[Steve91T]

Hey guys! I'm getting to the point where I need to paint my car. I have a black 97 SS and swapped the doors, deck lid, fenders and hood from a red 99 SS. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and it doesn't seem too difficult. My question isn't about details, but basically, how'd it go? Once you were done, did it end up being much harder than expected? I have a 2 car garage that I'll be doing the work in. Another question, is painting a mostly plastic car more difficult?

Any advice would be great!

[Den 34]

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