do a lousy job, it can't look any worse than it does now. :p

[mrsleeve]

your paint guys are giving you good advise, Are you using a sanding block? If not go get 1 it will keep finger waves from happing on the large flat surfaces. Me I always use 500 and wet sand for blocking out but you will prolly be fine with 400. It takes time lots of it, It will show once you get it squirted, trust me it will show every place you tried to short cut something.