Sanding down the car for painting

[1990DX]

you are supposed to use the primer for all of the fine work before you spray but you will still have to sand on the paint a little bit before you clear it.

[WTF]

Painting sollutions!

Since the first day I became a member of ClubProtege and saw your trunk I did not feel bad anymore about my white Mazda 323 paint. It seems is a major flaw with those years.

I just finished painting the hatchback door and the results were almost perfect. You are lucky the paint is white, because is the easiest color to assimilate when retouching.

You need:

masking tape (use the low adhesive type so when you remove the tape it won't take the paint with it). I have seen a blue masking tape that works great, 3M!
newspaper
320 wet/dry sandpaper
400 wet/dry sandpaper
1500 wet/dry sandpaper
ACE hardware store gloss white (the cheapest one, 2 bucks on sale)
2 or 3 of White Supra paint or similar from Pep Boys (around 4 to 5 bucks)

Rubbing compound
clean rags
bowl of water, clean water whenever you can
rubbing alcohol or mineral spirits ( this is to clean after each sanding)

***You really don't need to use any primer, removing the gloss from the paint will make that paint the primer.*** Its like painting a bike, the same deal.

0. Obviously tape everything and cover with newspaper.

1. There is a technique called feathering which means sanding the edges of the peeled paint so to feel a smooth transition from the exposed metal to the paint. In other words sand where the paint ends and the exposed metal starts. Using water helps but make the job slower because you have to let it dry. Ok, smooth out all those edges so when you pass your hand you don't feel the "STEP" between the paint and the metal. Use 320 or 400 for this step!


2. Try to paint in an area where the sun hits the paint the most. The goal is to make the paint even again. Give it one basic layer of white paint, very very light coat, don't try to cover the patches right away in white. Let the grey show for the first few layers, if you can see the grey underneath the paint, thats a light coat.
Try to fade toward the edges where the "good paint" is.

>wait an hour or more, go play GT3 or Collin Mcrae and then sand it with 400 paper. Everywhere you painted, do not worry where the new paint meets with the old, that is goi to be taken care later. Remember, if you use water more time is needed to dry, humidity is the number one enemy for paint.

3. Paint this time giving a little more priority to where the big chunks of exposed metal are, and go lighter with the old paint. Let dry, feathering again, smooth out the edges to lower the edges and try to work on that transition between exposed metal and old paint.

> Again, an hour or so, if the sun is good and the paint has dried out.

4. Come back, grab a 400 sandpaper, feathering, try to sand with the paint, NO PRESSURE against the metal never. Always sand with the paint, parallel. Apply a very light coat overall in the paint and a somewhat light coat to the where the metal was.

** In between coats, at some point I only painted in the areas where there was no paint at all. The main goal is to make that area even with the old paint.

** After each sanding, clean the area with mineral spirits or alcohol, before applying the next coat.

Allright, the new paint is even with the old one, but now the paint has what is called the orange texture effect. The surface of the paint looks like the surface of an orange, rough, but glossy.

This is the fun part,
>>>>Let dry the paint for at least 7 hours before jumping to step 5!!!!!!!!!<<<<
5. 1500 sandpaper, WATER, at this point water is a must, no more painting after this. Sand, water, clean with a rag, no mineral spirits or alcohol in this step.
Repeat this step until the surface starts to look ALL even, no granular or porous layers.

6. Grab the rubbing compound, few layers, and wrok your way to the edges helping the new paint blend in with the old. This is where the men are separated from the boys. Wax it with Turtle wax (try to use a wax that is rough not one for high end gloss like Meguiars), then grab a six pack and sit down to admire your new paint job.

I did my paint job in three days, started on a friday, covered everything, sanded, gave it the first light layers and waited til the next day. The next day I waited til after lunch because my car is parked outside and still had humidity. On my second day was layers, sanding and cleaning with rubbing alcohol. On the third day was for rubbing compund and waxing. The more you wait between coats the better the results.

[KiddX]

i really appreciate you typing all that up, and it helps alot, but im painting my car an entirely different color

[Gro Harlem]

why do you think you need primer? i see this all the time on all car message boards.

Primer IS NOT used to adhere paint to paint. It is used to adhere paint to metal.

In other words, if you are sanding down the paint to bare metal (the best thing to do but takes a ****load of tie), then you MUST PRIMER on top of the metal before painting. Of course you'll have to sand the primer before painting otherwise it won't come out great.

My guess as to why so many ppl think primer is needed is b/c of all these muscle car guys who restore them into hotrods. If you ever watched hotrod TV, you'd notice they are removing 5-8 coats of paint from over 20-30 years of the car being on the road. Our cars are barely 10 years old & likely only have had one paint job, the OEM one. So you don't need to worry about removing a ****lload of paint. Just scuff it up with 220-320 grit and if you accidentally sand too far down to the metal, just spray some primer in those spots & sand over it til its nice and smooth.


Also, USE A TACK CLOTH TO REMOVE ALL OF THE SANDDUST!! Tack cloths work awesome, I was amazed when using a couple on my car after sanding all the red paint away. They seemed to hold a crapload of paintdust in one little cloth.

I'm going to be repainting my MX3 soon. I look forward to reading more peoples write-ups with tips on painting.

I sure as hell am not going to post much about painting tho, b/c my paintjob came out like total **** thanks to my ****ty choice for clearcoat spray-pattern.

[WTF]

I must say in my vehicle, used regular cheap ACE hardware paint, white, and did not use any primer and all my friends are amazed by the results. Ok, you can use the primer. I am just saying from my experience.

I wash my car, wax it and looks awesome, I am lucky my paint is white.

About changing to another color, I thought about that to with my car, but then again, allhinges, under the hood, engine bay, trunk, door edges has to be painted the same color.
Now we are talkin more $$$, its not a regular coating. Besides I do not want an engine bay white and a car that is blue to give you an example. Hey man, the sky is the limit, make that Protege stand out from the crowd. Post pics of the car after the job is done.

lmercadomail@yahoo.com

[KiddX]

why do you think you need primer? i see this all the time on all car message boards.

Primer IS NOT used to adhere paint to paint. It is used to adhere paint to metal.

In other words, if you are sanding down the paint to bare metal (the best thing to do but takes a ****load of tie), then you MUST PRIMER on top of the metal before painting. Of course you'll have to sand the primer before painting otherwise it won't come out great.

My guess as to why so many ppl think primer is needed is b/c of all these muscle car guys who restore them into hotrods. If you ever watched hotrod TV, you'd notice they are removing 5-8 coats of paint from over 20-30 years of the car being on the road. Our cars are barely 10 years old & likely only have had one paint job, the OEM one. So you don't need to worry about removing a ****lload of paint. Just scuff it up with 220-320 grit and if you accidentally sand too far down to the metal, just spray some primer in those spots & sand over it til its nice and smooth.


Also, USE A TACK CLOTH TO REMOVE ALL OF THE SANDDUST!! Tack cloths work awesome, I was amazed when using a couple on my car after sanding all the red paint away. They seemed to hold a crapload of paintdust in one little cloth.

I'm going to be repainting my MX3 soon. I look forward to reading more peoples write-ups with tips on painting.

I sure as hell am not going to post much about painting tho, b/c my paintjob came out like total **** thanks to my ****ty choice for clearcoat spray-pattern.

the protege is sprayed with a kevlar primer, which is why you see so many with chipping paint. paint doesnt stick to it well. i want to get rid of the ****ty primer and put some good stuff on there