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Diy Paint Work, Teach Me

nvrenuf

nvrenuf

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No rattle can, no roll on, I'm curious about spraying automotive paint.

I've been watching a lot of YouTube and I get the general idea of painting but there are some details I haven't clearly seen yet. I have a local friend that paints but getting him to separate the "down and dirty" from show quality step and products is difficult. I'm just looking for durable a 10'-15' paint job.

Questions:

Wipe Down; best chemical to wipe the truck down with the day of paint? Chemical cleaner first then tack cloth, carefully wet the floor and spray right?

Primer; videos and my buddy talk about using an epoxy primer but it looks like you're supposed to paint over it within a short period of time (24 hrs?). What about if you're sanding and doing minor work in small areas days apart? If I rattle can primer it to seal it, can I not successfully paint over that later or do you have to epoxy primer over the rattle can primer?

Paint; typically how many coats (assuming same color)? How long between coats?

Clear; how long between the last paint coat and spraying clear? Do most people clean the paint gun real quick and use it with the clear or separate guns for paint and clear?
 
Did you watch some of the Eastwood videos with Kevin Tetz (?). I remember in one he goes over his cleaning procedure real well. 3 different chemicals. Don’t remember what they all were.
 
nvrenuf said:
No rattle can, no roll on, I'm curious about spraying automotive paint.

I've been watching a lot of YouTube and I get the general idea of painting but there are some details I haven't clearly seen yet. I have a local friend that paints but getting him to separate the "down and dirty" from show quality step and products is difficult. I'm just looking for durable a 10'-15' paint job.

Questions:

Wipe Down; best chemical to wipe the truck down with the day of paint? Chemical cleaner first then tack cloth, carefully wet the floor and spray right?




Primer; videos and my buddy talk about using an epoxy primer but it looks like you're supposed to paint over it within a short period of time (24 hrs?). What about if you're sanding and doing minor work in small areas days apart? If I rattle can primer it to seal it, can I not successfully paint over that later or do you have to epoxy primer over the rattle can primer?



Paint; typically how many coats (assuming same color)? How long between coats?

2 to 5 generally depending on color and product recommendations... clear is extra... that's single stage.. base/clear can be a ton between both.. metallic, you need to go base/clear IMO...

Clear; how long between the last paint coat and spraying clear? Do most people clean the paint gun real quick and use it with the clear or separate guns for paint and clear?
Click to expand...

others may argue, and say prep sol, solvent wash, etc... but the safest, best one is denatured alcohol.. it is quick, so you need to work fast.. the key is to not let it dry, any of em.. 1/2 panel at a time or so... damp/wet with paper towels.... yup, paper towels... it's how i prep everything.. raw steel, primer, etc...


epoxy is the general "go to" these days.. it's much improved, i run it on the boats, and occasionally on Mutt and such..... it's very comparable to a urethane primer in its user-friendliness these days.. thus it's popularity.. urethane still sands a bit better IMO... you can let it sit for yr's.. as long as you have a reasonable fresh "cut" to it... if not, just rescuff it... if it sits outside a while and chalks, you would need to sand thru that...

sealers are a flash dry, no sanding product.... it's what you put a final coat on top of your fill prime right before painting... some coating systems wont warranty their stuff if you don't use a sealer.... but I think 98% of what I've ever painted, was shot on properly sanded fill prime.. it's common...

clear is usually treated as any other coat.. you may let it tack off a bit longer.. but we also use to do single stgae/clear jobs where we would start adding clear %'s to the last color coats, leading to some pure clear coats.. really adds depth...

so that kind of answers you question... most often if you are doing color, THAN clear, you can use the same gun, and most guys will run a bit of thinner thru it between.. guys will do that between coats here and there with color too.. depending on how long your flash time between coats is.. first coats, nah, they dry quick and you aren't waiting long.. but your last color coat that you want nice a wet looking, yeah you'll be waiting a bit longer, so many guys will do a quickie rinse to make sure the gun runs ok for the clear... not gummed up with kicking stuff...

bigger tip/nozzle for clear if you go base/clear usually..... 1.5 to 1.8 usually for clear.. base is usually 1.3 to 1.5... single stage you can use the same tip usually... most guys are douching with 1.8's...
 
Your prep work, sanding...filler and primer are your paint job. Paint and clear just cover that up. Spend all of your time there. Depending on what you are looking for in a final finish. I've shot trucks with everything from PPG two stage with multiple layer of clear to single stage enamel. Prep prep prep.

Now then if you're not looking for a show finish you're best bet is going to be single stage. Sand the finish you have down and prime it well. Sand your primer and seal it. Then shoot single stage over it all. Keep it clean and buff it out and wax it after a week or so. It will shine like new money. It's honestly hard to tell it from base/clear if done well. Base/clear will last longer and have more depth.


Spraying the paint is going to be your biggest challenge. Get your buddy to help with some gun settings but even with that it will take a few tries to get a feel for how the paint lays on a panel. My advise would be to practice on a curved panel or spare fender first. The old saying is if it starts to run, keep spraying and run the sag off into the floor. With paint it's going to be tough to not get a few sags in it here and there but with clear it's double tough. Same thing applies. If you see a sag starting, don't leave it. Add more paint to it until the sag just runs off the panel....LOL. It isn't rocket science but there are folks that have a serious skill for this and then there are those of "Us"...and I am in that group that just have to do the best we can.
 
