DIY paint job...

[takza]

This is some info found on the web...unfortunately I forgot to copy the URL where it was found.

This is a lot of text...but most info on how to do it should be here.

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here's how i painted my car for about $50, it's actually very easy and the results are amazing. First off, get a can of tremclad real orange (or what ever color u want) in the can, not spray, yes tremclad, it is a acrylic/enamel paint which is very durable. next prep your car as if was any other paint job, fix all the rust, ect....no need to prime the car since the tremclad allready contains elements which allow it to be painted over bare metal. next, after prepping the car get a small 4" professional FOAM rollers, it's tiny and has one end rounded off, and the other cut straight, and is a very high density foam. u also need a jug of mineral spirits to thin the paint. The thing i really like about this is that there's no mess, no tapeing the whole car, just key areas, and u can do it in your garage, since your not spraying there is virtually no dust in the air, just clean your garage first, also it does'nt really smell at all, dries overnight and it super tough paint. also it you decide to paint the car professionally later, just prep and paint, there's no need to strip the tremclad. i have done this to a few cars, and i can say it works amazing, u just have to be paitient. next u thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker. get out the roller and paint away, don't get the paint shaked when u buy it, enamel is stirred, otherwise you'll have bubbles in the paint for a week!!! after u do 2 coats, wet sand the whole car, then repeat, 2 coats, wetsand, 2 coats wetsand. i painted the charger using a can since your not spraying the car u use all the paint and not spray 50% in the air, use progressivly finer sand paper each time. it's not really that much work, cause u can stop and start any time, u can do just a door, or the hood, ect. do one panel at a time, and don't stop once you start. once your done the final coat, wetsand with about 1000 grit to a totally smooth finish, and then using a high speed polisher i use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound. do the whole car with this, and i'm telling u, depending on the amount of time and paitence you have, the results are amazing. laugh if you want, but for $50 ($30 for paint, about $20 for rollers, sand paper, ect...) it really looks good. also you can do these steps overnight, paint one evening and by morning u can wet sand. i have personally done alot of painting, mostly single stage acrylic enamel, and i've sprayed several cars in my garage with really good professional results, just it stinks, it's a real pain to do, easy to make a mistake, messy, and expensive. The tremclad is awesome paint, the "real orange" is an amazing hemi orange, and almost looks like it has some perl in the sun, awesome color right out of the can. I used this technique on my 1974 beetle also, here are the results:



Yes i painted it with a "profesional" high density foam roller. The trick is in how you thin the paint, get it as thin as possible without running, and the paint "self levels" it comes out like glass, wet sanding just makes it better, it all depends on how much time u have. i have sprayed a few cars in my garage with a single stage acrylic enamel and it's a pain, messy, stinks, ect... the tremclad is almost odorless and is really easy to work with. u can paint one day, wetsand the next and immedieatly recoat. once you got all the coats on, just wetsand and buff with a compound, then wax and your good to go. i've done 3 cars this way and the 74 beetle i did 6yrs ago, still looks awesome. the paint is cheap like $30 a gallon, you can get it tinted to any color u like. on the charger i used about 3/4 of a can, when u spray even with a HVLP gun, u still waste about 30% of the paint that just goes in the air. Tremclad is basically rust paint, but it is the new type which is a enamal. i still strip the car of chrome, bumpers, handles, keylocks, basically everything, and then just tape only using tape where i might get paint on something i don't want painted. the paint is tough, like stove paint when it's done, i've spilt gas on it in like really hot weather, and it resists stone chips really well. i had to repaint a fender on the beetle like 2 yrs ago, so i just got a small can of paint 3 yrs later and the color match is exact.



