Protecting new paint from garage dings

[nheine]

Hey guys,

I have a question for all you guys/gals that have worked in body shops or in your personal garages with cars with fresh paint.

What steps did anyone take to protect their fresh paint from door dings, tool dings, etc? I am very concerned with this as I have a very tight area that I will be working on re-assembling the car (tandem, single wide garage with stuff on both sides!) I can not even fully open the doors in here!

I was wondering if anyone has any "tricks of the trade" ways to protect the paint while I am trying to ge this thing up and running. I guess my first idea was to find a supplier of some of that film that comes on new high end cars to protect from door dings and side scratches. Anyone know where I can get something like that?

Is there any cheap, home remedies to help for this?

Thanks guys!

[batman09]

2 car covers(4 layers each)then large cardboard masking taped to the sides....you can also use moving blankets on top of the car covers

[nheine]

So I have been thinking of trying to use blankets but I was not sure if there is such thing as tape that is strong enough to hold up a movers blanket but won't harm the paint if left on for extended amounts of time...

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[batman09]

Car covers first no tape on paint....tape to car cover.get a wolf o cover craft universal for $100

[taz3]

A good thing to protect the paint while still soft, is to put the car in a corner and securely hang moving blankets from the ceiling to the floor, so they drape around the car on the 2 exposed sides. This protect the car from being bumped with no contact to the new paint.

As BM said 2 car covers once it's cured, I do the same and it has saved my cars more then once from accidental bumps or items falling on or against them.

[Sleepr66]

I've used a good quality cover on my car for years and in the winter I put packing blankets on top of the cover on the top and drape them down the sides. The weight of the blankets have always kept them in place. I have never have a scrape, scratch or nick on my car in over 10 years doing it this way.

[nheine]

so I will obviously wait until the paint is fully cured, but afterwards, is there any tricks or techniques to protect areas while working on and around the car? Like I said before, is there any sort sticker material that I can buy that is similar to what comes on new cars to protect specific areas from dings?

[batman09]

Originally Posted by nheine

so I will obviously wait until the paint is fully cured, but afterwards, is there any tricks or techniques to protect areas while working on and around the car? Like I said before, is there any sort sticker material that I can buy that is similar to what comes on new cars to protect specific areas from dings?

packing blankets and card board

[6T6NOVA]

You need to get the word TAPE out of your HEAD. You do NOT want to touch the your new paint with any type of tape.

Bryan

[TechNova]

Pay attention and be careful!

Really, I am not a fan of putting any covers on paint, especially new paint, when working on a car.

[hbanger]

I use 320 grit and a flat black rustolium rattle can fixes scratches in minutes

10 sheets 320 grit sand paper $7.90
12 cans flat black rustolium spray paint $47.59
5 hours of prep work and painting $0.00
Having some scumbag look at a very well built flat black car, think its a piece of crap and break into a different car priceless

[DPack77]

I'm facing this dilemma myself right now, preparing to reinstall the doors, fenders, hood, and trunk after a repaint. On one of those reality TV shows some dudes in Texas were masking off the edges around the doors to prevent any scratches while installing the fenders.

So my question is, is the paint really that soft that you can't put masking tape on? I thought masking tape was required on seams before doing any type of buffing to avoid burn-throughs? In my case, I'm using single-stage enamel. Temps have been in the 50s here lately and paint is 2 weeks old.

[nheine]

Dpack, I agree with you. Plenty of people use masking tape on cars to prevent dings when installing hoods and doors. They do this on all the car shows too. I was just trying to find out what others have done when working on their car and to try and prevent any scratches or dings.

[TechNova]

Originally Posted by DPack77

I'm facing this dilemma myself right now, preparing to reinstall the doors, fenders, hood, and trunk after a repaint. On one of those reality TV shows some dudes in Texas were masking off the edges around the doors to prevent any scratches while installing the fenders.

So my question is, is the paint really that soft that you can't put masking tape on? I thought masking tape was required on seams before doing any type of buffing to avoid burn-throughs? In my case, I'm using single-stage enamel. Temps have been in the 50s here lately and paint is 2 weeks old.

If your enamel has hardener it is no longer curing if it is below 60 degrees. I would not tape on it because it is not curing, it may be slowly evaporating solvents but it is not curing.
If you didn't use hardener you take your chances taping it anytime.

[DPack77]

TechNova: Thank you sir! That was indeed the advice I was looking for.

One question about "curing": The data sheet for the product (Ful-Cryl II Enamel) only says dry overnight before polishing... no definitive guidance on full cure. I had about two days of good warm weather before the cold snap. Temperature aside, will it get any harder than that, or does the paint slow-cure over a month or longer? I guess they always say give a new car 6 months or so before the first wax.

This stuff is like high-school chemistry all over again... but more fun.