Advice on prepping car for paint

[justinj07]

Alright so here's the deal...

Bought a 95 Eclipse GST as a project...the car was in absolutely horrible condition ...

The previous owner did several janky jobs, but the bottom line was he was in a wreck, tried to cover up as much as possible, but painted over the original paint with no prep work. The top paint is cracking like crazy, and the retard added a shitty ass stripe down the middle. Rephrase...he taped down the old paint so that when he painted the car, and removed the tape, there was a stripe consiting of the original paint

To show you the car to give you some idea, the car's pics are attached. Black bumper and fenders is the most recent, the picture showing the damage to the shell is a couple weeks old, and the trailer is when I bought it in December (trans was bad).

Now, I know many are not fans of Maaco, but this car needs paint and I have little money, so I'm thinking I'll go with a $700 Poly-urethane paint job, but do all the prep work myself, which as you may see, we've begun.

Does anyone have suggestions on what to do past sanding everything smooth, while working my way to 1500/2000 grit, and past removing all possible trim, headlights, tail lights, etc. to improve the chances of the paint job working well?

 

[clean96GST]

I'm in the same boat as you... bought it riced with a molded kit, now I'm doing the prep work myself before I get it sprayed this summer so I'd like to know as well.

 

[SrKegler]

I would sand off all the paint he put on. Don't know if Maaco offers it or not but I would have a coat of sealer put on.

 

[fastbike02]

I always sand the car smooth with 400 grit and then wash it with a red sanding pad and comit to make sure theres no wax or grease left on the car before I tape and paint

 

[clean96GST]

Here are some threads I saved a while back that could probly help you.

Click

Click

 

[1twistdtalon]

I just did a repaint,

I would start by sanding the car with some 400 on a DA sander, Getting the tougher spots by hand. Then once the car is where you want it ie. All the dents fixed and sanded to where you like it. Then I would wet sand it with 800 fine then wash the car,

Let it set over night so its all dry, Then go over the whole car with tack cloth. I would spray some type of sealer on the car. A lot of them you can tent to be close to the same color as your car ( That way if you get a chip in say red paint it wont stand out if you have a red sealer.)

I used a epoxy sealer it is very tough and has a rust inhibitor in it.

Here is my repaint
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/appearance-interior-exterior/361231-time-face-lift-lots-pics.html

 

[cburke23]

You want to really learn go here
AutoBody101.com :: Index

Now, it will all depend on what you want to do and what kind of paint you will use. When I did my car I wanted all the old paint off. If you still have your stock paint then you should be fine sanding over that with say 220. You will then want to lay your epoxy primer, get all your body work done then maybe another coat of epoxy. Epoxy primer is what makes everything under it stick. You will have a 3 to 5 day window depending on the kind you buy. You will then want to lay your high build 2k primer. When dry, sand that down with 400 and you can go to 600 but no higher!!! You are now ready for your base color. The most important thing is to clean, clean and clean some more! You want to wash the whole car with a good de-greaser like Ajax. Good luck!

 

[TheOctane]

You want to really learn go here
AutoBody101.com :: Index

Now, it will all depend on what you want to do and what kind of paint you will use. When I did my car I wanted all the old paint off. If you still have your stock paint then you should be fine sanding over that with say 220. You will then want to lay your epoxy primer, get all your body work done then maybe another coat of epoxy. Epoxy primer is what makes everything under it stick. You will have a 3 to 5 day window depending on the kind you buy. You will then want to lay your high build 2k primer. When dry, sand that down with 400 and you can go to 600 but no higher!!! You are now ready for your base color. The most important thing is to clean, clean and clean some more! You want to wash the whole car with a good de-greaser like Ajax. Good luck!

hes got it nailed....400-600 for proper adhesion of base...just hope they have a somewhat clean environment