I searched, but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

Anywho, I'm buying sandpaper to remove all the old paint off of my car, and completely repaint it. Is 80, 180, 400, 1000, and 1500 grits enough? Or do I need more grits in between the 180-400 and 400-1000?

 

If you use 220 and 320 in between 180 and 400, you'll make things a little easier on yourself. 600 and 800 would work great between 400 and 1000 too.

 

Okay, how are these:

80, 180, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500?

 

Doesn't sound too bad. Use a sanding block with your 80 and 180. Use a d.a. sander with your 220, 320 and 400. Start wetsanding with 600.

I'm not sure if I'd go past 600 though. In fact, I'd stop sanding with 400 and start cleaning it up to do your bodywork and primer. Once you start laying down primer, start again with your 180 and work your way back up to 400 and wetsand with 600. The higher you go, the better but after 800 you won't notice much of a difference unless you're doing a multistage pearl.

 

You want to stop at 800 pretty much, simply due to the fact that the paint needs a mechanical as well as a chemical bond between the substrates. And in all reality I would not go down to bare metal, I would stop at the factory Ecoat, and then prime and go from there...But if you do go down to bare metal start with an etching epoxy primer, do you bodywork on top of that, then a high build primer to block flat with, then a sealer primer and your paint....What kind of painjob are you after, Single colour, metallic, Pearl, Kandy????

 

Thanks for the help guys! I guess buying the 1000 and 1500 was a waste of money... oh well.

As for paint - either single colour or metallic. Any suggestions as to which?

 

Depends on the look you are after, single colours are usually easier to apply and apply well. But with the vast amount of metallics and pearl basecoats out there right now you can achieve very brilliant colours with minimal effort, what kind of colour are you after??

 

Something dark. I'm thinking black or a dark grey. One reason being my old colour is a really dark green, and I won't be painting the engine bay, so I don't want the colours to clash too badly.

I LOVE this colour... http://www.tunerspec.ca/pictures/5.jpg

Any input is definitely appreciated.

 

No matter what you do with a dark green engine bay its gonna look wierd...Grey is nice, but there are some other grey's with pearls in them that are nuts...I wil look at my ALSA and HOK books tonight and let you know.

 

There is a grey with a heavier metallic partice that really pops in the sunlight.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DDEVIANT1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You want to stop at 800 pretty much, simply due to the fact that the paint needs a mechanical as well as a chemical bond between the substrates. And in all reality I would not go down to bare metal, I would stop at the factory Ecoat, and then prime and go from there...But if you do go down to bare metal start with an etching epoxy primer, do you bodywork on top of that, then a high build primer to block flat with, then a sealer primer and your paint....What kind of painjob are you after, Single colour, metallic, Pearl, Kandy????</TD></TR></TABLE>myt hoghuts exactly, ill only go down to bare metal if the panel is heavilay damaged or wrinkled or if im doing a ground up overall paint job. then as you said acid etch, blocking and high build then blocking then primer then color. i never liked to use sealer becuase i dont wait to get color on the car, once its primed it wait for it to flash until is almost dry then lay down the color. ill use sealer when i have to wait a few days to paint, because you then have to go back and scuff the sealer so the paint will stick to it. good luck with your sanding, and if you need more insight post up again

 

Thanks for the input!

DDEVIANT1, any names/colour codes of paints I should take a look at? Or a good place to order them from?

 

I really like the look of that titanium gray colour.

If you could tell me what company makes it, or if you have any other suggestions with a similar colour, that'd be great.

 

That titanium grey is by alsa....It's in their stylin basecoat lineup COLOR CODE#ASB-03...you could also go with a slightly lighter shade then cover it with their black kandy to add more depth to the colour, or add some crystal pearls to it to make it pop more....or if you prefer to buck up for house of colour galaxy grey is a good choice too...it comes in either a coarse metallic BC03 or a fine metallic FBC03 size. Or if you wanted a really different look HOK metajuls fine platinum over a white basecoat would look nuts too.

 

I'm looking for it to be really dark, so which do you think would be better?

I don't really want to mess with more than one colour to try to get a different shade, as I'm unexperienced.

Thanks!

 

I WOULD GO WITH THE ALSA TITANIUM GREY...BUT THATS JUST ME.

 

Okay, thank you for the help.

 

Damn. DDEVIANT1 you seem to know your stuff about paint. that titanium grey is pretty sick. Im painting my car my self soon(first try) and now i know what kind of sand paper to buy and how to use it . Any ideas for my paint deviant? Its the factory black right now and im looking for a better looking black. A black that'll really pop. Any suggestions? Once again, good info on the sand paper and process

 

Well depends if you want a solid blakc, metallic pearl or the such, lets start with that, as for blacks I would definately recomend a base clear for any black you are going to paint, and of course absolutely perfect bodywork underneath. Then make sure to use a dark sealer or primer sealer as a base to keep the number of coats down (note: this works for any colour, use a tinted sealer coat)

The on to the paint, if you want a seriously dark black that is solid, I recomend you go to your paint jobber and have him mix it up with only strong black toner, not weak black, and maybe put a bit of pthallo blue in the mix because blue makes black look bolder in my experience, whereas a weak black is mor on the brown black side.

As for mettalics, there are a number of great ones out right now, I would look at the mazda and toyota lines perhaps even bentley for some of there colours. Of course you could always got to HOK and do a black black base, then go to a metajuls black midcoat, a black candy overcaot and then clear, or even do a medium dark grey base, a small black flake then black kandy over that.


There are sooo many options out there.

I just did a bike for a guy where I ground up starfire glass( its a super clear almost purple glass due to its low iron content) and used that in a clear binder for the midcoat over a black base.

 

WOW! Alot of information right there! lol. Very in depth ddeviant
I do want a black that pops,kinda metallic, but i want it to shine like glass with a slight slight purpleish hue. And im not to fond of seeing little glittery flakes, or what not, in the paint(not sure if those are needed to attain the kind of look im going for). Any other thoughts deviant?
p.s. thanks for all the input so far

 

Well for a purplish hue on a straight black let me see....hmmm I would go with a mixture of somewhere in the area of 3 parts strong black toner to 1 part dark purple toner, hmmmmm or maybe 4 parts strong black, 1 part dark purple, 0.5 parts pthallo blue...that would give you that hint of purple you are after....orrrr you could go with a strong black base, then go over it with 2 coats of purple kandy that would give it a purple kinda pop in the sunlight but straight up black at night or in low light.

 

Damn, another sick as reply
That last part sounds like what im looking for. the deep black look at night, but under some sunlight or certain artifical light, it have a lil purpl hue. but i dont want to much purple. so would one layer be enough to see that hue? maybe a coat of a lighter black, then the one coat of purple?

 

Yeah they all might work...but your idea of colour and mine could be slightly different, I would get a couple panels sprayed outto find out what works for you exactly.