topic says it all

i have a HVLP gun and would like a type of paint i can spray all the coats in one day

also, besides the gun and compressor, what else will i need

i am roughing up my old paint and spraying over that

what other materials will i need to buy besides the paint and masking tape? like harderners, additives, etc.

i am new at this, so i kinda need this spelled out for me

thanx

 

We all started somewhere! Sounds like you hve decent equipment to work with.

I would say a base coat clear coat system. The thinners, primer etc. are dependent on which brand of paint you buy.

A single stage enamel may be a bit cheaper on the materials, but in my experience you don't get the depth of glass with it as you do with base/clear. But the main thing about base/clear is it is forgiving of mistakes. Get a big run in the clear? Wetsand it out! The stuff is fantastic if you are spraying as I do in a less than ideal environment.

I painted my wife's Le Baron this summer for around $300 in materials, and still have some left over. I have had three professionals tell me that it looks great and doesn't look like a "garage job".

The worst thing that happens is you sand it down and try again!

Eric

 

thanx eric, thats the exact advice i have been looking for


what brand of paint did you use on your wife's car?

 

I used DuPon't Chromabase. Actually I was going to save a few bucks and have him mix it in a Nason (the store's generic brand) but he discovered the formulation he was trying to match wasn't doable in that brand, so he sold me two quarts of the base (charcoal grey metallic) in Chromabase for the price of one. Very helpful people.

Eric

 

cool, thanx once again for your great help

 

Go here regarding questions you may have about painting.
http://www.autobodystore.com/

 

Me and my Dad painted my Firebird with Acrylic Laquer. We used PPG brand paint. Some of the newer paints can be very toxic and need special ventilation and breathing conditions. Acrylic Laquer can be sprayed outside or in a large shop with only a standard painting ventilator.

The work turned out great and I got a ton of compliments on the car. Back when I used to post a lot more on this board, I used to give tons of information and tips on sanding/ body work/ prepping/ etc.

I wonder if any of those posts are archived?

EDIT: Hmmm...what the hell happened to my post count?

 

My shop uses DuPont chromabase, base coat, about 3 of em, htem 3 coats of clear. But im tellin you to sand hte whole car down with 220 grit take out all the nasty stuff and then go over it with 320 at least 2 or 3 times for a perfect flat finish. then spray, if you never sprayed b4, youll make a few mistakes, make sur eyou give it 5 mins between coats of color and also clear, so u get no runs....

 

And a basic solid color is easier to do than a metallic. I am going to respray the driver's side door as I got some "bowling ball" spots in the metallic. I didn't have lights on the garage wall on that side of the car, whereas I had them on the passenger side and it turned out great!

Eric

 

well, i'm repainting it the original color..........metallic teal.........so i may have a little more of a challenge

i guess i can use acrylic laquer in a base/clear system
correct?

if so, how much paint will i need to do 3 coats of base and 3 coats of clear?

what additives and hardeners and whatnot will i need to buy?

help is great so far, keep it coming!

i need to replace only my passeneger door, the body is very straight otherwise, can only think of one dent that needs to be pulled out and its very small

i am going to be doing this outside in a makeshift booth, i have plenty of property to do it on so oversraying another car seems unlikely

i am going to remove all the GFX and spoiler to make sure i get every nook and cranny

i will need to do the inner side of the new door and the underside of my hood also

 

Well, a base/clear applies like the old lacquer paints- the base sprays on in flat coats, but unlike the lacquer where you had to wetsand the base then apply the clear, the clear goes on over the base as soon as you spray it. I myself like the base/clear, the old lacqer paints were not known for durability.

As far as what to buy go to the auto paint supply store where you will be getting your materials and use what ever they advise to be compatible with your paint!

Eric

 

you don't want to use laquer paint. i'm not sure you can spray clear over it either. at least not right away like you would be able to with base/clear or even single-stage urethane or something. i'd just go with base/clear, especially since you are spraying a metallic color. spraying metallic colors with single-stage paint is a major PITA because of wetsanding, etc. trust me on the single stage metallic paint thing, i learned the hard way
eric is definately right on the durability part about lacquer paints. since they've been around so long, they weren't really made when acid rain, pollution, and too much UV exposure was an issue so they dont' really hold up as well as newer base/clear and single-stage paints do.

 

If you want to see what Laquer looks like after awhile, just pick out a 60-70's type car with a another paint job other than factory. Notice the big cracks through out the paint and there you have it. Laquer is definately old school and high maintenance. Another base/clear supporter here also. As noted easy to touch up as you go if something happens. One thing that should be noted is match your HVLP gun tip size according to what kind of paint your shooting. Make sure your reducer temp is what the shop temp is going to be that day. Seen a buddy spray 90* reducer in a 76* garage on a nwere blazer, the clear literally dripped from the roof line to the floor. He said he always got orange peel or fish eyes when using the right temp reducer, but he was screwing something else up. On that same note, you may notice when using your HVLP to lay on the clear it will fish eye or ornage peel. Unless your really proficient with your equipement you might be better off using a siphon fed to spray the clear. But that's my opinion.

 

Buy DuPont color, then get clear, a gallon of color should do you for 3 or 4 coats. And then some.

Clear, also Dupont, about a gallon of it should do it for 3 or 4 coats also, then you need the activator, usually 4 to 1 ratio. Go to your local body shop supply store, they should hook you up. The clear is on a green container, its dupont 490-00 and the activator is 478-sumthin, ill get the numbers for ya when i go to work, if i paint anything.

 

ok cool thanx

i will be doing base/clear

i just got confused with the types of paint in my previous post

 

But that was actual laquer, right? Not acrylic lacquer? Or it's still the same concept? Lacquer's pretty much banned anyway... I don't think our state (NJ) lets us spray it.

Definately go for basecoat/clearcoat. That way, only the clearcoat chips when a rock hits it- not the color coat. You don't want gray splotches of primer all over your hood!

Make sure you wipe the car down with some thinner to remove all contaminants like bird crap, road tar, coffee, etc. Your paint store probably has a great "prep" solvent. 320 would be a great grit to use on a d/a sander; when you're done, the paint should look like a faded paint job. Make sure to use tack rags (sticky cheesecloths) between sanding and painting/primering to get rid of any dust. You could also use a cloth that's wet with the prep chemical, too.

Any cracking/chipping/crazing/checking/etc paint has to be stripped down to bare metal and reprimed. If when you're scuffing with 320, you find out you're wearing right thru the paint and into the primer (or the metal!), that means the original paint won't be good for a base. It's gotta all be stripped away to bare metal, and reprimed. Luckily if the paint's that bad, your 320 grit will actually take it down to bare metal! (That happened with the '84 front clip I put onto my '86... that '84's paint flaked off faster than I could blink!)

 

I painted a single stage when I did my ford van...never again. It looks like crap after only a year, very dull and chips easily. Tom is right about the clear coat only chipping when you do a base coat clear coat system. With the single stage a chip takes it right to the primer most of the time.

 

If the old paint has any problems, you should 320 it and seal it prior to painting. Be sure to use prep-sol, then tack rag and blow it. Even with HVLP you are going to have orange peel (at least a little), don't worry a wet sand and buff will fix that. You should be looking at one day to seal, base/clear it. Let it dry overnight, then unmask wetsand and buff it in the morning. You will need the overnight drying time before putting it back together (assuming you took the door handles, locks, head/ tail lights and such out.)

 

I'm goin with a three-stage on my bird here in a couple weeks, as soon as the sanding and body work is done. Three-stage is a pretty hard paint to spray however, I wouldn't recommend it for someone who hasn't painted b4 or hasn't done it much.