Paint & Pollen

[qikcpa]

Going to have an 80 degree sunny day here. I would like to primer and paint the car this weekend (no paint booth). Has anyone had any problems associated with pollen in the air. Its not too bad now but in the next couple of weeks the whole state will be coated with a yellow funk. Is it even possible to primer/sand/paint in a single weekend. Fenders, hood, trunk, doors all off the car, sanded and ready to be painted seperately.

ps. This may be kinda dumb, but its my first paint job. Should I paint vertical panels from top to bottom or bottom to top (or does it matter).

thanks for any help.

[john70t]

Yup. With good 10 hour days you can do it all without a booth, but when the paint dries you'll start to see all the insects and sand particals frozen in the clear forever..............
But then again, you'll lose so much paint into the air that a good %5 downwind will be killed off. I would think painting downward is safer because any start of a sag could be compensated by more speed/less paint.

No question is stupid, only some of the answers.

[RoninLB]

I've done some really nice driveway paint jobs.. but it takes a lot of time. Even the primmer takes days to off gas.

[qikcpa]

thanks guys. heres a pic of the car ready to be taped

[Mike Kast]

Damn! Why don't you build a cheap fold up paint booth? 1 by 2's and plastic sheets... I wish I could help. I'd love to hang around while that was going on. What kind of car is in the garage? Is that the next victim?

[tsuter]

Corvair??

[qikcpa]

attached is the morning after pic. primered with eurethane primer in the dark. using a halogen spotlight & stand. Wife says it looks like dried mustard. have a few small runs but nothing major.

[Mike Kast]

looks good from where I'm standing. What's in the garage?

[qikcpa]

old (1964) unrestored corvette convertible. im partial to the top down thing. At least while ive still got all my hair.

[qikcpa]

well its sunday afternoon. Had a tough time time with paint and the HVLP yesterday. Just could not get it to cover evenly. Wound up with a fancy camera case finish. I wet sanded the panels this morning with some 220. Threw the HVLP in the trash and pulled out my old environment contaminating paint gun (sorry tree huggers, I tried to be green) This coat went on wet and smooth, as well as twice as fast. attached are the lastest pics.

[Mike Kast]

My business partner does a fair amount of furniture finish. He had the exact same problem with the HVLP gun he bought. Did the same as you... The verdict was the HVLP's just didn't move enough material.
What kind was it? I got one recently and it worked pretty good.
I'd be pretty cautious before I did a whole car though.

[john70t]

I thought all driveway paintjobs ended with the clear being furry with incects and the neighbor suing from overspray. That would be me I guess. Nice job, looks good.

[qikcpa]

john70t, you cant see them in the picture but I have a 12 foot row of bushes to the rear of the car. RE: the bugs... yep got em. Im doing a single stage paint..so no clear. I'm hoping the sparkly metallic hides any imperfections (after the 600/1200/1500/2000 sanding). Watch our for my upcoming post on top ten reasons not to paint your car youself. Several of my clients told me not to try but it goes against my DIY nature. Told em i would dot it 2 times if it still looked bad I would turn it over to a pro. Live & Learn.

Mike: cheapest one I could find...I think it was from Home Depot. (Flame away). I love a steep learning curve.

[Mike Kast]

Originally posted by qikcpa
(Flame away)

Not a chance! I'm impressed. I wouldn't do it that way but that is why I have no immediate plans to do it. I'm gathering up the courage. I may never gather it.
I love a thick clear coat. Besides that, you can sand out anything.

[qikcpa]

tell you the truth, i became curious about the clear after reading above. Turns out the documentation states there is an available clear that "enhance the deep gloss and adds UV protection". guess Ill be sanding less and clearing next weekend. Like my neighbor said, it sure cant look worse. I figure $300 in paint/supplies and a couple of weekends isnt a very big downside. The big downside would have been painting inside the garage with some of the two stage paints that have the skull and crossbones plastered all over the container.

[Mike Kast]

get a $30 mask. You can use it again when the pollen starts falling

[qikcpa]

ive actually got one. its got filters and all the fun stuff. However, from what ive learned there are two airborn byproducts of painting. fumes and particles. Most masks screen particulate matter and do nothing for fumes. Wore the mask anyway and just tried to stay out of the fumes. Did get a little buzz at one point. stopped and walked away. The mask did eliminate the silver metallic buggers i was expecting. Actually thought about using a friends scuba equipment but decided too much of a PITA.

[Mike Kast]

LOL... The one I use does both particulate and organics. I think it does radio nucleides too forgive my spelling. no spell check on that scary word.
Charcoal catches the fumes, right?

[Hugh R]

Originally posted by Mike Kast
Charcoal catches the fumes, right?

It depends on the paint. If its lacquer, yes, if its a two part cyanoacrylic, no. (Cyano, as in cyanide). For those, the pros use supplied air. BTW, "fumes" are technically airborne molten metal from soldering or welding. "Vapors" are airborne organic gases.

[qikcpa]

Thanks for the clarification Hugh. I allways figure better safe than sorry. I can see me saving a couple grand on a paint job and then turning it over to an estate attorney.