Craiggg

iTrader: (1)

So I've been checking out some of your guys threads. You show pics of the car and it's just sitting in the garage. Did you just paint it sitting there or was it like in an enclosure? Wouldn't dust and other airborne things get all over and in the paint? I'm just asking cause I'm about to start painting my car. If I don't have to make some kind of enclosure I'm not going too cause my garage is already packed full of crap I don't feel like moving. But anyways...

While painting do you have to wetsand or can you just sand and then wash the dust off. Or do you even have to sand at all?

Also not a paint question but refers to painting. How do I take the glass pieces out of my mirrors? Do they just pop out or what?

I'm just trying to get different opinions. Any advice you think would be helpful to a first time painter please post.

Thanks...

torquejunky

iTrader: (10)

I paint out of my garage, all I do is wet the floor down pretty good and that takes care of a lot of the dust/dirt. I do usually have some trash though, but I just wet sand and buff to take care of it.
As far as the mirrors most power mirrors have a pivot ball on the back of the mirror glass that pops into a socket inside the housing. They can be pretty fussy to remove, but try angling the mirror glass all the way over and wiggling a finger in behind it to see if you can feel anything like that. Once you establish whether it is a ball and socket arrangement, put some painters masking tape on the mirror glass, put on some mechanic style gloves, and gently pry the mirror glass with your hands to pop it out of the socket. Just BE CAREFUL and make sure that's how they are as I've never done it on a 4th gen.

Fast_94_Z

iTrader: (12)

definately wet the floor down because it will really help. also i would recommend putting plastic over your garage walls and stuff which will help keep overspray off your walls. even at work with our both we a tiny bit of dirt in the base coat. what i do is let the bass flash off completely and wetsand any dirt out and then put a couple more coats of base incase theres any burn throughs. also another good thing to have is a 3 or 4 stage air dryer for your compressor or some good filters to attach to the gun to prevent any oils or water going through the fluid tip.

Marc3.4V6

iTrader: (1)

Be careful if you have a water heater. Flammable vapors will ignite with the pilot light from the heater in the garage.

svtaaron

best advice thus far !

wash your car..

throw a chain around the rear axle or something to ground it. helps with static.

begin to fix/repair any body work that you have. prime over those areas. block them down and feather the edges. once all done, sand rest of car with 500-800 paper (grit can depend on what color you are putting on it, some paints such as silver and black and metallics will show finer sand scratches through the base more than a white.
once the car is prepped/taped and ready to shoot

wet the floor down.
wax and grease remove it. (wipe on, wipe off)
seal the car with 2 coats of epoxy primer sealer which is a catalyzed sealer. selecting a sealer closer to shade of color you are painting it (if you are going black, dont use white and vice versa) one of the purposes for sealer is to help you get good coverage and a nice even lay with your base. also seals up some of the solvents in the body work and any weird thing that may or may not have popped up from the old base coat.

apply base and top coats as needed.

for clear, espeically if you are a newer painter, i would go a few more coats if you are planning on wetsanding and buffing yourself to help protect you burning through the edges/adjacent panels in the process of a wetsand and buff. you may even tape of the adjacent panels and edges in order to not do so. but do not wetsand an edge !!

i woud begin in 1200-1500 and finish with 2000.

wool pad with a medium cut compound and then come back with a foam, a little lower rpm and a good polishing compound. for a final finish a machine glaze or a showcar hand glaze works well from mguires.

good luck.any good counter person at the local paintstore will take you through the steps aswell.

Craiggg

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the replies. I never knew about wetting the floor down. I'll make sure I do that. And my water heater is inside the house not in the garage.

Do you have to wetsand inbetween base coat and clear. Also someone told me that I don't even need to use primer. Said I could just scuff up my old clear coat and start spraying on that... My car is red and i'm painting it red if that's any help.

Craiggg

iTrader: (1)

Also does it matter if it's raining outside or anything. I know this one guy who painted his vette and all his paint bubbled up.

BTW I already got a hvlp gravity gun and water/oil/air seperator and air regulator and everything else I need. Just need to get paint when I'm ready. Going to do body work most likely tommorow when I get off work in the morning.

I work at AAP/Hitachi Metals. They make rims for ford and honda and subaru and a couple other companies. So you know I got a couple things from there. And have a little experience with painting.

Fast_94_Z

iTrader: (12)

it doesnt so much matter if its raining just whatever you do dont get the surface your painting wet. you could scuff the clear but if you have any bondo areas or sand through areas i recommend primer on those areas first. also i like to let my base coat flash off and wetsand any imperfections out the base because sometimes you get little hairs or small dirt under the base coat that will show up after its been cleared. and even though you might sand the clear flat they will show because they are under the clear rather then in the clear.

svtaaron

you dont have to rewet the floors between coats, i wouldnt risk splashing anything up on the car.
about your buddy and the vette, there is likely another problem that went in with his vette. painting on a rainy day, specially without a booth can give you better results because it keeps the dust out of the air. humidity effects the paint jst a little bit but actually allows it to flow out better. water borne paints will take forever to dry on a rainy day and i wouldnt recommend spraying them on one.

you dont have to reprimer your car. i wouldnt recommend it if your current paint is solid right now. i was jst suggesting you seal it. a seal is sort of like a primer but you dont sand/block it down. you shoot it like a base coat. (sealer/epoxy primer) kind of like the difference in soda/pop.

anyway, goodluck