Hey my friend wants me to paint his hood, not show quality, he just doesnt want the free green hood to stay green, its his beater car and doesnt want it show quality. what do i need to do to start painting, he is going to strip it down with some paint stripper, takes it all the way down to metal, now since he just wants it painted regardless of the quality, do i need to sand anything? after that i need to wipe it down REALLY good with laquer thinner correct to clean it all off so the paint doesnt react? and as far as paints i know they are all different but what is the painting process, its just going to be the cheap napa stuff. do i prime, wetsand(what grit) prime, wetsand, and prime, wetsand again? then as far as paint goes, whats the process for that? and the same for clear? he knows i have never painted before but he doesnt want to do it and im doing it for free. and he just wants to get rid of the green and make it red. and is it the primer i lay on kind of thick? or is it the paint i lay on thicker, or clear? i know with reds you have to lay either multi coats, or thick coats. let me know any info that would be helpful thanks a lot.
i cant help you with the paint process but i can tell you that you do need to sand even if you use paint stripper. sand with like 1000 grit and wipe clean. and another thing is that Napa paint isnt cheap. i work at napa and theres alot of professional car builders that buy our paint. tis good stuff.
Why do you need to strip the paint off the hood. If it is cracking and crap don't strip it. Just use a DA with some 220 and DA the whole hood instead. This way you do not take off any corrosion protectant off of the hood. Then just prime the whole hood with high build primer. Sand with 400 or 500. Then paint the sucker. Put on your base coat. Do 3 coats. Look it over for dirts. Sand out the dirts with some 1200. Then clear it.
Of course this is a basic example. No times were given inbetween because I have no clue what paints you are using. And good luck.
awesome, no its not cracking or anything, its just green, so just rough it up and then prime?
So it is just green and you want to paint it a different color. Then just use some 1200 wet and paint it. You do not need to take all the paint off of something to paint it. Use the paint on it right now as the sealer. This way all you have to do is paint over the green.
That and red is one of the more expensive base colors, but as long as your buddy's footin the bill for the paint, no worries, eh?
First off... if you're inexperienced (which it appears you are) DO NOT SAND BASE COAT PERIOD!!!
Secondly, lacquer thinner strips paint... why would you want to clean an area off FOR paint with lacquer thinner?? That's what wax and grease remover is for.
Yes it needs primed (unless you're just wetsanding the hood now with like 600 or 800 grit and leaving NO shiny spots)
As far as anything else goes, don't lay the base on too thick, and just watch the clear when you spray it. If it looks like a photo matte finish, it's too dry ( or too lightly put on). If it runs, it's too much.
Gonna need to buy paint anyway, and generally speaking red is the most expensive color... so if he's not too worried about it, I'm sure Maaco could do it cheapif it's just a beater
Vincent Morris wrote:Hey my friend wants me to paint his hood, not show quality, he just doesnt want the free green hood to stay green, its his beater car and doesnt want it show quality. what do i need to do to start painting, he is going to strip it down with some paint stripper, takes it all the way down to metal, now since he just wants it painted regardless of the quality, do i need to sand anything? after that i need to wipe it down REALLY good with laquer thinner correct to clean it all off so the paint doesnt react? and as far as paints i know they are all different but what is the painting process, its just going to be the cheap napa stuff. do i prime, wetsand(what grit) prime, wetsand, and prime, wetsand again? then as far as paint goes, whats the process for that? and the same for clear? he knows i have never painted before but he doesnt want to do it and im doing it for free. and he just wants to get rid of the green and make it red. and is it the primer i lay on kind of thick? or is it the paint i lay on thicker, or clear? i know with reds you have to lay either multi coats, or thick coats. let me know any info that would be helpful thanks a lot.
if you have never painted anything or dont even know the steps involved i would not even attempt to paint it, it will come out like garbage and eventually just needed to be painted again. Painting takes time, experiance and knowledge. If you dont use the right tools, do the right process it will eventually peel, fade, crack or any of dozens of other problems.
If the hood is in perfect shape and doesnt need any spots sanded out or anything i would wet sand it with 1200grit, spray it with ONE medium wet coat of primer sealer, spray 3 basecoats of your red then 2 to 3 medium coats of your clear coat.
If you are sanding out spots through the paint you will need to hit those spots with high build primer, block sand it from 220-400 dry with an optional 600wet then use the process above.
If the hood is down to bare metal or has any bare metal spots you are going to need SELF-ETCHING PRIMER on any of those spots, followed by high build, block sanded, then back to the first paragraph process.