I learned that early on shooting mixers and dump trucks with the 5 gal pressure pot... man that sh*t throws a fan...... ;)


but i would say to take that advice with a grain of salt tho ;) when it's gone, yeah... but minor sags in last coats, etc can most often be easily removed with some dainty cut/buff.... even occasionally base/clear metallics, but obviously that's a much harder case most of the time... but we would get em occasionally at the collision shop, and save em...

Niagra Falls? douche it baby! :haha:
 
oh, just to touch a bit more on what Vombrown mentioned.... materials... you could look to a straight modern poly single stage like I run on Mutt, with no clear... I run the Nason, it's about as economical as it gets for a poly... but most mannys have an economy line.. you can definitely spend more on higher quality system line to get much better durability and such.. but you'll definitely pay, look up Glasurit 21 line pricing and get back to me when your jaw gets off the floor... :doah: :haha:

that said, I got about 3 yr's from the custom red on Mutts hood before it chalked up a bit, not bad.. now keep in mind, that's straight paint, no sand/buff or WAX, eva... quick compound and it went away... you'd get a lot more from a Glasurit, etc.. or god forbid if i had waxed mine a couple times a year.. :whistle:

but just a couple coats of clear on top would help that tremendously.... you can even paint the rig.. block out all the minor stuff, dust, etc.. than go back in and throw a single color coat on, followed by a couple clear... shooting it almost like your doing base/clear..


but, back to the original purpose, cost.. economical single stages can be reasonable $$$.... clear is often about the same $$$... and you can figure on about 20, 25% clear compared to the single stage...

but throw base/clear into the mix, and it can get stoopid in a hurry.. base is a fair bit more than single, than you still have to buy clear.. and yes, they have different levels of quality for clears.. a high solids clear can be $$$$...
 
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Or you can be like ME and go to Sherwin Williams, Order some industrial coating CARC "chemical agent reactive coating" Military paint and stuff up your original paint and shoot it on.....LOL it's about 120 a gallon but you'll not paint it again. I'm not entirely sure you could if you wanted to after CARC. Comes in about six military flat colors. It chemically bonds to the metal and a grinder is about the only thing that will remove it. BUT, that's me and I'm not cool enough to have a smokin' Orange truck.:saweet:
 
Mutt's certainly no show rig... his criteria sounded kinda like what i wanted from Mutt... I think the Nason with hardener is about 175 for the gal depending on color... heck, he can go buy some 80's Centari for $60 a gal and shoot it over factory paint......
 
Funny you say that, I was hoping to shoot over the factory paint (after prepping). I don't have any rust and only 2 small dents that I may not mess with, my only real spots that need work are where I did the full top chop.

Great info guys, thank you. It's a lot to take in, got more studying to do.
 
I'm gonna follow along. As I've stated before, I'm kinda in the same boat. I don't want to spend a fortune on paint, but don't want to rattle can. I've considered the roll on, bedliners(even ordered chips), and tractor paint. I don't feel great about any option so far. Whatever I do it'll have to be outside. My burb won't fit in either stall of my garage in any dimension. The clear is falling off daily, and I have a couple of trail induced scars that I need to fix. Unfortunately one of them got into the brake light cradle crease. I'll save the bodywork questions for another thread, but I can't promise I won't clutter this one up as I learn enough to be dangerous about paint.
 
Clutter away!

I'm trying to go cheap too, ideally I want to stay under $500.
 
Abusfullofnuns said:
I'm gonna follow along. As I've stated before, I'm kinda in the same boat. I don't want to spend a fortune on paint, but don't want to rattle can. I've considered the roll on, bedliners(even ordered chips), and tractor paint. I don't feel great about any option so far. Whatever I do it'll have to be outside. My burb won't fit in either stall of my garage in any dimension. The clear is falling off daily, and I have a couple of trail induced scars that I need to fix. Unfortunately one of them got into the brake light cradle crease. I'll save the bodywork questions for another thread, but I can't promise I won't clutter this one up as I learn enough to be dangerous about paint.
Click to expand...

I was seriously considering the Bedliner route for awhile but the pain of removing it, if ever need be, is what steered me away. Even though, I’ll still be at about 50% lined with my current plan.
 
A HF gun with a good water separator and pressure guage can do a decent job. Years ago we did an article for an "Off-road magazine"....where we did just that. Except it was 200 buck paint job. We used rustoleum industrial paint with the hardener. Multiple light coats with sanding between to get it nice and flat. The end result was pretty dang nice! We went a little over that 200 budget with sandpaper and assumed that whomever tried it was using their own DA sander and air compressor. When it was done we wet sanded to 1k grit and buffed the crap out of it with Diamond polish but I can tell you it turned some heads. Still on the truck we used and that was well over 5 years ago. He applied a good carnuba wax a couple times a year and buffs it out. Just saying that if you spend the time, you can have a nice finish with just about anything.

Not too many years back there was a Mustang at the Good Guys car show in Nashville, TN. The owner had a very well renowned auto painter paint his car with rattle cans. Then used the rattle can clear. I'm sure that tons of work went into it but he was doing it to prove a point. It looked awesome and I would dare anyone that saw it to tell the difference. Now I don't know how long it lasted. Never saw the car again.
 
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