Okay guys i wnat to prep the body for paint myself. What all do i need to do? I know i need to sand it, bondo, whatever but i need to know what to use and how to do it. any help would be appriciated.

 

Oh come on someone knows. ttt

 

use as little bondo as you can

i suggest new metal if you can weld

 

oh my heck nobody knows on a body and apperance board?

 

this is actually the auto detailing and appearance board

try the body and interior board

 

or try the link in my sig

 

or try the search button as someone asks this atleast once a month.

 

thanks guys i'm just kinda getting frustrated with this sorry.

 

here ya go if you have anymore questions lemme know

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.

 

are you planning to do the entire car yourself? or just prep?

If you are planning to have a body shop do the bc/cc, then start by finding a body shop. A lot of shops will not take a job like this where you do the prep and only ask them to shoot the top coats. Something about not trusting people with the filler/primer and then people coming back when paint start peeling off.

FofP gave a pretty good summary, but once you find the shop, ask them what they expect to have you done and ask them for tips/advice

www.autobodystore.com is also a place to start. They sell paint 101 video for $35. Highly recommend it.