What about a charcoal or graphite? I agree, metal flake not for me. But I'm thinking some sort of dark grey on black would be sharp.

Is that that 'satin' like finish that EVERYONE is painting their cars with this week? Then I'd HIGHLY recommend against it. ALL bodywork will show through (it changes the texture of the surface it's sprayed on, which changes the texture of the paint on the surface, which changes the luster of the finish). It's also really hard to keep clean. We have the hood of our Firebird painted in that stuff, albeit black, and the added panels for the headlight cover are distinct, even though the surface is smooth, and if you touch the hood with bare hands, your fingerprints will show. Sure, it was a paint job on a race car, and probably not much time spent prepping, but I'm not loving it. Since the hood is illegal for the class (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) we'll be replacing it, so I haven't bothered with getting it re-shot.

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Dec 7 2015, 02:54 PM

Yeah I'm not interested in metallic or anything other than gloss. I don't want satin or flat. I'm just considering the color dark grey with black wheels.

Of course I'm not sure if a non metallic dark grey would look good or not.

I'm still considering red. Do you guys think red is significantly easier to paint than black?

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/09885837-0332-46EE-8BD2-C36BC4E6FA32.jpg)

Ehh, I'm back to black. Possible non metallic dark grey.

Im partial to red myself... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Dude I love your car

Got a red truck too (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)
(IMG:http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/StanIROCZ/GMC/E5C1B1B9-4242-4318-BADD-19EE43E6CB69_zpshqmot0hz.jpg)

Ha and mine is black.


(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/7A7CB6EE-20E5-4250-BD71-2E67327CE406.jpg)



Seriously your 3rd gen is one of my favorites. Your car makes me want to paint mine red.

NOT A TA,

What do you suggest for spider cracks in bumper covers? I seem to remember them sucking in primer and then the basecoat unevenly when my dad and I painted the car in high school over a decade ago. Should I use a special primer that will flex better?

I've got my car all torn apart for paint, but haven't really gotten rolling on the body work yet. Your comments about metallic paints match what I feared with panels not matching. I was planning on going back with the factory flame metallic red which has a lot of pearl in it. Sounds like I should plan on reassembling the front of the car rather than painting the fenders/hood/bumpers off the car.

I'm sure notata will reply, but I've been told that that is just going to happen any time you paint flexible surfaces. There's really not much you can do about it, even adding 'flex agents' to the paint. I've been told this many times, by several painters. It'll look nice until your first bump, or a few weeks of life out in the summer heat. Piling more paint, or thicker 'filler' primer won't help either.

I'm having a coffee waiting for primer to dry on a hood and figured I'd check in on this.

Strip the whole bumper cover unless the cracks are concentrated in a small area that got bumped. The paint is at least 16 years old if the original paint's still on it.

If I want to save an older bumper cover for an enthusiast car, I soda blast or use SEM Urethane bumper stripper on the whole piece depending on what kind and how much paint there is on them.

For an appliance repair on a newer DD type car with concentrated area cracks I might just DA the area where the cracks are. Use a heat gun and compressed air to cool working it straight if warped.

For a lot of cars you can get a new bumper cover because they're cheap for appliances compared to repairing or stripping. If you're in this project to learn then strip the better one of the covers you have. If you just want the car done I'd look at pricing on new covers. It'll take about $40.00 in materials if you strip with chemicals or soda and a few hours of your time. Sometimes a new cover is only like a hundred bucks.

If you're going to paint it a metallic then you'll want to do the cut in's on the door jambs, under hood, etc. then assemble the car then paint the outside. The spray technique has an effect on how the metallic lays so by painting across door gaps etc it'll be more uniform looking. If the pieces are painted off the car the angle of the gun, distance from piece, and other variables aren't the same which causes the mismatch look even though the actual color is the same. Examine cars in traffic this week and you'll notice it on lots of cars.

Keep in mind that bumper covers often look different than the rest of the car. Not sure what causes it but you'll see it even on brand new cars on the dealers lot. You can strip a fender and a cover, use the same primer, same sealer, same paint and paint at the same time and still get a slight difference. I think it may have something to do with the rate of evaporation during curing or temperature change of the plastic vs metal as the thinner evaporates. Again look at cars in traffic and you won't believe how many bumper covers don't match the cars perfectly even when new.

No need for flex agent in most automotive paints now. I used to use it back when we used Acrylic Enamels but the good quality modern Urethanes are very flexible for quite a while. If you paint over old paint it will crack much easier because the old paint underneath cracks. Hence the mention of stripping enthusiast cars above vs DD appliances that'll probably be in the junkyard within 10 years. As Gene noted you don't want thick layers of primer or paint on flexible parts and if you need to smooth scrapes etc. use a special filler for flexible parts not regular filler. There are adhesion promoters for working with plastics I use quite often also.

Painting your car black will be much easier and quicker than changing color. I have one of the worst types of colorblindness people have. That is probably why I notice the shade and metallic differences so well. I do see red though! Have 5 red, 1 white, 1 black, 1 yellow for vehicles.

