M.J.L.

I have been to bodyshops all around. Most don't want to mess with corvettes(harder to do than basic metal cars), and the ones that do want to do it said they charge a minimum of 8000 regardless of how little prep is needed.

Im taking it to maaco to get the car painted. Ive checked them out, they are good and I am NOT getting the 200-300 dollar job but I am doing all the prep/masking off myself before I hand over the keys.

The paint is very oxidised. I am thinking about just scrubbing it down really good, then compounding the **** out of it or wet sand it. Ima let them shoot the paint over it and I know the prep work is what makes the paint do good or bad so thats why I am doing it myself so I can inspect it all.

It's a black car and they are painting it black same as OEM.

Once again, I have checked out their work, talked to the manager, painters, and talked to some customers. It's one of the better maaco shops.

I need help on the prepping for me to do. I am going to do the prep work as perfect as possible and I am willing to spend as much time and money on PREP myself. BTW, it will have a clearcoat, it stays in the garage unless it's being driven, and it's waxed monthly, blah blah blah.

Im not worrying about the paint fading or whatever and its a daily driver! I don't want a 10,000 dollar paintjob and then get a rockchip in it. It's not a collectors. It's a basic 86' plain ol C4 vette that is driven in sun and rain....

Now lets hear tips on prepping the car for the DIY'er.

Serious advice only.

blakngold4life

A couple guys on here, myself included, have done this and even done the paint ourselves. Do a little searching and you will find a lot of material. First, decide how far down you are taking the paint, if its just oxidized you could probably get away with just taking the clear coat off. I'd say start with around 400 grit by hand, maybe 250 if its really bad and after you have hit a few spots to know what you are doing. I used a DA sander, but after looking at my results and doing it again, I would do it all with sanding blocks. The DA was just too inconsistant, or it could have been user error. Do the whole car in 400, 600, then a few wet sanding coats in something like 800 or 1000, depending on how smooth you want the finish. I would even suggest priming the car on your own and wet sanding the primer to get out any more inconsistencies. Its not difficult work, just time consuming and laborious. Take your time with it and if its your first one set aside either a full weekend or a week if doing it in spare time.

ch@0s

HlhnEast

Advice from professionals can also be had on the Paint/Body forum here. Go up on the left to Forums, from the drop down select General and you will see the Paint/Body forum there. You can also do extensive research by using the Advanced Search functions and selecting the Paint/Body forum with your body prep search terms.

Good luck and post some before and after pics.

summerst

Back in the 70s and 80s I painted few cars in my garage. Shot lacquer only. Also, prepped a couple cars for Maaco. They all came out looking fine but the Maaco paint had trouble surviving road salt. Also, it seemed that it stayed way too soft even after 6 months. Maybe they have changed their formulas since then or maybe they haven't. If I ever take mine to be painted, I would want to know what brand of paint they are using. In the "old days" we used Dupont and that is the first name I would be listening for.

Nowhere Man

your paint will look good for about a year. it will go down from there with out stripping all the old paint off. get your self some paint stripper and go to town

nutz4c4

blakngold4life

I would really do some research on the stripper you are going to use if you took that route. When I was stripping mine many people I talked to and read from talked about how fiberglass can absorb certain chemicals since the fibers are porous. If you got through the gel coat it would absorb into the fiberglass, and depending on the chemical properties of the specific chemical used this could result in the new paint flaking off or bubbling up as well as possibly damaging the fiberglass. I do not have citations for this off hand, but they are out there if you search. If you sand your current paint down so that it is all even and there is no chipping, then use a quality primer, your new paint wont chip off. It has been two years since I did mine and we used very cheap paint (summit brand) and the only areas where there are defects are due to improper spraying technique and some carelessness to detail. Talk to any local painter, unless you are going for a show room finish and a color change there is no reason to strip all the paint off.

Nowhere Man

Where do you have fibberglass in your C4. It's all made of SMC

cv67

3m makes some flexible ones of different sizes.
Featherfill type primer guidcoat then block again. And again .etc.

Go with a single stage makes it a lot easier to touch up or reshoot if you can. Did mine in 2 stage and dont think it was the best choice.

Colorsand/buff a few weeks after you get the car back and it will look sharp.

blakngold4life

You are correct about it being SMC, but from what I could tell its properties in terms of porousness and absorption are similar to fiberglass. I am by no means a professional, if you know of a product that is safe for this and has been tested post it up for the original poster. I personally wouldn't risk it due to the potential to go wrong, whereas block sanding you can control exactly what you are taking off. Also, the OP was looking for something he could do himself easily, and cheaply to achieve a good enough finish for a driver. Unless I'm mistaken, chemically stripping the paint would mean that you would have to remove everything, body moulding, doors, door panels, mirrors, etc. Much more than what is needed to prep a car for a driver caliber paint job.

ccrazor

Checking the paint/body section, NO vette ever came from the factory with gel coat, from people that have ever used it its a real PITA..

