I plan on painting my own car. And I am just trying to keep it simple. I am just gonna paint it all black and I wont attempt anything fancy.

My question is. I found a really good deal on acrylic primer, paint and clear coat. I was just wondering if there is a reason it is so cheap, is acrylic a bad type of paint to use?

That is my basic question, but if any of you got some painting tips off the top of your head it would be nice.

(BTW, this is not going to be a show car, it just needs to look nice)


Paint I plan on using http://home.att.net/~brer/products.html

 

anyone?

 

To tell you the truth, if you gonna say it like that, might as well rattle can the whole car, it will be the same effect.

do you have any experience, tel me b4 i give you info and you mess up this car, if you dont, might as well go with maccoo

 

just a cheap single stage paint
If you are serious about wanting to paint the car yourself, do yourself a favor stay away from black until you are pretty good. Black shows every flaw, white on the other hand hides every flaw. good luck, if it was me i would use sikkens or spies. both are pretty good paint that you can get oem colors in

 

Well the whole idea was I was going to LEARN, instead of having someone do it for me. But I guess that is unacceptable. And rattle canning would not have the same effect, because rattle can primer will not seal the car, so it would end up rusting. Were as using automotive paint and primer will help keep exposed metal protected fromt he elements.

For information sake, I do have a junker car I was going to practice on. And since my Trans Am is going to be raced, the paint doesnt matter, it just needs to look clean. Instead of it's current state of exposed welded areas, body filler, and mix and match panels.

 

first thing you should do is do a search on here. there are TONS of posts on this exact subject. and alot of them go into great length about the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of paint.

Second thing you should do is get a book on painting and read it. One i would recommend is the Automotive Paint Handbook written by John Pfanstiehl. That book is very good IMO. it explains in great detail about every type of automotive paint and their history and the benefits and downsides, etc. It tells pretty much everything you'd have to do in order to paint the car except for doing body work.

if you aren't willing to do at least these first two things mentioned, you're not gonna be ambitious enough to paint your own car. It is ALOT of work. if you've got body work to do also, that just increases the amount of work you have to do exponentially.

 

I know it is a lot of work....Everything I have undertaken on this car has been a lot of work.

From swapping the engine to redoing all the interior wiring without any prior knowledge on it.

Thanks for the book reccomendation though. There are a lot of options at Amazon, and I had no idea which one would be good.

 

Didnt mean to blow up on you, but i work at a body shop and i know how much work it is, adn how hard it is to come out with a decent paint job.

Ok, so prime the whole car, and block sand it and then reprime it again, use 220 for the block sanding, once you have it reprimed, go ahead and snad t by hand iwth 320 grit paper. Wash it down with wax grease remover and use a tck cloth and go over the whole car so its as clean as one can get.

You will need a paint gun, some paint and clean adn reducers and hardeners.

For paint, dont do black, thats a big NO NO. Very hard to spray.

Go white if ya dont care bout the color, hides a lot, not everything but a lot.

there is a lot of paints out there, so go to a local paint store and talk to the guy, hell help ya out....

Where are yo located, im in my if ya around, ill spray your car for ya

 

Heh... no worries about blowin up.

Thanks a lot.

Everyone says no black, so I am dropping that idea fast, but I hate white. So I am thinking maybe of a light red or a copper color with no clear coat just to save on the hassle.

After using the wax grease remover I have heard you should go over the car with a dish washing detergent, what are your opinions.

Also, do you suggest wetsanding of the primer. And is sealing the primer a must, or is that a matter of debate.


Too bad you live in New York, otherwise you might have a customer, unless you wanna fly to washington




Thanks again

 

No need to wetsand the primer, at all. You can go to pep boys and pick up a multitude of sanding block, get some 220 grit sand paper and some 320 grit. In sheets that is not for a DA.

Block sand the whole car with 220 grit, then prime it again, then just hand sand it with 320 grit. Use compressed air and blow all the dust off that you can get off, it is your worst enemy. By now you should have the whole car masked off completelly if its not gutted.

Go to your local paint store and get some Prep Solvent, and wash the car down with that, also buy a tack cloth at teh store, once the car is dry go over the whole thing with the tack cloth, twice, slower the better, but not so slow that it takes more then 10 mins to do the car.

Now you are ready to paint, red is notorious for not covering too well, it needs lik 10 coats to cover and look red so stay away from it, copper i dont know, try it,

But your idea not to use clear coat is bad, very bad, the paint itself has no sealing agents, its just pigment, u need clear if you dont want rust on the car.

 

Go with the original red like I did

If you are wanting to seal the metal,
I used all PPG product, that started
with a wash primer/metal etch, then a
high build primer, much sanding with a
block and stick, then sealed with an
urethane primer, then urethane base coat,
wet sand base coat, then the final base coat,
and then 3 coats of acrylic urethane clear,
then after its dried for a day, wet sand
with 1500-2000 paper, and BUFF, BUFF, BUFF:rockon:

 

I think when he's talking about spraying without clear, he's talking about using a single stage paint instead of a base/clear system. I think it'd be a smart idea for a first paint job. Less chance of running the paint since you arent spraying as much. Fewer $$$ if he screws up. And clear can be kind of hard to see if you arent even used to spraying.