Respraying a car.

Hi Hamps,

So best to keep for celly being new to this....not as messy....can flat and polish runs and orange peel etc??

Cheers
BM

2k is definately more durable but if you're doing a first-time DIY back garden/garage respray with no previous experiance, celly is the best.

read this thread with interest and picked up a few tips, thanks fellas.
i've just been spraying my car in my garage. cant really offer advise, as i'm a complete amatuer , but can tell ya a few of the problems ive had, so ya know some of the daft things to expect

ok, spent the last few weeks when I had time flatting the car and prepping it. I thought it looked good... hmmm
I had some spots where id welded up holes for the mirrors etc and a skim of filler/stopper. I flatted these and a few coats of hi build primer and more flatting. when the primer was flatted and wet/shiney I couldnt see or feel anything. even so.... these are still visable under the black paint so no matter how much flatting and prep ya think is enough... do some more

I did as was suggested above- a couple of light coats, left a while then a few heavy coats. I laid these on a lot thicker. I found it easier if I got a work light and the end of the car so I can see its reflection in the paint, then I could see where the paint had gone on nice and wet and where it was dry.

I took a lot of care putting up dust sheets, brushed the floor then soaked it with water to try keep the dust down. even then though the fumes proved too much for a couple of spiders hiding in the girders.... one lowered itself to freedom onto the roof of the car and then got stuck in the paint. I tried to save him, but he didnt make it. but he did leave his mark

I masked the car up thought id done well and covered everything. problem was when I turned my back a few lengths of tape had tried to make a run for it , come unstuck and then re atached themselves to the wet paint on the door. probably me not making sure it was firmly stuck in place
also when spraying the primer I noticed something. as I had painted , the flatted over again, there was dried paint on the paper , as I went passed with the gun it blew lots of flakes of dried paint off which landed in the new wet paint so as suggested above it is well worth removing the paper and re masking it up again. which I am now doing.

I am now at the stage where the car has had a few coats of paint. this morning I made a start flatting it, I have a few runs worst one was about 6 inches long. used lots of water and some 1200 wet n dry and all are now more or less flat. was a lot easier than I thought it would be. but whole car will get another coat next weekend.

am I right in thinking that any dry looking areas will flat/polish out as long as I have enough paint there?

sorry for hijacking the thread, just thought id share the problems I have encountered . ohh another one was I didnt plan ahead. I mixed the paint ready, filled the gun- a gravity one, so couldnt just stand it up. hadnt got anything ready to hold it in or hang it from. so I could use both hands to put my mask on so had to balance it against the wall.

when doing the next coats, am going to get some more lighting too- have noticed a few places where the paint is thinner than others. so will try and stick to a pattern so I cover every where. also going to get a heater in there (not a fan heater, that would be silly.. have got an oil filled radiator thing.

i also managed to get some dodgy reaction thing going on on the bonnet



heres a close up after i flatted it back


also on the scuttle panel... but only on one side


is it just a case of flatting it and degreasing it again, bit off primer again first?

not too worried about the bonnet, i have to take it off to sort the dodgy hinge at some point so if needs be ill paint it again when its off the car.

Carlb1970,a good decent honest post there as there's so much more to painting a car than people think,the results of a good well prepped paintjob compared to a poorly prepped DIY job are incredible.
Prepping takes a long long time,there's a lot to learn and know,you need a lot of decent quality materials as this makes a huge difference,your work area must be immaculate otherwise the dust/damp will ruin a paintjob.
Budget on a minimum of £100-150's worth of prepping materials to do it properly,about £70-130's worth of paint and sundries and perhaps £30-50's worth of refinishing goods,g3,mopheads,polishes,wet&dry etc.

Carl,there's a few possibilities for those reactions,I'd guess insufficient flash time between coats,poor prep or previous bad paintwork.
Did you have anything silicone in the workshop?
That causes horrendous reactions called "fish eyes" which are really hard to get rid of,it can happen if someones spraying it nearby not necessarily directly in the paintbooth,been caught out a few times.

As for seeing your prepwork a good tip is to always cover your repairs first,then paint the car,loads of heat,work out which way to do it I.e slowest drying areas first,watch the airlines as they snag on wet paint and always wet the booth floor first,that makes a huge difference.

You can get particular cutting compound for celly,although I've never used the stuff,I didn't even think they still sold it!!!