I'm going to be changing from silver to jade green, doing the outside and the jambs (no bay). My preference would be to spray the bumpers, fenders, doors, and hatch while off the car, but I know that because I haven't done this before, the there is a good chance of not mixing the paint perfectly at different times and then ending up with slightly different colors.

So a few options come to mind, but really I'm looking for suggestions as to the best way to do this. I'm going to be making a temporary enclosure outside, so I technically have the option to make a really big one that could hold the car and the parts on racks separately, but I'm trying to avoid having to make something that large. My other concern is being able to align the doors without damaging the paint, so I'm stuck between spraying with the doors on or doors off.

So I'm thinking these are my options:

Option #1 :Make a 1 bay enclosure, paint the car and jambs at the same time. Then soon after, paint the fenders, bumpers, hatch, sides, doors, etc. Hope and pray that the color matches. I like this option the best, I'm just nervous about the color match.

Option #2: Make a 2 bay enclosure and spray it all at once with all the parts off the car.

Option #3: Make a 2 bay, Spray the inside of the doors/hatch before, (maybe jambs before??) Install, and then spray car with jambs, then do the rest off the car.


Any tips here guys? I want to do this right, so even if I'm not on the right track at all, I'm open to any ideas.

 

good question I am almost at the same decision point.

 

heres how i did it:

sprayed the entire car with everything on, except the front bumper, so i left the doors, trunk, etc all on.. you'll also "save paint" that way too, if that makes sense...

i say spray everything all one time, did the door jams and all...

hope that answers your question

 

i second that!!!!

 

i would do the jams first let them dry and everything then do the entire car i like doing the front bumper off the car my only mistake...i did my bumper on the car and didnt get under the bumper bc my car was to low

 

Should I take the doors off the car to do the jambs first? I'm guessing it's easiest to do the inside of the doors/ hatch at the same time as the jambs, then reinstall and shoot the whole car? I'll take bumpers and sides off, along with mirrors and door handles when I do the whole thing.

Thanks for the help guys, keep 'em coming!

 

take the door check pin out of the doors so they open farther (be carfull not to hit the fender). mask the jambs so no paint gets on the outside of the body/fender then spray the basecoat on the jambs. unmask the exterior of the body spray just the outside of the car with your base even from front to back not one panel at a time start with the roof, hood and then work your way dont the fender down the whole side..... then clear the jambs/ exterior at the same time. if you do the jambs with out masking with the door on you will see a hint of the extra paint after you paint the exterior.

 

wtf all these people are saying to spray the jambs with the doors on? You can not do them the right way with the doors on and anyone who knows paint and body work will tell you that, it will look like hell. you need to either spray everything at once off the car or spray your jambs and then hang your parts and shoot the car, always shoot the bumpers off. The last thing you want is a hard paint line that will start to chip away and de laminate your paint job.

 

Agreed...I've never done this before and can tell that's not the way to go. I don't see any possible way to do that thoroughly. I will definitely remove the doors/hatch do the jambs and then put them back on and spray the whole thing. How long should I wait before I can put tape over the fresh paint?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

ACTUALLY you can do the jambs with the doors on the car. you can either use a touch up gun or you can bring in your spray patter on your gun to get into the smaller area.


what the hell are you saying about a hard paint line?


but i would say to get a better finish i would pull the doors and hatch

 

honda doors are easy , just unplug knock ,out the door check pin or bolt , unbolt doors.
the door bolts on honda's have a tapered collar that help it line backup where it was. easy peasy lemon squeazy GL

 

do what you want i have done about 10 civics that way i said above a few of them are show cars...about the bumpers leave them on just take the bolts that hold the bumper to the fender out so you dont get accumulated paint in the crack. and for the hatch glass take it off it like 4 bolts for the glass and 4 for the wing.

 

yo just read threw my whole paint thread...i just bumped it up..! i think it will help ya out

 

I will do that, thank you very much!

 

just take the doors off its easier and will come out a lot better

 

It can be done on and off. Sometimes it depends on the car to determine which way is better. Honda's are easy to do them on. It also depends on what you're getting paid. If the price is right I'll take them off if not they stay on. Time is money and I ain't doing extra work for free. Here's one of a prelude I'm doing right now with the doors and trunk on. The rest was sprayed off. When the door and is reassembled you can't really see a difference. The last pic in the next post is of another car I've done with the door all back together just to give an example.

 

More pics continued.

 

yo 19civic93 can you smell those fumes in the house bro

 

Naw, no fumes in the house. I seal the door from the inside. Garage door stays open untill all the fumes are out. You can't see it but I have a 14x14 tent in front of the garage and it's got plastic around it which extends my garage into a larger booth. The overspray and fumes evacuate very quickly. I don't smell fumes when I'm painting either. I use an air supplied respirator when I paint.

Forgot to post but here's the before pic of the prelude above.

 

Thanks for the pictures! It's for my own car, so the price is right to take the doors off :D.

I think I'll do the door jambs and insides of all the doors, tape it all off, reinstall, and then do the outside. My only question now is how to blend the edge from the door jamb onto the outside of the car. I've seen tape with a rolled edge, and have heard of folding tape over onto itself for a fade, but I'm still a little unclear on the specifics.

 

You can back tape it or use the 3m soft edge foam tape. Here's a link to it. http://www.tcpglobal.com/3m/3m400-5.aspx

In the pic of the underside of the prelude where it's masked off, it's back taped. There are is no hard edge. You can do the same for the door and the jambs.

 

Alright cool, so when you do the jambs, do you taper the paint out onto the side of the car a little before you tape? And then you scuff the paint underneath where it will overlap before spraying the outside? How long would you recommend waiting before you can put tape over the new paint?

Thanks for the help man!

 

Just tape the jamb and roll the tape over so it just passes edge into the jamb. Hard to explain, it would be easier if you could get someone to show you. Check youtube.com and see if theres any videos on back tapping. Or actually check 3m's website on the soft edge foam tape. They have a video that shows the difference on back tapping and using their foam tape. I'll try to look for it later and post it up in case you don't find it.

As for scuffing you want to make sure the areas that are not covered with tape are scuffed.

The time you can tape will vary. If you're painting in a booth you can bake it an have it fully cured in a few hours. If you're air drying then I would wait about 24 hours just to be safe. Depending on the air temp and the paint you are using you could wait even less. You're gonna have to be the judge on this but for sure after 24 hours you're good to go for taping.

 

Here's the link to that 3m video that shows how to back tape the old way and their way with the soft edge foam tape.

http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediaw...ZZzNsaJVyyyyx-

 

Awesome...dude you're the man. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to answer my questions. I won't be in a booth, so I'll go the safe way and wait a day. I'll probably spray some extra on a hidden spot and try the tape a few times to make sure it's solid before actually putting it on the jamb. I wish I could spend the money for the soft edge tape, but I think I'll be paying in labor time instead, doing it the old way. I've seen some pictures of back taping, so I'll have to practice, but I think I've got the concept at least.