Painting Vette's

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Apr 4, 2002 | 03:27 PM

Mighty Mouse

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Intermediate

Joined: Apr 2002

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From: Sault Ste Marie Mi

Painting Vette's

Please excuse me if I am repeating a subject as I have not yet had time to view all past postings yet. My ? is what do I need to know about painting Corvette's (being fiberglass) before approaching a shop to do the job. In this two horse town I can only find 2 places that are willing to paint it and I want to make sure they know what they are doing. Is body prep too intense to be attempted by myself? I want to do whatever possible myself.

Apr 4, 2002 | 03:33 PM

ZORA_RULES

Burning Brakes

Joined: May 2000

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From: Canton GA

Re: Painting Vette's (Mighty Mouse)

I attempted a first paint. See my website...I have a lot of links on it to good sources of info. You can certainly do all the prep work yourself. I even attempted shooting the color and clear. Came out OK....but in hindsight I probably should've let someone else do that part...as I ran into a few problems. But I will try it again at some point. You can certainly do all the prep/stripping of parts/primer and blocking yourself and save a lot of $ that route.....as several people on the forum have done.

Good Luck

Apr 4, 2002 | 03:37 PM

MELVIN

Safety Car

Joined: Mar 1999

Posts: 3,715

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From: VASS, NC, USA

Re: Painting Vette's (Mighty Mouse)

First of all, that crap some paint shops will say: "Vettes require special painting" is total :bs

A vette is no different to paint than your average car. What is different is body repair. And even then, its just a matter of different materials, requiring a different technique

But as far as painting goes, Vettes can and are painted with the same materials your average car is painted with. Its just a matter of choosing which brabd or materials you want to use. Othere than fiberglass repair, prep is the smae for a vette as it for any other car. The big difference though, would be if you decided to go deep and re gel coat your car prior to painting. This is rarely required though

Apr 4, 2002 | 03:39 PM

ZORA_RULES

Burning Brakes

Joined: May 2000

Posts: 765

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From: Canton GA

Re: Painting Vette's (MELVIN)

Read this post. Good info about Lars in the process of doing a job now.....
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=268922

Apr 5, 2002 | 11:26 AM

fontking1a

Burning Brakes

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From: South San Francisco CA

Re: Painting Vette's (Mighty Mouse)

One mistake you don't want to make is getting too many layers of paint and primer on the car. Thick....isn't good when it comes to paint. If your car has the original factory paint job, you can safely repaint it. If it's been painted once, twice or more, I would sand the car completely down to the fiberglas for best results. It's a lot of work, but in the end, it's the way to go. It is possible to spray acrylic lacquer over enamel over acrylic enamel over polyurethane etc. etc. but what you'll end up with is a mess......eventually. Also, anytime you put paint (color) over a clear coat, you're running the risk of having your paint job fail. As a rule, nothing should go over clear....ever. But, we've all violated that rule....I'm sure.......even me. The problem these days is that the material is so expensive that it's a shame to have a paint job fail that costs so much to begin with. Twenty years ago you could buy a gallon of acrylic lacquer, some thinner and primer and be out the door for under $200....easy. These days it's more like $1000 and up from there. So, if you are going to do it, you might as well do it right the first time and save yourself having to RE-DO it a couple of years later.

Apr 5, 2002 | 12:54 PM

ImBatman

Safety Car

Joined: Oct 2000

Posts: 4,282

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From: Lake Wylie, South Carolina

Re: Painting Vette's (fontking1a)

For a first time painter what type of system would you recommend? Most seem to be going with the bc\cc. However I here that some other systems may be more forgiving and less dangerous for a first timer. :cheers:

Apr 5, 2002 | 01:02 PM

ZD75blue

Race Director

Joined: Nov 2000

Posts: 16,416

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From: NC,USA

Re: Painting Vette's (wadew10)

Why would you do all of the prep work, primer it, then let Joe over their finish it up? You have alot of work/time invested, why let someone who cares about your vette as much as their sandwhich their eating for lunch paint your car?

I know there are some very good painters, some that care about what they are doing, but if painting is anything like the rest of the world... it'll take time to find someone like that

Apr 5, 2002 | 01:18 PM

Corz

Team Owner

Joined: Sep 2001

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From: Middletown Connecticut

Cruise-In IV Veteran

Re: Painting Vette's (ZD75blue)

prepping vettes is always a different story with each car. most vettes that cry repaint are done in laquer. so hence it MUST be stripped. i was fortunate on my car that it was laquer base and clear, but had a urethane primer. so i didnt have to go past it. but with some cracks i stripped it around the area, and filled the cracks, and feathered the primer, then going ahead and primering the spots one section at a time. as far as painting goes. its a tough skill, but once you get more practice under the belt. you will be good. i would start on small projects such as go karts or other little pieces (grab a junkyard fender and play with it) to get the skills down.