Can someone explain why we need to strip paint down to the fiberglass to paint it? Honestly, why can't I just sand it down a bit, fix the cracks and shoot it?

 

Think about it...why would you want to paint over a previous paint job that could have butchered bodywork underneath it...it will come back to haunt you.

 

If its the original paint on the car then yes. But if its been paint before and shows a lot of cracks in the paint then its best to strip, blast the paint off. I had my 74 soda blast had two coats of paint on it . Plus after blasting it found that there was some repair work done on the door. Just my 2 cents.

 

Hi,
New paint has a nasty habit of often causing problems with the paint that's under it because it's usually a different material.
It used to be you could sand and respray because the new paint was acrylic lacquer like the old paint. And, the layers were very thin. That's rarely true anymore.
Too many layers of old paint, primer, sealer, and new paint can be a problem because of it's total thickness.
The spider-webbing and cracking that's often seen is because of the thick total layer. There are very few problems that MORE paint cure.
Regards,
Alan

It's like putting a clean shirt on over yesterday's underwear! Nobody close-up is fooled.

 

Good One Alan !!!! Another vote here to spend the additional time and get all the old paint off before you start with new paint. Good luck

 

The last few people that painted my friends Firebird thought the same as you. When I got the car the paint was really bad, checked and cracked everywhere. I started to strip the car and found FIVE paint jobs on the car. It now has one and looks great.

Also, someone painted over the original silver paint on my 'Vette with white. Silver is a bad color for longevity anyway, and to put more paint on top is a problem. The old paint wrecked the new paint. Spend your money once and do it right the first time.

 

all of the above very true!

Also with original paint if it is still there is lacq. and when it cracks and it always does-it breaks from the bottom. You can not fix it short of taking all of it off. Fiberglass has a lot of expansion and contraction because of heat/cold. Lacq. type paint dries hard and cannot keep up with the expansion and conraction and therefore it cracks. New type paints (much more durable) do a much better job of staying on--buy good stuff and prepare it well and you will be a happy camper much longer!!
My 2 cents!

 

Reguardless of what you paint,(house,car,cabinets,etc) the prep work is the MOST important part. Do it once and do it right, you're either going to have to live with a poor result, re-do it, or sell it at a discount to unload it. My vet was repainted poorly by the PO, and now I have to pay the piper...

 

Thank you for the explanations! Very, very helpful.

It's the original lacquer paint with a 1 time 5 mph paint job on top (acrylic, no clear-coat) and that is at least 15 years old.

Good explanations, but when you ask me "why would I..." Because it's a $10,000 dollar difference in cost... there is no way my CFO (wife) would let me go through with that.

My father was the PO, so I know there is no accident damage.

How can I get this car painted for 5k?

 

Marry the daughter of the fellow who owns the paint shop.


The more prep work you do yourself will save you shop hours and labor expenses. Talk to your painter. Some shops are charry about having owners do the prep and then being blamed for poor prep work.

 

OK I will bite and be the lone devils advocate....Yes you can just sand it. BUT the things the others point out are valid for the most part. If you sand it very deep and properly you will see the multiple layers if any. Also if you already know it has no work in it that is a plus. Sanding down into the first coats and getting a good even sand is real important, because any paint that may not have good adhesion will be apparrant. You can spray over laquer with enamel but not the other way around. A good epoxy primer will seal it and give the entire surface a bond that will keep any laquer from popping but in reality if it hasn't lifted in 35 years it probably won't as long as it is sealed properly from the top coat. Stripping is optimum no arguement. But you asked about sanding. There are a lot of fiberglass cars/parts sanded and painted over that look good for a long time, but in reality the sanding process is as tedious as the stripping. But around here if you have 5K to spend on a paint job, that is plenty for a very very nice prep and shoot. Maybe not strip, prep and shoot however...Just throwing that out there...you can strip it and still get a crappy paint job.

 

I painted my 74 for little under 1000$ . That's including soda blasting it. First car I ever painted. My father in-law helped me with what little body work it needed . Then gave me advice on paint it. He dose it for a living. Took it to my first vette show and got first with it.

 

Hi s05,
I'd think that if you would strip the paint yourself and bring a bare body to the painter you can find someone to do it for $5000.
I've NEVER seen a Corvette body that didn't need some body work before it was painted.
Regards,
Alan

 

Actually Easy Mike, you gave me a great idea. We have a family friend on the east that has a paint shop (I think he gave this car it's last coat of paint.) I could ship it out there, have them paint it and ship it back... would have to be cheaper than doing it here. NICE... gotta look into that.

