Hey everyone, I'm a newbie but I have been hands on my car for the last 2 years. My goal is to get it done by prom, yup I want to drive my beater car but the paint is very embarrassing. To begin with I have no idea why the original owner tried to apply a cheap paintjob that is now cracking and the actual glitter/flakes get stuck on your hand when you touch it. The last owner seems to have just painted over the original paint job which seemed to be in good condition as you can see the color of paint on the trunk lid. I had to take off the left fender to reattach the headlight vac hoses and there is rust on the backside of the fender. the underside of the hood and the trunk(look at pics) also have rust. .I noticed it had some rust on the underside plus the overspray when the engine bay was painted. I then decided to remove the chrome and prep it myself (fenders and body) 1.One question I have is how do I remove the rust inside the actual trunk lid? There seems to be rust in there! I don't have enough funds or time for a chemical dip! 2.Do I have to place the panel on the car again when I send it to get painted or is it easier to prep it off the car and have it painted off the car and have the shop put it back together? 3. I removed the lower molding that crossed the whole lower part of the car. Now did this come chromed out or did my last owner paint it over black?(check pics) I know I'm still going to remove the right fender too because I am going to fix the power antenna. I want to at least get it prepped and primered by myself. This should be cheaper when it comes to getting it painted at a shop. . You can see it in the pictures the paint is peeling. I know it doesnt take much effort to remove the old paint. I can already start to see the primer on the hood! 4. Should I use chemical stripper to take it down to metal or just down to the original primer and respray it? I have heard that some primers stick better to the original primer or sanded paint while other stick to bare metal. I have also heard that some primers actually have a hard time sticking to bare metal. 5.Now should I use sand paper , 80-grit, to prep it for primer? I don't want to damage the sheet metal and have it show after the paint job. 6. What primer do you guys recommend?I'm not worrying about filler because the shop will work on that. 7. I have a compressor, Should I buy one of those cheap spray guns at the part store and calibrate it ? Or don't risk it? I know it's just primer but oh well. Well thanks guys :TU: I have sooooo many questions but hey Ride in style to the prom in a classy Buick! P.S I was thinking of the original paint which was Aztec silver or something like that, other options are black or a nice dark blue, shiny metallic almost style. Checkout my cardomain profile for pics of the car! The car has spoked rims in the pictures, I had to track down the original rally rims which are now on, I will update later, http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2348711 Also checkout the youtube video of the exhaust, I posted a thread about it. http://youtube.com/watch?v=85PPBXLVeeA
hey, for the trunk lid if you didn't want to much trouble,sandblasting might be a good way to go. If your still in highschool like me your metal work shop should have one, and if not sandblasters are cheap. That might be the best way to "kill" the rust
If the paint on the car is stable then scuff the surface with 180 grit. Contact your local auto paint store and ask them which primer to use (you shoud try to use products from the same manufacturer. Once the car is primed, then follow it with a sealer to protect it from the element. Primer absorbs moisture. I didn't get the sense that this is a show car and you don't mention what you auto body experience is. If you want a good looking daily driver AND want the car for prom and expenses are limited, you may want to remove all exterior chrome (bumper, trim, moldings) and take the car to Macco and have them paint it for < $1000. You'll get good results and probably pay less than if you tried it yourself. Paint get get expensive.
might i suggest something, i wouldnt use a sandblaster. had someone bring in a trunk lid for a mustang after he had sandblasted it for me to paint, it was so wavy from being blasted that it was cheaper for him to buy a new trunk lid.
i'd primer the car and drive it like that. primer looks cool, is cheap and temporary, and painting is hard. i painted a car once and it looked like hell. not saying you cant do it, but take your time and do it right. you can always paint over primer, or better yet, have a pro do it. good luck. cant wait to see it!
That was my other option, I was looking for a black primer, and I found the Duplicolor Paint system. I don't know, The paint looks ok, you know for a temporary paint job but hey its 20 bucks a can and no mixing needed. Have any of you guys tried it? If not What black primer would you reccomend or does it depend on the final color? http://www.duplicolor.com/products/paintshop.html
only use black primer if you're gonna be painting the car black or a very dark color. otherwise, go grey. i have no clue which paint or primer is better. o No: it does matter, tho. i sprayed duplicolor from a can (hey, it was a ford escort), and sometimes the paint would build up on the nozzle and cause runs on the car. :rant: tecnique really matters, i found that out the hard way. again i say to you: primer and sand, have a pro do the rest. just my opinion. me personally, i like cars that look kinda jacked up and run like the dickens. my rivs paint is pretty damned sharp, but it attracts alot of attention and causes me to worry about parking it out of sight and whatnot. you might want the car to be "done" by prom, but these cars are never "done". as soon as you get it where you think you wanted it, you find out that there's some chrome headliner or something on ebay for $20. oh yeah, and you might need two cars worth of primer for that beast. the hood alone is bigger than a hyundai. what's your name? mine's Howard.
