so im gonna end up prepping and painting my car in the single car garage i have.

its a del sol so i do have some space but not too much.

i would like to hear some stories and advice from people that done it in their garage.

what you should have done
what shouldnt have done etc
things you didnt expect...


and also in what order to paint the car.

its gonna be a metallic color or pearl mixed in the basecoat so im not sure if painting panel by panel would be a good idea.



i was thinking since there isnt much space i will move the car over and jack it up on one side so i have better acess to the bottom part of the car.

paint one side, move the car and pain the other side and then paint bumpers,hood,trunk,targa top and doors off the car...

 

just use common sense. get a box fan on one end to blow out and a hole with an air conditioner filter in it on the other end. use a ****ing respirator. paint the whole car as a whole car not panel by panel. start on the roof and work your way down and around. keep a wet edge. its not rocket science you need a few things.
1. respirator
2. ventilation. ( in and out on opposite ends)
3. use some sort of bug screen to seal your garage from the outside dirt and ****.
4. hose your floor to keep the dirt from going on your car.
5. ground your car to keep dirt from going onto it.
6. use common sense.

 

cool thanks i did just that actually i already have a box fan with filter i used the packaging box to make a filter bracket lol and some masking tape to seal it

do i have to use primer if im not sanding it down to bare metal?

can i just shoot primer on the sport that i had to bondo and then seal the whole car and shoot base/clear?

im trying cut down the price thats why im doing it myself.

but the primer/sealer/base/clear will still cost around 400 bucks so i was trying to see where i can save on paing.
i went to price it out at napa with the crossfire paint.

 

-If your repainting the whole car, primer the whole car.... only if your doing touch ups would you not primer the whole car.

-Use a high build primer

-Doing it yourself is great way to save bucks, but take your time and make sure your prep is bang on. Get yourself a couple tack cloths and make sure your lighting is as even as possible over the whole car.

-if your going with a pearl, practice on something first... if you screw up, you have to repaint the whole car ... i really think if its a first time paint job you should steer clear of pearl and go metallic

and use all the advice mike703 gave you, clean the crap out of your paint booth!!

 

Alot of people like to wet down the floor of the booth to keep dust down. One cars are hard since alot of the time you don't have room to maneuver.

Get the feel for your gun and practice on some spare parts/a wheelbarrow/ whatever. Get your pattern set JUST RIGHT or else the whole job will suffer.

Make sure to use a decent moisture filter. Myself, I use a disposable mini-dessicant filter and change it out every few coats.

Know what course you are going to take to keep a wet edge PRIOR to painting. Walk around the car with the gun, visualize what you will need to do and what path you'll need to take.

A step stool can help immensely for higher parts. Having the car jacked to a level that allows you to easily do the bottom parts of the car helps immensely as well.

I suggest going with the slowest (highest temperature) activators as you can. They allow the paint to flow out more and give you more work time.

99% of a paint job is in the prep and body work. Don't skimp on time or materials, you WILL regret it later.

Prime the ENTIRE car. Some primers are DTM (direct to metal), but many will only cover a quarter sized area of metal without adhesion problems. I suggest buying a can of REAL etch primer (you could get it cheaply as a quart or just use a REAL aerosol etch primer, NOT rustoleum). Epoxy primer is great stuff too.

A guide coat can help ALOT while blocking body panels. Google it.

LIGHTING! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! If you think you have enough light, DOUBLE IT! You need light for ALL ANGLES. I have lights installed in banks. 2 banks of 4 bulbs on my ceiling, and a bank of 4 bulbs on each wall. Even with this, I don't have enough light. The "sunshine" bulbs are often brighter and more true than the standard bulbs.

Like others mentioned, a GOOD respirator is a MUST. I try to change my cartridges every 6 hours of exposure to urethane paint, and store my respirator in a sealed up ziploc bag. ISOs WILL kill you, quickly. It isn't like lacquer.

Good luck!

