First time painter needs help.

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younggun2.0

younggun2.0

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well guys. i have decided to paint my first car. I have a 65 valiant that i am building for the Mrs. It is going to be a very mild street cruiser. the car is super solid but has a crappy maaco paint job that is flaking off. I am going to paint the engine bay prior to engine install and the going to be painting the car a panel at a time. I have very little rust to address and most of this car will be stripped to the factory paint and then primed and blocked twice prior to paint. going to be doing this all in the drive way with a home made paint booth.

I am intrigued with the summit ready to spray paints they sell. What would products would you guys recommend to a first time painter. single stage will prob be the route i go then a clear over the top possibly.

 
Maaco generally just uses a green scrub pad to scuff the factory paint before they paint the car that is why there paint often peels off. So make sure you sand the factory paint well before you prime to make sure primer sticks well and use a big compressor so you can maintain a good constant air presure to your paint gun. I would also recomend doing the whole out side of the car at once to get a nice even
color match and gloss look. High solid primers are good to use , they fill sanding scratches well , you can prime and block a car more then once but most people only
have enough paint to paint it once. after You primer the car mist it with a spray can
of a different colour this will help you find inperfections easier while you are block sanding it . Cheers and good luck.
 
i have a decent compressor. i still need to buy a gun and the air dryer set up. i plan to practice and get the hang of spraying prior to any work on the car. then i will do the engine bay first.
 
good plan , do the engine bay - wash it well with degreaser before you sand it .
After that do all your door jams and trunk etc.
 

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here is the paint i was looking into using. its pretty cheap and i have read good things about it.

sum-up309.jpg
 
I myself really like PPG paints , nothing wrong with Urethane Acrylics thou.
I really liked acrylic enamels but they dont sell them here any more Provicial Goverment
out lawed them , to many iso-cynids and other poison crap in them they say.
They green you see on my cuda is an industrial enamel - mixture of blue and yellow.
With a bit of reducer and proform wet look hardener mixed in. Affordable drys nice and hard and loves to be waxed. LOL. But seriously your choose of paint is a good one, nice to work with does not need to be cleared but can be if need be.
 
the clearing was my thought also. if i were to get runs in the single stage or dirt or some sort of imperfection i could wet sand it out and then clear the single stage and be ok.

I know there is alot of talent involved in painting cars but seems to me that there is a **** ton of labor intensive grunt work involved in the prep work. i happen to be one hell of a work horse so i figure that if i take my time and prep it correctly i should get a decent finished product.
 
patience and patience lots of blocking and just take your time you will do a good job. Prep work is the biggest part of a good paint jod. Cheers.
 
I agree with Wheels, plan on painting the exterior all at once. Sanding, priming, and jambs can be done a panel at a time. Prevel (I think) makes a small aresol kit that you can spray your paint, a little section at a time. Great for all the small areas, and will let you get used to how the paint flows and looks.
you are going to have dust, bugs, orange peel, and runs. Prepare your mind for that now. I done exactly what you're doing. I am happy with the end result. Just don't get in a hurry. Your paint choice will work fine.
 
another good choice is HOUSE OF KOLOR. They offer it all in one inexpensive kit that gives you all the right stuff that works together.
 
Youngun, what is your time frame? I just painted all my jambs, interior panels, and engine bay. I will be putting mine together and painting the outside at the end of July. I have all the guns that you need and you are welcome to borrow them. They aren't super high dollar but I have had good success with them. I also have a supplied air respirator that we can talk about. I used all SPI products except the basecoat, which was pro spray. PM me and I will give you the info of the guy I bought it all from. I live about 2 hours north of you, but I work in Bellevue so we can meet there if you want
 
My recommendation, don't use HOUSE OF KOLOR if you are new to painting.

I noticed you said you will be painting one panel at a time. If that's your plan, DO NOT use a metallic, only use a solid color.

You will end up with a car where every panel is a slightly different color.

You want something cheep, forgiving, reasonably good, and available locally. Available locally is key. When you mess up or run out, like you will painting for the first time, you don't want to be ordering paint.

Use this, I just painted a truck with it a few months ago and it turned out very well. You get it at NAPA.
http://www.martinsenour-autopaint.com/en/ProductHighlights/Cross-Fire.aspx
 
TCP global offers affordable kits as well with lots of colors. For my priming i used the Harbor Freight $9.99 guns use them once or 2x and toss. not worth the clean up or $5 in thinner to clean. I would go urethane basecoat system. Get yourself a practice panel something to shoot and get use to the gun settings and feel for the paint. .
 
Good luck. If the gun loan doesn't pan out. A great start,would be a touch up gun. They atomize nicely,don't dump a ton of paint,preventing runs. Badart,is a hobbiest painter here. He has pictures of his work,with the Summitt product. Looks beautiful. He has pictures, in the paint and body thread. Use the search engine,punch in "budget paint jobs " in the search engine.
 
Good luck with it! Yes, as was mentioned, get that engine compartment completely degreased and don't forget to use that wax and grease remover on the car too. I painted my old 'cuda with off-white, single-stage.......first I shot the roof, then came back the did the rest of the car, the lower section. There was noticeable differences in the shade. I won't be doing that again.

I was just curious.....if you're going single-stage and thinking about doing a clearcoat, why not just do a 2-stage?
 
If you are shooting a heavy mica/metallic,use the base / clear setup. A single stage metallic ,is a absolute nightmare ,for beginner's. The simpler,the better the 1st time.
 
cudavert said:
Good luck with it! Yes, as was mentioned, get that engine compartment completely degreased and don't forget to use that wax and grease remover on the car too. I painted my old 'cuda with off-white, single-stage.......first I shot the roof, then came back the did the rest of the car, the lower section. There was noticeable differences in the shade. I won't be doing that again.

I was just curious.....if you're going single-stage and thinking about doing a clearcoat, why not just do a 2-stage?
Click to expand...


well my thinking was that if the single stage turned out good i wouldnt have to clear it. but if it got all screwed up or orange peeled really bad i could cut it and clear it to keep the paint thick enought still. I understand what you guys are saying about painting the whole car with the flake paint. did some reading and the flake will lay differently every time so you have to spray the whole car. that is not a prob. If i can get the whole car primed and blocked then jammed. it would be easy to spray the rest of the car.
 
Abodybomber said:
If you are shooting a heavy mica/metallic,use the base / clear setup. A single stage metallic ,is a absolute nightmare ,for beginner's. The simpler,the better the 1st time.
Click to expand...


ok, i will look at the other colors without a metallic. that was the color the Mrs. picked. Might have to explain things to here and have her choose a solid color.

i plan to pull the dash and steering column also. I will be painting those small parts first as well to get the feel for the procedures.

thanks for all the input guys
 
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