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Garage paint jobs?

46K views 186 replies 55 participants last post by  4thGen 
#1 ·
Who has painted their own cars in their garage or back yard? Lets see them... I have never paint a car but will be painting mine in a few wks. Right now it has a 6 month old paint job that's butternut yellow.. I'll be painting it black! thinking of lining my garage with plastic and going for it! I'm not taking it dow to bare metal just sanding and going for it. I've been watching youtube vids on how to paint in my garage. I told two of my buddies I was going to paint my own car and they said it wouldn't turn out good.. That just pissed me off! :mad: Now i'm on a mission! This is what i'm starting with.







 
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#105 ·
I just painted mine in a garage recently--first repaint ever. I took it down to bare metal, then shot a Nason etching primer, then a 1K sealer, then acrylic enamel. I went with the factory paint code, but the result was a truer red than before. I am very impressed with the color. I had some dust, but I intend to cut & buff it after I put the panels back together. All said and done, I have less than $1000 wrapped up in it (not counting new tail lights, weatherstripping, etc).

My only $0.02, is to stick with one brand, follow their recommendations, and dive in. It seems like if you ask 5 people for advice, you'll get 5 different answers. And choosing a paint (enamel vs urethane, single-stage or BC CC) will give you headaches. Keep it simple!
 
#112 ·
Here's my garage repaint work-in-progress. I haven't wet-sanded or buffed yet. Waiting to put it back together first.

When in the process did you do your blocksanding? Was the car body just perfect as is?? Dont understand how you did it without surfacer... :confused: But I am impressed by the last pic for sure. Nice job


Andy
 
#113 ·
Thanks! I block sanded in between the etching primer and the sealer (grey). I stripped it to bare metal at my house, towed it to someone else's house to shoot the etching (green) primer, back to my house for filler and blocking, back to his house for sealer (grey) and topcoat (red). The green primer came out fairly smooth, and I later found out is a "non-sanding primer". So, I hit my body-work spots with 220, then wet sanded the whole car with 400, then again with a grey scotch-brite. This all played out over 2 months or so.

Nason recommended a surfacer or a sealer for that particular primer and the sealer was the best solution for my budget and weather constraints. We shot the topcoat the Friday before Sandy passed through. The highs were in the high '60s that week, and today I don't think it crested 50.

And, for the record, anywhere I added filler I sanded back down to bare metal. I really liked the 3M touch-up primer because it has a fan tip. Here's a picture of the car after filler work, but before wet sanding:
 
#114 ·
Just wanted to share something I have learned on other boards... go with epoxy primer instead of the etch. It can be used over bare metal or previous sanded paint. You can apply filler RIGHT OVER TOP of the epoxy with no sanding as long as you stay in the recoat window. THEN when all your filler work is done spray more epoxy over that and block it to 400 or 600, you can apply your base or SS right over the epoxy.

I used Summit 1:1 epoxy on mine, sands great after 24 hours and you get 2 sprayable gallons for $100. You cant beat it IMO, you can spray on multiple coats and use it as a surfacer. Epoxy is very versatile as a bare metal primer, surfacer, and a sealer. Just a FYI I wanted to share.

Check this link

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/perfect%20paint.htm
 
#115 ·
I very much appreciate the advice! This was my first time attempting a repaint on my own, and there are so many product lines on the market, it's a bit overwhelming. It's alot easier once you establish a "baseline" of sorts. I've read the urethane paints are really the way to go for topcoats also.
 
#116 ·
You should be fine with the AE if your car is kept indoors. It'll last outside for awhile if you really keep after it. Its all a learning experience and we all gotta start somewhere. I used AE on a car many years ago (did all the work except final paint), it turned out ok but I had lacquer primer under it and it shrunk up and showed sanding scratches after a month or two. I really had no clue what I was doing and was lucky it turned out at all.
 
#120 · (Edited)
I used Summit paint and primers on mine. 1:1 epoxy primer, 2k urethane primer and Acrylic Urethane topcoat.

