Best way to paint A bodies???

I just painted car that was completly apart but, I put it back together to paint it. There were several reasons for this. but the main reasons are because Is because of the primer sealer I used and more importantly I could block it as a complete car. Which to me was important. I wanted those panels straight.

To me priming the car was harder then painting it. the Primer I used was very thick. You don't thin it you simply add the hardner. But that's where the simple ends. You have to use a 1.8 spray tip which means you are laying down a lot of material. Which is good because you get a good base to block. however, it is somewhat easy to get runs. Also because of the heavyness of the material you can get a lot of orange peel.

As far as the color and clear I think it has to do mostly with the material you are spraying. I used all Limco products. Paint,Clear,thinner and hardner. I did the jamb first. Here's a car painting tip for you. Do not tape off the jambs from the outer body just let it overspray on the body. Also you want to spray your clear at the same time as your color. Do not just spray color on the jambs and wait to spray the clear when you spray the rest of the clear.

If you do it correctly there is very little over spary. You want the feathering effect of the overspray this way you dont have spray lines. You can simple sand the overspray with some 600 and shoot the outside. As far as taping of the jambs before shooting the outside 3 M has a product to apply and is cheap. It's a foam tape that goes on the inside of the jamb. here again no paint lines.

The only thing I took off to spay the color and clear is the hood. the reason why I did that is because the clear that I chose likes to be sprayed on very heavy. It is recomended to stand the hood up straight to spray it. Limco wants you to slam the first coat of clear right to the point of running. this sets a good base for the additional coats of clear.

I used dark gray primer 3 coats 2 coats to seal and lay a base for blocking and and 3rd coat after blocking that I could sand with 600 for final painting.

3 coats of dark red metalic. 1.5 nozzle with a 10 minute tack time between coats.

3 coats of clear right after the color with a 1.5 nozzle. Also a 10 minute tack time between coats. (This is another reason you want to shoot your clear on your jams after the color).

This worked perfectly. The panels are as flat as a desk. I have not color sanded it yet but the finish without color sanding is clear deep and rich. I couldn't be more pleased.