Tips And Techniques On How To Paint Your Car

We taped off the taillights and and filler neck. The only advice we have here is that you can use the cheap, yellow masking tape instead of the blue or green. Works the same.

Using a rubber sanding block and 150-grit, we sanded the paint and rust from between the ribs of the trunk floorpan and to feather the edges of the areas where we used the 36-grit and the angle grinder. We used dry paper instead of wet for this job. The rule of thumb is to use dry paper for feathering edges, taking down filler, or sanding primer. Use wet paper for jobs that require grit over 320 like when you are prepping for paint. When using water, the finer grits are less likely to clog, and any debris that might scratch the finish is washed away.

After blowing the grit out of the trunk with compressed air and cleaning the surfaces with wax and adhesive remover (Eastwood PRE or lacquer thinner will also work), we sprayed any areas that were sanded to bare metal with SEM self-etching primer.

There were a few holes between the wheeltub and the trunk floor that looked a little larger than the seam sealer would bridge, so we welded them up with the MIG and ground them down with the 36.

For the big jobs, we used a Matco pneumatic DA sander with a 220 pad and sanded everything within reach just enough to just take the shine off. You want a dull, even surface for the primer to stick to. If you find any crack larger than normal paint checking, sand until you start to see the primer underneath the paint (assuming it is factory) or until the crack is gone in the case of body filler.

On the mixing pail, the measurements are marked on the lefthand side of the cup and the ratios are marked at the top. After you determine how much primer you are going to mix, you must find out how many parts primer need to be mixed with how many parts activator. It is marked on the paint can. Ours called for 3:1, meaning three parts primer to one part activator. So we filled the pail with primer to the first line marked with a three (see the Car Craft finger) then added the activator to the next line marked with a three. Simple.

Proper mixing of all materials is crucial or funny things will happen to your paint job over time. Follow the directions on the can closely, or better yet, follow the procedures on the product's technical data sheet if you have access to it. DuPont's 2840S sealer is a two-part urethane that must be mixed with an activator at a 2:1 ratio. Be sure to stir the mixture thoroughly and strain as you pour it into the paint cup.

Some primers intended to be used with topcoats don't stick to bare metal, and that's why you should use an etching primer. But you don't want to just spray everything because sometimes etching primer will not stick to basecoats, primer, filler, or even the seam sealer.

The difference between a good two-stage primer and a rattle can is metal protection. If you are going to leave the car in primer for a long period of time, the two-stage resists moisture and won't chalk or flake off in the sun. It is similar to a topcoat in terms of protection, and of course it is easier to lay down a lot of paint with a gun. Your spray-can finger doesn't get tired.