Need some painting help!! Please!!

[Cain98Eclipse]

I was going to have my car painted just str8 black for the time being untill i get my body kits and stuff but I ran into some trouble with the engine and it ended up costing me a shit load of money (1k+) pissed me off.. but back to my question. I want to get my car prepared to be painted such as wet-sanding and priming the car for paint. I have search all the forums and websites and have not found any help at all. Can anyone tell me how to wet-sand a car such as detailed description of how to, or a link to something that will help. I ran into a site on how to color-sand a car but that didnt look to be what I am needing to do. All your help will be appreciated looking to start painting tomorrow. (Monday June 12, 2006) Thanks.

[blk_srt]

use the subforums

[nova1313]

well you have a few choices. you could strip it down to metal then primer or...

take some mineral spirits to it and make sure you get all the way and stuff off. Make sure it's super cliean. then i'd take like 400 grit wet to it sand it. It's gonna take a while the finish will get really hazy. Work your way up to maybe 800 or 1000. Shoot the color (see if it sticks with your sanding. IF not drop down to a lower grit. Sand then shoot. When it levels shoot the clear.

It's not really descriptive but you don't sound like your spraying it yourself. You most likely still want to have the place prep it a little before they go and paint it. because I assume you have to drive it there. In which case it's gonna be dirty....

Or rough it up a bit after getting wax off and then primer everything. let the place do the sanding for you, have them shoot a base and a clear. If your going macco' I highly recommend against the cheap job where they have clear and color mixed. I've seen the outcome. It looks good at first but looks like a crap a bit later (year or so)... But it could just be the places by me prep work. I dunno.

Others might have suggestions. I'd put this in a sub forum. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets locked.

[Thor06]

I've never heard of people going to 800-1000 grit for prep sanding. The guy at the auto paint supplier recommended 300-400.

[nova1313]

With a higher quality paint I've done 500ish. But I found if your cheap and go for the worlds crappyest paint you want to go higher grit for a smooth finish. The only problem with high grit is adhesion. Note when I say crappyest I mean that it's like the ebay type paint. IT does hold up just fine. IT just sucks for spraying and the like. Once it's on your gold though.

I think it was called rayflex that i used. It's uhm interesting to work with. But my sisters car looks great.

[Cain98Eclipse]

Ok thanks for everyones outlook on this, I have choosen to go with 400-600grit (600 was recommended by a autobody shop). Also I am not painting the car myself I am just going to Spray a couple of coats of primer on it so that dont have to look good just has to have some on it. I am going to let a couple of friends paint it just have to pay paint labor and not everything else I am just prepping the car for paint. Again thanks for all your help.

[AbsoluteGTR]

Hey, Tyler...I checked out that link in the bottom of you sig and you said that you found a site that tells you how to paint a car...Can you post that link up, I am really interested in learningf how to paint....THANKS!

[Cain98Eclipse]

Well we got the sanding done, just need to tape it off and put a coat of primer on it. I will post some pics of it in a few days I do not have any before pics but you can get the thought of how it looked just more shinner lol.

[nova1313]

For the normal spray method:
http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/Painting.html
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/24820/
And check out rayflex paint. It's cheap if your learning (30ish a gallon). It doens't hold up after 5-6 years of abuse though. It started to have problems. But it does work.

I have painted a boat and a car (bc/cc) with a normal sprayer. So I think I'm decently qualified to comment on my painting ability. I'm decent at it. It takes practice though. And lots of time to learn to do it right.

My method I've been using:
Original:
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...age=0&fpart=23

Continued:
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...=0#Post2655425

Disclaimer: I have no clue how it holds up, my car looks alot better, it was dirt cheap (about 50 bucks). I've done 2 cars this way. Mine being the second it's almost done. The first is my friends neon but instead of rolling we used a wagner power painter on his. It takes alot of time (I'd say about a weeks worth of work). Many people are skeptics, try it on a spare piece of metal before you go and run your mouth. I've heard all the comments in the world from friends, family, mechanics. But when you drive the car up to them they are amazed. The more work you put into it the better.

I figure it this way.. My time is free, It would cost me about 3k to get a decent paint job. that takes me 4-5 weeks to make. This takes me a week of free time to do.

If you have any questions ask, I'm almost done with my car. Or post on the moparts forums (Note: I'm not trying to convert people/advertise please don't delete this post). They really are just helpful people. There is a bunch of skeptics there too.

I do have a new memory card reader. I havn't had time to post more pics of my car with 4 coats on it yet. When I do I'll make sure to link.

[neilslade]

I've built an extensive mostly non-commercial site with many painting tips and help at
Link removed by Moderator

Just did a Honda yesterday, 1 day prep, 1 day painting. Looks great-
materials cost well under $100

A good web page detailing my Lotus Elan paint repair project there as well.

Please enjoy
Neil Slade

[gthompson97]

Thread is over a year old. Promoting personal sites is against the rules. Lock.

[SilvrEclipse]

wow......

[Blackcrow64]

Wow... First off, yes this thread is over a year old and should not have been brought back... Second, it is against AF rules to promote your website like this. I have removed the link to the site... If you would like to become a licensed vendor on AF, please refer to our Advertising Department...

Locked...