ALT-1 Tips for Painting your Car yourself
The first tool (and the most important tool) In actually applying the paint is the Spray Gun! There are many brands and styles to choose from so being well informed is important. Different styles include pressure fed, high pressure, and HVLP which stands for High Volume, Low Pressure. These styles may be gravity fed or siphon fed. In my experience the HVLP gravity feed spray gun is not only the easiest to use but offers the best utilization of your paint by using everything in the paint cup and resulting in less overspray bouncing off of your work. This way your cleanup is a little easier as well.
Spray guns must be handled carefully. These are extremely precise instruments with many small parts and they require cleaning and special attention EVERY single time they are used. To properly do so they must be fully dismantled and thoroughly cleaned. When putting your spray gun back together, be sure not to force any of the parts together, if you are unsure of where a piece belongs, refer to your users manual, every company includes one along with their product that contain more explicit instructions on how to clean and operate their specific spray gun.
As far as choosing a brand it's really a matter of preference, requirements and what your comfortable with. I had the pleasure of learning with several different brands and they all performed above and beyond my expectations, once I was used to them and had the adjustments perfect. You'll really just need to do some research maybe even find a store that will let you do a few test panels to really get a feel for the spray gun that will fit your style and needs.
Back in the day, many, many moons ago when the earth was flat, cars were painted with lacquer applied with a brush. One can only imagine how many runs, sags and other imperfections went into the finish, but then these were all cut, polished and buffed out. This process took over a month. Today we've got technology on our side and with a little practice and patience, one can apply a near perfect finish within a few days if your not trying any fancy-shmancy tricked out' paint job. But an important part of this process and cutting down a lot of paint time is the environment in which you paint. This will ensure proper coverage and a clean surface on which to apply your paint. Now because not all of us are sitting on 20-50 grand in the bank an easy way to make a paint booth is to use part of your garage or even a shed that will give you plenty of room around your work, contains a place to install filters, and fans and compressors for your lines in and out. Be sure also to check with your local EPA chapter to obtain any permits you may need.
The other equipment will include sanding blocks of varying sizes, the best I can suggest would be made by Dura-block. Not only are these high quality instruments, but they afford a little give to save your hands and they come in nine different shapes and sizes and are also available in convenient three and 6 piece sets. Use Dura-block sanding blocks with adhesive-backed sandpaper and can be used for wet or dry sanding. The best sandpaper is manufactured by 3M check out their website for more information and deals on bulk purchases. Be sure to get a wide range of grits. In fact your going to want to get everything from P100 to P5000 grits. I'm only going to go over how to fully paint a vehicle this time or I'd never be done with this article! I'll go into more detailed processes, such as blending, cutting parts, and feather edging scratches.
For prepping your surface so that it has a tooth' on which the paint can be applied, you will need to ensure that it has no major imperfections (otherwise refer to my other articles - available soon, which will need to be fixed prior to painting your vehicle). Wash the entire car completely with soap and water. A special note: NEVER wash a car on a hot day in direct sunlight, it could dry the soap and/or water leaving hard water spots behind which can damage your final product. Scuffing the entire vehicle with a Scotch-brite pad will be the first order of business. Be sure that none of the following are present: excessive/deep scratches, rust under paint, lifting and peeling. If any of these conditions are present, the finish will need to be fully removed to the bare metal for proper adhesion.
Once you have scuffed over the entire car you shouldn't be able to see any gloss on the finish at all. To help with the process you may use clean water applied by a spray bottle or just keep a constant flow over the area you're working on make sure the waters always clean. This technique is called wet sanding and can quicken your scuff time. Don't forget to hit just on the inside of the jambs including those found around the doors and just inside the gas tank door and in the trunk compartment, as well as under the hood. However, you must not rush any of the step to this process as it could be detrimental to your paint job's overall turnout. Try not to take down too much of the mil thickness of your paintjob. This can make noticeable variances depending on the color you use, which company it's by and the way light may hit your car.
You will now begin to mask of your car. Most people would think: "Oh good, I'll just save the paper for a few days, and use some cheap-o masking tape from the dollar store, and Voila! Masking done." Nope, wrong. First order of business is to stock up on your two most important weapons: " 3M masking tape and 18" and 36" masking paper. Masking paper is specially treated to provide a barrier against the solvents in paint and comes in various sizes. Begin by taping all edges to paint including in door jambs, around plastic/chrome body moldings such as those found around windows, and bumpers, lights and under the hood and the trunk about " away from the edge, same goes for the door jambs. This will ensure that the paint blends into the door and matches throughout.
With the first barrier' in place, you will now place aprons' everywhere you don't want paint. An apron is a piece of masking paper with tape on it. To make aprons, you'll want to get a masking machine, which easily and effortlessly applies tape to one edge of your masking paper. Now mask off your windows, door handles, mirrors and anywhere else paint is not desired, be sure your paper is tight across all surfaces and has no pockets or loose spots that might pop' or bounce overspray back onto your freshly painted surface.
So close to painting! Mask the wheel wells and tires. To mask the tires, Wet a rather large piece of 36" masking paper (tape not needed), the paper doesn't need to be saturated, just wet enough to bunch up, unfold and wrap around your wheels. This should dry and create a sort of encasement that should take the shape of your tire.
