DIY Paint Job Advice

[freeskier7791]

Looking good!  if you want to do something different for bare metal primer you could always use some preval sprayers, a bit better than just a standard rattle can

[shainiac]

Those are interesting. Never heard of them.
There are options I could have bough that would have sprayed well through my gun, but I didn't do my research until it was a bit too late.
I plan on starting the block sanding the chassis this week and get the fiberglass parts in primer while the booth is empty. Not looking forward to the mess!

[shainiac]

I finally finished block sanding the car and got everything prepped to paint last weekend. I was laying down the 2nd coat of base color before I noticed that the entire car was starting to blister!
There were little spots on the entire car. Like EVERYWHERE. I had spent basically the entire week prior cleaning the car and booth multiple times with the appropriate cleaners was dumbfounded with how this could have happened.

A friend of a friend is a pro painter and he was nice enough to take a look at the pictures and give me his advice.
When block sanding the primer, there were lots of small places where I sanded through primer to the old base coat. I figured that since you can paint directly over scuffed old paint AND you can paint directly over primer, having breakthroughs from primer to old paint wouldn't be an issue. Apparently that's not the case. Because because the primer around the breakthroughs was extremely thin, the new solvent melted the old paint in the breakthroughs and melts paint under the primer too. This causes the super thin primer to lift. just outside these breakthroughs and that's why most of the damage is in ring shapes. In fact, if you look at photos of the car just before paint, the shape of the failures matches up perfectly to the shape of the breakthroughs! 

Anyways, now the entire car needs re-sanded. Then reprimed. Then sanded again. Then painted again. 
It's almost like a bunch of smart people on the internet suggested I pay a professional and I ignored their advice...









You can see the breakthroughs in primer from the image above failed in the paint below.

[Exidous]

If and when I paint mine, I'll be going to metal. Every time I've done any auto body painting, if your new base gets to the old paint you get issues like this.

Sucks to hear but better now than at the clear. This pretty much applies to every later.

[Cobranut]

If and when I paint mine, I'll be going to metal. Every time I've done any auto body painting, if your new base gets to the old paint you get issues like this.

Sucks to hear but better now than at the clear. This pretty much applies to every later.

Look into wet media blasting for stripping the car.  The water cools the metal and prevents warping, and they can add an additive to the water that helps protect from flash rust long enough to get a coat of primer on it.

[Exidous]

Sounds expensive. Rough idea how much?

[digitalsolo]

Alternately, after you've done all your body work, epoxy seal it, then scuff/spray.    Taking to metal can be dangerous for flash rust, etc.   My 0.02.

[Cobranut]

I'm considering the wet media as my FD has a thick buildup from a somewhat cheap paint job.
I can probably drop a few pounds when it's stripped. LOL

[frijolee]

That looks a lot like alligatoring resulting from improper paint recoat windows, but I agreed it seems to attack the edges of the primer much more notably... Those circles are crazy looking.  I like Blake's suggestion of an epoxy seal and scuff.

[shainiac]

I spoke with the tech rep for the paint/primer I'm using. He agreed that the new solvent lifted the old paint at the edges of the primer. He also said sealing with epoxy would be ideal, but asked that I try doing a thin coat of the 2k urethane primer I already have.

I'm 90% done re-sanding the car down for primer again. Hopefully I'll be able to spray this weekend.
He also had some helpful hints for using turbine spray systems. He recommended using a slower solvent and activator for base/clear since the turbine puts heat into the air.
I was using 65-80F thinner and spraying at around 75F and I was getting some dry spray in the base coat. Makes sense since the spray air was likely 10-15F warmer than ambient.

[shainiac]

I was able to get the chassis sprayed last night. Overall, it went pretty well. During the base coat, I got two blistery spots on the hood like before. Everything got sanded down and re-primed, so I'm not sure why the hood failed. The rest of the car turned out pretty good for my first time painting. After I finished spraying clear coat, I found a huge hole in the top of the paint booth where a 3' section came untaped  . Some dust did get into the paint, but should clean up well with some wet sanding. Certain panels have more orange peel than others which is annoying. I somehow managed to not get any runs or sags on any of the large/flat panels, but did get a few on the lower rear quarters. Best place to have them, tbh.

Mixed the original primer 4:1:1 with reducer to act as a sealer rather than high build.
It laid out really nice and only required some sanding with 400+600 grit to be paint-ready.


DS door


Roof turned out better than I expected. No tiger stripping or dry spray. The reflection looks funny because of the plastic sheet ceiling and lights, but it looks pretty good with the exception of some dirt nibs.


PS B-pillar



I'm going to remove the hood and respray it when I do the bumpers and fenders.
My plan is to pull the car out of the boost, tear down half the booth's length so that it's no longer taking up both garage spots, and shoot the bumpers/hood in the half booth.
Still lots of work to do. I need to prep and prime 4 fenders, both bumpers, hood, mirrors, and all the misc. stuff like door handles and trim pieces.

[digitalsolo]

Looks like it came out much better this time!

[shainiac]

Got the car back on the ground and outside for the first time! Pretty happy with how it turned out.
The hood and fenders are primed and sealed. I should have them sanded and sprayed in the next couple days. All that's left after that is to spray the bumpers, spoiler, mirrors, and trim.

[largeorangefont]

Looking good!!

[kinger]

Uffda!  So much work!  Looking great though!  I bet your happy!