 

lol...my original colour was Bryer Blue, after that it was gold, yellow and white. It made for a nice mess with the stripper.....eerrr...thats another story.

I can see someone painting over another job, not everyone has the cash, time and experience. If it's all you can afford it's better than the crap thats on there. It's not what I would do but I can understand it.

 

paint shops build the prep work into their price quotes . if the owner/customer does the prep work, the paint shop will either refuse the work, or build into their price a 'factor' which allows for profit when the customer comes back when the paint job is crappy from poor prep work.

plus customer prep work give shops less motivation to paint and finish the car to the quality that they would with a total strip/prep/paint/finish job high $$ job that they would do start to finish... they can always blame someone else's prep work on a poor quality paint job.

point is.. you're not saving alot with doing your own prep work and you will struggle to find a shop to paint your car, or they will paint it with less quality. if prep work is 2/3 the entire job, you will not save 2/3 of the $$.


now another point of view.

if you use a good sealer and prep the surface correctly and know what you are painting over, there is nothing wrong with not stripping all the old paint off. There are lots of classic cars out there with multiple layers of paint. people do it all the time. As stated, any paint will look crappy if not prepped well.

do you want a show car that sits under a cover and gets to come out rarely, or do you want a daily driver that is going to start picking up rocks chips on its 1st day out anyway?

 

I think that all depends on what you are looking for. At a higher end painter, then maybe. There are tons of places out there and there's always someone that isn't busy and needs to make what he can. There's a body shop near me that mainly does accident repairs and he told me that he would spray it for $2000. He does good work and I only ant a DD so that would be a great deal for me. I'm actually looking into just doing the entire car myself when the time gets here.

There are paint shops out there that will do it all for around $5000 if you look for them. Won't be a show quality job but it also isn't 10k

 

There are paint shops out there that will do it all for around $5000 if you look for them. Won't be a show quality job but it also isn't 10k[/QUOTE]

Having done a lot of painting through the years, I would like to know what someone considers a "show Quality" paint job and why they think that a substandard job should be so much cheaper? Here is my take on paint jobs: If prepped properly every paint job should start out the same , prep should be good prep regardless. Good primer that is compatible with the paint used should always be used. Paint is where the difference in price should come in since it varies immensely, as does the amount since the quantity also affects price however, there are so called high end paints that I have used over the years that are so unforgiving that even a good painter can have issues with if not properly trained. There are also mid range paints that are awesome and lay out and flow super well. Then there is the guy shooting the paint, he should know what he is doing. If there are no fancy graphics a good painter should be able to lay a consistent coat and know flash times for what they are shooting and how to cut and buff after. That being said other than paying someone with a reputation extra, there is no real reason to assume that a 5000 dollar paint job could not be show quality, quite the opposite in fact. There have been many examples here on the forum of high dollar screw ups and low dollar marvels. I say check out the painters work, get the best bang for your money for the paint you are using and don't assume that more expensive paint is neccessarily better paint for your application. And you need to ask questions. Some clears when cured are harder than others. Some tend to hold thier elasticity for a long time. Ask if they heat cure or not, most good shops do, even most collision repair shops heat cure. So the bottom line is if a shop quotes you a high dollar price gather all the info on them you can, then shop other places, armed with knowledge you can get an awsome job done that is very high quality.

 

First let me clarify, I am not a painter and never have painted a car. I'm just speaking from my experience in what I have seen and researched. Factory paint jobs are nice but IMO can't compare to some of the "Show quality" jobs I have seen. I think there are acceptable levels which most cars get prepped to but there are those who go beyond and attempt near perfection, which takes more time. The paint selection makes a difference on the budget. I've seen the wet sanding and buffing after spraying the car and I have seen the extra steps that have been put into those areas going beyond the norm and the end result shows it.

I used to look at a paint job and think that it was really nice. Heck, I used to think a polished new car on the dealers lot was a pretty nice paint job. Once it was pointed out to me the difference in depth and what to look for in a paint job and I have seen the extra work that goes into making it extra nice, I can really appreciate them more.

The 5k figure that I threw out just seems to be the normal starting point for most people on the site. In my area I can get it done cheaper than that. I was just making a point to the OP that he didn't need to go to his wife and discuss a 10k, that he could get it done in the 5k range that he wanted.

 

81 pilot has made more sense about a paint job than anyone I have ever heard. I would think a shop would try to do the best prep and spray they could possibly do. As a business owner myself, I always try to give my customers the best period. However, if a paint shop pays its employees more and pays more for general overhead, a paint job will cost more but the quality should be the same either way.