Well since theres been alot of people asking lately on adive with paint/body work i thought id put together what i know and make a thread to help everyone out a lil If you can add to this/change/improve anyhitng ive wrote please do so im just learning myslef But here we go Body Work Youll need a good set of body hammers and dollys to do your body work if you have any real dents. These can be purchased for around $20-$80+ 1- Bump your dents out- find all the dents that need body work and your goin to need to bump these out. I like to get everything to about 1/16 of an inch from perferct before i apply filler. Doing the actuall bumping will take pratice its all about getting a feel for moving the metal. Pratice ona spare fender if you have one layin around. 2- Apply your filler- over the areas youve bumped out. Youll want a nice lightweight body filler dont go buy the cheapest filler there is shop around a little to find a good filler it will make your work much easier. 3- Sand your filler- Make sure to use a sanding board larger than the area your sanding. Start with 40 grit paper workin over the area in a X pattern. DO NOT SAND STRAIGHT ACROSS OR UP AND DOWN. after yove got the rough shape with the 40 grit move to 80 grit to cut soem more than finailly 150 grit to finish. Primer 1- Cover your bare metal- Use a good selfetching primer like etchlock from sherwin willims or some people perffer an epoxy primer like one from the dp line from ppg ex. dp90lf. 2- Primer surfacer- Once you have all the bare metal coverd apply 2-3 coats ofa high build primer surfacer ex. k38 from ppg follow recoat times on label. 3- Sand first primer application- I like to sand my first application with 150 grit to cut it quickly ull be doing many more coats. 4- Reapply primer surfacer- Follow number 2 5- Apply a guide coat to the primer- Put a mist coat of a contrasting coat over all the primer before sanding. 6- Sand second primer coat- This is where i start with 320 grit and sand untill all guide coat is sanded off evenly. 7- Reapply primer surfacer- Follow number 2 8- Sand primer final step- With this coat you should ahve it even enought to guide coat it sand evenely with 320 grit then wetsand with 600. if you are not 100% happy with the straightness of you work now it the time to fix this. Continue reappling the primer and sanding untill you are hapy with your work. Prep And Paint 1- Prep the car- Go over the whole car with a clean rag and soem wax and grease remover also called paint prep. Use as many rags as you have to make sure your rag is always clean this is what will keep fisheyes out of your paint. 2- Mix your paint 3- wipe the dust off the car- Using a new tack rag fluff it up and lightly wipe over the entire car makin sure all dust and dirt is off the surface. 4- Time to spray- Adujust your gun to the reccomendations for your paint. apply light coats and allow proper flas time between coats as reccommende by the paint manufacture. Make sure to tck rag the car between coats. 5- recoat untill you have even coverage across the whole car. 6- Apply you clear- This is where it gets a little tricky. readjust your gun to the paint manufactures reccomendations. witht he gun 6-8 inches away slwoly and evenly apply the clear. Be cautious To close or to slow and youll run the clear. To far away or to fast and it will be dry and orange peely. 7- Apply 3-4 coats of clear Wetsand and wheel 1- after the paint is fully cured wetsand the entire vehiicle with 2000 grit paper. You can use 1500 but it buffs out much shiner and eaiser with 2000. Make sure to tape off any ridges and body lines so that you dont sand throught the clear thsi will ruin the job. 2- Buff- with a wool pad on a 1500 - 3000 rpm buffer. i perffer 3m perfect it 3 rubbing compound. Stay away from high spots and ridges so you dont burn through the paint. buff untill all the sanding scrathes are gone and there is a shiny finish. 3- Polish- I liek to use 3m finnesse it finishing compound with a foam pad in the buffer. 4- Hand polish with a swirl free hand polish. after this you are done DO NOT WAX FRESH PAINT! wait at least 30 days to apply your first coat of wax. And thats all folks ill add a small price list of a few things i can think of Prices are at my local shop and may vary High build primer k38-$130 a gallon Basecoat- Varies from brand and color from $15-$90 a quart Clear- Also varies from $120+ Sand paper 40-150 grit vary from around $35 for a pack of decent long board sheets 3m perfect it 3 rubbing compound- $13 3m finesse it- $40 Wool pad-$8 Foam pad- $15 Thats about all i got right now hope it helps and feel free to add anyhting you know to improve this thread thanks Hope this helps, Kevin.

When mixing my clear (PPG Omni) I noticed that it was just the clear and hardener in the mix ratio.....this will orange peel and will run late (run after you think you have enough but not too much clear on, like 2-5 minutes after). Talking to some painters they said to reduce the clear...no more than 10%. I have tried that and runs are a thing of the past. Also they recommend starting your wet sanding with 1000 grit, then 1500, then 2000 and finally, 3M Perfect-it with a wool pad.
So far I'm happy with the Omni line of paints, a gallon of primer (epoxy), color & clear and all hardeners is just $265 (local).

Oh, and always, always, always mix the paint exactly in the ratios the mfg calls for.

yeaup thats good stuff right there to i forgot i add 1 cap full of a reducer to 32oz of clear