Patsum

If you all remember I have a 1991 LS400 silver two tone with blue/grey interior I bought for cheap and fixed her up.

Well she had some small bits of rust I wanted to take care of and you know there is no great way to do that without some major work with paint blending and body work to make it match the 20 year old paint.

So I decided after sanding those areas and removing all rust that she needs the full treatment. I am talking the 9 yards. I will sand down to metal on all spots with rust or cracks and use some good body filler and then sand those all down. I will use 600 grit backed sandpaper and dry sand the entire car.
Then I will prep her myself and actually change the color of the car to glossy black. no more two tone......
I will do the door jambs and under the hood myself with dry sanding and primer and then a few coats of glossy black auto enamel. Paint shop wants $150 per door jamb or $600 for all the cracks and such including under the hood and under the trunk and door sills. I can easily do that and shoot if the paint isn't perfect..it's black..and no one will really notice. They will do the outside only with a combined clear coat and base coat glossy black on my primer for a couple hundred.

Any advice on the DIY sanding prepping and door jamb painting? I have no car bodywork or paint experience but a lot of patience and research and a huge workshop of tools at my disposable

She is silver as it stands and will be a lot of work to do all the extra spots the exterior coat would not get.

Thanks
-P

Patsum

I had photoshop so I wanted to see how she would look

what do you all think?

The top one is Current and the very bottom is my future intent.

The two tone looks shockingly good to me...but I am going all black!

Hilux22RE

Damn that Looks Awesome!! My LS Is Undergoing a few changes as well. im Sanding it down and going to get it Painted Dark Walnut Pearl.

Patsum

should I really do anything besides sand it down? I have been reading all over and Since I am using body filler I know I need to have it match after sanding..but should I spray prime it? Or should I prime it at all?.....

let me know how your LS turns out! Photoshop makes me think my car is a brand new car

twofanman

I think the black upper and dark silver lower looks pretty sharp. And less work too. While you're at it, you might want to photoshop your wheels to point the spokes in the correct direction. Or you coud just mount them in their correct location 8^)

Patsum

I never knew they are in the wrong direction..huh...hmmm...I will swap them out the next time I get the car aligned

twofanman

Ya, I didn't know about left and right wheels on early LS400's either until I saw it on some forum - probably this one. The spokes slant away from forward rotation. Or, easier - each wheel is stamped with a R or L. It's actually shown in your Owner's Manual.

SupraRz123

Prepping inner for black is simple, since you arent so picky, get some red/purple scotch brite
this stuff


Scuff everywhere, and make sure to clean is good before painting. Use wax/grease remover. I just painted my entire car in and out black as well.

To be honest, if you want a good job, best is to take all the doors off and spray the innter+carbody at the same time. By doing that you wont have and tape lines and it will look factory.

Patsum

So you are exactly the person I need to talk to about this!

Now that you mention it I will be sure to take all the doors off and have them spray it that way..I know I will have to tape off with plastic and masking all the doors though to keep the interior clean. my paint shop is doing NO prep except spray 3-5 coats of the Integrated clear and base coat.

A few questions. Did you prime it yourself or have your shop do it?

-All you did was scuff it down after de greasing it and then had your shop paint it? ANY other steps? I am nervous to miss something obvious

-Like I said my shop is doing ZERO prep work besides paint....I know a sealer coat before the paint is an extra $60 so I may do that. Should I try to prime it myself? Did you?

-How much did you pay for your paint job and do you have any pictures?

-What about the inside back edges of the doors? That small painted area when you open them up and look at as the door swings away from you..not part of the car body at all..that is painted as well...My shop wont do that so what do you recommend I prime and spray that with?

any other advice my friend,

Thank you and cheers!

Pat

SupraRz123

I did everything myself, including priming, masking, painting etc.
Sounds like your shop is going to spray single stage black, which is more forgivine (covers up more imperfections better).

For the inners, i basically just used the scuffpad on everything. If your worried, just sand the areas that you think will come in contact (say people entering the car)

I dont know what you have access to, but a good quality primer should be used over bare metal/bodywork etc.

Materials alone i spent about $600. But i went with waterbase+clearcoat. Singlestage will run roughly half the price.

As for the doors, i stripped the panel and painted all the inner door jambs.

(not my picture, but my car) Came out pretty good, couple of minor imperfections that can easily be fixed (just lazy lol)

Patsum

Fantastic! I am very hesitant to spend the extra on a base+clear as it is over double the price of a single stage base+clear integrated. I don't feel like there would be any difference with black but I could be very well wrong.

I have access to Sherwin Williams and Lowes and Home Depot and autozone and naapa and such..I just need to figure out what type of primer I need to use. I think any type of automotive primer would work. I know they sell spray cans and then they also sell cans that you would have to paint on with a brush. What would you recommend?

I am also gathering that I do not have to prime the entire car if I have only done a few areas of bodywork. I was thinking I would have to do the entire thing.

How much did you scuff up the paint with those pads? Would you recommend using any sand paper or just those pads on areas of the car where the current paint is good

Thanks for answering all my questions, you are helping me out so much. I am nervous to mess up my nice car and waste money doing bad prep work.

-Pat

P.s. beautiful ride!

SupraRz123

Single stage black is usually Blacker/Darker than Base/Clear, so its great for black.

Primer only needs to be applied to areas with bodywork or bare metal.

Exterior i would use sandpaper for the entire thing. 400-600grit will be fine. Sand until it isn't shiny anymore. Same goes for inner jambs, scuff with pad until most of the shine is gone. You can also sand the inners if your more comfortable with that.

A 2 part primer would be the best (one that gets mixed with a hardener and sprayed out of a gun) because it is more durable and has better filling abilities.
If your limited to primers out of a can, its better than nothing.\

I would suggest paying the extra $60 for sealer coat.

Patsum

I think I will do the spray can primer on the parts I use body filler on and then pay for the sealer coat...sounds good to me.

I need to figure out how to get the doors off now

thanks again

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

you are wrong, nobody but the cheapest (crappiest) places use single stage anymore.

if you're going to do this yourself, there's not really any reason to get poor quality materials. a name brand 2-stage paint is probably the LEAST you could do.

and what kind of black cars do you guys look at?! Black shows EVERY FLAW in both the paint and the bodywork when you get it under sunlight.

Patsum

the place is quoting me for using DuPont single stage glossy black and for a sealer beforehand.
I am aware that dupont is of good quality as is house of color. I have been told to stay away from Sherwin Williams paints.

I am trying to find differences on single stage versus 2 stage paint jobs for solid black color. I am seeing hundreds of people saying why SSU is awful for anything beyond a solid color and the worst offender is silver with SSU.

Can anyone chime in?

SSU versus 2 stage for black. will this affect the initial look of the black or merely the longevity of the paint.

I am going to do some major prep work so keep that in mind.