i'm up in Canada, here it's called Tremclad, in the US it would be the rustoleum or something like that, it's a rust paint, buffs really nice, but make sure it's the new stuff like a enamal, or acrylic enamal. goes right over anything and does'nt react with any old paint, right over bondo, don't use any primer, just the paint. on a car i used to have i had it professionally painted 4 yrs after i painted it and they put a base/clear on it with no isues. it's really easy to do just be paitient, take your time, test on something first and perfect the tequnique, as a hint if you try it first you paint the surface, and then really lightly "skim" the surface with the weight of the roller only to remove any lines bubbles ect, then just leave it for a minute or two and you'll see it just "self levels" totally flat to glass. then wetsand it really fine, use a spray bottle and keep the paper really wet, finish with a 1000 grit or so and then buff with a random orbit polisher using turtle wax POLISHING compound, NOT the rubbing compound, its' to harsh. it is critical to use the proper roller, it's about 4" wide and about 1 1/2" thick, and really high density white foam. it really works and is much tougher paint than todays single stage or base clear, very hard to scratch, but easy to buff. i get compliments on my paint jobs, and they never believe how i do it.


http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?fr ... =548&SBL=5


guys all i have to tell you is that i first painted a 85 honda crx at my cottage in 1 day, i had no money, i did like 3 coats with no sanding and it looked great, i should scan that old pic and show you!!!. The job only looks as good as the time and effort that you put into it. the paint is extreemly durable, think about it, it's used to paint over rusted metal on things like tractors, metal railings, ect... and stand the elements. it is formulated to do just that. the tequnique is critical, u have to have a "feel" for how much to thin the paint and u have to use mineral spirits, not paint thinner like varsol. I could not even imagine how well it would turn out if you sprayed it with a HVLP gun and wet sanded and polished. It does "self Level" on the sides just as it does on the flat level surfaces. Like i said before it is critical on how you thin the paint and how you apply it. i did the charger in about 3 days. i got sick of going to body shops and them telling me either they don't do classic cars and if they did want to do the car i need at least $5000 even though the car was stripped and prepped!!!! the auto painting industry is in my opinion a total rip off so if you want it done right and cheep, do it yourself!!! when the paint is thinned your barley putting on any paint with each coat, so you really need to do about 6 coats to get enough of a base so you can wet sand and polish. it took me a long time to figure out what steps to take to get awesome results. my 74 bug looks awesome even after 6 years the paint is still mint. looks like the day i did it. that paint dries FAST, so literally you can wetsand overnight. Keep in mind i know a little about painting, i've shoot a few cars with single stage enamel with professional results, but it's expensive and tedious. I used duplicolor paint, primer, reducer and primer sealer on this car:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/6 ... C00194.jpg

it looked like this before paint:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/6 ... cture1.jpg

that car was painted midnight metalic blue, and flips awesome in the sun. a very hard color to do cause it's almost black and shows every imperfection. but as you can see in the pic it came out awesome. but the materials alone (paint, reducer, primer, primer sealer) cost about $250 CDN, which was alot, never mind the work.

the "tremclad" paint is really a awesome alternetive, since your rollering it on there's no dust and you get a really clean paint job if you do it in your garage, where if you spray theres a battle with dust.

when i painted with the Tremclad i just use the paint, no primer, nothing, just the paint, right over bondo. like i mentioned before after wetsanding use a random orbit polisher and the cheapest POLISHING COMPOUND made by turtle wax, it comes in a paste in a small round flat container and it's white, allmost looks like hand cream and smells good too!!! I find that after thinning the paint with mineral spirits the paint "flashes" or dries really quickly, and after a overnight period it is completely dry, unlike automotive paint which takes up to 6 months to fully "cure" so litterally the next day you can sand, buff, polish, and wax the paint. on the charger the paint looks really good, i did not take a huge amount of time to perfect it because i really really wanted to drive it!!!. in the spring i plan on wetsanding and polishing it more, but yes it looks like the pics, really good. considering that it cost me about $50 i love it and i'm not paranoid about juicing it on a dirt road and going sideways worring about my precious paint job, i drive the car, hard and alot, after all is'nt that what they're made for? for $50 and a few days of work i can paint it again in a few years!!!! If your not good with your hands, and not a real detail person let someone else paint your car cause it can get ugly really fast!!!! if i had a shop, made a little paint booth and sprayed this stuff on and wetsanded and polished it, i'm sure i could paint show quality cars with $30 worth of paint. keep in mind this paint is really good, like i said bofore i bought a can 3 yrs later to repaint a fender on my 74 beatle and it was dead on for color match, that must tell you about the quality of the paint, i'd give you $100 if you could tell me which fender i painted on this car in person, and its' right out of the can:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/6 ... C00164.jpg
keep in mind that you must still prep the car as you would with any other paint job, prepping is all the work and reflects the overall result.

