Looking for advice on bodywork & painting my rig myself

[magentawave]

Yeah I looked into "the $50 paint job" more and it involves 5 or 6 rolled on coats of 50/50 oil based paint to paint thinner with sanding between each coat. Way too much work! I got pretty good at spraying my own lacquer finishes back when I was a cabinetmaker with a $100 airless (!) by experimenting with different tips but oil based paints are much harder to deal with than lacquer. So I bought this guys book http://neilslade.com/CarPainting/fiftydollarmyth.html for $10 because he shows how to do a cheap paint job and get great results with urethane and an HVLP gun...and he explains how to paint the car outside without a spray booth which was my main issue. For a measly ten buck I figure I should get at least a few good ideas from it. BTW: I have no financial involvement with that guys book.

A friend took the Rustoleum approach with an old Honda. The results are about what you'd expect: A durable coat of paint that looks like the finish on a 20 year old manure spreader. Cheaper than rolling on bed liner, though.

The main problem with an Earl Sheib paint job is that they don't sand and prep properly. I've seen a couple cars where the owner got the car back and they had forgotten to pull off some of the tape and when the tape was pulled off it brought large pieces of paint with it because they didn't prep it properly. Earl Scheib paint jobs are probably okay IF you do all the prep work yourself and then deliver it to them to paint.

WOW Ryan, you must be a painter!

Gotta say guys, for the time involved, learning techniques of painting ridges and curves, buying materials and getting a place ready to paint in, I'd take $300 to Earl Shribe for the paint special of the day and have them do it.

You might get it cheaper if you do some prep work. At least wash the thing really good (no wax) before you take it in, I had them do one car and they painted over bird crap, had to take it back and made them fix that. They did and it turned out pretty good, better than I would have done.

 

[C5dad]

Hey Gang,

Thanks for this one! In am in the midst of stripping down a '79 f150 for my daughter ( 14 yrs old). I am taking it to metal and priming as I go. The truck has 34k original miles and was used as a response vehicle at my company. They decided to paint it red with something like a house enamel -thus the need to strip. Not to mention the desire for sky blue.

Anyone have a lead for bulk pads for a 4 1/2 inch grinder? I am eating up those gator pads available, especially when hitting the few curves.

Chris

 

[mccustomize]

Use aircraft stripper, it will take anything off. Also you don't want to "eat" into the base metal, just take off what's on top of it.

I have been in the business as a tech, service writer, and just about every other job title you can think of for over 15 years. If you guys have any questions, feel free to PM

 

[magentawave]

Check eBay. I just bought a bunch of 80 grit sanding discs for my 6" RO sander and they were so much cheaper than buying locally...and with free shipping and no sales tax.

Hey Gang,

Anyone have a lead for bulk pads for a 4 1/2 inch grinder? I am eating up those gator pads available, especially when hitting the few curves.

Chris

 

[Erik N]

get great results with urethane and an HVLP gun...

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[colierar]

Like everyone else has said on here, the best finish comes from the prep work. Buy yourself a DA sander, money well spent. Also others have said don't take it all the way down to the metal. Every pro paint job prep work I have seen always still has a original paint on it. BC/CC is the only way to go. Cost more but worth it. If you do decide to do BC/CC pick yourself up a HVLP with different tips you can change out. The clear coat takes a finer tip, it will save you some time when it comes time for wet sanding. I used to have a Matco Tools franchise and sold a decent HVLP with changeable tips for $150-$200. So if you have a local tool guy (Matco , Snap on, Mac etc..) Check them out. Not sure how big your air compressor is, but it will need to flow some air for the DA sander. But most of all good luck and have some fun with your kids.

 

[magentawave]

Yes prep is key and I'm doing that but instead of spraying my rig with conventional primer and acrylic urethane I just decided to roll the entire vehicle with this stuff called "Monstaliner". You can see what Glenn at www.tosimplify.net did on the Vanagon he lives and travels in and the kinda flat industrial look of Monstaliner looks awesome and is actually far more practical than conventional paint. I priced it out and the cost for me to roll everything with Monstaliner was only $50 more than what it would cost for me to shoot a 2K high solids sandable primer and a white single stage acrylic urethane paint on it so that was another deciding factor.

 

[Arclight]

I redid the shell on my old 78 Bronco with "topcoat" paint from West Marine. They sell a primer and paint system that you can apply with an extra-fine roller. I masked, hit the shell with an orbital sander, then did 2 coats of primer, sanding in between to knock down the fiberglass strands that got sealed by the primer. The top came out as a very nice semi-gloss white and it was pretty affordable.

Arclight

 

[4D55 Performance]

I used Eastwood's new product "2K Aerospray Paint" to paint the bumpers, flares and grille on my Mercedes. I was more than pleased with quality paint job that was achieved. I was able to achieve a high quality finish because it is a catalyzed spray paint. Here is a link. It will make more sense once you see it in action. I used 3 of the 12.2oz spray cans to paint 2 bumpers, 4 flares, grille and the headlight bezels. I was able to do 2 coats which was plenty of coverage. These are not your normal rattle cans. These rattle cans will leave a professional finish. Just make sure you use a nice respirator, because this stuff is catalyzed.


Watch the video, it explains how this stuff is different than other rattle cans.

http://www.eastwood.com/paints/2k-aero-spray-paints.html