2G How to paint a 2g eclipse? Tips?

[Brad Bell]

Hello I am about to paint my 2g 1999 eclipse, I am wanting Black Cherry or something of that nature. Currently the car is black with the hood and hatch being maroon from a donor car cause they were in better shape than the original. I have already sanded the car down and now I am just asking for some tips for painting the car, I don't want to paint the door sills or jams, just the exterior. Can someone give me like a step by step procedure to paining the eclipse. I have the front bumper off which is stock, and bomex aftermarket rear bumper and side skirts off the car as well. Do I paint them on he car or off the car? Do I need to install the headlights before or after painting?

 

[Robotech]

First thing you need is a good mask that will filter paint. Without the mask, don't do it, because the isocyanites in the paint will hurt you and possibly affect you the rest of your life. You want one with a carbon section, but remember that carbon doesn't last more than 24 hours. I like to paint so I bought myself a remote positive pressure paint mask so I'm always breathing fresh air. Second, you need a 60+ gallon compresssor with a good water removal system. I installed a harbor freight air dryer, which works very well actually. If there is water in your paint you'll get fish eyes. Third, you need a decent gun, if you don't then you'll get a crappy paint job that will look like a rattle can paint job. I bought myself a good Devilbiss paint gun for about 300 bucks and it is made for solvent paint since it has a metal paint holder on the HVLP gun. Good equipment will preserve your life and give you a good paint job.
Next, you need a good place to paint. outside is not ideal.. you'll get crap in the paint. You want a place like a garage with room around you. But you'll need to put up plastics because the paint floats in the air and will get on everything. Clear coat is the worse since it makes the floor sticky while you are walking around. Your sneakers literally stick to the ground.
Next, you need good lighting. If you can't see, you'll have tiger striping. My brother helped me paint my blue eclipse recently. He held the LED daylight flood light and I sprayed.

The next steps are easy. Spray primer, wet sand it with 400 initially and then later 800 or 1000. Spray base and don't touch it. Then spray clear on it. Follow the manufacturer's instructions.

These eastwood videos will help you.

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and
part 2:

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[Robotech]

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Paint booth

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Primed. I did it with the bumpers off.

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Finished product minus the side skirts which need a little touchup. Note the large compressor and air dryer in the background on the wall.


Its fun, but be careful. I found those eastwood videos to be amazing.

 

[smills1840]

What kind of air dryer is that? Also, what are your compressor specs?

Car looks amazing for a garage job!

 

[Brad Bell]

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Paint booth

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Primed. I did it with the bumpers off.

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Finished product minus the side skirts which need a little touchup. Note the large compressor and air dryer in the background on the wall.


Its fun, but be careful. I found those eastwood videos to be amazing.

So did you paint all your bumpers completely with clear off the car and then you installed it? Did you paint the inside of the hatch? How did you mask off everything. I have all the equipment to do it but I don't know the procedure

 

[Robotech]

So did you paint all your bumpers completely with clear off the car and then you installed it? Did you paint the inside of the hatch? How did you mask off everything. I have all the equipment to do it but I don't know the procedure

I did a complete color change, and wanted to get the entire car changed over, so I took the doors off, hatch off, and repainted inside of the edges (pics below). I changed the car from forest green to World Rally Blue (Suburu color). So for me getting inside of the door jams and anywhere else around the bumpers very well. I have a scissor lift in my garage so I just put the bumper and trim parts on that and shot it at a nice height. If I hadn't taken off the bumpers, the rear of the car would be still green if I took the bumper off or look under the bumper.

I was thinking about this last night and I have a few more suggestions for you:
(1) use primer/filler primer. This will ensure you fill in any swirl marks made by your sander
(2) if you get any fish eyes, let the paint set and just go over it with another coat in a few minutes and it will cover it up
(3) I'd definitely pull the headlights off. You'll not be able to paint a lot of the front bumper cover if they are on it.
(4) make sure you pay attention to the manufacturer of your paint's flash off times. If you don't, and spray clear on the base too quickly you'll get white bubbles in the clear... ask me how I know...
(5) Put on enough layers of paint, but don't overdo it too much. Usually 2 layers of primer/filler primer, 3 layers of base and 3 layers of clear. Flash off between each layer.

