When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have been wanted to get my car painted but anywhere I go, they ask for a lot of money for paint job. The lowest estimate i have received is about $8K and the highest I have received is about $16K. I just don't have that kind of money laying around.
After doing a lot of research and watching numerous videos I have decided that I will prep the car myself and then get it sprayed by a shop around me to cut down the cost. Since they say a lot of money is because of the labor that goes into sanding and preparing the car for paint.
But while sanding the car down I dont want to end up damaging the body more. This is where I am currently (huge picture below). Started from the hood, since its the most flat surface on the car.
It would be great if I could get some advice on the following:
How far down should I sand it? There is a layer of original paint underneath the paint that is currently on the car. I am thinking of going down to acrylic gel, which seems to be white surface.
Whats the most efficient way of sanding it down? I know many people say block sand it, it is just taking a lot of time and sweat to sand it all the way down to gel with hand.
What about the paint stripper for fiberglass? I believe that will remove the gel too which I dont want to happen, I dont want to end up on fiberglass, (because I dont want to have to deal with the air pockets it may have formed while it was being created).
What exactly are the steps for the fiberglass car to be fully prepared for paint? Sand it down to gel, make it smooth, put primer on and sand to make it smooth, let it sit to shrink or expand, fix if needed, sand and primer and then base color and then clear coat?
Please only provide advice if you are sure and have done this before. I would highly appreciate that.
Block sanding will be saving you time in the long run and before you waist money to get the body fair. Any prep I do I use black spray paint as a guide coat. Any lows will show up, repeat as necessary recoating your guide coat until it is fair. Durablock makes a sanding block set that works very well. If you are worried that you have sanded too much already, I would spray it with a few coats of epoxy primer(545 is what I use). Easy to sand and seals better than any polyester primer.
Block sanding will be saving you time in the long run and before you waist money to get the body fair. Any prep I do I use black spray paint as a guide coat. Any lows will show up, repeat as necessary recoating your guide coat until it is fair. Durablock makes a sanding block set that works very well. If you are worried that you have sanded too much already, I would spray it with a few coats of epoxy primer(545 is what I use). Easy to sand and seals better than any polyester primer.
Would it be beneficial to strip all the paint off and then prime it. and then use the guide coat? because like this I might not even be able to see the guide coat, some parts are dark and some are light.
If it’s that bad, I would prep entire surface with 80 grit, spray 3 coats of 545 primer, waiting an hour between coat to allow to gas off, guide coat next day. Make sure guide coat is dry before sanding or paper will clog easy.
If it’s that bad, I would prep entire surface with 80 grit, spray 3 coats of 545 primer, waiting an hour between coat to allow to gas off, guide coat next day. Make sure guide coat is dry before sanding or paper will clog easy.
No the paint is not that bad, but I dont know what else to do. How else can the car be prepared for paint?
The primer will give you a good starting point to fair it out, if you can avoid burning Through to the fiberglass I would. A lot easier to fair primer than fiberglass.
A lot of paint problems start with whats underneath. Im no expert but did do my own car to the point of final paint, which I paid a pro to apply. I also had quite a few shoddy old repairs, the pin stripes along the fenders, which is really the fender seams bonding material, the rivets corroding thru the hood surround, small cracks at the wheel openings, etc. I literally spent 4 months doing fiberglass repairs, then another 4 months spraying epoxy primer and block sanding. Of course, I may have only worked 40 hrs per week, but the point is, its a ton of manual labor. And messy as hell! I too spent a good amount of money on paint, good paper, sanding blocks, thinners, cleaners, resin, evercoat vette body filler etc.
Did I save money? Sure, my time costs nothing. Did I enjoy it? At times. Was it tedious? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Not without a dedicated shop, the mess is incredible.
In the end the pro I chose was impressed with my efforts, and decided to paint my car over my work. Because, not all will. Its their reputation, when someone comes up to you and asks, "who painted your car?" It could be a compliment or a warning to check him off. If you are going to paint the car, and you are proud of it, why not take the time to do it right?
As for stripping the paint, I did not use chemicals. I made a tool to hold a razor knife blade, radiused the sharp points at each end then a harbor freight heat gun was used to soften a small area, scrape away the layers, and keep moving on. I could do a fender in a few hrs.
