Hi everyone! I've got a pretty big job ahead of me, and I've never really done any serious body work. Is there any advice for me from you 'experts' out there? I've got to replace one front fender, and it looks like the rest of the body panels are straight, so there's no need for me to align them. I'm also looking for some Trans Am 85-90 ground effects to replace my cracked '84 style. Anyone out there that can hook me up?
O.K... The paint on my car is seriously jacked up. I live in the U.S. Southwestern Desert area, and the sun ate it up pretty good. It's got bad oxidation, and every body panel has a multitude of cracks in the paint. It's one of those Van Nuys f**k ups in choosing a water based paint. This means I'll have to sand it down to the bare metal doesn't it? That's what I gathered from reading the tech article on body work.
As far as the infamous 'door dings' go, I can do the sand...bondo...sand...bondo...sand...prime thing, right? What primers don't let water into it? If I have to apply a primer sealer, will I have to sand it off when I plan on repainting?
How are the decals applied to the car? Do they go under the clearcoat, or are they just stuck on top of it?
Finally, if I do ALL of the body work myself, and I take it to a local MAACO shop that does decent work, what kind of cost do you think I'll be looking at for them to just spray the paint? I was looking at a platinum silver color with more than a single clearcoat over the top. Any advice any of you could give would be well appreciated.

Now if only I had those ROH ZS wheels.....

 

Start here with a <A HREF="http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox/tips/paint/paint.htm">Painting Your Own Car </A> Article I am working on. It is not totally complete but you will get some ideas.

Here are some answers for you.

Your ground effect cracks can be easily repaired.

Any primer will absorb moisture. The purpose of it is to fill small scratches. You will then apply a sealer just prior to basecoat so you won't be sanding the sealer unless you get an unacceptable amount of trash in the sealer.

Pin striping or decals can be applied either under or over the clear. From the factory they are applied over but many show cars would apply them under the clear coat. You have to have a pretty high build up on the clear to cover the decal edges to prevent burn through when you color sand and buff (if you do).

It is not necessary to sand to bare metal regardless of the base coats. It IS necessary to get your base foundation smooth. If your base is damaged all the way to the metal then take it to the metal in that area. You really want to go to bare metal on a car that has been repainted 1/2/3 times and the paint is getting thick.

After doing all of your hard work I will seriously doubt you will want to go to Maaco for your final application. The workers there may be excellent however the overall philosophy is not. When the "average" 3rd Gen paint job consumes 600 to 800 bucks in chemicals alone, dealer cost, and this is for "average" ask yourself how they can paint a car for 200 to 400 bucks.

Painting the base/clear is kind of the icing on the cake. You will find many shops that will "shoot" your car for a reasonable price.

If you do take your car to Maaco take your own paint supplies. I recommend PPG personally.

 

if you have nice sized dings your not gonna want to use all bondo on it. you really only want maybe no more than a 1/4 inch of bondo. if the dings deeper than that there is a gun (http://www.autotoolmart.com/cgi-bin/...55102295015.60) what you do is sand to bare metal using 36 or 80 grit on and around the ding/dent. place a nail in the gun and stick the gun on the problem area and pull the trigger. it welds the nail to the door. then you take that slide hammer place it on the nail and pull away, out comes the dent. most of the dent comes out then you bondo the area, sand, bondo, sand, glaze, sand and make sure its nice and tapered 360 degrees where the bondo is. then prime it. when your ready to paint you'll have to sand again using some where around 400 grit. now if your only doing this one time then its not worth buying that gun but if your gonna do this a few times its well worth it.

 

heres my question, i don't have a garage, don't know alot about diff paint chemicals and stuff, but i want to paint my car myself, what should i do? can i paint it in my driveway?

 

you can, but i wouldnt recommend it. you would get a bunch of crap in the paint. you then would have to sand that out and paint again. this will continue to happen so it will take a long time. even in spray booths you get junk on paint so i cant imagine what would happen in a driveway.

 

You also always want to be sure to keep the body clean from anything. The oil from your skin will cause a bad bond for paint(handprints etc). I would not advise painting your car in your driveway. It's worth it to save the extra money and have it shot in a shop. PPG and Dupont are the best way to go. I used a brand called ( Kirker ). Not a good paint. I had never used it prior, so I didn't know that it sucked. Maybe someone else would have gotten better results though. I'm no expert, but I have some experience. And It is always worth it to completely remove every bit of surface rust,and dirt or your paint job will be ruined less than a few months down the road. Good luck with whatever you decide/are able to do.

 

How do you repair the ground effects cracks? Is there some sort of epoxy resin or something that will hold it together?

Thanks to those of you that have already replied!