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Old 05-02-2018, 11:06 PM
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Painting advice needed

Hard at work prepping a '91 T/A spoiler for paint. What is the best way to position it to spray? I'd like to hang by the mounting screws to be able to spray both top and bottom at once. Thoughts?
Old 05-06-2018, 09:50 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by PAformula
Hard at work prepping a '91 T/A spoiler for paint. What is the best way to position it to spray? I'd like to hang by the mounting screws to be able to spray both top and bottom at once. Thoughts?

That's probably how I'll paint the GTA spoiler I have to do in a couple weeks. I feel like hanging it that way is going to make the top side want to be more "upside-down" when it hangs, so I'll try to position it so the top side of the spoiler is facing more "up" when I spray it if that makes sense....so the clear will lay down better. I'm sure I'll have to figure out a way to rest something against the mounting area towads the front of the spoiler to accomplish this

Last edited by dagwood; 05-06-2018 at 09:55 AM.
Old 05-06-2018, 02:17 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Most of the HVLP paint guns are gravity fed with the cup slightly canted which makes spraying the underside of horizontal pieces difficult. If you have a suction fed gun or a gun that has a positionable cup they work great for that purpose. When I have to paint the underside and topside of something I hang the item vertically or at least angled. With it hung vertically you have more of a chance of a sag or run if you spray heavy but at least you'll get full coverage. Much easier to sand out a run in the clear than to have uneven coverage.




Old 05-07-2018, 08:54 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Yep hung mine same way to paint.
Old 05-07-2018, 08:55 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Old 05-07-2018, 11:14 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Something to keep in mind is what type of paint you're using. If you're spraying a met or pearl, you'll want to orient the object to be in the same position it would be if it were on the car. Otherwise, the met\pearl won't orient themselves the same way and it'll make the paint look mottled\blotchy.
Old 05-07-2018, 06:08 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by Jorlain
Something to keep in mind is what type of paint you're using. If you're spraying a met or pearl, you'll want to orient the object to be in the same position it would be if it were on the car. Otherwise, the met\pearl won't orient themselves the same way and it'll make the paint look mottled\blotchy.

Temp, humidity, air pressure all impact how metallics lay down. They can be a bear to match. Some of those you can't control or know what the factory did, but part angle you can.
Old 05-08-2018, 12:33 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

all good points. In my haste to hang the spoiler, it fell and broke into several pieces. I no longer want to hang it. Now that it's fixed again I will be spraying the bottom side and then flipping it.... carefully..
Old 05-08-2018, 01:46 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Ugh! Sorry to hear that man. Wow, now I'm getting paranoid about handling mine when the time comes.
Old 05-16-2018, 05:23 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by Tibo
Most of the HVLP paint guns are gravity fed with the cup slightly canted which makes spraying the underside of horizontal pieces difficult. If you have a suction fed gun or a gun that has a positionable cup they work great for that purpose. When I have to paint the underside and topside of something I hang the item vertically or at least angled. With it hung vertically you have more of a chance of a sag or run if you spray heavy but at least you'll get full coverage. Much easier to sand out a run in the clear than to have uneven coverage.





Tibo, that spoiler looks great. How did you do it? I've heard paint the base then clear it. Then sand 800 and paint the stripes. Then clear the whole thing again, sand 800 then final clear to smooth it out??
Old 05-16-2018, 08:39 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by 86IROC112
Tibo, that spoiler looks great. How did you do it? I've heard paint the base then clear it. Then sand 800 and paint the stripes. Then clear the whole thing again, sand 800 then final clear to smooth it out??
Ok, I've been a professional custom painter since 2002....so I'll chime in on this one. What I would do with that spoiler is sand it, seal it, shoot the white basecoat and clear it. Sand with 600 grit (800 is ok, but I like a little extra bite for the next layer) lay the stripes out with 3M transparent brown plastic fineline tape, paint the red, unmask and clear. Then sand dry with 1200 grit, dry sand with 2000 grit, wet sand with 3000 grit, and also wet sand with 5000 grit. Buff with 3M 06085 compound with a WHITE wool pad, then buff with polish with a black foam waffle pad.

Forgot to mention wax and grease remover beforehand and tacking off

Last edited by dagwood; 05-16-2018 at 09:18 PM.
Old 05-16-2018, 08:51 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed




These are my results from those steps....
Old 05-16-2018, 08:59 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed




These pics were taken BEFORE being buffed..
Old 05-16-2018, 09:09 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

And to Tibo.....you're spoiler looks great man. I have the luxury now of painting in an $85,000 booth, but I've payed my dues on hanging plastic in the garage and letting it rip, too! The bikes in my pics were painted in an open shop, too. Kudos to ya!
Old 05-16-2018, 09:18 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Taken right after buffing with the steps mentioned above

Last edited by dagwood; 05-16-2018 at 09:23 PM.
Old 05-17-2018, 10:40 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Um...Wow...
Old 05-17-2018, 02:22 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

I'm impressed!
Old 05-17-2018, 03:23 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Long story short I used DuPont chroma series and followed the product PDF for laying stripes.

Long story.
Primed it hanging like you see, I don't care if I get runs in primer so I just hung it whichever way. I sprayed the white with the spoiler hanging horizontal and slightly cocked, 30-45*. Once the white dried enough for tape I put it on the trunk lid which I already had stripes done. I plumb bobbed the exact location of the stripes and used a 3M tape for pin stripes, believe it's vinyl. Painted the stripes on with the spoiler flat. Let it dry and removed tape, hung it as the picture shows and sprayed clear. I burried the stripe edges in clear coat so you can't feel them. I was within the spray window the whole time.