Speedjester

I would stay away from chemical strippers..... Any old body work would have to be taken off also if you use chemicals..... If the clear has just dyed back... I would recommend a nice simple scuff and shoot.... As long as you have no adhesion problems with what you have now you should be ok... Do not use silicon any where near the car... Tear the car down.. Moldings looks, belt moulding... Prepsol everything... Then go back and prep sol everything again... If there are no chips or scratches... Scuff the paint with either a scuff pad or 600 to 800 grit...you want the paint on the car dull.. No shine...Pay particular attention to edges and grooves... prep sol again...mask off most of the parts you want to avoid overspray... And ask the painter to use foam tape on door jams.... And just before you deliver it more prep sol and finish with some windex.....yes windex...


Good luck

93VettePilot

I've done body work on Vettes. You need a special SMC body filler made for vettes. Evercoat makes it for about $35 a can.

You don't want to strip it. Just sand down the flat portions with a 6" dual orbital with 320 grit then go back and sand the concave curves by hand. If you have any scratches or dents fill them with the mentioned filler and sand it with 80 grit for shaping then gradually move up to 320 grit.

Dont worry about washing or taping anything. Maaco will do that and do very good job.

You should take the mirrors off and the outside rubber window seal. The door handles don't really need to be pulled off because there is room to get a nice spray in there.

You should detrim the rear bumper by taking out all the lights. You can pull all the lights through the license plate cover and back up lights. Parking light can be removed from under the car.

The front bumper should have the parking light removed too. You'll want to pull the side trim off and the inside headlight covers.

Just lay all the trim pieces in the trunk and Maaco will shoot those for you too.

If you want you can loosen the rear bumper bolts and slide the rear bumper out enough to get the paint in the crevaces.

I got the base/clear on my first Vette and did Enamel with Clear on my second Vette. Honestly I can't tell the difference between the two other than the price.

Also I recommend getting their Primer. It will fill alot the small imperfections and it makes the paint stick better and have a uniform color.

Speedjester

I have always seen and been told to make sure to clean any surface prior to sanding to remove any oils or you will just sand the contaminants into the paint and have fish eye....

Remember the paint job only looks as good as the prep work put into it..

Good luck

93VettePilot

I'm sure that it doesn't hurt anything to clean the car before sanding but I didn't have any issues with fisheye on either of my cars. Prepsol is a good idea but it is included in Maaco's paint service so I didn't see the need to do it twice.

Maaco has a warranty on their Paint Jobs so its in their best interest to scuff the surface and clean with prepsol.

ch@0s

Just FYI when it comes to paint you get what you pay for. The first and last time I had any work done at a Maaco the owner's wife said "what do you expect we are Maaco?". That was after the third try at painting my hood and it was not a $300 job.

mtnmanut

i now paint all my own cars,i used a maaco-one daypaint-earl scheib type cheapy paint shop 1 time many years ago. there paint,there prep there taping nothing was quality. i have seen many of there paint jobs over the years,all reminded my of my experience many years ago. very sloppy.these paint shops prey on customers that have no clue what there there looking at or care. like someone in a previous post said ,you get what you pay for. and you don't get much. i ran into a person that wanted his paint cut and buffed, cheappy shop didn;t want to do that, he found out why. not enough clear . do what ya want, your the only one that you need to make happy. anything worth doing is worth doing right

93VettePilot

I used to paint my own cars too when I had access to the military base paint booth. Automobile paint is outrageous if you buy it at consumer prices. The ppg paint that maaco uses would cost me more in materials than just letting them shoot it.

mtnmanut

maaco starting price is around 300 thats for a single stage. b/c-c/c starts at 1199 plus 600 for cut and buff for that you get no body work they sand it down with a da , mask,wipe it down,seal and shoot. that will get you 2 coats of basecoat and 2 coats of clearcoat. a good average paint job consists of three to four basecoats and three to four clear coat. a nice paint job will be atleast 4 b/c and 4 heavy wet c/c you cut and buff you will sand off 1 to 2 coats of the c/c a high end you'll lay down at least 3 to 4 c/c ,allow to cure wet sand re-shoot another 3 to 4 c/c then cut ad buff. consumer pricing a gal. of 1k seal roughly 75.00 a gallon of urathane 80.00 reducer 45.00 a basecoat high grade 80.00 a qt lower end 45.00 clearcoat 100.00, plus reducer 20 clearcoat activator 40. i'll still paint my own i know what i've got. and there won't be over spray on the chrome or any rubber. also you ever see a car driving around with the c/c peeling off? just my 2 cents