If you are going to do all this work to repaint your car, might as well do it right. I have like 20 days into my disassembly, fixing rust, repainting and reassembly.

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[Brad Bell]

I did a complete color change, and wanted to get the entire car changed over, so I took the doors off, hatch off, and repainted inside of the edges (pics below). I changed the car from forest green to World Rally Blue (Suburu color). So for me getting inside of the door jams and anywhere else around the bumpers very well. I have a scissor lift in my garage so I just put the bumper and trim parts on that and shot it at a nice height. If I hadn't taken off the bumpers, the rear of the car would be still green if I took the bumper off or look under the bumper.

I was thinking about this last night and I have a few more suggestions for you:
(1) use primer/filler primer. This will ensure you fill in any swirl marks made by your sander
(2) if you get any fish eyes, let the paint set and just go over it with another coat in a few minutes and it will cover it up
(3) I'd definitely pull the headlights off. You'll not be able to paint a lot of the front bumper cover if they are on it.
(4) make sure you pay attention to the manufacturer of your paint's flash off times. If you don't, and spray clear on the base too quickly you'll get white bubbles in the clear... ask me how I know...
(5) Put on enough layers of paint, but don't overdo it too much. Usually 2 layers of primer/filler primer, 3 layers of base and 3 layers of clear. Flash off between each layer.

If you are going to do all this work to repaint your car, might as well do it right. I have like 20 days into my disassembly, fixing rust, repainting and reassembly.

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Sweet you definitely did a great job on yours, so what about your hood? Did you remove it and paint the underside of it? How did you sand it cause it's such a pain haha. Also did you paint all you pieces bumpers etc. then install and then clear the whole car? Or did you clear each part on its own?

 

[Robotech]

What kind of air dryer is that? Also, what are your compressor specs?

Car looks amazing for a garage job!

Thank you for the compliment.

my compressor:

Sweet you definitely did a great job on yours, so what about your hood? Did you remove it and paint the underside of it? How did you sand it cause it's such a pain haha. Also did you paint all you pieces bumpers etc. then install and then clear the whole car? Or did you clear each part on its own?

I did take the hood off, but my brother had a cool idea to use truck bed liner under the hood. So we just skuffed the green paint that was there and then just sprayed on black texture. It actually looks really good IMHO. As to clear, I sprayed everything separately. I guess I could have sprayed it on the car as a whole, but by doing it seperately the few drips that I did get, they didn't go from like the fender to the bumper cover. Oddly I dripped clear at the part where the fender meets the front bumper cover on both sides.

 

[Robotech]

What kind of air dryer is that? Also, what are your compressor specs?
The compressor is:
https://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Hau...-1-spell&keywords=60+gallon+campell+hausfield

my dryer for the compressed air (which works extremely well)
http://www.harborfreight.com/compressed-air-dryer-40211.html

My paint gun, which came down in price:
https://www.amazon.com/Devilbiss-Fi...622&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=deviliss+finishline

my full face mask fresh air system:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GAFD826/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm happy to answer any more questions
David

 

[Robotech]

The compressor is:
https://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Hau...-1-spell&keywords=60 gallon campell hausfield

my dryer for the compressed air (which works extremely well)
http://www.harborfreight.com/compressed-air-dryer-40211.html

My paint gun, which came down in price:
https://www.amazon.com/Devilbiss-Fi...622&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=deviliss finishline

my full face mask fresh air system:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GAFD826/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm happy to answer any more questions
David

 

[smills1840]

This is obviously kind of a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway. I have the exact same compressor, and I notice the gun you use requires more CFM than our compressor supplies. Did you have any trouble getting a nice finish with your clear coat? I know if a gun doesn't get enough air, it can sometimes cause some orange peel.

Do you have any close up pictures of your paint? Like I said before, it looks amazing for a garage job regardless, I'm just curious what kind of finish is achievable with that equipment, since I'll be using a lot of the same stuff.