i did not block sand the car just wetsand progressivly finer paper by HAND, no machine, no block nothing. using any "block" to sand i found the paper got dirty fast and got all plugged up, so do it by hand and keep it really wet, using a spray bottle in one hand and a clean bucket of water and a shammy (dollar store!!!)to clean it off to see how it looks. i prepped the car with 80, then 100, then 200, finished with a 400, did all my body work, and painted. after 2 coats (about 4hrs work for the whole car) i wetsanded with a 600, then did 2 more coats, wetsand with 800, 2 more coats and sand with a 1000-1500 and polish, followed by wax, done......

i probally would say it would turn out very nice. but the workability of the paint would end there, besides the paint buffs to mirror so i see no need for a clear coat. they have a clear coat in the tremclad brand made for the paint but i don't think it's nescessary. i reciently buffed out a huge scratch when a guy tried to jump me at a drive thru atm (long story!!!) and i florred it ran over his feet turning tires, and pinned him between the wall and my car. the whole rear quarter had a really bad scuff, maybe it was his teeth and the buttons on his jacket, anyways it buffed right out, with clear it would be hard to do that. so i would say there's no need for clear unless you really want a show car finish. thing i like about this paint ALOT is that there's no need for primer, primer sealer, ect.. it really simplifies the process. shooting a base clear or single stage acrylic enamel is a pain, u have "windows" to shoot each coat, and putting the primer sealer on, you have to shoot color within 30 mins or 15 days, man what if something goes wrong? lol


one more pointer, when u wet sand the final coat, the paint looks flat, like velvet, if you take a rag soaked with mineral spirits and whipe a spot down that you just sanded, that's what it will look like buffed. if you buff and decide to paint again clean the area with mineral spirts so that and residue from the polishing compound is removed or the paint won't stick. otherwise i have to say the paint is really good, i had a rock hit my hood so hard it sounded like someone thru a golfball at my car really hard, i did'nt even want to look, but there was no chip, just bit of dust at the impact sight. that paint is really good stuff. i'm sure if it was labeled as a auto paint it would cost $200 a can, so keep it quiet shhhhhhh!!!!


As far as temperature goes it really doesn’t matter, I did my 74 beetle in the dead of winter, it was like -20 deg Celsius, I had a portable heater in the garage and 2x 1500W flood lights, I was warm enough. The charger I did this past September in about 25 deg Celsius and it was really humid with no difference, where when I sprayed a single stage on the 71 beetle I had to use the proper temperature reducer. As far as getting this paint to stick, all I can say is that it is made to be painted on BARE and RUSTED metal. The stuff sticks to rubber, glass, anything, like sh*t on a blanket (if you have kids you'll know what I mean !!! lol). I have no issues or question in my mind that this stuff sticks like crazy to bare metal. I'm sure it would stick on epoxy primer if you sand it with 800 grit before. I have never had any reaction to anything that I’ve painted over, I’ve painted motorcycle gas tanks and plastic covers, 3 cars, over base clear, the front fenders on the charger are fiberglass, no issues. I’ve painted over automotive primer on my 74 beetle where I had exposed metal and knew I would leave it exposed for a while and didn’t want it to rust. I painted right over bondo, where I had a few really minor scratches and dents that I couldn’t bang out, no issues. I had a drop of the paint on glass, it was really hard to get off, I was afraid to use a razor because it could scratch my new windshield so I used a credit card and it was really, really hard to get off. I painted the door jambs, under trunk lid, under hood, everything. Try one panel and see it if works, u have to experiment with it, it took a lot of trial and error for me to get the "technique" down pat. my car is by no means a show car, but I couldn’t justify a $5000 paint job after just buying the car for $11000, buying new bumpers, door handles, emblems, all rubber, windshield, brake booster, heater core, headliner, carpet, door panels, brakes, ect....I spent all my money on the aesthetics, and mechanics, not to mention the car. I kind of rushed the charger because I HAD to drive my dream car as soon as I could. My 74 beetle I really took my time with and it is and looks like a $5000 paint job. I used a foam brush to paint the jambs and tight spots, and just ran the foam roller over it to smooth it out. I used tremclad flat black in a spray can for the rear tail panel on the charger.