If you have any other questions hit me up on PM or AIM and ill help ya out, ive been doing body work and painting for the last 5 years and have a degree in collision repair.
so dont strip the hood, do i or dont i prep the green paint to be covered in red by sanding? lol sorry for so many newb questions.
Ok... to the O/P.
Quote:
its his beater car and doesnt want it show quality.
Define "doesn't want it show quality"?
Vincent Morris wrote:so dont strip the hood, do i or dont i prep the green paint to be covered in red by sanding? lol sorry for so many newb questions.
yes you need to sand it regardless, also if you are looking for dirt cheap paint check out OMNI. Its ok for the price but i would never suggest using it on anything but a complete beater.
Kardain wrote:Ok... to the O/P.
Quote:
its his beater car and doesnt want it show quality.
Define "doesn't want it show quality"?
He means he doesnt want the stock forest green colored hood i got him for free, its a 96 cavalier, and i gave him the hood for free when he got backed into by some lady, he just wants its to be a cayenne red color is all, the rest of the car is faded somewhat, few rust spots so he isnt going for show. and as far as omni, i know about them, its the cheaper ppg, is that going to be cheaper than getting some cheap napa paint. i said just go get some red spraypaint from walmart lol, he said he didnt want to go completely redneck on it ha ha. so im going to give it a shot at painting it. never done it before so i figure i may as well give it a shot, he said he wont be mad at the quality at all he just wants it to look like the rest of the car instead of green. and will the green show through or will hte sanding knock some of it down, and should i just put on coats as needed to cover the green or what.
Basically what should i tell him to buy, how much paint, what sand papers, and how much clear?
One badz24, ill try to hit you up on messenger sometime soon, and like i said, he doesnt plan on keeping the car a lot lot longer but he just wants it to match regardless of the quality. i told him what could happen and he is like i dont like to do any body work at all. i was like well ok then ill give it a shot, and its free experience for me then.
and as for tools, we have a big enough compressor and tank, good gun, respirator, water trap w/ regulator.
Why would you not sand the base coat? If you have a dirt in it. Would you just clear over it?
David Alameda (Zspeedcav) wrote:Why would you not sand the base coat? If you have a dirt in it. Would you just clear over it?
How much do you know about auto body and paint?? If you prep the spraying area well you'll minimize dirt for one, and for two there's ways to remove dirt after it's painted. The MOST he should do not knowing anything about painting is use a tack cloth to remove the dirt. If you don't know what you're doing, sanding the base coat is not a good idea. If you don't know what you're doing you can really mess things up. Besides, dirt in the industry is frequently referred to as "nibs"... they make nib removers... you just wetsand and buff afterwards.
Plus, he said his friend just wanted it to be the same color as the car basically... which considering the fading it won't be, but he's not looking for premium quality.
To the origional poster, honestly, for the money he'd be spending on paint and supplies, it'd be cheaper to take it to Maaco.
I'm gonna have to second that.
It would be very cost effective just to put the hood in the back of a truck and have Maaco (or a similar place) do the painting. Since the car is a beater anyway, it don't have to look pretty, just sorta matched.
Of course you prep the panel properly. I am just saying if you get a dirt in the base coat you sand it out with 2000 then aplly one last shot of base. You don't clear over sanded base. We use Dupont in the shop and that is how we do it all the time. Comes out perfect every time. Not trying to argue with you just a method that I know works.
Maaco wants a few hundred to do just the hood. wow, not cool about that one.
Are you seriouse LMAO. They paint cars for like 300 bucks hahaha. Tell them you will give them 50 bucks to paint it.
David Alameda (Zspeedcav) wrote:Of course you prep the panel properly. I am just saying if you get a dirt in the base coat you sand it out with 2000 then aplly one last shot of base. You don't clear over sanded base. We use Dupont in the shop and that is how we do it all the time. Comes out perfect every time. Not trying to argue with you just a method that I know works.
I'm not arguing that the method doesn't work... I was just saying someone who has no clue what they're doing... sanding base is not a good idea.
To the poster... Ok... Maaco wants a few hundred to paint the hood... talkl to them again about it, or try a different one. Either way, with materials, you're going to be spending a good bit anyway. I've seen just a pint of red paint costing almost $100 just for the base. Then you factor in your reducer, Clear, Activator, sandpaper, primer, sealer whatever... you're going to be spending a good bit.
I hate Maaco personally, but if your friend really doesn't want high quality, just take iti there and save yourself the headache.
