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!

Never done it myself. Never had the patience. The painting is pretty straightforward, it's the prep that's the important bit.

Painting is not difficult but it does require some practice to lay down a good finish.
As stated above preparation is key, but an ugly paint job will still negate excellent prep work.

My concern is black is a very unforgiving color, it shows all flaws & also any orange peel in the paint from poor application.
If it was your beater/work car, I would say go for it, but if it looks bad & then you turn to someone else to fix it, you will likely pay substantially more to get it fixed than letting a shop do it the first time.

As for painting plastic vs. metal, there is a definite difference as the paint will not flow as well on non metal surfaces.
There are some anti-static sprays/pretreatment coatings out there that help paint to flow on plastic/fiberglass.
With that said, if you never painted a car before, that will be the least of your worries as this is more of a character difference between a 98% to a 100% finish.

I took a body shop class to prep my car for paint. I wound up painting the bumpers and edges but had the instructor do the rest.

Your garage will be covered in body dust and overspray unless you cover it all with plastic drops cloths.

As said above, black and other dark colors are unforgiving. Talk to your paint supplier to see what they recommend for rubber and fiberglass... And use the same mixture in the whole car. I've 'heard' some flex agents change the color some. Also, if you want something that looks impressive then just prep the car yourself (sand, prime, and repeat until smooth) and have the color/clear done.

If you decide to do it all yourself, another option is single stage paint, the color dries shiny so you don't need a clear coat and have to worry about spraying at just the right time.

Good luck and post pictures!

^^ This! EVERYTHING in the shop our SVO was done in was this blue-gray color. EVERYTHING In the car was covered with gray dust, too. It's a sticky mess to clean up.

Have you considered wrapping it?

Hey guys, thanks for the help.

So here's the new plan. My buddy just built my dream house with a huge shop and had a 12k two post lift and a beer fridge installed before they even moved in. He wants to build a folding paint booth in the corner of his shop and learn to paint also. Perfect.

So, he's what I'm working with.





I still need to swap hatches with the red one that has the stock wing so I don't look like a tool driving down the road with a huge lexan spoiler.
I was going to worry about the go before the show, but it looks pretty rediculous. So paint has moved up the priority list.

So I've got a hard top panel that I pulled off the roof of a junk yard Camaro that replaces the t-tops for the track. That will be the perfect panel to practice on. I'm also going to pull all the red panels off the car and paint the back side of them black. That'll also give me a bit of practice. I can do all of that in my garage. I'll make a small paint booth out of 1x2's and plastic. Then I'll put the car back together and drive it to my buddies shop to paint the whole car.


So I know painting obviously isn't something you lean over night, so I'm planning on taking it slow. I also realize that my expectations can't be a show quality paint job after my first crack at it. Isn't the worst thing that could happen is I sand it all down and start over?


I've thought about wrapping the car and I just don't think that's for me.

Anyway, our goal is to try to get this thing done this month. So I'll keep everyone posted! Please keep the tips and tricks and opinions, good or bad,coming.

Depending on what your patience level and time allow, you can sand and paint until you're happy. From my experience, if imperfections are going to gnaw at you, you'll be way money and time ahead paying someone to do it. If I recall correctly, you already lost a chunk of your time and that's why you decided to convert back from a CMC build.

I paint my race car, but that's because I know someone is pretty much guarenteed to run into it. It's also about 5 shades of white, bad prep work, with a bunch of dust in the paint, and runs all over. It's also white because it hides more sins than most colors.

Trying to paint black as my first painting project would be a huge chunk of NOPE.

What nape said. All of the race cars at the shop are white for that exact reason. It hides a lot. The old saying goes - if it ain't right, paint it white.

Black will be tough, but it's doeable if you aren't looking for perfection. Sounds like you just want to get the car one color and back on the roads. I say go for it.

Thanks guys. I know black was difficult but I didn't think it was that bad. 79TA is correct, I just want it one color and back on the road/track.

