I pretty much have the whole process down and understand it except for color sanding. Do I just do 1000, 1500, 2000 then polish/buff or do I polish/buff between each stage? I will be reapainting my entire car phantom grey pearl(probally 6 coats) and then lots of clear...also for the clear to sit better is it a good idea to sand the paint with like say a 4 or 600 grit to smooth out the orange peel look if I should encounter that?

 

anybody??

 

i would also like to know. hopefully somebody has some info on this. i'm about to try and paint my car myself and i'm nervous as hell.

 

bump for some answers. Im paitning mine soon and kinda confused about wet sanding and stuff, sense last time i tried to wet sand, it didnt go so well , so now im scared to touch sand paper

 

no I don't plan on reprimering, just taking off the clear and getting the black roughed up just enough so that paint will stick to it thoroughly(using the black as a base coat makes the phantom grey pearl look awsome).

So I don't need so many coats? Will orange peel always occur if the clear drys slow? When orange peel does ocur wha would you reccomend to fix it, start wetsand with a lower grit(like 800 or 600) and then work my way up to 2000? Sorry just very unsure about the whole clear process to make it look good.

I will be using my garage which is normally around 80-95* on a typical summer day(more if I leave it open all day). To help eliminate dust and other contaminents I'll be making a makeshift paintbooth out of plastic drop cloths hung from the ceiling and the garage will be cleaned out thoroughly before I begin the process.

 

anybody else?

 

Even if I just sanded down the clear coat I still always "prime" mine before I paint it. I wouldnt recommend just throw'n paint on any car w/o first prime'n it. Basically just sand it down use'n like 250 grit to "rough" it, then prime the car, wet-sand use'n like 1200-1400 grit(keep the area u are working on wet @ all times). It is based mostly on feel and sight, once you "feel" that the area u are working on is good then move on to the next step...after wetsand'n, rinse the whole car down, then remask the car, take a "tack" cloth and get up any debres(sp?) off the car before you paint...In a garage around 80-90 degrees it should take around an hour or 2 per coat to dry(dont totally quote me on that). THe last time I painted I decided to throw an extra coat of paint(3 coats in all) and it really came out better than I thought. Its all in what you want...Personally I recommend 3 coats of base & 3 coats of clear.

Here is a Civic that myself & a friend painted about 2 years ago and it still looks clean now...This pic was taken this past fall. Sorry for the size.

 

looks clean... I kind of miss my hatch, but the sol has a lot more features to it. So your saying I should sand it down with 250(which is what I planned on doing) then dong just a quick coat of primer.

Should I do any further sanding before paint?

With clear I plan on doing around 3-4 coats, and start @ 800 working my way up to 1500 then using a clay bar and finally a glaze and wax on it too make it look crystal clear.

 

^^^^

freaking clean man that is wet sanded with 1200 right? how long did you wait for the clear coat to cure before wetsanding. (also did u just wet sand by hand or did u use some kind of special tool) im new at painting and trying to learn it all so i can get a clean look and nice shine like yours

 

phantom grey pearl... i painted my 94 accord that color your goin to love pictures at night under a nice white street light.

 

ok, well im am going to clear some things up for you guys.

first of all you want to do all your bodywork such as repairing dents and rust or whatever, finish you mud work off with 120 or 180.
you really only need to use primer on your bondo spots is your existing paint is still in good condition. primering the whole car is a waste unless you plan on blocking out the whole car.

to sand the primer you can use 360 grit dry on a da to buzz it down and THEN you wetsand with a max. of 600 grit wet. with the 600 your basicly just trying to get out all the 360 grit scratches. using a grit finer than 600 will cause you adhesion problems because the paint doesn't have enough "bite" to the surface.

now your ready for paint.

if you have broken through primer or the existing paint anywhere i will usually put one coat of sealer on. also, if you seal it first your basecoat will cover faster because everything is pretty much one color when you spray your base.
when you spray your basecoat do 3-4 coats and if it a metallic color i like to stand back a little farther and cut down the material flow and dust it on to make the metallic stand up more.

after you get it all covered with color, tack it off real well with a tack rag. while using a blow gun to lightlightly blow any dust away from the surface.

spray a max for 4 coats of clear if you are going to wetsand it flat and 3 your just going to nib out the dirt. if you really pound on alot of clear coat it will take alot longer for the paint to cure and the finish wont be a nice.

wetsand the clear with 1000 grit to knock down the dirt, or if you are going to colorsand the whole car, use a block with it to make the panels all the more straighter. then go over the 1000 with 2000 grit, and get out all of the 1000 scratches. this makes it alot easier to buff out than 1500 grit. i usually use a wool pad to remove the wetsand scratches, then follow up with a foam pad to get out the swirls.


there are a million ways to paint a car, but this is more or less the most effecient way i've learned.

 

Thankyou...im so glad u wrote that before me

 

haha yea, i usually dont like to type much but all that was really bothering me!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b16ej1lsd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">haha yea, i usually dont like to type much but all that was really bothering me!</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hear that

 

one thing i forgot to mention is that one of the key's to a long lasting paint job is to be sure the surface is absoutly clean of anything before you put any kind of material down.

 

HMMMMM!

 

what do you guys use for buffing? polisher, rubbing compound? and do you have to use a machine or can you do it by hand?

 

what speed for the buffer?