Here are a bunch of close up good high res pics I just took of the car and the supplies I used and a few other pics of the beetle’s I painted:

http://photobucket.com/albums/d13/69mar ... t/?start=0

If you have a show car that you've rotisserie nut and bolt restored and have $40000.00 into it then get it painted by someone for $10000.00. If you want a nice, clean, good driver, cheap, easy to do paint job yourself, have the time and patience then try this method. I could strip and prep the car in 1 day since all the body work is done, and have it professionally painted any time if I want. If you have the equipment to spray it on, then by all means spray it on, it would turn out just like any other automotive paint job, only the paint would be a lot cheaper!!!, not to mention you don’t need primer, primer sealer, reducer, ect…. I didn’t want to borrow a compressor again, lug it home, get over spray everywhere, tape the whole car, worry about dust and do a ton more work associated with spraying; been there done that!!!!. Using a roller makes it super easy to do, but it is tricky. This method is not for everyone, but it’s the way I did it!!! My 74 beetle as I mentioned earlier was painted in 1999, I’ve since put 35,000mi, the paint still looks like the day I did it. I did not intend to make my car a show car, just a nice driver, it’s not laser straight, dent free, or perfect, but it sure gets me thumbs up where ever I go and I only spent $50 on supplies, and that ain’t to bad at all.


well basically i have the roller in one hand, and the foam "paint brush" (in the pics) in the other. you have to work fast because the paint becoms non workable in about 10 mins. so i do one pannel at a time. it goes quickly, takes about 1 hour for a coat on the whole car, i've done 2 coats in 1 day no issues, it dries fast. but for wet sanding i wait overnight. basically in the rain channels i would use the brush and cover it completely, then use the rounded end of the roller and go over it, it's hard to describe, u just have to be paitent and expirement on one pannel like the trunk lid and do the whole process and see if your happy, it's easy to bail the project with only having to re-do the trunklid if you can't handle it or have one of those "what the f*&k am i doing" moments!!!. I also load the roller up quite heavily, then work it until the roller does'nt have so much paint in it and do the detail work after. once you spread the paint wait a minute or so and then just really gently run the roller using only the weight of the roller, on the sides just use very very light pressure as if it were the weight of it. How you thin the paint is critical, i have not had one paint run on any of the cars i've painted. To give you an idea, you really only start to have full coverage to where u can't see any body work or underlying color thru the paint until the 3rd coat. Oh and i strip the car of all chrome, bumpers, rubber, door handles, trim, ect...nothing looks cheaper than a car that's just taped!!! That's the best i can explain it!!



i would not compare the shine to a base clear paint job, but i would compare it to a good single stage acrylic enamel paint job. plus the more you buff the shinyer it gets, that's where i got lazy, but i plan to buff and wetsand more when i have the free time. i did the charger in 3 days, like i said i was ancy to get it done, doing the pee-pee dance dying to drive it so i rushed it a bit. in the sun it looks amazing, at night it looks perfect, in the shade you can see some flaws but i was not looking for a "perfect" paint job. the beetle however i did over the winter and it really looks good, no complaints. 3 weeks after i bought the charger i was driving it, it was totally stripped, re-did the interior, all the mechanics, and body work. it would have been done sooner if i would have got all the parts i ordered eariler. looking back i don't regret it at all, it was easy and got me on the road fast and cheep. I can allways re-do the paint anytime.


