anyone ever paint a car?

[xcellorator]

im about to paint my car and i was wondering if anyone had any tips for me? i have done small projects before, but this will be my first full car. these are the steps i plan on taking:
-sand the original paint.
-primer coat
-600 wet sand
-primer coat
-600 wet sand
-primer coat
-600 wet sand
-color coat
-color coat
-color coat
-clear coat
-1500 wet
-clear coat
-1500 wet
-clear coat
-2000 wet
-polish

anyone know if this will be sufficient, or if any of the steps are not necessary? i will be doing this in my garage, should i staple a tarp to the ceiling/walls to keep out dust?

[astroracer]

What kind of equipment do you have?
Gun?
Compressor? Air lines?
Do you have a good filter/regulator?
Breathing mask?
If you take your time and do a good job blocking the original paint you can probably get away with one or two primer coats. If there isn't a lot of body work and you are staying original color you could probably skip the primer altogether.
What kind of paint are you using? BC/CC or a single stage enamel or?
BC/CC is your best bet.
Get yourself a 3M soft pad and a variety of sanding discs. It goes on your D/A. This will save you a ton of work block sanding. I can have a complete car or truck ready to spray in less then a day. You still need to do tight areas and corners by hand but it takes the flat panel sanding time down to a couple of hours at most. It works dry so you don't have to dry the entire vehicle off after wet sanding and you don't have to worry about water blowing into your paint as you spray...
The cleaner you keep the the spray environment the less crap you'll have in your paint.
Mark

[xcellorator]

I will be using my friends equipment, he has a HPLV gun, 125 psi compressor (i think 125, its enough though), hes got a regulator too he told me, i'll be using a 2 stage paint with the color and clear in two steps. Im painting the car a different color white, some guy on another board told me to only sand before the primer and after the last clear coat, do you think thats right?

[astroracer]

The HVLP gun is good but the "125psi" compressor is questionable. What is the motor and tank size? HVLP guns use a lot of CFM to do their job and a small compressor is not going to keep up. I had to step up to a two stage compressor when I finally made the change to HVLP guns.
Make sure the regulater is out near the gun and that you have a good water/oil separater in the line.

Sanding the BC in a BC/CC system is not required. There is a spray window (usually 24 hrs) that you have to get the clear applied. Any longer and the base will have lost it's chemical tooth which helps the clear coat stick to it.
You should go to your paint retailer and pull the spec sheets on your paint. Read them, and please, use a VERY good respirator when you spray this shit... It will make you sick.
Mark

[xcellorator]

im not sure about the specs of the compressor, but its like 4 feet tall and a foot and a half wide, we've used it to paint before. do you suggest using a power sander even for someones first time? i dont want to use a sander that goes too fast and sand too deep..

[astroracer]

The compressor will be marginal if it is a single stage compressor. A 5 HP 60 Gall single stage will run out of breathe before you are half way through the job. Not that it won't do it but it won't run the HVLP at the optimium SFM for good atomization.
I would recommend the 3M soft pad attachment for your D/A. 600 grit paper will give you a perfect surface for BC/CC. If you have to do a lot of body work do that first, prime your body worked areas with a good 2 part primer. Cover that with a primer/surfacer so you can block out the worked area's then hit the whole car with the soft pad. Hand sand in the tight areas and on curves and corners. The pad will level things out very well and it doesn't go to fast or deep with 600 grit...