So I'll definitely spend more time practicing. I have the old 97 front end they I can practice on and once I'm fairly comfortable, I'll probably go for it. I'm thinking lots of coats and even more sanding

Maybe I'll change my YouTube search from "how to paint a car" to "how to paint a BLACK car"

Saw this a couple days ago but didn't respond because the OP was such a broad type of question.

I do quite a bit of body work and paint in a 2 car garage for myself as well as customers. I could spend hours typing (hunt & peck) about tips. It's easier to respond to particular aspects as you move along. As an example "I'm going to start on this front bumper cover I'm practicing on , what should I do first?" Answer: Wash thoroughly inside and out with dish detergent then clean all areas with wax & grease remover using the wipe on and dry off method with two rags. This prevents the possibility of starting off your project by contaminating your surfaces sanding wax or Armor All type chemicals that might be on the bumper into the plastic that can come back to haunt you.

I lurk mostly and don't post a lot here because the stuff I work on is old compared with most members but I visit daily to learn something. If I don't have an answer to a particular question there's another old guy here I rent a room to. He's been a bodyman/painter for over 35 years and works in a higher end production shop doing collision work as his day job. Between us we should be able to answer most questions or provide tips to help you get the best results using what's available to you.

Lots of coats and lots of sanding isn't really a good way to go for several reasons. Can explain why when you get that far.

Dip it, http://www.dipyourcar.com/

Personally, I'd try a wrap myself before painting myself. I've messed up airbrush paint jobs, spray can paint jobs, and household paint jobs. And I think that I have OK skills, HAHA! (Some projects do turn out nice). So, set realistic goals, have a backup plan, and don't paint it black or any metal flake, IMO. Hey maybe the matte (sanded) look would be cool?

Have you seen what's involved in wrapping a car? Might as well paint

It was a broad question. Mostly because I just wanted a general idea of what people think. I really appreciate your offer to help. I'll do more reading then I'll post specific questions.

Last night I had my neighbor help me swap hatches. Now it is officially more of a red car than black. How much easier is it to paint red than black? I'm kind of toying with the idea making the car red, but I don't know. I really love black.

What do you guys think?

I think you have your answer ^^^. It's a lot of work to go through and not paint it the color you want.

Tuff call... I like both black & red so its a toss up.

If you go with the idea of red, you just need to paint each quarter, rockers & rear bumper cover...if you like the black roof look.
Personally to do a good job, you need to paint the jambs then as well & this gets much more involved.

The unfortunate part is if you were going to paint the car black, you should have painted all the parts before installing them.
This way all the edges are done properly. Another thing to consider is removing all parts 1 at a time & painting them then reinstalling.
It is much easier for a beginner to paint panels nicely than an entire car.

Hmmmm. Maybe?

That Cyber Gray is a metallic. Probably be better off sticking with a solid color for your first paint job. If you do decide on the Cyber Gray don't try to paint it in pieces. The metal flake probably won't match panel to panel.

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 we'll be replacing it, so I haven't bothered with getting it re-shot.

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?

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

Im partial to red myself...

Dude I love your car

Got a red truck too

Ha and mine is black.






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

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.

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 ... Be prepared for cut and buff and you'll be FINE !



~DaVe

Wow no kidding. Man that thing is beautiful!

Did you make a temporary paint booth? Any pics?

Here's what I'm working with. I thought I'd be able to just sand the clear off and paint on top of that, basically using the red as the primer. But I guess I have to prime over the red first. So do I also have to prime over the back? Is the point of the primer to make the whole car even?

I've been reading how to paint a black car online. Found a hotrod magazine article that interviewed a couple high end paint shops asking what they do. One guy said he does two coats of straight black then three coats of black mixed with clear. He said it gave a lot of depth. He also mixes a touch of blue, which makes it look even blacker.

Too advanced?

I don't have pics, but a plastic sheeting "booth" with box fans was the setup.

~DaVe

I found some ideas online. I think I'll make the structure out of PVC so I can break it down and store it for next time.

Forgot the pics of the clear coat.