Preping my car for maaco or possibly another paint shop.

ford nut said:
What should he use?
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I think 3M makes something but now that I have used the Meguiars medium cut and have gotten used to how it works, using the foam pad, I wouldn't try anything else. It takes very very little of that stuff after wet sanding is completed. You have to keep the foam pad moving at all times or you will burn the clear but it really does bring out the deepness of the shine, especially after removing the medium cut scratches with any scratch and swirl remover and then a normal wax after. That bottle was $12 and I still have over 3/4 of it left. I would like to get ahold of a heavily oxidized car and see what I could do with it using that polish and the foam pad.
 
jamie97lsc said:
urethane primer is what you want to use. and wet sanding that is a huge waste of time, you are making way more work for yourself. go to harbor freight and buy a 6 inch D.A
the D.A i use is a dynabrade, they make a fairly affordable one for the amature, but i wasnt gonna be cheap when i got mine, i paid $369 for my 6 inch D.A and it was way worth every penny. a D.A and some 220 you could have the whole car sanded in a few hours. wet sanding will take for ever.
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I did the front bumper with the RA Sander that I had and it was a huge improvement.

I was going to go ahead and do the entire car with it. Only difference between a DA and an RA is the torque apparently.
 
A true RA should have forced rotation... da's do not...

As far as polishing and compound go... dear lord I feel like I could write a thesis... I honestly don't know what to recommend... Ummm

Probably Meguiars M105 and M205...
 
Sorry for not updating lately guys. Let me answer a few questions so far.

1. I do have a power washer so taking it down to bare metal is an option. It's not a "Hot Water" pressure washer though.

2. I have started using a RA sander. Not a cheap RA it's variable speed with more torque than the 50$ jobs at home depot. (I bought an DA sander/polisher from a pawn shop but it crapped out) Does the 'forced rotation' of an RA make the swirl marks? I found a friend to lend me an air compressor big enouph for a DA and am going to go over with a DA and 800 grit.

3. I bought 100 grit for the trunk to go down to bare metal. 220 grit for the first sanding. then 100 pads of 400 grit and 100 pads of 800 grit. the Results are much better but there are still tiny swirl marks left. I assume it's because of the RA sander and not a DA.

4. I got putty and filler for dents and dings. The putty I'm told is for dings and the filler is your 'bondo' for large dings. (of which I have one)

5. I don't know 'how' to 'block' something. Well.. I don't know the procedure lets say. I can spackle with the best of them.

6. I've found out that 3 panels are painted 2 colors. Meaning the panels were originally red and repainted black. I'm assuming to keep the paint thin and not likely to chip I need to sand down to at least the red on those panels.

7. Since 2 cars are being done (a truck also). I am thinking about painting myself. My neighbor has done it a few times when he raced cars back in his day and like you guys says its all about prep.

8. The reason for the late update is I've found rust in a couple spots and have been doing my best to grind it all out.

I understand the paint job will not be 'perfect' but I am looking for presentable not perfect.




Presently the car sits like this. The hood and the roof need slight touch ups in areas I didn't see before washing the car but are otherwise as best I can do with the RA sander 400/800 pads and are the only 'finished' panels.

I think the middle patch on the trunk is bondo. Took a pic hoping someone could confirm. Also you see the door with the 2 coats of paint red/black.

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roof
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trunk
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Also found the trim on the side with the red door was originally blue.
 
Question: How do I get the grill off without breaking it?

Edit: also the side mirrors and the gas cap. haven't tried yet but thought i'd throw that in there.
 
The grille is held on by like 4-6 screw you access from behind it... pretty easy.

The mirriors you pull or the trim inside the door, undow the three screws and the wiring and they come right off... you might need to pull the door panel to get to the wiring.

Last I wouldn't do the painting yourself... not a good idea...
 
kustomizingkid said:
not a good idea...
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that's subjective. But I'll take it under consideration. We're doing 2 cars black. So looking at saving around 1400$ by preping and doing it ourselves. We're not looking for show car paint jobs here. I'll def. price shooting the paint before deciding though.
 
i got my old caprice painted there.. got the $400 special. that is the one with the intergrated clear and it ended up great. though me and a friend preped it a whole day. only had 1 little run on the tip of the hood. it was good for the 2 years after... the only problems were me and my buddy were to lazy 2 fix 2 spots of rust... We were hopeing it would work.
 
