How to paint my car?

[Nevalite 10+ year member]

Hey everyone,

I want to paint my entire car but I need some help figuring out how to do this properly...

I have done some basic body work and painting on rust spots but theres so many now that I figure I'm better off sanding the whole car down and paint it all...

From what I understand this is what needs to be done, let me know what else I have to do or what isn't right:

1. Sand the entire car with 220-400 grit

2. Bondo/sand any body work that needs to be done

3. Primer the whole car with 2-3 coats. (grey primer)

4. Wetsand the entire car with 600 grit

4. Paint the entire car with the color

5. Apply a clear coat? I'm not sure what to do here, do I sand before and after the clear coat?

6. Wax the entire car when its dry.

Would this work out? What have I missed?

Could this be done with spray cans or do I absolutely need a compressor/spray gun?

Thanks!!!

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[mepratt1234@cha 10+ year member]

I would put multiple coats of the color down and also the clear coat. If you want it to be nice you need a spray gun.

Not sure about the other steps.

 

[GabeC 10+ year member]

in my experience, Step 4 needs to be done with a higher grit, i believe 600 is too gritty and will take some primer off, i've used 1000 grit to wetsand the primer, everything else looks right

you can wetsand after the first base coat with 1200 grit and then do a clear or u can do another base and sand then clear

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

I like to wet sand between every coat, takes time and patience. I use 1200grit though...

 

[MisterGrubbs 5,000+ posts]

Spray cans work great - go to the local store and pick up some high gloss black - you wont even need to clearcoat then!!!

Better yet, a friend of mine once let me paint his car, I painted a "chrome" paint stripe down his Tercel, along with spraying his wheels, exhaust tip, and top half of the motor. Looked great.

Get someone to help that konws what the hell they're doing, use a spray gun, and if you absolutely cant figure it out - get it sanded well and ready to go and pay someone to just spray it, explain sanding is already done.

 

[Nevalite 10+ year member]

So it would be:

1. Sand the entire car with 220-400 grit

2. Bondo/sand any body work that needs to be done

3. Primer the whole car with 2-3 coats. (grey primer)

4. Wetsand the entire car with 1000+ grit

5. Paint the entire car with the color (x2 if needed)

6. Wetsand the entire car with 1200 grit

7. Apply clear coat

8. Wax the entire car when its dry

Does the clear coat come in the color of the car or is it just like a shiny glaze/see thru layer? Do I sand between the main color and the clear coat?

 

[Steven206Seattl 10+ year member]

Spray cans work great - go to the local store and pick up some high gloss black - you wont even need to clearcoat then!!!
Better yet, a friend of mine once let me paint his car, I painted a "chrome" paint stripe down his Tercel, along with spraying his wheels, exhaust tip, and top half of the motor. Looked great.

Get someone to help that konws what the hell they're doing, use a spray gun, and if you absolutely cant figure it out - get it sanded well and ready to go and pay someone to just spray it, explain sanding is already done.

LOL.

Anything you do should be better than macco

 

[Nevalite 10+ year member]

So it would be:
1. Sand the entire car with 220-400 grit

2. Bondo/sand any body work that needs to be done

3. Primer the whole car with 2-3 coats. (grey primer)

4. Wetsand the entire car with 1000+ grit

5. Paint the entire car with the color (x2 if needed)

6. Wetsand the entire car with 1200 grit

7. Apply clear coat

8. Wax the entire car when its dry

Does the clear coat come in the color of the car or is it just like a shiny glaze/see thru layer? Do I sand between the main color and the clear coat?

Anyone?

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

Don't use spray paint, it will completely ruin everything and look like shit.

 

[mrbomb 10+ year member]

1. Sand the entire car with 220-400 grit

2. Bondo/sand any body work that needs to be done

3. Primer the whole car with 2-3 coats. (grey primer)

4. Wetsand the entire car with 1000+ grit

5. Paint the entire car with the color at least 2 coats with the first coat being very light coat and steadily go heavier

6. Wetsand the entire car with 1200 grit

7. Apply clear coat

8.if you want a great finish wetsand with 1500+ and then buff

9. Wax the entire car when its dryI like to wait at least a couple weeks to wax just to make sure everything has cured

 

[mrbomb 10+ year member]

and clear is just clear, works with any color

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

Before laying down primer: Rinse car off, dry. Apply some sort of de-greaser/paint prep solution to remove wax and oils from surface. Wipe all that off. Rinse vehicle off again. Dry. Hit with tack cloth to remove lint and dust.

If you can't get into a booth somewhere, second best thing you can do is actually hose down the floor of your work area and throw drop cloths down around the car to prevent lint and dust from floating up in the air and getting trapped under paint or primer. Otherwise when everything dries you got 'zits' in your paint job and when they pop you end up with craters. Everything you do wrong prior to the color coat will be exhaggerated once you paint over it. Some of it can be fixed once there is paint on the car, for some things all you can do is remove it all and start over.

Pay attention to the paint instructions to find out how much time to allow between coats. Most of the time it's 15-20 minutes. The goal is to use the least amount of paint necessary to get complete coverage. And as someone else said... to REALLY make it look good wet sand with 1500 or 2000 grit once the last layer of clear has dried then follow up with buffing compound and finally polish. When you sand the paint it will loose its shine and you may be scared you've screwed it up. Don't be. Use a block to avoid putting grooves in the paint and just don't press too hard. As you flatten the clear coat surface it looses shine but a nice, deep shine will come back when you buff and then polish. So go with an extra layer or two of clear clear so there's less chance you'll go all the way through when sanding/buffing/polishing.

 

[ShiningBuick 10+ year member]

I'm not sure how good your skills are at spraying paint, but if it's your fist time I'd suggest painting it up to the base coat, then taking it to a body shop to let them spray clear.

I painted my Park Ave and everything went smoothe until I shot the clear. It's HARD to get it perfect. There's a fine line between putting on too much and having runs or not shooting enough and having it grainy.

It'd cost a couple hundred for them to fire the clear probably, but unless your a progdigy and or have a good gun it's gonna need a loooot of wetsanding.

 

[brentyloke]

what exactly is wetsanding, and if i wanted to paint the car flat black wouldnt clear coating ruin the effect. or is there a clear coat that still keeps the matte color.

 

[Crutch 10+ year member]

1. Sand the entire car with 220-400 grit
2. Bondo/sand any body work that needs to be done

3. Primer the whole car with 2-3 coats. (grey primer)

4. Wetsand the entire car with 1000+ grit

5. Paint the entire car with the color at least 2 coats with the first coat being very light coat and steadily go heavier

6. Wetsand the entire car with 1200 grit

7. Apply clear coat

8.if you want a great finish wetsand with 1500+ and then buff

9. Wax the entire car when its dryI like to wait at least a couple weeks to wax just to make sure everything has cured

Number 9 is key. Do NOT wax for 3 weeks minimum.....