 

[Robotech]

This is obviously kind of a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway. I have the exact same compressor, and I notice the gun you use requires more CFM than our compressor supplies. Did you have any trouble getting a nice finish with your clear coat? I know if a gun doesn't get enough air, it can sometimes cause some orange peel.
Do you have any close up pictures of your paint? Like I said before, it looks amazing for a garage job regardless, I'm just curious what kind of finish is achievable with that equipment, since I'll be using a lot of the same stuff.

Orange peel is just normal for any paint job now-a-days. I have a professionally painted GST and it has more orange peel than the GSX that I am showing you picture of. The key to orange peel elimination is to spray 3 good layers of clear on your car and then hit with it 1500 grit random orbit sander to take off the high spots and then buff it out with a good buffer. I sand my clear until all the shiny spots are gone and then I hit it with my Flex buffer using Chemical Guys pads which works very well and the 3M compound polish.
If you watch this video, scroll to 8:45 into the video and you can see that this professional painter even sands the car down. its just the thing that you should do to give you a mirror finish.

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To answer your question though I didn't have any issues with my gun. Actually this past weekend I was painting a buddy's top of his Honda Civic and I noticed that the compressor didn't cycle much. It may say it wants 13 cfm, but it doesn't use that much, plus remember, you aren't spraying paint the entire time, you are getting up and down your step stool, walking around the car, etc. So it has time to cycle. I use this compressor with my sand blasting cabinet too and that uses wayyyy more air than this gun and the pressure stays right up at 100psi. Plus this gun regulates itself at 20psi when its shooting, so its not moving a lot of air.

I did get some fish eyes in the paint though when I was shooting base, this was from my lack of piping to cool the air down to properly remove the oil that is in the airline that gets in there from the normal atomizing of some oil when the head is compressing air. That guy from eastwood explained it well in the first video about how to paint cars. I'll be building one of those piping systems and mounting it on my wall soon.

Flex buffer: https://www.amazon.com/Flex-XC3401V...F8&qid=1470935006&sr=8-1&keywords=flex+buffer

Here are a few of my unsanded painted parts:

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[Robotech]

As a side note, once you are all set up and do a good job with your painting, all of your friends will suddenly come out of the wood work and ask you to paint their stuff for them ! I have 3 friends lined up for paint jobs. Good and bad cuz you normally don't get paid for it, but if you enjoy it, its worth it.

 

[Robotech]

As a side note, this is the compound that I have had really good luck with buffing out the car after sanding:
https://www.amazon.com/1Pk-Perfect-...=1470935990&sr=8-2&keywords=3m+paint+compound
I use step 1 and sometimes step 2. Usually a good buff will make it nice and shiny.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

As a side note, this is the compound that I have had really good luck with buffing out the car after sanding:
https://www.amazon.com/1Pk-Perfect-Buffing-Polishing-Compound/dp/B0082LK8K6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470935990&sr=8-2&keywords=3m paint compound
I use step 1 and sometimes step 2. Usually a good buff will make it nice and shiny.

You do some good painting there dude. Great work

 

[twelve_1686]

Prep work is the big thing. Also it's your choice if you don't paint door jams or anything of that nature, but I think it always look goofy when I see a car with the doors open and the door jams don't match the car.

 

[smills1840]

Thanks for all the replies man. I've painted several cars in my garage, and they never turn out quite right. I have a lot of detailing and paint correction experience, so I'm very familiar with wetsanding a buffing. I agree that it's a required step for a top notch paint job.

I'll be picking up the harbor freight dryer soon, and painting my Evo's hood as well as my 2g engine bay. If those turn out well, I'll probably be painting both cars before long. Keep up the good work!

 

[Robotech]

I sent this in PM, but it has useful information for future viewers.
original questoin:Thank you so much for the help I really appreciate it man! Yeah i'm going to prime all of my bumpers, skirts, mirrors, etc. soon and then the car. Did you wet sand at all in the process? Also did you sand the car again after you primed it?

reponse from me:
Yes definitely you must wet sand after priming. ESPECIALLY if you use primer/filler. It will go down and feel like sand paper when you put your hand across it. You then wet sand with 400 grit to get it smooth and then hit it again with 800 or 1000 grit and it will go very shiny. This is where you want it to apply base -- when the primer is nice and smooth looking. I didn't wet sand it at all prior to priming because any water that gets on the bare steel will make it rust like crazy and worse, if it soaks into the metal at all, you'll have your paint bubble on you especially when it hits the summer sun. Make sure the car is very very dry prior to painting.

