To the DIY autobody guys.

[CarsSuck]

I really want to teach myself to do body work. My red mk3 golf is all dinged and bent and scratched up and I think its a great candidate for me to cut my teeth on. I'd like to do a total body reconditioning, and I'm prepared to put in the hours to do a ton of work to get it straight and to get the paint decent. I'm going to try to get a decent spray setup to do this with.

I've done some reading on the internet but a many things are unclear to me.

What is the deal with stripping the old paint? I'm going to repaint the whole car red, but a different shade. Do I need to or should I strip all the old paint off? What do i use? Chemicals? Wire brush on a grinder?

What tools do I NEED? I'm planning on at least a compressor, dryer, gun, stud welder, sanding blocks and paper. Ive got a light duty mig welder that i dont yet know how to use and a good electric angle grinder. What else do i need?

Any thoughts, tips, comments, points of insight, or flames are greatly appreciated. TIA.

[MikeE30325i]

Well i have some experience on removing paint, and i believe that removing all the old paint down to the metal is best for a repaint.

using certain abrasive chemicals and a razor with loads of extra blades will often do the trick. i have never tried a grinder, though i think that it would cause a lot of little rivets or lines in the metal if you get a little sloppy late one night. but a grinder is a much faster method over using the chemicals and a razor.

[NC325iC]

take the panels somewhere to get media blasted, no need to do it all by yourself

[MikeE30325i]

take the panels somewhere to get media blasted, no need to do it all by yourself

yes, this method is by far the easiest.

[der affe]

electric grinder bad!!! air grinder good but with 36 or 40 grit where needed. do not remove all the paint down to the metal unless you have to to fix rust or dents and only where you need to fix the dent. a bare metal respray is more than you will want to undertake as a noobie. there is a myth that the only good paint comes from bare metal. if a car is properly sanded, blocked, preped, and providing that it doesn't have 15 paint jobs on it (possable chemical reaction with different paints), and providing that you use a good paint you can turn out excellent results w/o going to bare metal.
you should look into getting a set of "durablocks" arount $40 for a 6 piece set
a good longboard i use a 3m that is plastic-$25ish
look on ebay for body hammers and dolliescheepie ones will get you through a few jobs, but old used ones you'll find there for around $5, $10, $15 are the real steal and are made of better quality steel.
greg

[CarsSuck]

cool. The problem with leaving the paint is that every single body panel has dings and some with very deep scratches/gouges. There is some rust where the paint cracked and came off from accident damage, but I dont think its just surface rust and will come off with a wire brush.

As far as taking panels somewhere for blasting, how much does this cost? This seems easy for say a front fender or hood that just bolts on but what about the others?

Can a power sander for wood working be used to sand primer/filler?

[CarsSuck]

also, how big of a compressor will i need to paint?

[FredK]

I believe most HVLP guns require at least 9-10 SCFM at 30-40psi.

The Crapsman $300 compressor puts out 8.4 SCFM at 40 PSI. I think this should be enough. A word of warning, the duty cycle on plastic piston compressors is lower than oiled compressors, so I'm not sure if you will run into maxing out the duty cycle. I guess make sure you get paint that sets up slower than if you were running a production body shop.

If you have a little more dough you can get a nice vertical compressor from Lowes or Home Depot for around $400. This will get you 15 SCFM at 40 PSI, but they also require 220V.

I only researched this a little bit when I was getting a compressor to drive mostly tools. I wanted the option of doing a little spraying too. I'm sure other people have more to say about spraying rigs.

[moatilliatta]

they sell a diy book at autozone for body work.

[fastm30]

you're gonna want a big stand up 60 - 70 gallon 135psi air compressor, 50 feet of hose, air regulator, water separator, and a good DA (dual action) sander. When buying a DA sander make sure the pad that holds the sand paper to the sander has metal components instead of plastic. I bought a cheapie with plastic parts and the connecting pieces exploded launching the sanding pad across my garage!

You can probably buy new body panels (fenders, hood, trunk, and doors) and start from there. It would save you a lot of time starting with brand new pieces instead of trying to fix old banged up ones. Plus you will like the results better with new parts than a bunch bondo under your paint.

[fastm30]

plus if you want to change the color you have to paint all the door jambs, under the hood, engine bay, in the trunk! More work than its worth! paint it the same color for now

[CarsSuck]

Yea, ill probably just get straight panels from a junkyard where ever possible.

I may even be able to paint it at a body shop that I'm somewhat well connected with, if I'm lucky.

plus if you want to change the color you have to paint all the door jambs, under the hood, engine bay, in the trunk! More work than its worth! paint it the same color for now

Going from red to a different shade red, nothing radical, just enough to make me feel good about changing the cars look. I dont really care about shit matching. The car has been in my family since new ('94) and has 150,000 mi. so resale value is of no consideration.

The main goal of undertaking this project isnt to have a show winning car, or to sell it for profit. The main goal is for me to learn and gain working experience. I want to straighten out the body, lay on some fresh paint that will all match, and just improve the appearance to that of a well maintained and cared for car.

[mrsleeve]

take the panels somewhere to get media blasted, no need to do it all by yourself

You guys are nuts, 25 bucks will buy you 1 gallon of Tal-strip 2 its aircraft coating remover. Get that a few razor blades an a 4 inch drywall knife. an if you have lots of paint put a garbage bag over the shit after you brush it on heavy to hold the fumes in a bingo bango bubbled paint. Take afore mentioned knife an scrap it off, razor blades for the fine areas an also can be used to apply goo in tight areas. In about 5-6 hours (in a well ventilated area) you will have a VW impersonating an Deloren.

[EWAustin]

I've found the best thing for removing paint is:


Biggest single piece of advice. When you're getting ready to paint, and you think you've sanded enough, sand more. Stick to about a 400 grit for sanding the primer, but sand more. Apply more primer if you have to, but KEEP SANDING until when you close your eyes you can't tell whether you're on bondo, primer, or old paint. The transitions should be that smooth.

[mrsleeve]

^^^^^^

those will gouge the steel bad if you go too far. Chemical strippers are the way to go for total removal