I used the $35 HF purple gun. I'm looking in to getting an Iwata for my next job because it makes alot less overspray, clearing can get pretty bad with overspray. Its pricey tho, cheapest Ive found is $450 new... may try to find a lightly used one.
 
#124 · (Edited)
Good deal!! I'll def check it out!!

wait you didnt shoot ss? reason i ask is u said the cc has lots of over spray....maybe you start a how to thread.... i was trying to look at your progress on paint and its in different threads......so what did you think of the summit paint? what was your cost?
Yes, mine was SS, but I painted a couple pieces of the car at a time and then the back half, so overspray wasnt a big issue with the HF gun.

My next project will be spraying the whole car at once and I can just imagine the cloud now... I have an extra fan I could run, but I'm worried about pulling alot of dust into the paint... I'd rather go with a better gun and less fan.

I used 2 gallons of SS, 2 gallons of epoxy and 1 gallon of 2k primer... probably close to $500 plus sand paper and tape. I was learning and figuring things out, so next paintjob will be way less materials.
 
#126 ·
Ill be getting my paint and laying color hopefully over the holiday weekend on the body. I was gonna shoot the jambs and then the car but I ran into an issue with my doors with adhesion so im sending them out to be blasted down and reprimed. :mad:. I have a lot of time in those stinking things and i just found this issue last night when going over some things. I figure this way I wont have tape lines but will just be super careful during assembly and it will help with breaking the job up a little. Ill get some pics when I get some huggin orange from summit layed down.
 
#133 ·
Ok, got my Camaro all painted and I learned a few things about ventilation...lol. First of all I have my air intakes and fan in the wrong spot height wise. They need to be up high on the walls and not low. I was able to make it work, but I was chasing the overspray all day and air was rushing in on the side of the car as I was trying to get the paint laid down... not a major thing as I am buffing the car out anyway, but I will be revamping the vent system next time I paint one.

Funny thing is, the vents up high on the walls were how I had originally designed the booth, but I changed it hoping for less trash in the paint. Trash was minimal this time, but I didnt have the psi on the gun high enough and got some orange peel, so I had to cut and buff the whole car... still working on it.

Took me 8 hours to spray the three coats of base and three coats of clear. I used the LVLP gun and am GLAD I did, the HF gun would have been a nightmare with overspray





 
#134 ·
If those pics are pre-wetsand and buff then that is a really good paint job. I've seen WAY worse come out of way better boothes from guys who you would swear could do better. If its after buffing then its still a good paint job. Nobody gets one perfect everytime. I've had cars we've worked super hard to make clean and slick and have to buff them and then the cheap job that was an old work truck look like a show job. You never know.
 
#138 ·
If those pics were straight out the gun I would be a big time car painter making big bucks!! Are you freaking kidding me? lol No those pics are cut n buffed.

What gun did you end up using
Warwick904L... LVLP... it will be a great gun when I get my adjustments just right.

I am following this and you have given me a lot of pointers. Also you have posted results from ideas I wanted to experiment with. After painting a couple all together I realized for my set up I had to paint in sections. Even with a HVLP I really struggle seeing through the over spray on the clearcoat . Painting it all together and walking away in one day would be great . When I paint my 63 I am going to use your tips so keep them coming. Good job.

bg
I see nothing at all wrong with clearing a car in sections to cut down on the fog in a garage thats not as well vented as a pro booth! In fact I thought about doing this car that way. Good Idea! When I cleared this one I was chasing overspray big time, I'm just glad I painted everything in the correct sequence where it didnt matter and I didnt wind up with any dry spray panels. Start at the corner farthest from the fan and work your way to the fan. You might try that Warwick LVLP yourself, its only around $100.
 
#136 ·
I am following this and you have given me a lot of pointers. Also you have posted results from ideas I wanted to experiment with. After painting a couple all together I realized for my set up I had to paint in sections. Even with a HVLP I really struggle seeing through the over spray on the clearcoat . Painting it all together and walking away in one day would be great . When I paint my 63 I am going to use your tips so keep them coming. Good job.

bg
 
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