Paint Problems!!

[Wasabi]

Hello,
I am about to paint my TE wagon light blue. First of all, how far back do I have to sand the car? All the way to the metal? or just until it is smooth? Before I paint it blue, do I have to slap on some kind of undercoat? Or does the primer act as an undercoat? And, how do I NOT have the paint go all weird and "Scaley" when I paint it. I painted a bit of my car with some spray stuff, and it went all queer like croc skin! What kind of Pre wash do i use to clean it? Or is it the paint underneath (My Gem was Beige) that isnt agreeing with the Blue I am sticking on?
Its a metallic blue....so yeah.. Help! I dont wanna spend a tank of cash on paint and then have to redo it again cause the paint went all gay as its going on!

Thanks

Bernard

[peteymate]

well im not sure about all of this, but u should sand as much as u can off before painting. You need to undercoat ebfore u do a final coat too. The reason the spot u painted went all weird would ahve been becuase there was oil or something there and u didnt get it off. U should use some degreaser all over the car before undercoating, but after sanding back so theres no dust left.

Pete

[Soop]

The original coat of paint on your car was probably some kind of enamel or 2pac from the factory. I assume the paint you are using is acrylic since its reacting with the enamel or 2pac coat you've got on there.

I'm respraying my car at the moment. The previous coat was a 2pac white and I'm respraying it acrylic white with clearcoat.

Heres how its done.

Start blocking back your car with a good solid perspex block, or rubber sanding block. I'm using a nice flat piece of 20 mm thick squared mdf and it works well.

Block back until you think the dents are levelling out. Check by spraying a light guide coat and blocking that back. If paint remains in the dents keep blockin !

Use some 2k filler (BOG) to fill any dents and block it back. Should come up straight as with a bit of effort.

Rub the rest of the car to remove any flakey paint, if the paint is still good just whip the shine off it so that the primer will stick.

Once you think its blocked back good enough hit it with a light coat of primer and block it back again. You'll find heaps of inperfections you didnt notice.

Now rub the car with a 800 grade or so and get it nice and smooth and hit it with primer again.

If you want to get serious hit it with another guide coat and block back again, do this until its perfect (depends how far you wanna go I guess).

Now give it a rub with 800 to smooth it out a bit and hit it with a primer again. Let it dry and give it a good wet/dry rub with 800/1200 to get it smooth as. The smoother the primer is the smoother the paint will flow on top.

Once thats done start painting, the trick to acrylic is to spray lightly, if you cake it all up it will run and possibly seep through the primer and you will get all sorts of imperfections. Best advice is to spray the first coat very lightly like a guide coat, then keep going like that.

Metallic is a little harder since If you fuck up you need to block back around the area and hit the surrounds with a scourer then feather a large surrounding area back in with a gun. With base colours you can usually get away with blocking out any runs and such.

If you are doing a base colour you can start blocking it back again to remove any orange peel, use 1500 grade and made sure you get the surface smooth as for your clear to go on top.

With metallic you have to rely on a good flow off the gun since you can't block back any peel on a metallic. A metallic will need a clear over the top too.

Once your clear is on, block back again with a wet 2000 grade or so and then cut and polish. I use soapy water fro wet rubbing is it makes life a bit easier and the block sticks less.

Oh yeh, its a good idea to give a couple of days curing time between blocking back. Possibly for your final finishing blocking and polishing you might want to leave it a couple of weeks to really let it go hard as.

In short when painting to avoid any peel/bubbles/scales etc make sure your primer sticks well and is sanded smooth. Then make sure you do spray on too much paint at once.

Good luck !

[Wasabi]

hey,
Tyanks fellas for all the info! I'll put all the info to practise in a week or so when the wagon gets the go over with the paint

Thanks Heaps..

[GEm1ma has xplod gea]

believe me it won't take just around a week, expect it 2 take atleast 3 2 get it perfect , unless your doing a bogey job in which case u can paint straight ova the top of existing paint.
get a book on spray painting it tells u everything u need 2 know so u don't have 2 rely on what people here say.

chris...

[Soop]

Yeh, expect to spend a long time if you want a good job on the body.

My body was relatively straight when I started and I've spent about 2 mths on it and its about 3/4 done.

[GEm1ma has xplod gea]

yeh i've spent bout 2.5months, every weekend nd a couplle a hours during da week, enjoyable and fun though, i'm on half done, if that. i don't wanna do a bodge job that y i'm doin everythin right

chris...