Steve
Painting a car is not as difficult as it may seem. I have painted dozens of cars out of home garages. Black is no harder to spray than red. Black just shows mistakes better than red. You will have the same amount of mistakes in either color. Metallic paint IS harder to spray because the gun has to be adjusted correctly or you will get tiger stripes where the metallic did not flow out properly. So to keep this short I am going to assume you are painting it black. I would use PPG DCC paint. This is a single stage paint that does not require a clear. If you get a run or mess up you can wait a day , wet sand with 800 then 1200 grit and re spray the panel. Also with black (or red or any non Metallic) you can spray just a panel at a time if you like, make sure its perfect, then move to the next panel. Just so long as you buy all the paint at the same time and is the same batch, and you put on the same amount of coats and reduce the material the same every cup load.
So to start from the beginning and I am assuming you are going to spray over the current paint. Sand the current paint with about a 320 grit paper then go over it again with a 400 to 500 grit. then spray with PPG DP 40 epoxy primer or equivalent. Then spray a filler primer tow or three coats. This coat you will block sand with 600 grit to remove orange peal texture in the coating. Or until you get sick of sanding. This is the prep work that makes or breaks a paint job. You then will wet sand again with 1000. Then you can use a sealer coat using the same DP epoxy primer and then the final paint coat of PPG DCC single stage. Usually 4 coats of this paint and wet sand with 1200 to 1500 to 2000. Then buff using the 3M 3 stage buffing compound and corresponding foam pads. You do not have to wet sand and buff the final coat if you are happy with the results. It is up to you how well you want it to turn out.

If you build a booth in your garage with plastic. (highly recommended) make sure the inside of the booth has positive pressure. In other words build a filter box with furnace filters and push clean air into the booth. Make sure you are pushing more air into the booth than the exhaust fan is pulling out. This will make sure you don't draw in dirt from every nook and cranny of your booth. You will never get it totally sealed. Remove the tires and mask off all the dirty areas if the car. Clean the air hose and some guys will wet down the floor. I personally do not like this method as you have a wet hose that can drip on the car.
Do some You tube research on how to use a spray gun. Like watch how they actually move the gun in relation to the painted surface. It is always 10 to 12 inches from the surface. DO NOT swing the gun back and forth in a arch.
Also learn how to adjust the gun spray pattern. You will have several coats of primer to learn all this before you actually spray. Will you get paint all over your shop and get everything all sticky. Maybe in the 1970s when people where spraying oil based enamels. Not today, Spray the DCC paint with a modern HVLP gun and you will have minimal clean up.
It is not as hard as people make it out to be. Be patient, and don't be afraid to stop, sand and spray again if you make a mistake. Goes back to the patince thing. Oh and get a good 3M mask that is good for automotive finishes. Available at you local paint store.

Bob

Thank you guys so much. Awesome information! I'm definitely excited to get started.

I don't think I mentioned my inspiration to paint myself. I had an instructor for work who builds old MG's. His current car is absolutely beautiful. Show quality red. He said that was the first car he had ever painted himself. Like what you guys said, it's all about prep and patients. He also mentioned something about beer also (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

I'm definitely liking the idea of painting one panel at a time, then moving on. That's why the MG guy said also.

One question. Many moons ago someone hit the rear bumper. Not hard, but enough to make spider cracks above the license plate opening. Does that need special attention? The rear bumper is the original paint.

Same as the front discussed above depending on time available, desire to learn etc. A quick search of aftermarket covers for your car showed these for the first listing. http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1997/chev...mper_cover.html

Not sure what the fit & quality is but the pricing would have me seriously considering the possibility of replacing the covers rather than screwing around with the originals. I'd check around with 4th gen owners asking what brand aftermarket covers they've had good fit with.

Oh I thought he was talking about more damage. I understand. I'll take a look at my parts car bumper and see what kind of shape it's in.

Definitely go with the OEM parts, either from your car, or the spare parts car. When I was getting the front hit damage repaired on our 95 9C1, I used a take-off front end off a 96 SS. It had sat out in the weather for a while, and the front bumper cover had some cracks on the inside corners. With that, and all the paint the one that was on the car had, we opted for an aftermarket front bumper. The body guy said that fitting that cover probably almost as much work as stripping the original cover. It still doesn't fit wonderfully, but okay for a street car.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/Camaro/A3F7955E-F1AD-4A06-BABA-0E45D24DED8A.png)


Plasti dip has come a long way over the last couple of yeas. I was really considering doing the color above but decided against it. I'm going to go with a single stage PPG 9300. From what I've read, it's one of the best blacks on the market.

Painted in the garage stall it's behind ... BUT it's lacquer so you sand it all back off (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ... Be prepared for cut and buff and you'll be FINE !

(IMG:http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss235/BumpaD_Z28/Camaro%20RS/DSCN0326.jpg)

~DaVe