Again, it was my corvette paint project, and the compliments I get are non stop.
A lot of paint problems start with whats underneath. Im no expert but did do my own car to the point of final paint, which I paid a pro to apply. I also had quite a few shoddy old repairs, the pin stripes along the fenders, which is really the fender seams bonding material, the rivets corroding thru the hood surround, small cracks at the wheel openings, etc. I literally spent 4 months doing fiberglass repairs, then another 4 months spraying epoxy primer and block sanding. Of course, I may have only worked 40 hrs per week, but the point is, its a ton of manual labor. And messy as hell! I too spent a good amount of money on paint, good paper, sanding blocks, thinners, cleaners, resin, evercoat vette body filler etc.
Did I save money? Sure, my time costs nothing. Did I enjoy it? At times. Was it tedious? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Not without a dedicated shop, the mess is incredible.
In the end the pro I chose was impressed with my efforts, and decided to paint my car over my work. Because, not all will. Its their reputation, when someone comes up to you and asks, "who painted your car?" It could be a compliment or a warning to check him off. If you are going to paint the car, and you are proud of it, why not take the time to do it right?
As for stripping the paint, I did not use chemicals. I made a tool to hold a razor knife blade, radiused the sharp points at each end then a harbor freight heat gun was used to soften a small area, scrape away the layers, and keep moving on. I could do a fender in a few hrs.
Again, it was my corvette paint project, and the compliments I get are non stop.
That surly is a lot of work. I guess it also depends on what the car condition is.
So after you got the car ready for paint, basically all the shop had to do was to spray the base color coat and the clear coat, correct me if I am wrong.
How much did they cost you for that, if you don't mind me asking. I am trying to get an idea of the cost.
There are numerous ways of doing anything. And this project of your is no different.
A few pieces of professional advice. IF you do not have an environment that you can work in and keep the body protected from environmental issues. I would find one. Doing job like this outside and the car covered with a tarp. Is NOT a wise way of doing this can will only add to your problems.
Having your Corvettes body exposed to moisture and contaminants when you expose the body and get down to bare SMC is not a wise thing to do.
Now..I would chemically strip this paint off and not think twice about it. Hand blocking and sanding this body can be done if a person chooses to do so.
Leaving you hood just like you have shown and apply a polyester primer CAN be done if a person chooses to do so. Can the area of where you feathered the layers of paint and primer possibly show up later. YES they can. SO that is why most pro's choose to take the panel down to a bare surface so combating withe these layers of products that were left on....do not come back haunt us.
So even if a person chooses to block sand paint off or use power tools...does not mean that the surface will come out good because that person doing the sanding still needs to know what to feel for and know what they are feeling when they sand the surface. Using a 'guide coat' can aid in some aspect. But seeing how I strip the paint off I feel it is a pointless endeavor.
Keep in mind I get people who bring Corvettes up to me that they have prepped. And I go over them and give them tips. Some of them want me to then take it from this prepped state and primer it and paint it for them. I can say that if the body is not to what I know I need it at. I will not touch the car. Some will bring a car to be with stains from leaves that have set on the car for some time and obviously ahve gotten wet.. I won't touch it due to they will now 'think' that I am liable for all of the work down on it but yet they could not protect the raw body from contaminates.
SO...make sure all that you are doing will possibly satisfy the person who is going to be doing whatever you choose not to do and have it in a prepped condition that can give them some sense that the work they put into it after you have worked on it will be worth their time.
And YES...despite contrary beliefs, Chemically stripping the paint off your car can be done with NO ill effects if done correctly.
From what I can see in the photo, the dark gray is the original factory primer. The light gray on top of that is a factory sealer.
Then there's the factory red paint. Then there is a gray sealer and red paint on top of that. So it looks like the car was repainted one time after factory.
Where you're getting into trouble is the white looking areas. That's the top surface of the fiberglass panel. I would stop sanding AS SOON as you see a hint of that coming through. Don't try to sand off everything.
At the same time, I'd want to at least take off the second paint job and sealer. If the factory paint looks to be in really good condition, then you could use that as your base and go up from there.
I'm not a big believer in chemical stripping. Trapped solvents from strippers "could" wreak havoc later on, sometimes years later. Worse, strippers can muck up previous (but well done) bodywork that will require re-doing even if it was good to begin with.