Final step of preparation: wax and grease remover. When using a paint system, always stay within the system. PPG solvents/products with other PPG products; House of Kolor solvents/products with other House of Kolor products; and so on. This includes wax and grease removers, primers, sealers, paints, clears, and any reducers needed. Wax and grease remover does exactly what it says: removes road oils, grease, pollution contaminants and other none-water-soluble contaminants that will affect how your paint lays down and it's overall quality in the end. When using wax and grease remover use it with two lint free wipe-alls: one with product applied, and one dry to immediately pick up the wax and grease remover do not allow it to evaporate. Change sides of the wipe-all with each pass and be sure to wear gloves. DO NOT touch any of the car with anything, your hand, glove, or any part of your respiratory suit, if you have one.
That brings up another good point, you will need to wear either a respiratory mask, hood or suit. If you are sensitive to solvents in paint it is a good idea to wear a suit. At least wear a respiratory hood that way you don't need to wear a face mask, goggles and gloves you just need the hood and gloves.
Mix your paint by the makers recommendations. Using a mixing cup with ratios marked on it is easiest. You will need to mix up primer sealer or sealer, paint and clear. Be sure to always mix a quarter to half more than you need just in case you have an emergency. Adjust your spray pattern so that when you are about 6-10" from your work surface your spray fan pattern is about 7-8" tall. This is a good starting point to practice from. You'll want to adjust to meet your need/style/technique. Allow me to remind you, this is just an overview, you really need to just do in order to know. Like I've said, time and time again: Practice and Patience.
Something that I have found that helped was just sitting around reading a good Car Kulture Deluxe magazine or the paper and just operate an empty gun hooked up to air and get used to listening to the gun and how it feels with you pull the trigger. No joke I did this for about 20-30 minutes every other day for a week when I got my first gun. Even though I did go to school for Automotive collision/refinishing/customization, I still needed to get used to my gun that I own, not one that was used and abused by literally hundreds of students. I found that now that it's used to how I work, I can usually adjust it by just sound in less than a minute and begin spraying.
Things to consider while painting include working speed and difference which both directly affect how you paint. If you are too slow and too close your paint with go on heavy resulting in sags, runs, drips and an overall poor quality. Conversely, however, if you are too quick and too far away you'll end up with something really dry, stippled and may result in inefficient hiding or coverage'. Now don't get me wrong, you don't want full coverage right off the bat, it may take two to three coats to achieve full coverage. Always allow the proper flash time as provided by the paint manufacturer. The flash time allows for all the VOC's to evaporate but not allowing the paint to fully dry, this ensures that when you apply the next coat solvent pop won't happen by solvents trying to escape from underneath the paint layer and creating little bubbles in the finish. Should this occur you will need to completely let the paint dry and strip it and start all over again and that sucks, so follow the paint manufacturers flash time recommendations, remember always to take your time.
Between coats use a tack rag to gently lift off any particles that may have found their way onto your fresh paint, this is especially important if you are working in a makeshift paint booth. If you're using a paint that has a flake to it (which you probably are [ is it all "glittery"? yeah that's flake]) you'll need to ensure that it is FULLY mixed prior to each paint session and it wouldn't hurt in between a coat. If you plan on painting a lot you might want to invest in a paint agitator. The flakes must remain equally suspended in the solvent with the pigment. If you decide to paint an area one day and another the next (which really isn't recommended) or if you need to save some paint and repair a scratch that you've featheredged (which is recommended) when you leave it and re-spray it the color will come out darker because a large portion of the flakes will have sunk to the bottom. Always, always agitate your paint, it's really just a good habit to get into.
When you lay down your clear you want to get it on really wet, it might even look like it's on too thick of course you'll want to avoid sagging and running the paint but if you do, this is the only mildly acceptable time to do it, you'll be able to sand out (very slowly) with P1500 grit paper any minor imperfections you may have. Like most sanding techniques, you'll want to try and remove as little paint as possible when you are doing this and it can be rather hard to judge if you done too much because it's clear. Also be sure to wait about a week, give or take, before you do anything, this way the finish is still soft enough that you can work with it but cured enough that touching it's not going to ruin it. If you are in a warmer climate or doing this during the summer the wait time with obviously be less and, if it's winter or you reside in a cooler climate the wait time may be more. If you cure your vehicle using a booth you'll really only need to wait a day or two.
After you've finished all minor repairs, and buffed them out you should have a pretty new shiny car. If your paint has a slight ripple to it in the light, a texture that looks similar to that of an orange peel, you can remove it from all vertical surfaces that catch a lot of light including the hood, roof and deck lid, you don't really need to worry if it's not too noticeable on the side body panels, heck even brand-spankin' new cars have orange peel on the doors, fenders and quarter-panels - from the factory! Well that should cover the basics for a "Scuff n' Squirt" paint job. Make sure you have as much time available to devote to anything concerning automotive refinishing. Time and confidence mixed with my favorites: patience and practice, will result in a beautiful finish, one that you can be proud to call your own. Although it never hurts to get input from professionals, and if you come across any problems using a certain system you can often times call a products manufacturer and they can help walk you through the process.
Happy Shooting!
