steps to painting car

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DwnShftPrincess

DwnShftPrincess

Senior Member
my car is already honda black and the rear quarter panel was repainted last year. you can tell the difference between the new paint and the old. i want to paint or regloss the rest of the car. anyone wiht steps and/or products? what type of paint (acrylic, lacquer, etc)?i don't know the difference. do i need to sand the car and repaint the entire car or sand off the gloss? i'm not changing the color i just want to put a fresh coat on there. baby steps would be appreciated.
 
if you haven't done it before, pay someone else to do it. not only is it a pain in the ass, but you can screw it up really easily. you will pay more to fix what you did than to pay to do it right in the first place.
 
well i got the equipment last year for christmas and a friend of mine had paint left over from painting his motorcycle so i wanted to give it a try. i'll try if first and if i f*** it up i know someone who will do it for next to nothing. he owes me BIG!!!
so, any help?
 
well, get to sanding then. use a 400 grit. pull off everything you can. headlights,taillights, trim, all the glass if you want to do it right. take time to primer it really well. get rid of any little bumps or creases. then spray, spray spray. maybe there is a "how to" article floating around.
 
Painting a car, or even the simplest bits of a car, is such a world-wide pain in the ass.

And no one seems to realise this.
 
thanks for the sites. i still have a few questions though. all of the painiting is for bare metal and what not. well i want to remove the clear coat and paint the car black again. no body work. what grit sandpaper do i need to use?
 
start with a 500 using aan air D.A. (dual-action) sander. I think the goal would be just to provide tohe new paint with a surface that would adhere and pull the paint in well..... so I can't imagine that you'd have to get a wholle lot of paint off.... just go over it untill you can tell that the clear is off in one section, then use a higher grit to get rid of any deep lines or imperfections.... then make sure you blow of the dust with compressed air outside of your work area, cuz that crap gets everywhere. Then you might try rinsing the car off really well before painting.

Hope this helps
 
Celerity said:
Painting a car, or even the simplest bits of a car, is such a world-wide pain in the ass.

And no one seems to realise this.
Click to expand...
I second that notion. I have done it twice, still did not come out right. There is more work then in that, in my opinion, then building a motor and swapping it into a car. Find some prices, have it done right, get a warrenty.
 
DwnShftPrincess said:
well i got the equipment last year for christmas and a friend of mine had paint left over from painting his motorcycle so i wanted to give it a try. i'll try if first and if i f*** it up i know someone who will do it for next to nothing. he owes me BIG!!!
so, any help?
Click to expand...

i wish i had a vagina so i could get free paint. :ph34r:




j/k i know that's not what it's about so don't get pissy.
 
i'm not a bitchy girl so i get it. he bought a gallon instead of a quart to paint a bike. Men.
 
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Do not start with a 500 grit when you first start sanding the car. You will be lucky to break clear coat. You said there are parts of the car with bare metal right!!!! Go to Home Depot and get yourself some of the blue 150-220 grit sandpaper to fit a dual-action sander. Start of slow to try and match the already bare metal spots. By this I do not mean to make the whole car bare metal but, to get down to at least the first basecoat. If you feel like taking more time, try and get to the old primer on the car. Make sure all parts such as headlights, bumpers, taillights and trim are off of the car first. If you do not want to remove the weatherstripping and windows use a heavy tape such as Automotive Masking Tape from Wal-Mart(Green) to tape off the stripping. Some people use a duct tape but I do not agree. Feel around the car to look for any differences in the surface level and then go over the car with a 320 grit automotive sandpaper from Wal-Mart or autozone. Before spraying the car with primer wipe it down with wax and grease remover but do not let it sit on there to long. Buy some tach-rags from any local paint shop and wipe the car down good prior to the first coat of primer. I recommend a filler primer such as Nason (about 83 bucks a gallon but worth the money). apply 2 even coats around the whole car after making sure your shit is taped off really nice.(took my anal ass about four hours.) Sand this down with a 400 grit sandpaper and apply spot putty to any imperfections such as small dings. Make sure you sand these areas with 320 grit before the putty(clean them off good first) Use the 400 grit to sand the putty. Clean the car again, apply your last coat and sand with 600 grit sandpaper before basecoat. If you want some extra details I am on so often and I'll get back to you.
 
Anyways guys im new in the crowd, I don't own a honda but my chick does. I am a man of civic repair. Ive replaced doors on this car twice, trunk lids, hoods. CV's, brakes, struts and shocks, water pumps, you name it. If you got any questions I'll be glad to answer whenever I get a chance. I have some questions on a 2000 front-end conversion to a 97 civic if you guys can be of any help.
 
i'm not painting bare metal. i'm sorry i should have made this clear most sites i visited for how to paint was for bare metal and repiared cars. i just want to take the clear coat off, spray some fresh honda black on it, and clear it. thats all. thanks for the help guys
 
and the whole priming thing, i'm trying to skip that if possible. i was told it's not necessary since i'm just refreshing the coat and not doing body work or changing the color.
 
paint

i used a urathane paint on my car. i would think for what you wanna do maybe just sand off the clear down to the black basecoat, and then use say 600 wetsand paper and make the black smooth as possible. i did that to my car with 1000 grit wetsand paper and then sprayed it with 2 coats clear. it turned out very shiny and looked pretty good until a dodge ran a red and smashed up the whole front end. only had it on the road 6 weeks. oh and clean the shit out of it every step of the way. if you have a good place to do it that will help also. good luck
 
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