midnight0045

iTrader: (12)

hello.. has anyone ever painted their maxima on their own?? does anyone know of a write-up on the preparation and steps to paint a part of your car?

i need to know the grit of sand paper to strip the sand.. and other suggestions i may not think of on my own

thanks

midnight0045

iTrader: (12)

.. by strip the sand i meant to say to strip the PAINT

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Better off finding prep work guides on google.

midnight0045

iTrader: (12)

yeah.. i did look and found generals.. but thought someone may have more insight specific to the max here

wetzelman1

iTrader: (2)

from everything I've read, it's not worth it. it takes at least 30 hours of work to prep and paint and on top of that you need to buy paint, a gun, and create a dust free environment in your garage or wherever. It seems that it's not really cost effective. You'd end up only having to pay a couple hundred more dollars to have a professional do it and it'll definitely look much better.

Don't quote me because I'm just recalling off the top of my head what I've heard in the past. I mean, there is a guy who painted several cars with a roller and they came out mint.

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Why would the maxima be anything specific? Things like this are just general.

There are some good "howto's" on paintscratch.com on blending and painting.

OnEBadAsSi30

iTrader: (1)

Matt i'll be helping you today. I've painted a couple little things on a car like mirrors and such nothing like a fender. Don't worry we will get it done.

maxima985spd

step 1: drive your car to a paint shop
step 2: come back, pay them, and leave with your painted car.

99Silvermist SE

iTrader: (5)

Are you painting the entire car? Not to be rude but if you dont know how to prep the vehical i certainly would not paint the entire car. Maybe a fender or a grill. I had a freind repaint his car himself and it looked worse than it did before. Drips were everywear. Lol damn and the job he did on his clear coat still cracks me up. Try a fender 1st and if you suck at it leave it to the pro's.

Just my 2 cents...

rockfordmaxII

iTrader: (3)

takes a lot of practice and knowledge of what you are doing. Most of it comes with experience and first hand learning. You must be able to feel all the little scratches and ripples with your hands. It takes many hours, since you are not a pro, it will take even longer than you think because it will take awhile to get straight lines and smooth surfaces. But to start out, if you plan on just sanding and spraying without stripping, i say first sand with 320 grit using either a da sander, or a block so that no clear/shiny surface is visible. It dulls the surface so that the new paint can stick. On areas you have filled with bondo, do not be scared to spread it 2-3 times larger than the area dented. Sand that down first with 80 grit, then work your way to 400, with 220 or similar, to finish off the whole car. Your first coat wont be very heavy, let it set up for bout 20 mins (depends on the product and additives). then second coat will be a bit heavier that will cover the surface well. Third is about same as second. Let sit as directed. Then for clear, follow the directions, some paint places will be able to let you know which techniques are best for which products. Finish off the job by wet sanding with 1000 grit and buff the **** out of it. If you have runs, dont worry about it too much because they will come out when you wet sand/buff. Diamond cut compound works really well and cuts nicely. Its basically all about technique, i.e. gun positioning, air pressure, nozzle/gun types. Its ALOT of work. Hope this clears a little up for ya, pm me w/ any questions, ill answer to the best of my knowledge.

raziq_afg

i really want to change the color of my car too. i just dont like the idea of someone else working on my car. i wanna see wat comes outta this thread.
http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...717_7_full.jpg

rockfordmaxII

iTrader: (3)

now if your changing your color, thats a lot more work, jambs and underside of trunk and hood all have to be painted, i do not recommend it unless you have either many many hours, or a professionals aide. If you have never painted a car before, im not talking about a fender or bumper here and there, but a complete, you will be surprised how long it takes to do a decent job, not just some half-assed repair shop deal.

midnight0045

iTrader: (12)

rockford.. awesome advice.. i'm doing just the fender and its off the car.. i have the factory paint/activators and clearcoat and clearcoat activators.. good advice.. will def. pm you if we run into any problems..

do you paint cars? lol

MikeB

All that advise is very good, I have heard of people being successful with doing base coat, but the clear coat is very difficult to do right, and the paint additives that are needed to get the paint to harden are extremely nasty items. You need a rebreather so you don't die doing this. I would say it's not worth it myself, a fender or bumper maybe, not the whole car . There are some water based paints too, but I am not recommending those.

rockfordmaxII

iTrader: (3)

Actually, i do. We have done numerous corvettes and a couple of my own camaro's along with other customers cars. As a rebreather goes, definitely a must. I kno that pretty much all you need is one from Home Depot or similar that keeps out harmful particles. As far as the clear being different that the paint, its pretty much the same procedure. You just want to make sure that you overlap, and that when you lay it on, its shiny and smooth, which is how you can avoid dry spots. The clear is pretty harsh stuff, i dont wear a special suit or anything and when i finish i can feel the clearcoat in the hair on my arms lol. But it really is not that complicated, the hardest part is the prep work and getting the car straight! I use ppg products and love them. The clear is mixed with 3 additives, the clear itself, activator, and hardener. There is generally a ratio given, say 3:1:1. If you need help, your local paint supplier can usually offer some excellent info. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to try it. As stated in the previous post, 'just a bumper of fender here or there', that is a great way to gain experience painting. Especially if you have some leftover paint (which all adds up real quick) and a few junk parts, makes a nice platform for experimenting with how you hold the gun to achieve the best finish. Then when you want to do a complete, you are familiar with how the paint flows and its filling properties. It really is not that hard, just time consuming. And who knows, maybe youll find yourself a natural!

PrettyBubbles

Use a 600 then 1000 grit sand paper to remove whatever clearcoat you have left, use your fingers to look for any bumps, dents, got bondo and putty for all boo boos, and sand them down... and after the whole car has been prepped, take it to a shop to paint it ...and dont get charged too much, the reason, why paint jobs cost so much, its becuase of the time in the prep work. the painting is very easy and should not be costly... painting is the big thing, that requires, a dust free environoment like a booth and tools to make it go right, also pre remove all parts of the car, such as bumpers, mirrors etc... comes out better when you paint them off the car

PrettyBubbles

also dont skimp on the clear coat get the best there is, put some investment in to that, it makes all the difference.

PrettyBubbles

Oh and by the way. i forgot this one. DONT PRIME YOUR CAR AT HOME!!!

primer has a rough surface area for a reason, to make the paint stick, dont even think about driving your car with primer on it because dust will get between the primer and you will NEVER get that off, the result will be, you painting over dirt, and it just wont come out good.