I've decided that, since I've got access to all of the necessary supplies: two nice guns, a nice compressor, a paint booth and furniture finishing and spraying experience (who knows how helpful that will be ), I'm going to paint my '86. However, before I go to it, I have a couple of simple questions to which I had difficultly finding answers with the search function:

1.) I realize that I should use flex agent on my rubber parts, but I've heard that using too much can alter the colour of the paint which would cause my bumpers not to match the rest of my car. Is this true?

2.) I'm contemplating painting my first car with some nice paint that may require some relatively fine prep sanding if it's not going to look like garbage. (Chrysler Platinum) Like I said, I have a lot of experience prepping and finishing various expensive hardwoods, but I'm afraid it's not the same. That being said, I do know a few people who have painted cars for a living that might be able to come check out my work, but will definitely not be willing to help without being paid. (Which I really can't afford to do unless it is in beer ) Do you think that I should go with a colour like this in which small dings, etc. will be obvious, or should I start with an easier colour, e.g. red?

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading.


PS: Another note...
I successfully painted my engine bay satin black during the last motor change without any problems, so changing colours shouldn't be an issue at all. However, I'm wondering if I should pull the hood and mask off the entire engine bay in order to obtain perfect coverage in the driprails/hood edges, etc. I'm going to paint the underside of the hood anyways, so...

Thanks again.

 

as to the flex agent, I've yet to use it but have heard the same thing. It will apparently darken the paint and too much may cause fisheye.

About the color/preping. Take your time, do it well and use a long sanding block. If you're good with FINE hardwoods, trust your eye. You'll probably do very well. Also, don't use a color just because of its tendancies to show imperfections. If you're worried about that, all the more reason to take your time and do the prep right.

if you've got to take the hood off to paint the underside, def take it off and mask. Also, if you're feeling ambitious and want to do an A+ job, take the hatch off too, and the weatherstripping if you're doing a color change.

Best of luck with it!

 

if you use basecoat/clearcoat paint you do not need a flex agent. Is it better to use one? probably but a silver is easily subject to tint change and I personally think that using a flex agent with a b/c is not worth the trouble. The thing with silver is that if you use too much of a bold grit, the "aluminium" in the paint will fill those sanding marks, making what we call tiger stripes. Just be sure to sand correctly your car and trust your hands, NOT your eyes. It shouldn't "seem" correct but FEEL correct... finish the car with a air sander and 600 grits then use grey scrotch-brite with a despolishing paste we call.. to clean the car... don't worry, silver is a nice color you just have to prep the car very carefully

 

Thank you for the advice. It's interesting that you advise not to use flex agent with metallic colours, as the repainted gold on my front and rear GFX are a shade or three lighter than is the middle skirt....

 

I just repainted my car and used no flex agent. My neighbor is a body/paint guy and he said he never uses flex if he is spraying polyurethane base/clear. The "rubber" parts are actually polyuretane to begin with.

As for prepping, after all your body work is done, spray surfacer and then sand with 180 till all high and low spots are gone, and repeat as necessary. Then go over the whole car with a gray scotchbrite type pad for even scratch pattern. (dont sand too fine, the sealer/primer needs enough of a surface to grab, if you sand the primer too fine the top coats can/will delaminate.

Tack and De-grease (dont forget to tack the maked off parts too so you don't dislodge stuff)

Then spray sealer coat. Tack after 30 min.
Then spray color coat 2-3 coats. Tack after 20-30min.
Then spray clear coat 2-3 coats. It will take about 4-6 hrs before it beomes tack free.

If you plan on wet sanding and buffing, start 24hrs later (otherwise it will get tought to sand) 1000grit, 1500 grit, 2000 grit, then compound, machine glaze, hand glaze.

 

Thanks! That's a nice summary. Now all that I need is to find some time to do this. It probably won't be until Christmas, but when I do it, I'll be sure to post pics.