The paint on the car is not thick at all. 4 coats of paint that i sprayed on the 71 beetle midnight blue car (1 initial tack coat, 2 medium, and 1 flash coat to get the metalic uniform)used just over a can of paint with a HVLP gun on a beetle (they don't get smaller than that!!!) plus take into acount that about 1/3 is reducer. i used about 3/4 of a can on the charger, the paint is really thin. like i said eairler, you only cover up the bodywork, underlying color until after the 4th coat, keep in mind that there is wet sanding in between each 2 coats. The charger is at least twice the surface area of the beetle, the paint on the 71 beetle is thicker than the paint on the charger and the 74 orange beetle. regarding the shine, if i spent 2 more days wetsanding and buffing the shine would be that of any professional single stage paint job on the charger. that being said like i mentioned earlier it depends on what YOU want out of the paint job, the thread topic is "paint job on a budget" and that is exactly what it is, plus i'm not paranoid about doing a dukes of hazzard drift on a dirt road and worrying about my precious paint. the car gets driven alot, and hard, every weekend to the cottage (400km round trip) and it gets stone chips, ect...so i'm not worried.


well it just goes by "feel", theres no ratio that i could come up with because once you open the can and pour some out the next day the paint will be a bit thicker. if i had to guess i would say about 20% thinner or so? just thin enough that it does'nt run, but not too thick. keep in mind that you can allways add more paint to the mix if you go too thin. and the coats go on really really thin, that is the key, like i said before you don't really have a true non transparent base until the 3rd or 4th coat.
There is no way i would try to roll on BC/CC it would definetly not work. that paint is ment to be atomized when sprayed, and you could never thin it down to the point where it does not run and is thin enough to apply. plus it would dry too fast with the correct reducers and flash over too quick. i think it would be impossible. when u just paint and sand, you're going to be sanding too much, and the paint is hard resulting in waves in the paint unless u sand really consistently, so the key is to lay it on thin and sand as little as possible, also when the paint layer is thin and the paint is thinned properly it "self levels" it's like bondo, u mix it up and it's just in a blob, let it sit for a few minutes and it flattens out, thats just what the paint does.


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What about when you have to paint the bulk of the car? Like the roof, pillars and rear 1/4's all at once cause they're all one piece? Doesn't the paint on the roof dry by the time you get done one side and then start on the other, or are you starting on the bottom of one side and working up across and down the other side of the car? Or does the light coats and sanding make it okay? I'm pretty much just wondering if you have any kind of a seam line on the top of the car.



i was wondering when someone would ask that question. well basically i do the hood, doors, front fenders, and the trunk, that's easy. then i do the whole roof and sail pannels in one shot working fast, there's enough time to do it before the paint tacks up if u rush it, not the time to have a coffee or smoke. i stopped at the rear quarter just below the sail pannels and top quarter pannel where there is a edge to stop at. then continue from there on each side meeting in the back rear valance. the trick there is to not leave and raised paint lines, and smooth it out gradually as u approach the point where u stop, then run to the other side and do the other half of the roof and overlap the strokes. wetsanding does the rest, but u try to make it as smooth as possible, the paint is very thin on each coat. it's really hard to describe, that's where all the expirementing comes in to play.


the rubbing compound could be used if you really want to, i just found it much better to wetsand with 1000 grit and then go straight to polishing, that's what worked for me. the rubbing compound seemed to ball up under the polisher and make a mess and make some scratches when it balled up, i used the polishing compound on a regular bonnet on a 10" elecrtic random orbit polisher, it's only after polishing that it looks like glass, and i kept it wet with water from a spray bottle on the bonnet, forgot to mention that, but keeping it quite wet worked great.