Dub is right about not letting the elements get to the surfaces while you're working on it. There are lots of contaminants that come also come back and haunt you because fiberglass is more porous than you might imagine. Like using strippers, those contaminants can haunt you down the road.
Block sanding is safest for non-pros because it's slow and you can better tell where you're at while working.
I will use chemical strippers occasionally, but mostly when I'm faced with multiple repaints (think "thick"). But I don't go to glass with it. I just use it to get most of the old paint off and sand from there.
I use a DA sander, roughing down with 80 grit to get rid of the top repaints, then switching to 180, then 320 with the intent of leaving most of the factory primer in place (unless it's crap). From there, I'll prime with DP40 (Ditzler epoxy primer) and let that be my base for the rest. If you know what you're doing with a DA, it doesn't take that long, and it's not difficult to keep the surfaces straight and avoid killing edges.
Last edited by Highflight; 09-07-2018 at 07:36 PM.
Ditch the sander. Razorblades, chemical strippers and a wire brush are your best friend when stripping paint from a Vette. Power sanding will take too much off in one area, and not enough in others. You can end up sanding away the beautiful lines and reveals on the body. I still use different grits of paper, but only by hand. If you are any where near the Emerald City, I would be happy to spray it for you when you are ready.
YES. It is well known that using razor blades can remove some of the pant layers and some even apply heat to soften the paint. I have done it along with MANY other people. If person takes their time adn UNDERSTANDS what they are doing. AND the paint wants to come off. It is a fast method of removing paint with little to no damage to the panel. YES...some paints just want to put up a fight when using razor blades and an alternate method should be used. Speaking from experience.
Wire brushes can get into the nooks and crannies if a person does not have a media blaster. But GENREALLY these wire brushes are used with chemical due to the chemical has softened up the paint. KEEP IN MIND there are SEVERAL different types of wire brushes and some may have wires in then that are not as rigid and the huge one you can buy for about project where the wires in it are almost as rigid as nails IS NOT what we are referring to.. Many of these wire brushes come in the size of a normal tooth brush and can be soft brass or mild steel adn do no harm to the body.
Now..many people will feel that chemical is not good due to hearing about or experiencing disastrous results when it was used. That is generally do that person did not do it correctly. . The same holds true to using razor blades, And many people will sand the paint all off.
There is absolutely nothing to fear when using a chemical stripper is a person is fearing damage to the body and I have talked to many members and explained how to do it and NOT ONE failure. It is so simple to understand WHY you are not damaging anything when it is done correctly and that person doing it is paying attention to WHAT they are doing. And the chemical stripper DOES NOT need to be that for stripping paint off of fiberglass exclusively....because once a person understands how the stripping process works...it makes total sense.
The SAME holds true to using razor blades....and ODDLY enough. IF a person wants to sand all the paint off...THEY better PAY ATTENTION to what they are doing also or they can do MORE damage than they may think by using that method of removing paint.
Could be...you never know. But I doubt it. But there is a always going to be someone who has their views and maybe cannot grasp the concept that things can be done in different way with no serious consequences REGARDLESS what they read or hear about.
DUB......you do it on a daily basis...........if anyone had any sense they would listen to you. Ray
Thanks. I do not ever expect people to do anything but what they want to do. Because ...in the long run that is what they are going to do. I pass along what I know works for me and does not fail me. And it has taken a long time to hone that process to where it is today.. Good, bad or indifferent.....it is process that keeps me from doing things twice.
No idea who that is.
Who I am is an old timer who owned and operated my own Corvette repair and restoration shop from the 70's to the 90's.
I'm sure some things have changed since then, but my "ordinary" refinishes and restorations often won shows. I never cared whether a car was going to be put into competition or not, I did them all the same way.
My perspective is from having to have a crew of employees working for me, and I learned my lesson early on about putting razor blades in the hands of some of the people I had to manage (as an example).
I get that 'Highflight'. I had crew of guys also a long time ago. I do it all by myself currently. I put the razor blade knife in their hands took the time to show them. Once thy got the hang of it... it was an effective 'tool' in our arsenal to get paint off without having to make dust or use chemicals.
09-05-2018, 10:18 AM
1975 Sand/Paint
