Prepping a Car for paint.

[Dod]

Ok, my Corsa is heading off to get repaired, its going to get a coat of primer so I'll be stripping it down and depaneling it. Theres a lot of laquer peeling etc and in the case of the odd dent, should I fill it before priming it?

Also, anything I should do before it gets primed, masking etc aside?

[Vausey_Nova_Knotla]

i should think they will mask and cober any thing up unless they have said you need to

[craig green]

shouldnt you be asking them?

It wouldnt hurt to spend an hour or so looking over every inch of the bodywork & being uber critical & looking for dents to fill.

IMO if you do any filler work, you must bare metal the surface underneath (work) then what if the filler youhave isnt as good as the stuff they use? Filler is porous, so you should primer paint it ASAP, this is all interfering with the bodyshops work IMO & a great excuse for them if the outcome is brought into question.

[Benn]

As Craig said, any where you put filler in you want to fill on to bare metal.

Primer is porous aswell tho, so don't leave either sitting in the rain.

Are they just priming it and painting it? Or are they do the filler work?
If your doing all the prep work, then you wanna 80grit any where you fill, do the repair and finish with 180grit.

Why are you priming the whole car?

Use 320grit to sand the rest of the paint and to remove the rest of the peeling lacquer.


You wanna leave them to tape the car up.

[Dod]

Well my mate is painting it, I have to prep it. He's going to prime is then I prep it and then its painted. The reason the whole car is getting primes is that the paint work and laquer is peeling on every panel and as the paint has faded, the whole car is to be sprayed.

I've also the plastics to do, ie bumpers, arches etc.

Any tips for them as well?

[Nova_Tek]

Paint can be fillered on top only if the paint underneath has been properly keyed and you use a suitable filler.

Most of the time a good bodyshop probably won't be happy with someone else fillering or preping the surface. If it's not done properly it can lead to bad finish, paint peeling down the line and it'll come back to them in the end.

Many places don't want this and tend not to want people to 'help'.

[simonr1]

if your putting filler in, it has to bare metal, dont put filler on top of paint!

[Benn]

Well my mate is painting it, I have to prep it. He's going to prime is then I prep it and then its painted. The reason the whole car is getting primes is that the paint work and laquer is peeling on every panel and as the paint has faded, the whole car is to be sprayed.

I've also the plastics to do, ie bumpers, arches etc.

Any tips for them as well?


That doesn't matter, as long as its all rubbed down you can paint it and don't need to primer it. Unless you've sanded thru to bare metal.

If you are priming it all, then 180grit everything.
If you dont wanna primer to save time/money/effot then 320 it all to get all the lose paint off.

Same with bumpers, if there is no peeling paint or anything then red scotch bright will key the paint up fine.

[Vausey_Nova_Knotla]

you only need to score the paint so the new paint/ primer has somthing to stick to
and id panel wipe anything your going to be filling and painting and you can fill to paint if it is scored deep enought not recomended but can be done
also fill what your filling say a dent and if its a big one dont slop a bolt load of filler on as it will crack build layers up, and where the dent is make it allitle higher of the flat surface so like a little hump not major like ^ but you get the picture 3 mill higher

[Dod]

I'll get a look round the car and report back. As far as dents go, I dont think they'll be an issue, but the laquer peeling is. Does all the laquer need to be removed or just an area around where its come away?

[mowgli]

dod, ask your mate what he thinks, cos the stuff he's spraying on sort of dictates what you should be doing

[Dod]

Seems like the logical thing to do. lol

With regards to buffing the car after painting it, how long should I wait, also, do I paint, buff and then laquer it?

[Benn]

You'll wanna remove any peeling lacquer, so its smooth ad there's no lip in it.

Ask the painting, about time after to flat and polish, as if its not heat dried it will take longer to harden.

And NO dont do anything in between paint and lacquer!!!!!!!!

[Dod]

Ok, how long between paint and laquer then?

[Benn]

Min 10mins, max 2hours. Paint loses adhesion as it dries out. Are you painting it?

[Dod]

No, my mate is but I'm curious to know as there are other cars I have that need little bits touched up etc that I could do myself.

[Benn]

Ah ok, just wondered.

[Dod]

Ok, I;m trying to make a living out of this, buying a car, doing stuff to it, selling said car. Its stuff I enjoy and its a learning experience.

Also, I find PNG the best place for help and advice on any car at all, hense all the recent threads.

You're all a shower of *******s but you're a world of knowledge!! lol

[shrtwrec20]

see here for buffing tips.
http://www.automedia.com/Color-Sanding_and_Buffing/res20030601cs/1

You'll need lots of coats of laquer for this though ;)

[Nova_Tek]

Ok, how long between paint and laquer then?

The time it takes to go prepare a cup full of laquer and load it into the spray gun.

[Dod]

Thats **** hot. Well done mate!

[Nova_Tek]

Make sure you get a good few coats of laquer on there. It will help to protect the paint longer and will allow more work to be done on mopping without worrying about thinning the clear coat.

Here's mine after 3/4 coats of laquer, flatting down with 1200grit + warm soapy water, some 3M Fast Cut Plus and a meticulous careful mop.

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6360/1000856j.jpg

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/3305/1000857l.jpg

[Dod]

Jesus thats like Glass!! If this car turns out half as good as that I'll be over the moon!

[simonm]

sh1t that is seriously shiny prob see the reflection from the moon

[Nova_Tek]

Jesus thats like Glass!! If this car turns out half as good as that I'll be over the moon!

I was chuffed to bits seeing, orange peel non existant :d

The guy spent more than 10 mins just mopping that area. Don't forget to use water on the mop head to stop the paint from burning during mopping.

[Benn]

see here for buffing tips.
http://www.automedia.com/Color-Sanding_and_Buffing/res20030601cs/1

You'll need lots of coats of laquer for this though ;)


No you wont, he hasn't done that much there. You can see how flat the final paint work looks either.

3/4 coats of lacquer, you can see how flat the paint is from the lines in the reflection.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/bennh/Car%20Updates%20May%2010%20on/Doors56.jpg

[Nova_Tek]

Lovely!

[Benn]

Tbh i could have got it flatter...

[Dod]

Good stuff lads, I'll definately be using this as reference!

If it turns out this good then I'll be delighted!

[Nova_Tek]

Looks like we'll need pics of before and after Dod :)

[moffat]

been a helpfully thread for me as my car is about to get painted soon

[Andy]

You're all a shower of *******s but you're a world of knowledge!! lol
LOLlol lol