Paint

[Mankato944]

I have taken on the enormous taks of repainting the 44. I have been reading about it, but am still confused as to the order of things. Everywhere I look has a different number of times to sand and prime, so I thought I'd come here for the final word.
As far as i can tell, the way I have read is :
sand, sand with higher grit, wet sand, sand and prime. then wet sand, prime and paint ect...
Im sure I left out a step, but you get where im going with this.
How would u suggest I do it? Also, what is wet sanding, is it what it sounds like?
Thanks in advance!

[ColoradoSteve]

Mankato944,
You are indeed taking on an enormous task, but if you have the patience and the right equipment, it can be done.
You will need a decent paint HVLP gun, a compressor that puts out at least 80 CFM and a grinder to remove the old paint. The most important thing is the prep work, because every little nick, bump or flaw will show up in your new paint. If I was to do mine again, I would do the prep work and then have a pro do the finish coats. If you don't have a airtight spray booth, it's really hard to get a perfect finish with no bugs, dust, etc. in your paint. Wet sanding is just what it sounds like, getting your fine grit paper wet and really finishing the primer to a slick surface.

I'm not unhappy with my garage paint job, it's what I call a 5' job( looks good from 5' away) but it has lots of flaws and I still want to take it to a pro and have the clear coat redone. Good luck!

[Born2bwild1191]

Yeah, i cannot stress how important prep is. Make sure everything is as perfect as it can be, (dings,dents etc) before you prime. Then, after the first coat of primer i would check it over again and fix whatever may be necessary. When i painted my car, i used a self-leveling primer, its thicker and can fill in marks from sandpaper. Now it's been a while since i've done this, someone make sure this is the right order. Wet sand the primer with very fine sandpaper (somewhere around 1200 or so?). All this means is you get the sandpaper wet. be sure to use a block so you dont put grooves in it from your fingers, and KEEP THE SANDPAPER WET. After it is sanded to where you want it, wipe everything down with some type of cleaner (forget what i used, sorry), then i used a sealer. then it's time to wetsand everything again, same process. then spray your base coat, then clear coat. Then you wet sand after the clear. I'd give it a little bit to dry before this. a couple days or so. After you wet sand the clear, you'll be asking yourself "oh my god what have i done", but relax, it's now time to buff and polish everything. I hope i helped, and i hope someone can back me up on the order i gave, because its been a while. also, i agree that it's wise to have a professional do the base/clear in a booth. Hope i helped! Be sure to post some piocs when you're finished


-Josh

[Arizona_928]

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[SuperXRAY]

I think he meant 8cfm, not 80.

[Mankato944]

Thanks for all the help guys, I really do appreciate it!
I will be starting sometime next week with the sanding. Right now the car has quite alot of rattle can paint I put on to prevent rusting in storage, so I will need to get that off first. I will be sure to post pictures of the different stages.
Wish me luck!

[962porsche]

ok i have been in the biz. for 30 plus years now . i own a high end only repair shop . no jap crap ! this is how its doen ! your finish your body work with 180 or 220 grit sand paper . then prime with a 3 to 5 coats of a 2k primer . let the primer flash between coats . flash meens almost dry . then some hours or days latter you can eather dry or wet sand for sealer and color . you sand the primer with 320 or 400 dry or wet with 400 or 500 grit paper . only if your sealing it !if your not going to use a sealer and go straight to color then you would want to sand it with 600 or 800 wet sand paper and not dry sand .use a guide coat when you sand the primer . a guide coat is a dusting of an other color to see if you have sanded it enough to remove the orange peal of the primer and so on . if your using a gray primer then use a black guide coat . then you would wash the car with a dish soap that has no oils or lanolin in it . after its all dry and blown off masked and in the booth . you then wipe it down with a pre paint cleaner . wiping it in a 1 foot by 1 foot area at a time with good clean rags or paper towels with no print on them . you wet one rag wipe the 1 by 1spot and with an other dry clean one you wipe the pre paint cleaner off before it drys on its own . after you do the hole car like that you then tack it off with a tack reg . DO NOT put your bare hands on the car after you wipe it down with repaint cleaner !!! now its time to spray after you paint the car you can (if its not enamel paint ) color sand and buff you can color sand with 1200 to 1500 wet sand paper . i would not recommend 2000 grit paper to a newbee unless you lay the top coats of paint down like glass . i would use a block to sand the flat places only ! edges sand by hand and keep your hand flat . always sand in an X pattern . do not sand straght along a body line sand up and down over the edge so you don't chop the edge square .you want a nice rounded edges . always use clean water and alot of it when wet sanding . when the sand paper gets little pills on it throw it away . if you drop the sand paper on the ground throw it away . it would help me to know what color your going to paint . but over all this is how its doen .