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I'm a seasoned veteran of these roller jobs before using Tremclad and the technique just like he said. Always came out great!!! Especially when you live in an apt complex and can't make too much of a stink in the building. It do work good!

One note though where I have to disagree... I went to repaint one of my cars that were rollered in Tremclad, this was years ago too, and when I sanded the tremclad, it found it clogged the sandpaper up bad and found it very gummy...(rust paint never really hardens, and thats why it rolls out so smooth) maybe the paint has improved over the years but my experience is that if you ever decide to repaint it in a proper automotive paint then you'll have to strip the car down...

I have used the Duplicolor to spray too, that worked awesome as well...



did you use mineral spririts to thin down the paint? i think that is the key to get the paint to "harden" when i first tried this paint 12 years ago i did notice that it never really got hard, but i can say that all the other jobs i did starting with my 74 orange beetle i used mineral spirits to thin the paint, that seemed to be the trick, weather it was over-night or a year later the paint reached the right "hardness" the mineral spirits seemed to "flash" the paint, much like a reducer would on a acrylic enamel. i have painted a car over with the rust paint and had macco to a cheepy paint job that was a single stage, they had no issues to sand the paint, but i do know what you're describing, that happened to me when i did'nt use mineral spirits as a reducer. letterally overnight it is completely dry and i wetsand the next day.


Quote:
i just tried it on 1/2 of a hood and i must not have it thinned enough because it's not laying down well and has little bubbles in it. do you have any kind of a paint/mineral spirits ratio to start with?



to answer your question, no lol, anyways, i'm wondering if you had the paint shaken? as a rule of thumb you NEVER shake enamel unless you want bubbles in the paint for a week, allways stir the paint. seccondly, all i can recomend is to thin it down with the mineral spirits until it is just a bit thicker than water, so it runs off a brush or whatever just a bit thicker than water, you could allways go a bit thicker, test it out and thin it until you get the right thickness. as for the bubbles, you could also make sure you really stired the paint and mixed it well, if u see bubbles in the paint in you pan then mix more until there is no bubbles, if there's still bubbles in the paint when u mixed it really well then get some paper towel and "skim" the surface to get rid of the bubbles. if you get bubbles when your painting your pushing down on the roller too hard, lighten it up a bit, let the paint sit for 1 minute after you've spread it out nice, then just run the roller over the area VERY gently using only the weight of the roller, then turn around, have a smoke after you've done the pannel, and when your done your smoke, turn around and you'll see it has "self leveled" before your eyes. if your doing a vertical section just apply a tiny amount of pressure as if it were the weight alone of the roller. it's really tricky to do, i could lay it down perfectly level but i have done it alot, you have to "read" the paint, listen carefully, it will tell you what to to . hope this helps.



extra..........................

For those of you that don't want to read the entire 43 pages, here's the Reader's Digest version:

Body prep

next prep your car as if was any other paint job, fix all the rust, ect....
no need to prime the car since the tremclad allready contains elements which allow
it to be painted over bare metal.




mixing paint

next u thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker.
theres no ratio that i could come up with because once you open the can and pour some out the next day the paint will be a bit thicker.
if i had to guess i would say about 20% thinner or so? just thin enough that it does'nt run,
but not too thick. keep in mind that you can allways add more paint to the mix if you go too thin.
and the coats go on really really thin, that is the key, like i said before you don't really have a true non transparent base until the 3rd or 4th coat.




