DIY spray painting

[Chris]

Tax return !!! Yeah baby.. So ok I went abit nuts today at super cheap and Bunnings.. Always wanned to spray my own car the colour I want.

So bought a 2.5 Liter compressor today (I know shouldof been 3HP+) but hey this one was on special and is the second stage up from that little pissy 2hp with a 20 liter tank.
Also I purchased Air tools.. I am so lazy but oh well..

Tomorrow when i go to PHW wreckers i will buy some crap pannel so I can test my painting first b4 I go on the real one.

Ive read lots on the internet regarding DIY paintshops but it is still quite scary.

Does anyone know how to paint here? Well I have a few questions..

If the colour is still good and not faded on a car which I would like to spary paint but I would like to change the colour, obvisly I would need to sand it down and best is to bare metal.

Now I have tryed that with the red piazza (shortys one) and it is a cunt of a job. What are easy ways to strip the colour??? I got an electric sander here with paint removing sand pads. But I did the same thing to the red one and gave up.. Was just to hard and prob. would take me like 6 weeks or more to get it to bare metal..

Spraying the car with paint thinner or break fluid??

Well what is the best, fastest and easiest way to get your car to bare metal??

(Matt Interested in a paintshop, for free of course if you provide the paint and stuff)

[Bugle]

I'm doing the Gemini at the moment, just have to fix the rust first!
Stripping paint on large areas an orbital sander works well with 80 grit sandpaper.
Recently got a sand blasting gun since they only cost like $20. Works well but sand gets everywhere. Great for bits with places that are hard to get to like this one.
http://www.starlyon.com/bugle/gemini/ru ... itting.jpg
http://www.starlyon.com/bugle/gemini/ru ... lasted.jpg

[Chris]

I'm doing the Gemini at the moment, just have to fix the rust first!
Stripping paint on large areas an orbital sander works well with 80 grit sandpaper.

Would you need anything else such as cutting compount or paint stripper?
Or just cold hard sanding?

[Rodeobob]

Cold being the right word. Heat warps your pannels.

The right sand paper in the right tool works a treat.

You dont really have to go back to bare metal, if your painting a darker colour over a light one rough it up and paint away. Red is the worst colour for bleeding through ive been told.

You could use paint stripper but its messy. I used it once to remove really hard primer from under a torn vynal roof. It got into the rust and stopped the paint from sticking properly. If you use stripper its got to be on good tin and prepped properly after wards.

[Chris]

well i guess orbital sander it is.. I can already see a disaster.. Oh well, If i fark up the paint shop i just put stickers all over the car.

[wedgenut]

I've played this game for many years and a bloody jaguar is a nightmare, they are so goddam big that a Piazza is a breeze. Buy those 3M brand strippy wheel things and stick them on something fast. You can get them with standard holes for fitting angle grinders or on a spingle for the drill but run em fast, they strip really well and don't scratch the steel and don't heat up the panel as much as discs do. Don't need much pressure either so not hard work but for christs sake use a decent mask or you will die young, Same applies when spraying. There are very few old car painters. Take it form nme I've tried everything from chewing, biting, wire brushing and samding, paint stripper is a nightmare. These are the bees knees. Expensive but really good

[Matt]

I took one of my cars to a place in marsden and got it sand blasted. It revealed a lot more then I first thought. It cost me $300 for a gemini station wagon to be done inside and out.

The only thing is the sand came out of it for months.

Matt

[GeminiCoupe]

Paint and panel is one thing ive tried, with the first failed project and now the good project. Try to avoid going back to bare metal as in most cases its unneccesary, all it does is reveal more things then first thought. I had to scrap a shell because i thought more damage then initially thought, and it would take way too long to get it back to acceptable standard. Only go back to bare metal where required - where the paint is cracking and suffereing from crows feet.

Proper way to prep for painting is the following.

Step One
Start with 320 grit on ye olde Orbital and a nice horizontal panel to get the hang of it. It isnt as easy as it seems - you MUST keep the sander flat with the surface of the panel and follow the curves, otherwise you will get flatspots/raised edges on the panel which are a pain to rub out. Go until you have rubbed the gloss/clear coats off the paint and maybe abit into the base coat.

Step Two
Look for any low spots/dents, fill them in and sand them level with the panels. Follow up by spraying the car in highfill or 2pack primer as its known. Sand the high fill with 600, then 800, then 1200, guide coat it [spray the panels lightly with another colour] then sand it. Guide coat is to make sure you havent missed any dents/panels have high/low spots. Once the guide coat has been sanded back, go over it with 1200 again and its ready to spray.

My Gem was done like that and this is what it turned out like...







If your still intent on going bare metal you could do it a number of ways...

-bead/sand blasting
-paint stripper
-wire brush on drill

Nick-

[shorty]

also make sure that you get all the crows feet out of it. that red one was just full of it and needed to be stripped right back to metal to stop it coming through. it also looked like you need to opem the fan from what i can see on the red piazza that you had a try on.

[Bugle]

My piazza has bulk crows feet on the roof and bonnet too.. Damn factory paint.

[shorty]

yeah mine is just starting to get them so i should be ablt to sand them out and respray it. just need to get my shed up and i will get started on it

[GeminiCoupe]

Make sure you take the sections with crowsfeet back to bare metal or they will come back out again.

Nick-