 

oh yeah, make sure you block it out after you primer ... and give it a good clean and a couple wipes with the tack cloth before your base

 

nice thats what im looking for

i was thinking of going withepoxy primer.


iexpect this paint to last maybe 4 years in that time i will probably get tired of the color and go with something else.

after the car is all straight and blocked can i just use etching primer to cover bondo and metal spots and then shoot it with sealer? im not sanding the factory paint just scuffing it
the paint is costing me aleady close to 300-400 bucks so im trying to keep it to a minimum as much as i can...

i already have all the guns lol been buying them on sale for like 9 bucks at harbor freight when they go on sale so i have a big hvlp, touchup hvlp, regular touchup gun and an airbrush and ill get more moisture filters


so theres no way i can paint the car panel by panel even if its done same day?

because all the panels are off the car im deep in it everything is stripped... and new doors are not on the car yet( mine were damaged in accident)

im gonna do the engine bay first then drop the engine back in it and paint the rest of the car

its color change from red to white so i will have to paint panel by panel

 

After you think the car is straight, do what joshmo said, use a guide coat and keep blocking. (grey primer will make this easier) Then apply your primer and re block until your not sanding through the primer in spots. You dont need a sealer, clean the surface really well and your ready for base. Panels can be done one at a time, but its difficult to keep each panel consistent with the other... plus the longer the paint stroke is the better. I would do the engine bay, door jams, trunk, underside of the hood etc and this will give you some practice with the gun, attach all the body panels and paint.

by the way are you doing body work on individual panels off the car? If so once you attach all the panels back they are more than likely gonna be way off from each other... should attach them, then do your blocking to ensure nice straight even line all the way down the car

 

If the white is a solid color, you will have no problems doing panel painting. The overall paint tip is really for pearls and metallics.

Those HF guns can be alright for the money, but test the spray pattern often and make sure to strain your paint prior to shooting.

I suggest using epoxy primer rather than etch primer if you can. Remember, epoxy takes longer to cure than etch, and has specific recoat/topcoat instructions that vary per manufacturer. Epoxy can be used under AND over bondo. I try to avoid using etch over bondo but I've heard of others doing it with no ill effects.

The engine bay is a good place to practice your technique. I'd just use the full size gun you plan on spraying with if you can. See how your compressor keeps up. If your pressure keeps dipping down, you'll either need to stop every once in a while (which can be dangerous, you don't want to lose a wet edge, albeit not as much of a problem if panel painting) or you'll want to buy a rather large (50gallon?) air tank to act as a buffer. You'll still need to stop occasionally but the frequency between stops will be larger.

When doing the bay/jams (as you should do these FIRST), make sure to create a nice natural mask line. Good masking tape (3m automotive or meguairs fine-line) is a MUST for a good paint job. Real masking paper can be found at your NAPA as well. It is usually waxed. Urethane paint can bleed through newspapers (and right on to your windshield!)

Keeping your guns clean is a must. You should have a little arsenal of gun cleaning supplies (mini brushes, a solvent such as lacquer thinner, a urethane solvent such as a hot urethane reducer, possibly XXX gun solvent if you'd like). Remember that some paints will set up in the gun and jam it permanently (poly primers definitely do this.)

I suggest getting some nice measuring buckets for your paint as well. Having proper ratios is very important to the total cure time and quality.

I would expect this paintjob will last at least 4 years if prep is good. Most urethane paints will have no problem lasting 7-10 years, even if not properly cared for. Crossfire paint is pretty good for the price.

 

If you want to save some cash I would look into acrylic enamel paint, its half the price or less then urethane paints. I had acrylic on my old civic and it looked amazing till the day I sold it. It wont last 7-10 years like urethane, but will definitely last 5-7 years. Oh yeah and it doesn't require a clear coat

 

im getting myself into some shiiiiit again lol.

i decided to do a full build on a gsr as my first engine build lol(its already assembled) we will see in few weeks if i got it right or not.

 

Yeah post some pics as you go, the prep is the hardest part of a good paint job. Spend lots of time on that, practice with the gun as much as you can and it will turn out better then you think

 

Acrylic enamel paints will not have the same lustre. It looks a bit less plasticy, and less "new-age". Even with hardener, it will look different. If you clear coat it will look similar, but still not the same. Just something to be aware of.

 

I agree, but if he's going with white and wants to save some bucks acrylic will do the trick especially for a single car garage DIY set-up.

