air pressure is really important when you spray clear. When I use Sikkens Autoclear hs+ I spray at 40-45 psi. This goes for most clearcoats. Lesonal pro air sprays really nice and is easy to buff. make sure you are Patient. when you are in the booth( or whatever you have) Your mind can not be anywhere else...no distractions. I usually spray 3 coats of clear, wait till there are no stringers between each coat, tacky not sticky....

 

how do you like the sikkens stuff? I've herd alot of good things about it. I use RM/Glasurit and dont mind it, the RM primer is junk but everything else is ok. Are you spraying with water borne? The glasurit water borne is pretty nice, kinda weird to get used to tho.

 

No I use all the sovent based stuff. I haven't even tried the water borne. Lesonal just came out with a new line of water borne products I still have yet to try. I love the sikkens stuff but it is very expensive. I also really like all of the paints from kustom shop. I hate using the RM stuff. It just doesn't spray as nicely.

 

Thanks for all ya'lls posts...and offers for help, I'm sure I'll need em if I decide to go through with this. I've been doing a lot of research online...actually got a dvd and a book...and it seems doable...I'm sure I can paint my car, I'm just really skeptical about having it look respectable.

My situation is pretty nice though. I got a real clean, spacious two car garage, and a buddy's car to drive while I'm painting my sc, so if I do it I will definitely be taking my time especially with prepping it....I've heard grounding your frame is nice for cutting down on dust, but I don't really know.

Couple questions though...is it a better idea to paint a car in pieces? Like tape off everything except the hood and do that, then move on, or is it better to do the whole car at once?
Also with prepping the car, It isn't necessary, unless you're going from a dark color to a light to remove every spec of old paint off your car. My SC right now is dark green, and i was gunna paint my new car a kind of Charcoal grey...is it really necessary to get every spec of old paint off?

if I do decide to do this though, I will definitely take a lot of pictures and let ya'll know how it came out...Also I'm still waiting for some suggestions on paint color...

 

You should paint the whole car at once. pull off the bumpers for ease of access. take off door handles, mirrors, window moldings, etc. You don't need to take all of the paint off at all. just sand the whole thing with 600 grit paper. As for the color change just be sure when you paint it to seal the car with a good sealer then put down a ground coat of a similar color to what you are going for. use this until you have very good coverage. Then spray 2 or 3 coats of you actual color nice and even. before you do any body work grind the area with 36 or 80 on a grinder. use blocks and feather feather feather..... oh, and buy a D.A. (dual action palm sander). 6" pad is what I use.....hmm...hope this helps.

 

yeah thanks...also are there any good guides online for removing things like bumpers, spoiler, mirrors, etc...I haven't searched for this yet so I apologize for my laziness, but I thought I'd ask first.

 

How about just painting a rear bumper and side skirts. Using www.paintscratch.com for the OEM paint. They sell the primer, base and clear, in different sizes. What are your thoughts on that?

 

As far as I understand it though...and this is very simplified...once the car is sanded and prepped for painting, I need to lay down 3 coats of primer, letting it dry about an hour in between each coat. Then I put on 3 coats of color waiting 10-15 minutes in between each coat, and then after my color wait an hour or two then put on about 6 coats of clear...Once the clear has dried, like a day or two, I can start polishing and buffing, starting with fine grit sandpaper and finishing with buffing and a polishing compound...does this sound about right, and overly simplified?

 

id wait longer than a few days to sand/buff. week would be better.

 

Yes it can, lol

 

painting is an ART! some people CAN do it some just cant :\

 

Some times its a miss and some times its not also. Most important is the prep and the final color sanding and working it down. Not the actual paint process itself...

 

a decent spray gun makes a big difference too. you might have a hard time getting a good finish out of a cheap gun.

 

Any info on this?