ALT-2 Tips for Painting your Car yourself
Painting a car is a big job no matter who does it. It is also not that hard to do it yourself and still get really good results. You maybe rolling your eyes about now but trust me, I am well qualified on this subject. You see, the first thing you should do if you are considering taking on a task like this, and I highly recommend it, is to get some advice from someone that has some auto body repair and refinishing experience. This is where I come in because it just so happens that yours truly has 2 years of auto body repair and refinishing experience from technical school and several years practice since then. Sorry, I'm not bragging, I'm just trying to put your doubts to rest. Now because of allotted space and time, I am going to assume that all body work, for dents, dings and scratches has already been taken care of and that the car is primed and sanded smooth. No you don't have to prime the car but it is recommended. Also, because this is supposed to be on tips for painting your car, I'm going to assume that you already have the supplies and equipment needed to do the actual painting so I will not list every piece of equipment that is needed. I will give you some of my recommendations and the reasons why it is important for certain items.
What You Need
One of the most important things to have is an enclosed shelter with power supply, oh, and good lighting would be helpful also. I say enclosed shelter because if you decide to paint and your neighbor down the block decides to cut his grass, guess what. Yep, you will have one extremely interesting, and ugly, paint job. The slightest breeze can destroy your paint job with grass clippings, dust, dirt and anything else that can catch the wind. If you live in a larger city, check the classifieds, some times you will find someone that is willing to rent out his paint booth to the do-it-yourselfer. If you do manage to find a booth it is a dream come true.
I love to use visqueen plastic sheeting. Although it is not a must have, it is a good multipurpose item if you are using a garage or similar structure for painting. It is useful for keeping over spray off the walls or anything else that you dont want to get paint on, this includes your windshield and your wheels.
You will need lots of tape and I don't mean duct tape or scotch tape, not even cheap masking tape. Trust me when I tell you to buy the best painters tape you can get, you know, the blue or purple stuff that cost around $4 a roll or more. This is recommended for its ability to pull away clean when you done with painting the vehicle. It is also a very good idea to buy two different widths of tape, you will need it.
The paint gun is another area where it does not pay to skimp on quality. I'm not saying buy the best gun available but don't buy a tin cup with a trigger either. I highly recommend a HVLP spray gun because these will give you exceptionally good results and you won't waste a lot of paint. HVLP literally means High Volume Low Pressure. If you can manage it buy a paint gun kit, besides the spray gun they will usually come with an inline pressure regulator, again I highly recommend this because the ideal pressure for painting, especially with these style of paint guns, is usually between 30 and 35 psi.
One of the most important things that most everyone forgets is a tack cloth. It is a slightly sticky cloth picked up where ever you buy you paint. It is used to clean all loose debris, including dust, dirt and pollen off the car just before you paint it.
Last but not least is of course, the paint. Now before you go buying the paint you need to decide if you want a basecoat/clear coat together (single stage paint) or if you want them separate. Single stage paint is what almost all cars come with off the lot with but if you want the showroom shine then basecoat and clear coat separate is the way to go. This will be more expensive but definitely worth it especially when you see the finished product. If you go with base coat and clear coat separate then I would recommend picking up some sandpaper. I prefer something between 1500 and 2000 grit for a good show room finish. It is also important that you buy a respirator or you can get a light headed feeling while painting and will most likely end up with a pretty good headache later.
Tips and Tricks
Okay, you now have all of your supplies and equipment gathered together and now you're ready to paint, right? No quite. You are going to need to prep the car for paint and while I realize most of you already know this has to be done, I will quickly list what this entails and give explanation where needed.
To properly prep a car you will need to wash it thoroughly, every square inch needs to be cleaned. If you decide not to prime the car there is a trick that needs to be observed and that is when wash the vehicle, you should use something like Ajax powered cleaner or something slightly abrasive, like a steel wool pad. The reason for this is that it will rough up the existing finish just enough that the new paint will stick without any problems.
The next thing is taping the vehicle. You will need to tape up anything that is not getting painted, this includes the wheels, windshield, windows, door handles and etc. This is where it is nice to have two different sizes of tape. Remember that after you tape the vehicle, you won't be able to move the it without tearing off at least part of what you just did. I know, your thinking who would be dumb enough to tape a car up before they position it. I have seen students learning the trade forget about this step and while it is quite funny to see, it is not fun to undo 30 minutes of taping to move a vehicle 10 feet. Now as soon as you are done with the tape use the tack rag you bought and wipe down the entire car from bumper to bumper.
Now you are ready to paint your vehicle. Painting a car is not hard but it takes time to find your rhythm, so the best I can do now is to give you some rules of thumb. If you move to fast you will have drip marks and if you move to slow you will see high and low spots when it dries. Always, always overlap your passes and remember that you will NOT cover over all the old paint or primer with the first coat. The first pass is just enough to partially cover what's there and to make it tacky. After waiting several minutes you will spray the vehicle two more times, being careful not to go too fast or too slow. If when you are done there is a drip mark with till it is dry before you touch it. I would advise waiting at least an hour or two before doing anything to the vehicle. If you find a drip mark use a razor blade to gently work the drip mark flush with the rest of the surrounding paint.
When it comes to clear coating, the more coats you spray the more wet the paint will look when it is finished. You normally don't want to go more then 3 coats of clear no matter what you do. When everything is said and done and the vehicle is entirely dry you may want to wet sand the car with the super smooth sandpaper you bought and then buff it until it is so clear you can use it as a mirror.
Smile and enjoy.