Hey Thanks, My name is Jose. The most common Mexican name you will ever hear!:laugh: Well Thanks for the info I almost bought the black primer. I'm going for some nice shade of silver. What color is yours? Look nice in the avatar. The paint is peeling and I noticed that just by using a hose, The paint was chipping off exposing the original paint under it! I s there A way I can Just pressure wash it off? My uncle has one! here are some pictures! Hey are the lower moldings supposed to be black? I thought they were chrome. The right fender is rusted pretty bad because water got through the antenna.ou:Left side is clean though. I took off all the chrome on the fenders and took the bumper off.
if you're talking about the running boards, the lowest piece of trim that runs between the wheels, it's like a dark dark blue. i swear. mine were all f-ed up so i had to paint them black. cant really tell a difference, unless you're a 2nd gen riv fanatic. i admire your bravery, jose, for undertaking this. i would be seriously afraid of painting my ride. looks like you're off to a good start, from looking at the pics. you're out of my league now, tho. go SLOWLY and read everything you can about masking, primering, and painting. your car looks too good to screw up! i look forward to seeing the 'after' pics! buenas suerte!
Jose,welcome to the board!!I'll vote for the primered look too.If the original paint is there and the funds are low,one could spend the time and effort to sand it down to a good base and then use some quality primer or inexpensive paint system,it would look good to me:TU:.If it was mine,it had to be black:bglasses: .Make sure to label everything now so you remember where it came from in the future,you will be glad that you did.Good luck with your car.And Howard,thanks for the link,sweet ride that you have there(I wish that the V8Garage was sorted by years and models:spank: ),would you mind posting a pic of your car's side on the gallery?I would like to see the side pipes,I like them too.:beer
thanks, Hector! here's all the pics i have. put alot of work into that car, sure feels good to hear compliments like that! you just made my day! AWWW! :beer
Cool ride.That big block sure looks good in there and I also like the steering wheel(very classy).Damn dude,you know how to party:laugh: :beer
Mine were painted over black at one time. When I took them off and could get a good close up look at them, what factory finish I could see under the flaked paint did have a blue cast to it. Like they were anodized or something. Thinking of going with flat black primer temporarily myself just to get the car one color. Don't like driving a car with a cream body, blue hood, and silver trunklid.
Yeah I already labeled everything, I have a trunk full of ziplock bags with labels!:beer My car also has some side pipes! The carb you see on top is brand new, stage 2 q-jet from Jet Performance. I just need to adjust the idle because it is set too high! Here's another picture. I was thinking of a color like Howard's or the original "Inca Silver" or aztec something like that, That is what the paint code says. I also thought about black but the seats are white with black trim and it already has a black vinyl top. Would it look good anyways? I was also thinking about this dark blue, I included pics
Isn't the aztec like a dark gold color? I don't know for sure but I thought it was. And it looks like I see some hints of gold color. Anyway, here's some thoughts for you. The parts I saw in the pics looked pretty straight and the rust looks like mostly surface rust. Here in the Northeast the body shop sells somthing called "metal ready" It is an acid meant to be put on the rust and let it set. then you use a wire brush and try to clean everything up the best you can. according to the directions you are supposed to rinse it off. Being it's the consistency of water it will flow easily into crooks and cranies and get the rust in there BUT, when I did the roof of my Electra late last summer, I found rinsing and the inability to dry resulted in a layer of rust on the bare metal I sanded to. So I put on another coat of the metal ready and this time I wiped it off with an old bath towel. Then I primed with self etching primer right away. Later I shot clear coat over the primer just to get me through the winter, as the car sits outdoors. If your metal is as straight as it looks, a dark color will look good. If it isn't, the lighter the color the less you will see the waves and flaws in the body work. You have a white and black interior so just about any body color will do. that's a nice thing. blue, green, gold, silver, they all go great. But the time needed to prep the body is 4 times greater than the time needed to paint the car. I mean if you have damaged metal it will take a while to fix and get flat. again if it can't be flat, then paint it a lighter version of your color choice. Painting the car is not really hard to do. In your case if you don't have to paint the roof and you already have these parts off, then you should prep the parts and then lay the parts up on wooden horses or even garbage cans. Get yourself a HLVP paint gun and hook it up to the hose then BEFORE you put any paint in the gun, pretend to paint the parts. This will help you to realize where you have to squat or stretch to make sure every thing gets covered. If need be rearrange the parts so you can get to the edges easily. Nothing cheapens a color change more than a missed edge or missed door jamb. Next paper and tape everything. Don't cheat. If you overlap the paper it is NOT sufficient to just tape the top and bottom edge. The paint will get under the layered paper and ruin whats underneath. Invest in the tape and seal the entire overlap. for that fact cover the top entirely. Leave it uncovered and be prepared to start scrubbing paint off your