I took a few days to prep the garage. Washing the floors, dusting shelves, hanging plastic, taping in furnace filters and I set up a box fan with a filter.. I kept the garage doors shut for a few days so there was no air movement. I borrowed an oxygen tank and oxygen mask from work to keep from getting high.
Old 05-17-2018, 04:11 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Does look good
Old 05-17-2018, 08:50 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Yep, you can get by without clearing between the steps on regular solid colors. Don't try it on a metallic or pearl color though, because the tape will leave tracks that you'll see after its cleared, and if you have any blow outs between the colors you can't sand it off of a pearl or metallic without messing things up.

I just automatically clear between steps every time, just to be safe.
Old 05-20-2018, 10:12 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Sorry, but I didnt want to start another thread for a quick paint question.

How would you painters go about getting this laft over tape off my spoiler? The PO I bought the car and spoiler off of had a piece of masking tape stuck pretty good to the spoiler for a few years. I tried peeling if off and it wouldnt come. Then I tried sanding it off and it sort of just made it smooth but its still there. I was afraid to sand too much before asking.



It would be a cool idea to have a painting section on the site instead of people posting under appearance or body.
Old 05-20-2018, 10:21 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Have you tried the goo gone or adhesive remover? Paint prep might take it off if it really is just tape and it's residue.
Old 05-20-2018, 10:36 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

What Tibo said. I usually can get away with using Paint Prep\Wax & Grease remover and a little elbow grease.
Old 05-20-2018, 10:43 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

I havent tried any of that yet. I thought it would just sand off but didnt want to go too much on it. I’ll grab some goo gone and see if that takes care of it.
Old 05-20-2018, 10:51 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by dagwood
Ok, I've been a professional custom painter since 2002Buff with 3M 06085 compound with a WHITE wool pad, then buff with polish with a black foam waffle pad.
I was surprised to read that you went that high up in sanding grit and still began your polishing with a heavy rubbing compound and a wool pad. Your results look great so it definitely is working so I'm not arguing against it, I'm just surprised. That compound is rated to take out 1200 grit scratches and the wool pad will really help it cut, and I would think you wouldn't need it sanding up to 5000 grit.

I was able to try out a few different combinations when I was painting my current Camaro, Wool old school "pads," flat style foams in different colors and the newer waffle pads in varying colors as well as 3M, Meguiars and Wizards compounds. I found that if I achieved the best and easiest results if I wet sanded to 3000 grit and then went straight to a soft white flat bottom pad with a rubbing compound and then switched to a finishing compound on a separate soft white waffle pad.

The 3m perfect it compounds were good but I was getting the same results with the Meguiars and Wizard's compounds that were 1/2 the price. The Meguiars 105 and 205 both cut more than the Wizards respective products so I settled on using Meguiars 105 for a heavy cut compound and Wizards finish cut for a fine compound. I could get away with using a single compound if I used the Wizards Mystic cut.
Old 05-20-2018, 02:51 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

I don't really spend a lot of time with the 5000 grit. I start with 1200 grit just because it's so fast to sand out paint lines and any little dirt nibbles. I start with the white wool pad and the 06085 compound for the sole purpose of speed....it gets the shine almost immediately, and I never really have to look for any dull spots afterwards. I hate sanding and buffing, so I try to get the best possible results as fast as I possibly can lol
Old 05-20-2018, 02:55 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by punzak9
Sorry, but I didnt want to start another thread for a quick paint question.

How would you painters go about getting this laft over tape off my spoiler? The PO I bought the car and spoiler off of had a piece of masking tape stuck pretty good to the spoiler for a few years. I tried peeling if off and it wouldnt come. Then I tried sanding it off and it sort of just made it smooth but its still there. I was afraid to sand too much before asking.



It would be a cool idea to have a painting section on the site instead of people posting under appearance or body.

What I do with stuff like that is pour some lacquer thinner on some folded up paper towels, and place them on top of the adhesive for a minute or so to soften the glue. After a quick minute, a lot of times you can wipe it right off. Or if it's really stuck on there, I scrape it off with a plastic razor blade after the lacquer thinner soak. Yep, a plastic razor blade....there is such a thing.

But, start by wiping a small area first to make sure the lacquer thinner won't hurt the paint. I never have trouble over clearcoat, or e coat on new parts. I might be a little cautious over sanded clear, though. Lacquer thinner is super aggressive

Last edited by dagwood; 05-20-2018 at 03:05 PM.
Old 05-20-2018, 04:57 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by dagwood
I don't really spend a lot of time with the 5000 grit. I start with 1200 grit just because it's so fast to sand out paint lines and any little dirt nibbles. I start with the white wool pad and the 06085 compound for the sole purpose of speed....it gets the shine almost immediately, and I never really have to look for any dull spots afterwards. I hate sanding and buffing, so I try to get the best possible results as fast as I possibly can lol
Do you have a part number or product line or color for the wool pad you're talking about?
Old 05-20-2018, 04:59 PM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by Tibo
Do you have a part number or product line or color for the wool pad you're talking about?

I'll look tomorrow at work for ya
Old 05-21-2018, 07:47 AM
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Re: Painting advice needed

Originally Posted by Tibo
Do you have a part number or product line or color for the wool pad you're talking about?
It's a WHITE wool pad. 3M part number 05711
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