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Steps in Painting a Car

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by haroldd1963, Aug 22, 2011.

  1. haroldd1963
    Joined: Oct 15, 2007
    Posts: 1,154

    haroldd1963
    Member
    from Peru, IL

    My father and I are just about ready to lay some paint on the 1964 Falcon convertible that we have been working on the past couple of years.

    We took the entire car down to bare metal and every part of it has been worked over, primed, sealed, block sanded, etc.

    It has been a loooooong time since either of us have painted a complete car.

    A question for those of you who do this on a regular basis. What is the order you use in spraying the color?

    We plan on painting the underside and under hood areas the same color as the body. We will be painting it a green metalic base coat and clearcoating it.

    We have the car mounted on a rotisere.

    We have taken quite a bit of time getting all the panels arrow straight and all the gaps between panels right.

    Also, your thoughts on painting it all at once, both base and clear, or wet sanding between coats.

    Thank You,
    Harold
     
  2. PinHead
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 243

    PinHead
    Member

    Been awhile since I've done one too, but you'll probably want to do the jams separate, then tape them off to prevent overspray.

    Most manufacturers recommend going straight from base to clear, I don't know of any that recommend sanding your basecoat. You shouldn't need to sand your clearcoat between coats either unless your metallic is super heavy and you need a ton of clear to bury it.
     
  3. abone1930
    Joined: Jan 16, 2006
    Posts: 1,325

    abone1930
    Member

    I painted mine a rotisere too. Painted my bottom and inside first and cleared, tapped off the inside and bottom. Then painted jambs and car color then clear.
     
  4. 39 All Ford
    Joined: Sep 15, 2008
    Posts: 1,531

    39 All Ford
    Member
    from Benton AR

    IMO order dosen't matter so much except for the hard to reach areas, (hinge area of jambs etc), but if you have not done a COMPLETE mock assembly do so before you spray. Panel alignment etc, MUST be addressed before paint.

    You will want to block the car as one piece at least once also.


     

  5. saints
    Joined: Dec 15, 2008
    Posts: 553

    saints
    Member

    Yep block the car with guide coat one last time and use a long board as much as possible..... jam the car cover the areas and shoot color, some will seal car and then shoot color but its up to you and the money
    tack rag the car before shooting clear to get the loose overspray and lint or debris
    also wipe the car down good with prep sol or other wax and grease remover before paint
    just some highlights I can think of
     
  6. jay7262
    Joined: Jun 6, 2011
    Posts: 124

    jay7262
    Member

    This is what I've always done on complete jobs: Before I do the final sanding, I pull the doors, deck lid, hood. This way you can sand all the jambs well and hit them with a scuff pad, run 12" masking paper or 1/2 pages of news paper around the door openings on the body so you don't get heavy overspray on the exterior. Cut in your door shells, underside of trunk, and inner fender edges and hinge pillars and door jambs with your basecoat, let it flash about 30 min. apply 2 coats of clear. After a few days you can finish sand your exterior, tape up the jambs with 6" masking paper or 2" masking tape. 3M makes a nice 1/2" diameter foam tape made just for jambs and keeps overspray to a minimum. Tape up all your window openings. I blow off the car multiple times during the process, including myself. Wipe the car down with prep-sol, or similar product, tack car body, seal , base, tack the base before you clear, if you don't think your base is dry enough wait about 45 min. Take your time, there's no rush. Use a mid-temp reducer for your basecoat, and mid-temp reducer for your clear, that's a small car, if your reducer is to slow you might have some runs to work out later. Good Luck
     
  7. When I spray a car with a complete color change or re-color I make sure the entire thing is assembled and gapped, then spray the entire outside of the car. (especially if it is a metallic) Mask the unpainted door jambs as good as you can to reduce overspray and resanding. This makes sure that all the panels are uniform in color and metallic orientation is the same throughout. Once the clear is dry, then I disassemble the fenders, doors, hood, trunk and other trim parts and add color to the jambs and underside of the trunk, hood, ect. You can color/clear the body jambs only or mask the jambs for color and reclear the whole main body again to reduce the chance for tape lines. ( I like to completely reclear) Mask the outside of the doors, hood, trunk completely and while the parts are on a stand, put tape around the border edge of the panel that can be pulled off immediatly after clear. This provides a soft clear edge at the edge of the panel. This way of painting makes sure that you have super slick jambs, uniform color and no chance of overspray. This works well if you are doing stripes/graphics on the outside because you are spraying the whole exterior of car assembled and don't have too guess where the stripes line up. You can then take the stripes into the jambs after the initial re-color/clear for a better job and everyone will be astonished as to how you did it!

    Though done on an O/T car, this shows the process:
    [​IMG]

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    See More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cccstl/sets/72157623729433708/
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2011
  8. Turbos10
    Joined: Aug 8, 2011
    Posts: 55

    Turbos10
    Member
    from Texas

    As hobby painter only I just want to ask about the above process of painting exterior first and then jambs and interior. I have done a couple garage jobs with good results and always done it backwards from this and from what I had been told in the past was the easiest way and safest way to keep from chipping.

    My question is why not reverse the color order and do all the jamb work first and then mask from the inside. I reread and and I just did not quite get it. I guess in my mind it just seems like that is easier unless you are reclearing the entire panel. Is the reclear for no tape lines the main reason for this? I have just lightly sanded and buffed in the past to blend them if they were an issue.

    Just curious because I have a paint project coming up...you obviously know your poop. Thanks.
     
  9. The MAIN main reason for this is to make damn sure there is absolutely no overspray in the jambs. The door hinge area is by far the hardest place to mask without getting overspray. The other reason for this style of painting is to get artwork to match up if you plan on taking the artwork into the jambs.

    On single solid colors you can paint the car almost any way you want, this is just a trick to get art work and metallics to match up.

    As with anything, you HAVE to be carefull of chipping during reassembly. Make sure you have assembled and gapped all parts prior to paint so there are no suprises during reassembly.
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2011
  10. Turbos10
    Joined: Aug 8, 2011
    Posts: 55

    Turbos10
    Member
    from Texas

    Okay, that makes sense. I have done solid color only and just sprayed the jambs and hinges with the door open. I actually did this and the interior in one stage. But, I know what you mean about the jambs; there is nothing worse than a great paintjob with ugly jambs and hinges. I know, I have a car like this in my garage right now(not my work).
     
  11. Blackmaria60
    Joined: Apr 30, 2008
    Posts: 532

    Blackmaria60
    Member

    O to have a paint booth.....
     
  12. drs47ford
    Joined: Sep 5, 2010
    Posts: 108

    drs47ford
    Member
    from Western NY

    Yeah....no kidding.
     
  13. haroldd1963
    Joined: Oct 15, 2007
    Posts: 1,154

    haroldd1963
    Member
    from Peru, IL

    Thanks for all the input!
     
  14. jay7262
    Joined: Jun 6, 2011
    Posts: 124

    jay7262
    Member

  15. haroldd1963
    Joined: Oct 15, 2007
    Posts: 1,154

    haroldd1963
    Member
    from Peru, IL

  16. i wish i had a paint booth..
     

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