Painting
I also load the roller up quite heavily, then work it until the roller does'nt have so much paint in it
and do the detail work after. once you spread the paint wait a minute or so and then just really gently
run the roller using only the weight of the roller, on the sides just use very very light pressure as if
it were the weight of it. How you thin the paint is critical, i have not had one paint run on any of the cars
i've painted. To give you an idea, you really only start to have full coverage to where u can't see any body work
or underlying color thru the paint until the 3rd coat
after u do 2 coats, wet sand the whole car, then repeat, 2 coats, wetsand, 2 coats wetsand
The trick is in how you thin the paint, get it as thin as possible without running,
and the paint "self levels" it comes out like glass,
wet sanding just makes it better,'
when the paint is thinned your barley putting on any paint with each coat, so you really need to do about
6 coats to get enough of a base so you can wet sand and polish
You only cover up the bodywork, underlying color until after the 4th coat, keep in mind that there is wet sanding in between each 2 coats.
if you get bubbles when your painting your pushing down on the roller too hard, lighten it up a bit,
let the paint sit for 1 minute after you've spread it out nice, then just run the roller over the area VERY gently using only the weight of the roller,
then turn around, have a smoke after you've done the pannel, and when your done your smoke, turn around and you'll see it has "self leveled"
before your eyes


Painting Hard to get areas

do the hood, doors, front fenders, and the trunk, that's easy.
then i do the whole roof and sail pannels in one shot working fast, there's enough time to do it before the paint tacks up if u rush it,
not the time to have a coffee or smoke. i stopped at the rear quarter just below the sail pannels and top quarter pannel where there is a edge to stop at.
then continue from there on each side meeting in the back rear valance. the trick there is to not leave and raised paint lines,
and smooth it out gradually as u approach the point where u stop, then run to the other side and do the other half of the roof and overlap the strokes.
wetsanding does the rest, but u try to make it as smooth as possible, the paint is very thin on each coat. it's really hard to describe,
that's where all the expirementing comes in to play.



Sanding

do one panel at a time, and don't stop once you start. once your done the final coat,
wetsand with about 1000 grit to a totally smooth finish, and then using a high speed polisher
i use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound. do the whole car with this, and i'm telling u,
depending on the amount of time and paitence you have, the results are amazing
use a spray bottle and keep the paper really wet, finish with a 1000 grit or so and then buff with a random
orbit polisher using turtle wax POLISHING compound, NOT the rubbing compound, its' to harsh.
it is critical to use the proper roller, it's about 4" wide and about 1 1/2" thick,
and really high density white foam. it really works and is much tougher paint than todays single stage or base clear,
very hard to scratch
did not block sand the car just wetsand progressivly finer paper by HAND, no machine, no block nothing.
using any "block" to sand i found the paper got dirty fast and got all plugged up,
so do it by hand and keep it really wet, using a spray bottle in one hand and a clean bucket of water and a shammy
(dollar store!!!)to clean it off to see how it looks. i prepped the car with 80, then 100, then 200,
finished with a 400, did all my body work, and painted. after 2 coats (about 4hrs work for the whole car)
i wetsanded with a 600, then did 2 more coats, wetsand with 800, 2 more coats and sand with a 1000-1500 and polish,
followed by wax, done......
one more pointer, when u wet sand the final coat, the paint looks flat, like velvet,
if you take a rag soaked with mineral spirits and whipe a spot down that you just sanded,
that's what it will look like buffed. if you buff and decide to paint again clean the area with
mineral spirts so that and residue from the polishing compound is removed or the paint won't stick.
do another coat, try to put it on really light, i hope u prepped the fender a little before you started painting.
when u wet sand try using a 600-800 grit, and lightly wet sand the fender with light pressure and ALOT of water.
Spraying it on should maybe work better but its messy, stinky, and a pain. when u first start to wet sand you'll notice
the paper just kinda glides over the paint and it does'nt really feel like your sanding anything, keep going, soon the water will stop
beeding off the paint and it will start to turn yellow. after wetsanding it looks like crap, this is where the polishing come in, brings it to glass.
i haven't tried soap and water, i see no real advantage, i just use straight water and keep the area really wet, using a spray bottle and spray it down alot,
after wetsanding for a bit i have a bucket of water and a shammy i whipe down the surface with while it's still wet, that way it's much eaiser
to clean before it dries. and as for the mineral spirits on a wet rag and just whiping it down, yes, that's what it looks like polished, even better,
just gives you an idea of what it will look like when finished, that's about the first time you really see the results.




