My car is gutted and I've started taking the sound deadening out bit by bit. Now I'm usually a strict all go type of person, but I do need to show my car because of car club duties and it is a street car. Basically, I need to know what tools are helpful for prepping the car, such as power sanders, grit rating, etc, and also the number of layers of primer, paint, and clear coat to use. Also wet sanding is a foreign term to me, so if someone could define/explain that, that would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

I take it you are painting it to look nice? I sprayed mine in flat black just to make it look uniform and clean it up a bit.

 

if its still the factory color outside... and you want to keep the same color... just color sand it... and spray some top coat on it.... that will make it shiny..... and color sanding is easy.... just get a bucket of soapy water.... some high grid wet sandpaper... like 900 or 1200.... and a rag... just wet the spot where you are going to sand with the rag..... and start sanding.... make sure the sand paper is wet...... go easy where ever the sheet metal curves.... thats where there is less paint... and you will strip the paint off..... dont rub too hard..... when you are done it should look the same but dull... then clean it up and start spraying clear..... my friend sprayed pearl inside his car to match the outside..... then give it a buff and wax.....

 

Gumbii, thanks for the insight on the wet sanding. So to paint the interior of the car I'd have to sand everything down to bare metal, spray primer, sand that down, then spray the actual paint coats, wet sand that, and then spray clear coat. Is that right or not?

 

No, not down to bare metal!! Read his post again.

 

I've read it ten times. It looks like he's saying that I have to wet sand everything first and then spray the color and clear.

 

 

I think his method only involves a new clear coat. That takes into account that you're keeping the same interior color. So instead of spraying a new base, you can just clean off the scrapped up top clear coat and add a new one.

But if you want to change the color, then yes you would need to strip it to the bare metal, prime, then the base, then the clear.

 

He won't be able to keep the same color in there without re-spraying it. He said he is taking off all of the sound deadening...which means he is going to be down to the bare metal or at least primer. They don't paint the car and then put the deadening down, it is the other way around......hope that helps

 

That's true!

 

Ok, I maybe wasn't clear enough in my first post. I stripped the sound deadening out and found that there is no paint underneath it. Also the paint is very dull and thin in some areas of the trunk. So basically I have milano red everywhere with patches of bare metal where the sound deadening used to be. SO what I am trying to do is lay down some new layers of milano red and clearcoat. So I am assuming that I will have to take it down to bare metal now. What tool would be good for doing this? Also how many layers of primer do I put down and do I wet sand the primer or the paint layers?

 

There really is no need to strip everything down to bare metal. Plus, it will take forever. First sand and clean the inside, then you can then prime it with 2 or 3 coats to get it nice and even. Then sand the primer to make it smooth and then start your color. This is just my opinion obviously, but it seems like an interior is not going to be as important as the exterior. I guess it depends on how well you want it to look. I think it will look fine if you do it this way.

 

Thanks for the info. I want to do as nice of a job as possible on the inside, so that I can paint the exterior myself later on.

 

Every stock civic I have ever seen has spots on the interior where the color coat was missed. The stock primer is pretty good though so I would just scuff it a little with 300+ grit and shoot it with whatever matches the exterior. Than and two coats of clear should do you. A ready to spray quart of color (1 pint of tint plus i pint of thinner) plus two quarts of clear should be more than enough. Also, if you strip out the sound deadening you ARE going to damage the primer so you should spray a coat of etching primer over any bare metal.

P.S.

This post should probably have been in the Cosmetic forum

Mike


[Modified by 92sleepR, 10:40 PM 1/27/2003]

 

Bullshit... You rarely would ever strip anything down to the bare metal.

If you want to actually apply a new layer of paint rather then touch up the existing color (which is that the other guy was talking about), you need to scuff and clean all the surfaces inside. Spray your primer/sealer, then your base coat. I'd suggest using an acrylic enamal--somethign that doesn't need a clear coat... Clear coating the interior would be crazy.

 

LMAO, the JDM ****** would say that I was trying to rip off Jay's ITR.
Why would clearcoating the interior be crazy?