Hey guys I was wondering If you were going to paint an entire car and do a color change could you remove body panles and paint them off the car one at a time vs painting the whole car as one peice. Or is painting it as one peice better. for example remove a fender prep it and paint it than set it aside remove the other fender repeat process, remove hood ect and than once all the panels that car be removed are than you move onto the panels that cant be like the roof of the car the engine bay ect. Dose this work or is it better to do it other ways.

 

Depends on many factors. How much time do you have?

Generally speaking: Panel painting with a solid color works better than all together painting with a solid colors. You don't have to worry about masking and you can manipulate the pieces to get better angles and you'll usually be able to prep a piece better off the car than on it (albeit there are exceptions to that rule.)

Panel painting with any metallic: Don't do it. Car should be assembled before painting. Metallics tend to lay down differently from day to day and the way you mix will vary slightly from one session to another. If you absolutely MUST panel paint a metallic, put the parts oriented as they would be on the car (Doors perpendicular to ground, hood parallel) and try to do each coat on a single mix. Drop coats can help too.

Also, when reinstalling freshly painted panels, you should wait until AFTER buffing. I would give them 2-3 days before reinstalling and don't fully torque down the fasteners(give a lighter initial torque and go back to full torque later.) It is quite easy to damage parts, trying to put them on the car.

Hope this answered your question.

 

Yes it did thanks. As for time there is no time limit how ever long it takes me. It's a project so i'm not rushing it. As for color I planed on painting is 99-00 civic si blue b-95p or something like that. I have mixed feelings like you said i could ruine a freshly painted panel trying to put it on the car however with the panel off the car as you mentioned i can manipulate the panles better and being new to painting this could help. If it was you what would you do ? Take the panles off prep the car and than reinstall them and paint all togethger considering it's not just a solid color ? Thanks again for your help

 

B-95p is pearlescent, so I would put the parts back together prior to painting. Don't forget the jambing though.

 

I would defiantly remove as much as possible. It will make your paint turn out better and be easier for the painter to paint it correctly. Plus whoever paints it will thank you later for breaking it down!

 

As far as trim goes, this is absolutely the truth. But with body panels, not always the case.

 

I plan on being the one who paints it i'm in the process of teaching my self how to paint now so in the near future i can possibly attempt this project. Now whats constitutes as trim vs panles meaning like side skirts and front lips are ok but fenders or bumpers are not ? I just figured being new to painting by removing the bumpers or hood and putting it on a tree or a stand and bringing it up to a comfortable working height it would be easier to prep and spray. However I dont want the colors from panel to panel to be different.

 

I just recently did a side project in august with my buddy out of work painted all the inners, jambs then put everything back on and painted it all at one time, worked really well as that one guy said about metallics they lay down way different to light or dark then any solid color. But you have to make sure about masking everything else off and over spray on the jambs/inners