buffing
polishing compound, not rubbing compound
the rubbing compound could be used if you really want to, i just found it much better to wetsand with 1000 grit and then go straight to polishing,
that's what worked for me. the rubbing compound seemed to ball up under the polisher and make a mess and make some scratches when it balled up,
i used the polishing compound on a regular bonnet on a 10" elecrtic random orbit polisher, it's only after polishing that it looks like glass,
and i kept it wet with water from a spray bottle on the bonnet, forgot to mention that, but keeping it quite wet worked great.

like i mentioned before after wetsanding use a random orbit polisher and the cheapest
POLISHING COMPOUND made by turtle wax, it comes in a paste in a small round flat container and it's white,
allmost looks like hand cream and smells good too!!!



Random tips

as a hint if you try it first you paint the surface, and then really lightly "skim" the surface with the weight of the roller
only to remove any lines bubbles ect, then just leave it for a minute or two and you'll see it just "self levels"
totally flat to glass. then wetsand it really fine
Oh and i strip the car of all chrome, bumpers, rubber, door handles, trim, ect...nothing looks cheaper than a car that's just taped!!!
have a shelf full of polishing compounds, mothers, mequires, ect....know what works the best?
the cheapest one!!! turtle wax polishing compound in the white paste, $3,
polish ANY enamel with a electric random orbit polisher and you'll be impressed......... and just a tip if you try it keep the buffing bonnet WET,
have a spray bottle full of water and spray it on the bonnet each time u load up the polish paste, be very generous with both.
there's still bubbles in the paint when u mixed it really well then get some paper towel and "skim" the surface to get rid of the bubbles.
if you get bubbles when your painting your pushing down on the roller too hard, lighten it up a bit, let the paint sit for 1 minute,
after you've spread it out nice, then just run the roller over the area VERY gently using only the weight of the roller,
then turn around, have a smoke after you've done the pannel, and when your done your smoke, turn around and you'll see it has "self leveled"
before your eyes. if your doing a vertical section just apply a tiny amount of pressure as if it were the weight alone of the roller.
it's really tricky to do, i could lay it down perfectly level but i have done it alot, you have to "read" the paint, listen carefully,
it will tell you what to to . hope this helps.
DON'T use water!!! (to clean the roller, or paper towels)

[Gasoline Fumes]

I've seen that thread before, but couldn't remember the URL either. I just "Googled" a phrase from the text to find it.
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/sho ... page=&vc=1

[shogun]

i think you can get done a good job at a fair price if you do it your self, but spendig 50 dollars, you get what you pay is what i believe,

[takza]

It sounds like a lot of work...but I think it's in the technique.

A regular spray job is tricky to do too...has to be done all at once.

[TuffGong]

I might be doing this pretty soon...not sure if this was mentioned above but I'm going to write it down so I remember...

Prep car with 200 grit, clean with mineral spirits before painting.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/tip-day-16-a-71240.html


Tip of the day #16

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When color sanding a panel use different directions for different paper grits..

For example: Sand vertical with 1000, then when you sand with 1500 or 2000 sand horizontally... This will aid you in "seeing" if you lower grit scratches are being removed...

Also after using 2000 and you think everything is good to go, using the 4000 pad on a DA as our Jclark does really shows up any scratches that you may have missed!!! It ( 4000 grit pad) will give a low gloss luster and remove the 2000 marks, but if there is anything else still left behind it will show them up like a highlight...

Finally let the car,truck/panel... whatever it is set in the sun after you sand it for at least a few hours.. then pull it back in and buff it after it has cooled to room temp... Our own Expert Resident Barry Kives recommends this and I have tried it and it works great... It really does improve buffing and the final product If you have the time let it set for a day and buff the next day

If you are doing a hot rod ,show car or dark color this is a great help!!

Cheers,
tg