So in the future I want to strip my car down entirely, have the whole thing media blasted, and repainted the factory scheme, just much higher quality that what rolled out of Van Nuys. I also want to spray the undercarriage/floorboards with paint.

Obviously I'll need to talk to multiple body shops, but I'm trying to figure out what the best way to do this is.

So what's the order of things?

1) Strip all body panels off car
2) Blast each panel/car's shell
3) Put all blasted panels back on car and align
4) Do all bodywork, get them flawless
5) Take all panels off again
6) Spray jambs/shell completely
7) Spray each body panel off the car individually
8) Put them back on and try to line them up exactly as when the panels were on the car getting the body work done to make sure they are still lining up just as they did when the bodywork was being done?

Or would it be more along the lines of:

1) Strip all body panels off car
2) Blast each panel/car's shell
5) Spray jambs (and do any bodywork on them needed obviously)
4) Put all blasted panels back on car and align (main body panels, not GFX etc)
5) Do all bodywork, get them flawless
6) Spray them on the car with the jambs already done, hopefully in such a way there is zero paint lines?

What's really the order here? Neither way sounds that ideal. The other thing is I've heard it's always best to spray each panel off the car if at all possible for the highest quality job, but then I've also heard with metallics that's a lot riskier because of the chance that the metallic flake won't lie consistent if the panels are painted separately...is this true?

What's the best order of things for the best possible paint job inside and out?

 

You'll get about a hundred different answers on this one. It's what you're used to, what's the best way to get the best job in your shop. Doesn't matter how you do it, it's what it looks like in the end.

I think it's better to paint parts off of car if you can't paint them completely on the car or it's going to cause a tape line that you can't fix. Getting the color right when painting parts separately is a trick that good painters can do. As far as stripping, I don't care for chemicals, too messy. Original E-coat is better left on the car as much as possible. That again is up to you.

It's always good to see someone taking pride in their car, spending time to do it right, being able to say they did it themselves. Good luck and post some pics.

 

Hey puma1552, I am in the same boat as you, i have all parts on the car stripped off except motor and trans, now i cant decide where to go now.I bought a sand blaster at harbor freight to start sandblasting, but cant decide whether to start underneath or start on the top. My objective is to completely strip car. I started sanding the quarter panel with a da and it took forever, and you cant keep the car unprimed or it will rust. I think i need to pick one area and strip and prime instead of jumping around. Also i am not sure what primer and finish paint to use i have been checking out eastwoods catalog and seems like they have quality stuff.

 

DON'T use a sand blaster! You will warp the panels. The force and the heat generated will cause you all sorts of problems... You should be able to get away with a low pressure SODA blaster or chemical stripping.

 

Thanks for the info, what if i used a diffrent type of media instead of sand? I seen in the eastwood catalog that i can convert my sandblaster to a soda blaster with a valve kit for $125.00. The reason i wanted to sandblast is because the underneath is pretty rusty.

 

Small clarification, I'll be dropping it off fully assembled and opening my checkbook and picking it up fully assembled when the time does come lol.

I guess the way I was seeing it was painting the parts off the car individually, but hanging them from the rafters so they are still lined up close to each other more or less how they would be on the car and just going down the line keeping the gun angle consistent...that would take care of any color matching and metallic lay problems, and still let you paint each panel fully off the car, no?

 

Soda blasting should work for you- it won't eat into the panel and it just washes away!

 

Depends on color and lots of things really. Can be done many ways. I like to keep the panels at the same angle that they will be on the car. Metallic colors seem to like this JMO. It all goes back to what works for the painter.

BTW Don't be surprised if they buff it some. It's nearly impossible to get a "clean" paint job. Even the manufacturers do some spot buffing. Be glad they're concerned enough about their quality. Some people freak when they see a shop buffing their new paint. Hope it turns out like you want.

 

On my car I stripped everything off first, painted the underside and engine bay, re-installed the entire drivetrain/suspension, and now its going off to the body shop for paint tomorrow. There is a small amount of body work that has to be done (fixing a couple dents, fixing a crack in the upper rear corner of the door jamb) but nothing that affects the way any of the bumpers or ground effects would fit so nothing is being put back together until its all painted. The body shop is going to spray everything separately, I'm taking it all home with me and re-assembling, then bringing it back to the body shop to get it buffed out.

My car is bright blue metallic so we'll see in a couple weeks how well the colors match between all the panels being sprayed separately.

 

Panel painting a car with metallics or pearls in the paint is begging for problems... I know, some say they can do it. But, I've seen more done wrong then done right!!!! Do the jams, put the car together, shoot it.

Don't sandblast!!!! Maybe a pro who does blasting all the time can get it right...but doing it at home is gonna mess up some panels. Just get at it with the DA...sure it takes time and work....most things worthwhile do!!!!!

 

This seems like a headache, compounded by the fact I have metallic paint.

I've thought about the jam method, hitting all the jambs, behind the bumpers, behind the gfx, etc., then putting them back on and spraying the whole car but I don't know, it just seems like it's not as good as it would be to spray everything off the car.

I really don't know. I also want to spray the engine bay and the undercarriage too, and *maybe* the inside of the floorboards too.

 

Metallics all 'flow' differently. I want to paint my car dissassembled too, but I am asking for trouble- if the hood isn't shot laying down, if the fenders and doors ARE laying flat, if the gun is at a different distance from one panel to the other; all these factors can make the panels appear mismatched when reassembled. Dissassemble, prime and block sand, spray the jams, reassemble and align everything and then shoot the final color. That is the smartest way to go with metallic paint...