 

white pearl lol i know not the best choice for first time but why paint in the first place if thats not the color i want... so im going with pearl i painted my wheels that color already and they turned out nice.

so to make it short.

scuff
fill the dings
block the car
guidecoat
block again

epoxy primer( then i can skip sealer right?)
and then base and clear

how should i apply clear?

i have a tendency of spraying a very thin coat first time and then spray hella thick coat after that cuz im always aftaid that it would come out with orange peel and texture so i just soak that sht in clearcoat untill it looks like water surface.
but the problem is i can get away with that on the small things cuz i can level them to prevent runs but not the sides of the car..


should i do 2-3 light coats and last one heavier?

 

You seem to have the idea, you want to make sure every coat is consistent with the other. Do a 50% overlap on each pass of the gun to make sure its consistent. With a pearl, you want to spray the base with no pearl added... sand with 1000 grit, base one more time, sand 1000 grit... are you using a "ghost pearl" or "candy pearl"? If your using ghost go ahead and mix in the pearl and spray the final coat... if you like it leave it, if you dont spray another time until you achieve the hue you want. After that your done, spray 2 even coats of clear and sand one more time.

Now if your using a candy pearl, after the 2-3 coats of base with sanding some people like to spray a clear and sand one more time before they mix the pearl in with base. Once your ready for the pearl base its going to need at least 4 coats at a 75% overlap and 1000 grit sanding between coats your ready for clear, 2 even coats of clear with a 50% overlap and a final 1500-2000 grit sand... then your going to have to buff it to get back the "shine" Use a good 3M rubbing compound and do all of this by hand and wet!

 

yea its mixed in the paint. i want it to only come out in sunlight
like the mustang kona blue color.im putting same amount and same type of pearl as in that color. so it should look like normal white untill sun hits it

 

Not quite.

Scuff the car. Sand any areas that require filler down to bare metal using 80 or 36 grit on your DA.

Do initial filling. Sand flat with board and 80 or 120 grit sandpaper.

Epoxy primer over initial fill job. Level.

2k urethane primer over entire scuffed car. Guide coat. Blocking to get body straight. Fix with glaze and re-primer as needed to get flat.

Sealer coat (you can skip this step, depending on the paint system.

Color coat

Clear coat

 

So i cant put basecoat over epoxy primer? Im trying to get a lower cost

 

If you are only going to buy one primer, get a DTM urethane primer-surfacer. Epoxy has very little fill.

 

painted my engine bay what a fn mess.
nothing ever goes smoothly when i paint.

kicked over the can of paint that i had mixed...
and i think the guy gave me wrong hardener for this temp so its drying very slow even after putting a bit extra
but the engine bay is done

 

what all did you leave in/cover when you painted your bay, im gonna prep for mine wondering what i can get away with if i take it to someone prep'd

 

take all the brackets off and MAKE SURE YOU KEEP TRACK OF WHERE IT GOES because in 3-4 days you wont remember which bolt goes where unless u done it many times.

i removed everything except the stuff on firewall. but got lazy so didnt wrap the wire harness in tape but im putting fresh tape on it so it doesnt matter.

i went through with an airbrush first to cover all the hard to get to areas and then after i was done with the whole engine bay i went through again to touch up whatever spots i didnt get.

 

-Let the paint tack up before trying to remove trash, bugs etc. (I use an exacto Knife)
-Plan on doing some good wet sanding, cutting, buffing. (If you sand up to 3000 grit it will cut down on your buffing time and will reduce the chance of "burning an edge" with the high speed buffer.

 

Ok if you are going to be painting the rest of the car i suggest that you use a leaf blower to get the place clean

then wet the floor so dust wont come up ... just needs to be moist...

I have the same problem with a small garage .. I would never pull an engine to do the engine compartment but ... oh well...

What i would have told you to do... in an optimal world

Is paint outside then drive it in to dry
I have done so many cars that way and you never have a problem unless you live in an area that is really windy.

You end up with a few small specs in the paint MAYBE.. often i never do.

Just don't paint under any tree or the sap will fall on the primer and you are screwed.. little dots all over the car where the paint will pop off in 2 years ... it will look fine for a while then pop pop pop primer pops.

but if you can paint for 2 hrs on a nice day outside thats optimal

If you can't then think about making a 2x4 and drop cloth tent extension to your garage to allow you to paint the bumpers easier that way you dont have a color miss match