I have a few quick questions on how to paint my bird. Most the paint (black, btw) is solid but a little hazy, with a fews chips and scratches here and there. Otherwise, there are a few repaired areas of bare metal, a different color door (red) sanded down to primer, and the other door sanded down to primer.

I was planning on sanding the rest of the finish lightly to take off the clearcoat and gloss, repairing the various problem spots, spot priming all the bare spots, and then taking the whole car in to get a few black basecoats and clearcoats.

Is this the method I should take, or are there any other suggestions? Also, how many coats of black and clear would you guys recommend?

 

well if it was my car i would fix the problem spots like you stated and then sand the whole car down with 320grit. prime the whole car with high build primer then sand it smooth, you could even use guide coat here if you want to be 100% sure the body work is perfect. (i say the whole car becuase it is possible for the different colors of the car to change the darkness/lightness of the paint in that spot) then spray the car with base and clear. and as for how many coats, it depends on your paint. some paint covers better/quicker than others. as for the clear i would spray one med-wet coat then 1-2 more wet. but thats just me. other people do things different ways. but ive done a couple of cars like this and everyone seemed to be pretty happy. do you plan to spray it yourself?

 

you can what you want but id be careful how much primer,paint,and clear you put on after you get past a certain thickness it will eventually just crack and chip away too much paint is no good to my experience

 

Well... for the most part, the topcoat is good. Would it be possible just to sand the gloss off (keep the original primer) and just re-topcoat it, or would this be a bad idea?

I was planning to spot-prime it with the crappy spray gun and small compressor I have, and then see if I could pay somebody to topcoat it for me.

You see, my g/f's dad has an used car lot, and does a lot of bodywork (obviously). I figure if I'm really nice, he'll let me paint it in his shop for a small fee. The priming I can always do panel-by-panel.

 

you only really need to prime the areas you need to. otherwise just sand, seal, and spray!

 

yes only where needed, where theres flaws that need filled and then you need to wetsand and reprime those spots a few times til its perfectly smooth, then its ready for basecoat

if they are deep gouges or anything then use glaze, usually its the green paste in the squeeze tube, at napa and such


because primer would take all year to fill in deeper ones and require way more sanding then youll want to be doing


priming/wet sanding every blemish you can see on the car is the way to prep it for the first paint

take your time and find al the blemishes

if you miss one then you will know it later when it gets worse as more paint goes over it

good luck

 

get a tinsley gauge to check the mil thickness. I believe if it is over 12 mils, the paint should be stripped.

 

So, basically I should sand everything down with a block, and then level and prime all the low spots.

Would it be a good idea to "glaze" the whole car? And would that require a full priming?

 

any more suggestions?

 

No, only glaze or use putty where it's necessary. And yes, it would require priming if you did. And some quick advice, don't rush this. Take all the time in the world and do it right.

 

I don't think rushing is a problem of mine (this project is reaching it's third year, and it all started with door bushings). I'm a bit of a perfectionist and enjoy doing things the best I can (not always a good thing)...

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Mostly, I just need to get the guts and finally start sanding it down to get it painted.

Any recommendations on whether I should go for a single coat or clear/base type paint?