Between each step -- before you paint the primer, after you sanded the primer and are ready for base, and then before you spray base, you should hit the car with wax/grease remover. You can ruin your paint job if any of the oil from your hands is on the paint. Also, use a tac cloth VERY lightly before painting primer to make sure all of the dust i gone.

So I usually use the grease/wax remover liberally first, then just before I spray I use the tack cloth to make sure no dust is left, then I spray with primer. Then if I touched the paint I use the grease/wax remover, if not I just gently tack cloth it. I say gently tack cloth it because if you smear the tack cloth sticky crap on the paint prior to painting it could cause fish eyes, although in practice I haven't really seen that happen, but you'd be surprised what the tack cloth will remove!
The grease/wax remover I use i get from autozone:
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-A...937025&sr=8-7&keywords=wax and grease remover

tack cloth:
https://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-Tack-...TF8&qid=1470937065&sr=8-2&keywords=tack cloth

 

[Robotech]

Prep work is the big thing. Also it's your choice if you don't paint door jams or anything of that nature, but I think it always look goofy when I see a car with the doors open and the door jams don't match the car.

Totally agree, but I would say that to do this right, you should take the doors off of the car so you can get the spray right up in where it should be

 

[dsmsavage]

Looks like some very, very good work. Excellent job. Excellent tips.

 

[khmersun]

if you don't want to paint the door sills you can go to home depot and get some window seal foam and stick it in the door to help avoid getting over spray in the jams. They also sell a foam just for that. I personally remove everything I can when painting a car like headlights tails lights mirrors windows etc etc. like a previous post stated prep work is key! if you have the room to remove the bumpers it will make you life easier you could get some bumper stands from harbor freight for fairly cheap. or you could use old ironing boards they just aren't as sturdy. and pay close attention to the sanding in your prep work you will see it in your top and clear coats because it is a dark color you are going with.

 

[khmersun]

as far as compressors go I have a husky 60 gallon 220volt compressor that has served me well from painting a bunch of cars weekly to mechanical work. ive had mine for over 10 years. I used to have a 30 gal and it was only enough to get one item of a car painted like hood or fenders...you would notice the difference in the spray pattern and the way the paint comes out. make sure you spray test patterns to get your adjustments on your gun right. Also be very aware of where your paint hose is to avoid it tapping your fresh wet paint. I would highly recommend a rubber hose that wont coil up as well. also quick tip to help keep dust from flying around when painting wet your garage floor not making pools but just enough to hold the dust down a little. if you jack you car and place on jack stands it will help also if you are tall.

 

[Robotech]

Oh, something to pass on that is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. If you strip the bumper or any plastic parts down to bare plastic you must use adhesion promoter. I was warned prior to painting that any plastic needs the adhesion promoter otherwise the paint will eventually bubble off. I have an eclipse with the paint peeling for exactly this reason (I didn't paint it..)
Normally when you sand you just have to go down to base. You don't have to take it all the way down through the old primer unless you really need to(like the base was flaking rather than just the clear).

 

[2gGst98]

Not jacking but YES all very good info, everything I have been reading on for about a month. Thanks for info.

I'm getting my car ready for paint and want to try myself really bad. Good luck to you OP

My step dad recomended this to paint in. He uses it for multiple cars, I no longer live with him and want to try this personally to keep debris away.
https://www.amazon.com/Caravan-Cano...UTF8&qid=1471144134&sr=8-4&keywords=Car+tents

 

[khmersun]

@Robotech is correct about adhesive promoter...but another thing that could save time and material is if the current paint is good no deep scratches or anything u could just scuff it with 3m red scuff pads and base over that unless u know those panels have been painted a couple times before...and go ahead and figure out what company you are going to use for paint like DuPont nason omni staton or whatever you need to figure out all the mixing ratios for your primer (if needed), your base and reducer and/or activator, and your clear and activator. And if your car is lowered and u know u will probably rub your front bumper on a driveway slight you definitely want to look into flex additive so the paint will flex instead of crack.