Painting,need your advise!!

[BP_Z28]

ok Im going to be painting
1. Headlight buckets
2. Both mirrors
3. Tail light panel

They will all be done in gloss black. Other than prepping as far as cleaning wise how should this be done? Sanding? If so whats grits... Best paint to use? How much clear? This will all be rattle canned


I would like to get this done in the next 3 weeks

[bigjon88]

i am not all that great with painting but i have done some i painted my friends mirrors on his car i washed them down really good then sanded them down with 1000 girt sand paper and primed them and then painted them and cleared them 2 coats of everything i used dupli color (sp) from auto zone they came out great wish i still had pictures

[Kwazrollinz28]

180 then 1000 is what i use for basic sanding.

Unless your doing mods Start out with 80 but your not going to need that.

For primer, RUST-OLEUM PROFESSIONAL PRIMER Code-7582

And paint, Dupli-color works the best for rattle can. Comes out good as hell if you know what the hell your doing.

[MiT/A'96]

180 then 1000 is what i use for basic sanding.

Unless your doing mods Start out with 80 but your not going to need that.

For primer, RUST-OLEUM PROFESSIONAL PRIMER Code-7582

And paint, Dupli-color works the best for rattle can. Comes out good as hell if you know what the hell your doing.

Sounds good to me....

[cobalt camaro]

i used 400 gritt to get a good base for the paint to grip to, but if your not going to prime it and sand it then i would used 400 and then 1000 to take out all of the rough spots. Or just use 1000 alot.... just make sure that your sanded parts appear to be dull in finish, that's when you know they are ready for prime or paint. Good luck man

[tenpin842]

if you have stone chips then you can start with a coarse sand paper and work your way up.

Sometimes all you need is a scotch brite and your good to go.

All depends what your starting with.
If you need to get rid of stone chips, I'd start off with 400, then go to 800.
Any primer you use should be able to fill any 800 scratches.
Then make sure you wetsand with 1500 to get it nice and smooth. Specially if your doing a fiberglass bumper. Fiberglass tends to have small fibers stick up when you sand it. So its a good idea to primer then wetsand it smooth.

Then your good to paint.

[MP81]

And paint, Dupli-color works the best for rattle can. Comes out good as hell if you know what the hell your doing.

Unless you're Brian - in which case you're luck enough to get a can that sprays a pin-point pattern, 5 feet.

[PWND3r]

It all depends on the paint, and the condition.

Sand it with 220 or it it's good paint just use a red scotchbrite and get all the old gloss off, make sure you sand it uniform.

Prime it with some sandable primer. Gray will most likely be your best bet. Let it dry then sand it with 1000 grit sandpaper. After that if you're happy with it then use some paint thinner, acetone, or some 3M cleaner to remove and grease, or anything that could be on the primer. Let it dry.

Then paint it spraying evenly. Make sure you overlap your shots. Let it dry a little in between coats, then spray it again. If you're using a gloss: on the final coat make sure you coat it good so the gloss is not fading in places. After that let it dry for 24 hours, wet sand with 2500 grit, and polish. You'll be golden

If you want me to do it let me know.

[BP_Z28]

Is two light coats of clear good enough? And what kind of polish?

Also what about interior? Would the same grits be used? I dont really like the texture of 4th gens & would rather have it nice & smooth so I want to sand it down & use a different shade green this time.. Or maybe Ill just repaint over it

[phoenix_rising]

Wash first. Sand with 400 next, then scotchbright it. wear gloves. wipe with tack cloth. Hang up, primer them with self etching primer. Then spray with whatever paint in slow passes spraying light coats allowing proper drying time in between. After you have sprayed a few coats, Then do the same with the clear. After thats done, break out the wet sandpaper to smooth out the finish and remove any orange peel. Then buff and polish to a mirror shine.

TAKE YOUR TIME!!! Paint is a slow tedious process. Too many people rush paint and end up having to redo it. Good luck Rolo.

[FOXKLLR]

Wow, why are you guys finish sanding with such a fine grit before paint? 800 is PLENTY sufficient to paint over. Anything over that your just asking for your paint to not stick. And good luck with aerosol clearcoats since they have no UV protection.

Majority of the time a simple red scotch brite will do followd by wiping it down with some pre cleaner, DON'T USE LAQUER THINNER. If you have defects like chips and what not then you will have to sand them out. Some 240-320 grit will work just fine. If you gonna use a spray bomb primer that's fine since they are small parts that will suffice, you don't have to prime the whole panel, just prime what you repaired and scotch brite the rest of it. Give it plenty of dry time before sanding to prevent it from shrinking up and showing the repaired spot in the future. then sand with 600-800, there is really no need to wet sand dry sanding works just fine. Wipe it down with a pre cleaner (painters pride makes a good cheep one)and start painting away. IF you REALLY want to buff aresol clearcoat, make sure you alot on (4 coats) just wetsand with 2000-2500 and buff.


And who ever said to spray a self etching primer, I hope you weren't talking about spraying it on plastic, that does nothing for plastic. That's only for metal.

But hey it's not like I do this for a living