i know that this has probably come up a gagillion and a half times, but i couldnt really find a straight answer in my search....

my question is when i go to paint my car, after i have sanded it all down, do i have to spray it with primer over the old paint that has been sanded before i respray new paint onto it ??

i think that is pretty straight forward

so is it sand, then paint

or sand, primer, sand paint ?

 

I am not quite sure which route you are taking... Are you taking the car into be professionaly done, and you are doing the prep? Are you painting the car yourself?


From my knowledge I am sorry to tell you it is going to be a little bit more complex then just sanding off the old paint and spraying on the new stuff.

If you want a good paint job I suggest removing your current paint and primer (this is debatable, some people say leave the primer) and start from scratch.


Best way to do this is get some aircraft stripper and go at it, remove all the paint, and then go over your car with a standard primer, then a high build primer, it will be rough, and then you wetsand the high build primer to a fairly smooth surface, and then spray your color on, and then while the paint is still tacky, put on the clear coat in thin layers.


That is what I know off the top of my head, I bet someone with more experience can elaborate and correct what the process I just described

 

It all depends on the shape of your paint/primer on the car. It is not necessary to reove all of the old paint/primer as long as it can be sanded down and will make a good foundation for your new primer. I usually sand it with 150 to prepare for primer. Block the primer with with 240, 400 and 600 to prepare for basecoat using spray paint smeared on with laquer thinner for guidecoat between sanding steps.

 

yes i will be doing it myself, and the paint is in good condition on most of the panels, most of them are new, some had to be fixed due to rust, but i got that pretty much under control. I am not expecting a show job because i am doing this with a buddy in his shop, he just got a gun and is painting his plow truck, and i figured it was a good time to try and get the beater painted, so it is not 4 different colors

i basically just want to make it one color again and make it look decent.

 

So here is a slightly different spin on the same question. I am gettin gready to paint my engine compartment during a motor swap. I'm pretty sure I want to go with a single stage paint, but can anyone give me any pointers? I have an airbrush with a pretty large needle to use. I'm not sure how I feel about sanding the whole mess. It doesn't have to be show quality I just want to clean it reall good and make the car the same color.

Can anyone suggest some kind of mixing proceedure, how much will I need, any brand.... I guess I need a simple crash course in painting.

 

i have been getting my car ready for MONTHS... i am sure i could have gotten it done a lot quicker by working on it faster or having it done somewhere but i wanted to make sure it was done right... i started by sanding down the hood... then i started to notice little chips here and there on it... next thing i know i got a can of aircraft striper and i got the whole hood down to bare metal... be careful with that striper too... one drop on your skin and you will be burning for a loooong time... you will drop it on your skin and not feel a thing for seconds... just a wet spot... then it will dig in and start burning like hell... same with clothes... then i did my front quarter panels... and worked my way... i just today finished the spoiler since that required some special care... it's a lot of work man... i recommend a good drill and some of those paint removing brushes that hook up to them... not the ones with a lot of wires... just the one that looks like a hard, black spongue... i dont know exactly what they are called but they work pretty good...