All My Painted Cars
Well, here's the Painting Booth! I got lots of helpful tips in here, maybe you can use some of them. I got more coming, but it takes time. If you got any questions about anything........give me a yell, ok? Hope this stuff helps you out.

 

 

 

 

 


The song Playing is:
Sloop John B
By: The Beach Boys

 

 

Come on in and see what I got to share with ya! Any wanna be's out there? Then I am
the man that you need to contact. I got all the secret information on "How To Paint-
Cars"! Secrets that painters never share!Why? Because, we are busy people!

I hope you looked at All My Painted Stuff.......and don't feel to awful bad about
doubting what I claimed on the main page. You are here, because you want me to tell
you how to do it all, (you know....... Paint Your Car)! Let me just say this, if I tell you
how to paint your car, then, some poor Painter out there will have one less customer.
Remember, I do this for a living and so do many others........After all, I have gifts, talents,
and skills that have taken time to develope. Last but not least, all the hard work I
have put into it. So, if I give you what you want, then in essance, I am giving you the
ability to do something you would otherwise have to pay to obtain. Get it???? I hope so!

Now that we have got all that straight, let's move along and get to it, dude! Ok? Painting
Cars is much more than you ever dreamed of. Maybe more than you can handle. Here
are some things that you might not have ever considered before.

  1. Is your project just an Old Fixer-Upper or a Classic/Antique?
  2. If it isn't a fixer upper, then ya might consider having a Pro do it for you!
  3. Do you have enough money to finish it, once you know how much it will cost?
  4. Have you sat down and realistically considered the whole project? Tools, equipment, and supplies?
  5. Do you have a place where you can work on it? Not out in the Yard! Hehehehe!
  6. Do you have any help? Friends, Relatives, or people off the street? hehehehe!
  7. Carefully, and optimistically evaluate the condition of the body! Major repairs need Professional Skills, so take that into consideration. You can get over your head very quickly if you do not make a good accessment of the repairs,( make notes). Repairs that will enable you to put a beautiful and long lasting paint job on your project.
  8. Purchase some books on Automotive Body Repair/Painting Manuals.They can give you a tremendous amount of information. It will also help to keep your mind freshened with thoughts that are relevant to the task.

Note: The above is just a long drawn-out way of saying......."you ought to get a Pro
to handle the job for ya!" He will no doubt have all the tools and equipment, and
all the know how!

Well, now that we have all that out of the way, let's move along to some good stuff!

If you feel confident enough, (knowing all that I covered above), then the first step in the process is: getting the body ready for a winning paint job! This single aspect is one of a couple that are critically important to the over-all job. If you fail to get the body good and straight, dents, rust out and alignement of trunk-lid, doors, and hood you can paint the car with $1000.00 a gallon paint and the project will look like newly painted
junk.Take as much time as you need. Getting in a hurry at any stage of the project is not the manner in which you want to operate. I have a friend that took months to get his car prepared for the big paint day. He had painted, (as a hobbiest), several cars over the years, but never to the level that Classic's should be painted at. If ya want to see how it turned out for him go here: hiway3's Oldsmobile Page. Although he knew how to paint cars, he had never done anything to the level worthy of his 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass. He was not a Professional, just a Hobbiest, but wanted to move up to another level so he could save himself some money. He was very detailed and spent a good amount of time, money, and effort in painting his car. His Website is designed for High Speed connections, so if you have the old 56k modem be prepared to spend some time while his pages load, (well worth the wait). You might want to look at it after you finish here.

I cannot over emphasize the importance of detail and taking the time to do it right. The section below will give you the various steps you should take that will lead to making the preparation of your project an organized, detailed process.

 