roof. Lastly, prepare to paint all the parts on the same day with the same batch of paint. Then stat with the door jambs, and trunk and hood folds and then the edges of everything. by this time you'll be comfortable with the gun and able to concentrate on the flat pannels of the body. Try to pain the full panel in one steady sweep. Then return under the first pass and continue back and forth with about 1/2 over lap of the prior paint sweep. Don't get crazy. Make sure the hose is not kinked as you walk along that rear quarter panel. Put on one light coat to cover everything, and then sit down for 15 minutes or whatever the "Flash" time is on the paints directions. Then go for a 2nd coat. If need be go for a third coat but don't try to worry about or fix any runs. Thats for day two. On the moring of day two lightly wet sand the car with the finest grit w/dry paper you can find. Of course I am assuming you'll be using catalysed paint. Then go for two more light coats of paint. Now here's the thing. Red paints are very expensive and if you have a metalic chances are it may not come in a single stage paint. In this case you'd have to shoot a clear coat over the base coat. Silvers and golds are the least expensive paints and usualy have metallic so you'll be looking at the clear coat issue. The clear coat will double your paint cost. Black and white and some other variations of the base colors will come in a single stage thus saving you the cost of clear coat. Black is probably the cheapest paint but will definitely show every flaw in the paint work. White is equally cheap and will not show many flaws, but it is bright while going on and tough to make sure you have decent coverage. Some colors may require a certain base coat in a certain color to match what you see in the book. My 95 riviera needed a charcoal grey under coat before putting on the dark maroon color paint, then clear coat on top of that. Guess what, 3 x the cost of the paint. But the good news is this. When you think about how much paint you need to cover your project, you need to include the volume increase when the pain tis cut by the reducer. Here's an example. This summer I painted a 94 regal GS. The drivers door, back and over the trunk and the passengers rear quarter. The paint store estimated 1 1/2 gallons. I bought one gallon of paint and the proper reducers in a single stage paint ( no metallic) and put 5 coats on the parts and still had a lot of paint left over. So there you have it a a few thoughts from a windbag. But painting the car in the top coat is the most fun and enjoyable part of the job. Knowing you did it yourself is priceless. Good Luck JD
Oh, by the way, invest in the best paint mask you can. I painte d my cars outdoors to prevent me standing inside a garage loaded with paint fumes. But if you're near the neighbors be prepared for some comments about the paint. Also paint the car when you have just about 15 minutes of direct sun left on the car and on as dry a day as possible. This minimizes both the drying and flash times and the possibilities of bugs coming along at dusk and ruining your paint job, not that they can't be sanded out.
Search here for $50.00 paint job and read the posts. Allow alot of time for the reading. It may be just what you need!
THANKS FOR THE INFO!:TU: IT REALLY HELPS. I have been reading article after article, I like to do things right the first time. I also just received my new subscription to Car Craft and there is a painting guide but not as detailed as yours. I have to make up my mind on the color. Now I know what spray gun to buy also which helps because I know the $12 guns at the auto part stores won't do. As for the prepping, do I need to go down to bare metal? I know the paint is chipping revealing the original paint, I can probably pressure hose it off. Do I use 80 grit to scuff up the paint to get it ready if I don't need to go down to bare metal? http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2348711
The better the base, the longer the new paint will last. The smoother the base the better the new paint will look. Nothing is smoother than bare flat metal. But this has some risks. Mostly new rust if bare metal is not coated timely ( this means almost as soon as you get the old paint off). If you need to go to bare metal to get the panel flat then you can use 80 grit on a DA sander or a straight board sander. Change the paper often. Using one piece too long ( even if it looks good) will cause excessive heat on the spot being sanded. Excessive heat leads to disform of the panel. If you can pressure wash of the old topcoat paint I'd say give it a try, but it would probably come off just as easily with 120 or 180 grit on the DA. Hopefully it is only on there because the original paint faded. If your original paint is good, just not shiney, then I would use a 320 grit on a DA and build from there with a primer/sealer first and then your top coat. Bare metal I would use the Metal Ready followed by self etching primer and then the top coat in a single stage. Keep in mind you said you were making a driver quality car. If you are seeking more then other guidelines come into play. The best thing I would offer you is this: Find the auto paint store and go there at 2 PM one day and then ask for help in deciding how to approach the job. Bring pictures of the car so they can see whats at stake. Chances are at 2 PM all the major business rush for the day is over and they've had lunch which makes them more apt to work with you on the various products they sell and how to accomplish what you want to do. I found my local store to be a vast resource and they saved me a ton of time on just about everything. Good luck.
BTW here is the link if youre interested. Pretty cool process it seems. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=116142&highlight=fifty+dollar+paint+job"