IMHO black should not be the first color you attempt to paint...it's a very hard color to shoot and make look good.

if I were you and were hell bent on doing this..
I would remove the hood from the car and practice shooting paint on it..

hang it from the wall to get a good feel for shooting vertical, then remove all the paint and practice shooting paint on a flat surface.

Shooting vertical/sides of the car is going to be very different than shooting the flat surfaces such as the hood and the roof.

Since your shooting two cars, do the "other one" first, that way you wont make so many mistakes when you shoot the Lincoln.
 
XLRVIII said:
IMHO black should not be the first color you attempt to paint...it's a very hard color to shoot and make look good.

if I were you and were hell bent on doing this..
I would remove the hood from the car and practice shooting paint on it..

hang it from the wall to get a good feel for shooting vertical, then remove all the paint and practice shooting paint on a flat surface.

Shooting vertical/sides of the car is going to be very different than shooting the flat surfaces such as the hood and the roof.

Since your shooting two cars, do the "other one" first, that way you wont make so many mistakes when you shoot the Lincoln.
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I was thinking of doing that but only using the trunk instead of the hood. Also, the other car has a new hood, we can practice on that also.

Get this. I bought a 22 gallon compressor last week. My neighbor sees me dragging it out of the car and we get to talking. Tomorrow, he is giving me a 60 gallon compressor from his shop ( he does artificial limb research) . :cool: Anyone want a brand new 22 gallon compressor for cheap? lol
 
I agree, black is not the easiest color to start out painting with. The top of my car using the Dupli Color was fairly easy and the bumper covers were easy but doing an entire car is going to be time consuming.

Just for example, my rear bumper cover has about 10 hours alone invested into it. That includes the initial sanding, priming, wet sanding the primer to complete smoothness all over and then painting, followed with the acrylic enamel clear by Dupli color. Then 6 days passed before I come back with 2000 grit 3M paper and wet sanded the clear to complete smoothness. Then you have to polish/buff out what you wet sanded and then all orange peel should be gone. Then you have to use a scratch and swirl remover because of the abrasive polish and then a coat of wax can finally be applied. It took time to do but I don't have one run, scratch, blemish or anything showing. Black isn't something that you can do a rush job on.

I can tell you now that from what I have seen with the sanding you have done, you'll need to really apply the primer to it or the spots will show through after being painted. I know you say that you're not looking for the perfect paint job but I can assure you that when you're done, you'll be mad at yourself about certain things that you could have taken your time and done better. I practiced a little on an old trunk lid just to get the feel of it.
 
Myco said:
What kind of things?

Note: practice shooting the gun. ;-)
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Making sure you have applied enough primer to fill those spots.

wet sanding is a must.

wet sanding to a smoothness you can feel is a must. you will feel this while sanding. wet sand by hand only and don't miss a spot. if you do, you will not only feel it, you will see it, especially with black.

you can never use too much water when wet sanding.

main "thing",,, take your time with it and I also would do the other vehicle before doing the Mark.
 
nolimit94VIII said:
Making sure you have applied enough primer to fill those spots.

wet sanding is a must.

wet sanding to a smoothness you can feel is a must. you will feel this while sanding. wet sand by hand only and don't miss a spot. if you do, you will not only feel it, you will see it, especially with black.

you can never use too much water when wet sanding.

main "thing",,, take your time with it and I also would do the other vehicle before doing the Mark.
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Wish I could but the mark is set to be the 1st to go. I don't have a choice there. Which wet sand paper did you use? What grit?
 
Myco said:
Wish I could but the mark is set to be the 1st to go. I don't have a choice there. Which wet sand paper did you use? What grit?
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3M 1500 on the primer and 3M 2000 on the clear coat. As you sand, you will feel the slickness. As you spray the water, the sand paper will start gliding easier and easier but when you feel this, move on to another area. After you do one panel, you'll have it down. Make sure you buy tack cloths and plenty of them.

A girl come in the garage while I was doing my rear bumper and she spilled a coke in the floor. :cool: Guess what she picked up to wipe it up with? All the rags I have out there and she gets my tack cloth to wipe coke up off the floor. I asked her if she noticed that what she picked up was sticky. She's a blonde;)
 
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