How to Paint Your Own Car

Spread the filler in the repair area using enough pressure to keep from trapping air bubbles. When working in areas with body lines or sharp curves, start at the peak and spread the filler away from it. notice how Ferre spread the filler up and away from the horizontal line where the bumper mounts.

Here's a cool timesaving tool. Holloway used a file often called a cheese grater to cut the high spots of the filler just before it is fully hardened. Once fully dry, the filler is extremely hard and can require a serious workout just sanding through the spreader lines. use a cheese grater to cut down the high spots in the filler while it still feels tacky, but no longer squishy. It will save a lot of time and effort.

The proper method for sanding filler is to use 80-grit sandpaper on a sanding block, following up with 150-grit. Ferre showed the students how to use the different sizes of sanding blocks to fit the various contours of the car. To avoid sanding grooves and flat spots into the repair, sand in an X-shaped pattern using the longest block that will fit in the area being sanded. It is also helpful to spray a guide coat-a very light misting of a contrasting paint color from an aerosol can. Then sand until the guide coat is gone.

The right-side quarter-panel was sanded properly and ready for a coat of metal glaze, also referred to as finishing putty. It's like body filler, but lighter and thinner, and used as a "topcoat" over body filler. It's easier to sand and therefore more useful in final-sanding surfaces with compound curves or complex shapes. It's also less porous than body filler and shows fewer pinholes when painted over. notice the light green color of the glaze on the taillight panel.

With all the waves sanded out and dings filled in, the car was ready to be masked for its first coat of sealer. First, it was blown off with compressed air and wiped down thoroughly with solvent.

To best prevent overspray from getting to parts you don't want painted, Ferre recommended using large sections of masking paper, creasing and folding them to follow curves and bends, such as around the windshield. The fewer seams you have, the less risk you run of having the tape lift while you're spraying.