Body Preparation:
once you know what has to be done

  1. If you have light repairs to be made, then you can start by working on each one until you are satisfied that it is within the contours of the area surrounding it. Move from repair to repair. Once you gain some speed on making the repairs you can expedite the repairs by working multiple repairs.....switch from one to the other until the desire effect has been attained. Apply body fillers and let harden, while sanding on another repair that has already set-up. Keep your methods as consistantly as possible until you are sure that the over all body condition is at a level with the quality of finish. In other words, if you are just painting the car to sell it then less perfection may be desired, but if you are doing a project that you want great things to be said of it, then you need to do everything to ensure the perfection of the repairs in relationship to the bulk of the body.
  2. Feeling the car over is the best way to tell what is straight and what is not. As you gain experience the sensitivity of your feel will increase as well. Some techniques that may assist you in evaluating what repairs you have made are these: a.) wet the area you are working on, in the reflection you will see inconsistancies or flaws. b.) at night take a flash light and scan down/across from different positions on the body to see any high or low area's. Hold the flashlite almost making contact with the surface in a position that will afford you the best view of the contours within the repair area. You will notice how the low spots show up darker than the level area's and high spots will leave shadows on the opposite side from the illumination.
  3. Should you get exasperated with the volumn of repairs to be made, then stand back, draw a few deep breaths and then walk away.....take a few days break, and forget about it until you are settled again. Focus is the name of the game in doing any quality work. Getting upset and overwhelmed because you have so much to do is not going to help you to arrive at the final destination. Better to back off and loose a few days then to press on and do shabby work. It will certainly show up on paint day, believe me! Putting a quality paint job on your classic? Take all the time you need and do not put deadlines on your work. It will pressure you into doing lesser quality work in the end. You have to approach painting this project from a whole different perspective. At this level of work, the talent and skill levels escalate right off the scale, you are going to have to get this car on your brain so that everything you do has been picked apart until it is perfection.Develope good consistant standards for your work and then maintain those standards.
  4. After you have the body perfect, then you are ready to do a little research on the type of paint you are going to paint with. There are three basic types of paint. How will you determine which one of the following types to use? Consider the project itself......is it going to be OEM, (original equiptment manufacture), or a custom job that may not follow what the manufacturer put on the car when it was produced? This will dictate what you will want to use for the type of paint. If you want it OEM then you must consult classic car resources to determine what the car manufacturer used. Then just get the color you want and you're set. Keep in mind, some of the older paints used way back then might have since proved rather unreliable, so consider those options as well. Consult people that have already painted their car and ask what they used. But, if doing a custom paint job you will have to consider several things when it come to the proper type of paint you will end up using. Flexability,(how flexable is it once on the car? You want it to flex with the temperature changes and yet not crack. Also, it should be flexable enough to withstand normal automotive use, chiping and scratches). Application, (what processes are used to actually apply the type of paint. Is it a multi-stage application? Meaning: base coat and clear coat or is the paint a single-stage, one-shot application?)Durability, (is the type paint you are considering use one in which the surface will hold up under moderate maintaining of appearance? Washing, waxing and detailing?) If you have obtained answers to these issue's then you can make a final decision as to which type of paint is right for your car. With the various types of paint comes a set of standards as to how they are actually applied to the surface. Make sure you are aware of those parameters when paint day arrives. Go over and over those processes in your mind so they become second nature. That way you won't have to stop in the middle, (never a good idea), and read some more on each step as you proceed Now we can move on to the different types of paints on the market today. These are all a single-stage application type of system...... they are as follows: a.) PolyUrethane b.) Acrylic c.) Enamel

    <PolyUrethane>     This type is very durable, and is resistant to gasoline, oils, brake fluid, as well as other kinds of automotive chemicals and lubricants. It is chip resistant, and weather resistant. This type of paint is very complicated to use. Experience with this type of paint is the key word. To use this type of paint one must have access to a paint booth. This is an extremely toxic paint and has isocyanates- which can cause damage to the lungs, use of a respirator is critical. It also has a limited color range, so you might want to use another form of it called: IMRON, it is produced by Dupont and is extensively used by many of the current classic car restorers today.
    <Acrylic> This type of paint comes in several different variations: Laquer, Enamel,Urethane Enamel. These are scatch resistant, chip resistant. They are easy to use, but caution is advised due to the manner in which this product can react if over applied to the surface, (runs & sags). It is fast drying. This type paint has a wide range of color selection and can be matched to your specifications at your local outlet. Respirators are advisable with the use of this product. As a matter of fact, one should always consider the use of them with any airborne product of this nature.
    <Enamel> This type of product is very difficult to use, but with practice can be applied by the inexperienced. This product requires a dust free environment. They are very durable, and come in a wide range of colors. They are easily maintained and have a great shine and appearance. This type of paint is usually a little cheaper than the rest. The draw back with this product is that it requires a long drying time and one should exercise caution during application to avoid buildup. This product is known to sage and run due to the length of drying time. The inexperienced painter would do well to consider these possibilities during the application process.
  5. Proceed to your local automotive paint store and see what they can advise on what type's to use. That's what they are there for! Also, you will want to select a type of product that you can get all of the supporting chemicals as well. Compatability is the key word at this point........whatever product is right for your application, you need to get all of the necessary chemicals to complete all of the painting procedure. Paint, primer, reducer, cleaners, thinners, hardners, and chemical to clean the gun and equipment you use All of them must be compatable for mixing and cleaning-up. Stick with one paint manufacturer for all your needs, thereby assuring compatability.
    Note: The above, (for the most part), are all single-stage systems. Next we will cover another system, (Basecoat/Clearcoat), mulit-stage systems.
  6. Multi-stage systems consist of the following components: a.) Basecoat (the acutal paint/color of paint job.....no shine, dull finish!), b.) Clearcoat, (a clear coat of shiney glass like appearance). The Basecoat is applied over the primer and is very easy to apply. One would have to be trying real hard to get a run or sag with this product. Allowing for flash-time, (a time segmant that allows the coat to set up yet allows another coat to attach itself), flash-time depends on the manufactures specifications. Lets say 15 minutes between coats, then another coat is applied until you have the desired coverage. Then it is allowed to flash and the Clearcoat is applied. The Clearcoat is more difficult to use and caution should be execised. Runs and sags are a distinct possibility, so care should be taken at moment of application. This product, if done correctly, will give the Basecoat the appearance of glass. It also will help protect the Basecoat from chips and scratch damage. With proper care the Clearcoat can be maintained even when chips or scratches occur. This product comes in a wide range of hardness. The use of a hardening agent always is mixed with this product to give the desired result.

 

 

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Last updated:
05-08-2001

 

 

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