Prepping Car for Paint

[Steelnation36]

Ive looked around and read about it. But i need, well want to get my car painted. Its gettin bad. But Im in college and dont exactly have a ton of money. So i was planning on doing the prep work on my own. It saves money and i get to learn how to do it.

But if i do it i want to do it right id rather wait than get a crappy paint job. So i was wondering if anyone has done the prep work before with success and if so what was your method for the prep work. I just want the methods of some fellow dsmers. Also im sure this info will help others in the past. The more detail you could give the better.

Thanks

 

[Beppe]

well what prep work depends on what shape the body of your car is in do you have any rust? if so you would have to grind it out to new metal use some bondo to fill pits and imperfections. if your cars body is in very good shape no rust just bad paint i would strip what i can body kits lights ect assuming you have another car to get around with but i am guessing not? the only reason i say strip things off is because you never know what you may find underneath i see alot of peop[le just taping there cars off and painting but dont know whats underneath i found quarter panels ready to rust away with i had to cut and out weld in just a heads up. now if the body is in good shape and you have nothing to get else to get around in get some good wet&dry sand paper 320 grit, wash the car first then get a bucket fill it with soapy water and start sanding just till you get a nice dull smooth finish its not nessasary to go to the primer or bare metal like i did unelss you have to get out imperfections like peeling clear coat or something. then once you get a nice smooth dull finish and you are happy with it you are ready for priming. but if you are short on money you can always try the 50 dollar paint job with rustoleum. i did and got fantasic results heres some links to what it looks like, and good luck


http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm297/Beppe_7/DSCN0087.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm297/Beppe_7/DSCN0088.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm297/Beppe_7/DSCN0089.jpg

 

[MichaelSuch]

I just got finished painting my 1g Friday. It took us about 3 weeks from start to new paint. We used a DA Sander with a 5" pad to take off all the clear coat. Next we started wet sanding with 400 grit paper. If you have any dings at all you can use spot putty to fill them in. If there is bare metal on the dings you will want to put primer on them first to prevent rust. Also once the spot putty is on you will have to sand it down, and put more putty on to pretty much get the dings completely out. I would put primer over the putty as well, we did on some spots but others we didn't and you can kinda see where we didn't put the primer on the putty, but its very hard to see. My car had just a little rust on the lower part of the rear wheel wells, the trim covered it up so we didn't bother with it much.

Just make sure you tear down your whole car (all the window trim, plastic door trim, side skirts, and any hatch plastic, tail lights, headlights, mirrors, and door handles really need to come off if you want a very professional looking car). The plastic parts you can either sand with 400 grit or you can go out and buy scuff it (made by 3M). We got it from car quest and makes prepping plastics a lot easier in my opinion. We sprayed the car our self. We had 1 good layer of primer, then sanded it and prepped it for actual paint, then sprayed 1 really good base coat and 2 clear coats. Clear coat is very expensive, almost costed me $220/gallon from my local autobody shop but it was well worth it. It gives the nice shine that everyone wants to see. I'll start a thread on my car later and explain more on how we did it...

 

[Steelnation36]

-I would do the $50 paint job and ive heard very good things but id like to learn the process of a professional paint job its good knowledge to have. But wow ive never seen the $50 job up close that looks great and for the price wow. But i can manage transportation for about 2 weeks i figured id be without a car for that long minimum. I also have 2 people that would be helping me with the process and we are all pretty handy so i figure together we can progress fast with the taking about of everything and id want to do most of the sanding and filler on my own just for my own sake im kind of a perfectionist. But none the less 3 people should be able to accomplish it pretty quick.
-Also the paint is peeling and fading especially on the fenders and those crappy side skirts. *No Body Kit* The rest of the body is in ok condition not a ton of peeling but still id probably want to sand it down pretty close to metal maybe even to it. Id like to get a really good finish. No rust visible to the naked eye that i can see and ive inspected it, except for on the gas cap door. where there is a scratch. I may just replace the gas cap door though.

I will be going all out and getting supplies to do it right as well. We have a VERY high quality sander for the initial sanding then im guessing ill get the sanding block kit comes with a bunch of them different sizes and what not made especially for paint prep. But thanks for the responses keep em coming sorry i didnt include the condition of my car before.

And thanks for the part about the plastic pieces i was wondering about those stock side skirts. What kind of primer did everyone use? And any specific putty? i dont want bubbling or cracking. **MichaelSuch - def start a thread and post some pictures cant wait to see the final product.