First paint job in progress......

[Baba Ganoush]

Soooo.... I'm about ready to paint my '88 coupe, and I had some quick questions. This is my first attempt at a paint job, so I realize it won't be stellar.

I've got the surface wet sanded to 600 and I plan to shoot base white and clear coat, and the trim and moldings (including the moulding on the bumper covers) will be factory black.



Q1: how important is a sealer? I've got plenty of base, do I really need to seal it?


Q2: how should I paint my black/white on the bumpers? Should I mask off the primered surface and shoot the black, then mask and shoot white, then clear the whole thing? Or shoot white and clear with moulding masked and shoot black last, w/o clear?



It's hard to pull the trigger and spray $300 worth of paint. I hope my prep work will yield decent results, but I'm a newb to paint. I just don't want to see a whole shit ton of scratches in the end. I can deal with a few blemishes, its not a show car. I'll be putting one of those together in a few weeks, after someone else paints it.

[sdun]

I would use a good white sealer, covers in 1 coat and will not let anything bleed through. Paint everything white then come back and do all of the black. Shoot the sealer w/ a 1.3 and try to spray a lean coat(you want it covered but not so thick that you have a lot of texture). Most peoples orange peel in a paint job comes from the sealer.

[mstng86]

Make sure when you're sanding not to sand with your fingers, flat palm. Also, use a good cloth to wipe everything down before spraying to get any dust off of the surface.

[Baba Ganoush]

I would use a good white sealer, covers in 1 coat and will not let anything bleed through. Paint everything white then come back and do all of the black. Shoot the sealer w/ a 1.3 and try to spray a lean coat(you want it covered but not so thick that you have a lot of texture). Most peoples orange peel in a paint job comes from the sealer.

On the bumper:
So everything white first, as in base coat? Then mask off white and paint the black moldings, then unmask and clear all?

I will be nervous to mask fresh base. The tape might leave some gunk behind like it did on my primer. The rest of the black is on separate pieces I've already painted. It's just the bumpers I have to paint both colors.

Make sure when you're sanding not to sand with your fingers, flat palm. Also, use a good cloth to wipe everything down before spraying to get any dust off of the surface.

Oh trust me I know. It is my first paint job, but with the hours of sanding I've done on this thing, I feel like an expert. I haven't had any real issues spraying. Once my gun was dialed in, it was the easy part. Hammering, sanding, filling, sanding, and sanding some more is the real work.

Thanks for the info.

[sdun]

It depends if you want the black high gloss or semi. You can base/clear all and come back and shoot the semi stuff after the clear has cured.
If you want it shiny shoot your sealer then base let it dry(some bases about 15 minutes) use fine line tape and wrap up for the black, spray it, unwrap it, check for bleet throughs, fix em, re-tack it and clear.

[Baba Ganoush]

It depends if you want the black high gloss or semi. You can base/clear all and come back and shoot the semi stuff after the clear has cured.
If you want it shiny shoot your sealer then base let it dry(some bases about 15 minutes) use fine line tape and wrap up for the black, spray it, unwrap it, check for bleet throughs, fix em, re-tack it and clear.

Yeah I want a semi-gloss or even satin black so I'll shoot it last. I should mask off the area on the bumper to be black, only shooting the sealer, no base or clear, correct? If not, could I just scuff it once my base/clear cures and shoot the black? Not sure which is better/easier.

Thanks for the advice, I'm about ready to shoot this thing over the weekend.

[Swamp Donkey]

Looks lke you've done the hard part. Be sure and post pics. I'm always interested in seeing quality garage paint jobs. Good luck!

[Baba Ganoush]

Looks lke you've done the hard part. Be sure and post pics. I'm always interested in seeing quality garage paint jobs. Good luck!

Yes, the hard part is done thank god! I did massive amounts of body work on this thing. So much that I'm thrilled at the way it looks even now. I'll start a thread when I'm finished with all the details and my before/after shots. It should be interesting to see how it will turn out.

I've got another project in the paint shop now that is taking forever, but now I know why. I should have this beast finished by the end of the month, and starting on a '66 coupe.

[sdun]

Paint it all white and after the clear cures mask off the areas you want black w/ fine line tape scuff them w/ grey scotchbright pad and paint them black.

[joe50]

Sealer is just a crutch for bad prep work. Unless you are using Dupont. Dupont requires sealer to cover.

[projectPONY]

Sealer is just a crutch for bad prep work. Unless you are using Dupont. Dupont requires sealer to cover.

not true, although some colors to benefit from a sealer to cover quicker, but is somewhat of a crutch.

[Baba Ganoush]

Update:

Well I chose to seal it and I then laid down 3 coats of OMNI base, followed by two medium coats of high solids urethane clear.








Clear coating is tough. I'm learning with every pass. I sprayed some test areas over the base in the trunk to see how fast it would yellow. I knew this was a risk, so i was careful not to pile it on. The end result was descent in most areas, but some need attention.








This is the first time to do ANY of this, so I'm finding myself doing everything TWICE lol. I'm learning so much about the process, and where the attention pays off. I let it cure and the next weekend I wet blocked it out once with 1000. I need to touch a few areas up with some base and clear, and I'm debating on how much MORE clear to spray.







Question: Should I re-coat clear? I'll admit some areas need a redo, but how should I recoat? I have plenty of clear left, and I'm debating on re-shooting the whole thing now. I only shot two medium coats, and sanded pretty nicely to 1000, but I'm thinking it may benefit from more coats. It would be another reason to spray the rest of the material. Any Advice?

[projectPONY]

If you decide to re-shoot the clear the car will have to be sanded. you would need to wet sand it as if your were going to buff it with 1000 grit. you have to make sure that all the clear is sanded flat, otherwise any orange peel you leave behind will show up in the new clear. even though you sand the new clear super flat and buff it out, a keen eye will pick up on the orange peel under it.

for garage jobs orange peel is not a bad thing IMO. it just means you WILL have to wet sand and buff, so keeping it to a minimum would be great. where orange peel really becomes a problem is in production shops where through put is priority.

[mstng86]

I say it looks fine. Wet sand it, buff it, and be done.

[Baba Ganoush]

I have it wet sanded to 1000 right now. I compounded a small area and it looks great. I'm just wondering if after the 2 medium coats of clear, and some 1000 blocking if there is enough clear left to just step up grits, buff and polish. I know it will have some peel, that's cool. I'm only out a few hundred bucks for the whole job. Well I plan to be finished soon and start my other project, in which paint is the ONLY thing done.