Respraying a car.

[waynne]

Not really sure about this but I've been talking with some guys and researching the subject but would really appreciate your take on this article before it makes it to the main site:-

Here it is spelling mistakes and all.

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Respraying a car.

Preparation is 150% of the job. If the surface to be painted is not completely smooth and free of dust, grit and residue then forget it. We will deal with bodywork repairs in another article and just focus on the act of painting a car or respraying the car.

Before you start:
Make yourself a spray booth. Clear plastic sheeting on a wooden frame is best but you can improvise by using sheets of cardboard to line your garage wall and floor. Ensure that the area you paint in is completely dust free and make sure that you are not spraying your car on a windy day. It also helps if you are respraying your car on a warm day.

If you are after a flip paint or special effect you must ensure that you buy the right paint!

Paints all behave in very different ways and come in the following main types acrylic, metallic, pearlescent, translucent and the techniques for application of these paints are not the same. We are assuming a standard acrylic paint for this guide.

Safety.
Paint fumes are not healthy to breathe in. A decorators dust mask will not protect you. You need good filtration to take out paint particles and you need to ensure that the area you are painting in has a good supply of fresh air and is well ventilated.

Equipment.
Spray paint cans will never give a professional finish and are actually expensive when compared with the cost of hiring a good quality spray gun and the paint. Check how much area the tin of paint covers to see what I mean and remember that you want to be doing 3-5 coats of paint.

Step 1: Wash down the area to be painted thoroughly all sanding and filling has to have been done before you get to this stage. Ensure all grit, dust and road film is removed by using a good quality car cleaning fluid WITHOUT a wax additive. Washing up liquid does a good job as this strips most of the wax, oil and bug residue from the car.

Step 2: Clinical cleansing. Using a paper towel or preferably a screen wipe and solvent cleaner such as IPA or similar spirit wipe over and buff off the surface to a smear free finish.

Step 3: Masking. Any exposed area of the car is going to get painted - just a few mm out with the masking and you will have really annoying over-spray lines. Masking is even more important, if you are changing the colour of the car, and you should pay attention to all of the seams IE open the doors, bonnet etc and take out the glass (when the windscreen goes and is replaced you do not want a small patch of the old paint showing through.) In a perfect world the car will just be a shell with all plastic and interior removed.

Step 4: Spraying. Ensure that you have a good flow of paint so test on a scrap of card - you need to look out for blobs and splatters. Do not aim to completely cover the metal just spray a fine mist over the surface - a load of thin coats of paint is much better than a couple of thick coats. Keep the spray gun moving at a regular pace from left to right on the first coat then up and down on the next coat. Try to view the car as a whole rather than just painting a panel at a time (if you are respraying just one panel you need to blend the paint in to the surrounding panels as most if not all paints fade over time.) Ideally leave 1 hour between coats of paint.

For some paint you need to finish with a final lacquer coar. The final lacquer coat will be the last you apply and even this can be applied in a couple of thin layers.

Step 5: Finish off with a fine grit of wet and dry paper then polish off with a cutting paste and then apply a good quality polish - this protects the car when you are refitting the parts you stripped off it.

[Freddie]

A handy little guide.. I think possibly more is need on the preperation side of things? I'm still confused wether I would need to sand away old paint, and all the way back to the metal?! I might have missed this in the article..

And IMO the 'drying times' would state 'ideally' more than 1 hour.. If you tell people one hour, they will always cut corners and make it half an hour, so if you tell them alot longer (I think it needs alot more than an hour to cure anyway?!) then they are less likely to cut corners on drying times: it's just human nature.

I'm sure James would like to have some input to this article, but thats my two cents.

[waynne]

Yup fair comment - the final dry time needs to be a lot longer. Not sure if a bare metal respray is necessary unless we are treating rust. I'll be interested to hear James' comments on it as he's in the business.

[the_names_james]

Firstly, I'd say prep is 65%, painting is 25% and flatting/polishing is 10%.

I don't think this is a good idea. The materials you'd need for a proper job are illegal to spray without a filtered booth. I have never used acrylic paint, all I use is base/clear. The hardener in the clearcoat is carcinogenic.

I have to go out. I'll comment again another time if you choose to go ahead with it.

[waynne]

You make a good point James - perhaps the article should be aimed at the minor repair rather than a complete respray. We certainly don't want to encurage people to risk their health & the environment and it is our duty to give both sides.

Do you think people could do a wing respray with a can and get a good enough job to blend with the rest of the car

The message may need to change to "the only way to get a proper job is to go to a pro with a spray booth and they will ....."

[the_names_james]

Originally Posted by waynne

You make a good point James - perhaps the article should be aimed at the minor repair rather than a complete respray. We certainly don't want to encurage people to risk their health & the environment and it is our duty to give both sides.

Do you think people could do a wing respray with a can and get a good enough job to blend with the rest of the car

The message may need to change to "the only way to get a proper job is to go to a pro with a spray booth and they will ....."

Nope.

The only way you'd get a fairly respectable finish is by using a compressor and spray gun, but there are many variables, including: temperature, air pressure, paint viscosity, what type of gun setup you use, what type of thinner you use, user ability, etc...

The only thing I'd be happy to paint using aerosols is interior trims, or maybe small stuff like door mirrors or handles, but it depends on the colour.

[waynne]

Thought as much! I need then to make this article more of a what the professionals do.

Paint types I have found so far:-
Acrylic, base, Metallic, Pearlescent, Flip, Candy, Chrome, Clearcoat

Any other types out there?

[the_names_james]

Most (if not all) bodyshops use a waterbased basecoat. Laws were revised a couple of years ago, limiting the amount of VOC's (volatile organic compounds) released into the environment.

Alot of the 'paints' you listed are effects.

Check here

[waynne]

Useful link - Thanx for that.

[billyo]

I wouldnt even think of a major respray in my backyard.