How to paint your car in 5 easy steps

[nor-caljdm]

very nice once again good job!!
cant wait to see when it looks like when done

[opponheimer]

more more!

[gsracer]

just to update, got some body work done on the doors, and still working on the fenders. Everything else is pretty much done. Trying to get it painted and done in the next 10 days, i wanted to paint in this weekend but the temperature here in miami took a nose dive to 68 degrees, its freezing haha.

My biggest dilema is I am having second thoughts about painting the car the gunmetal/gold color. I really want to paint it mercedes mars red or jet black. I just dont think the car will look good in red and black might show defects if i missed any.

Also im wondering if i should just spray the Carbon fiber hood, what do you guys think. I already have the paint but if im gonna change my mind now is the time. Other color suggestions are welcome.

[Om1kron]

paint match the fucking hood!!! it's not 1999 anymore brotha!!! nobody cares about carbon fiber parts anymore unless your whole car is made of dry carbon!

I personally would paint it black if it were up to me... Black 240's are sick as fuck and granted you may see the imperfections in the paint because YOU painted and prepped it... Nobody else would know where to look, I already know your style so you would wet sand and post prep that shit like it was nobodies business. It may bother you that your car is two tone, it may not who knows... Seems to be the jazz these days with 240's

[tramp_drift240]

i always end up stumbling upon threads like this that really make me want to have a go at painting my coupe myself.

ive got a craftsman HVLP i believe, and a compressor and such. i just need the right place to do it. and the right weather.

[Bushido]

car is coming along nicely.

but why spend so much effort on getting the fenders perfect and not bother molding them in?

[silpena]

becuase if he molds the fenders in to to bumper it will just crack in a couple of days.....no worth it at all unless the car just sits there all day for shows.

[soshweet]

Nice job. That Corolla looks good too. What brand of clear coat did you use?

[xs240]

I wish i had a house and a garage to do this myself and not at friend's garages lol...

[gsracer]

Fixing some dents in the doors from when the car port fell on my car last tropical storm












My favoirte, i got a new gun a devilbiss gfg670 plus gun. Its the shit, cant wait to see how it sprays.

[silpena]

oommmg u got that gun u bastard. That is my next gun for clearing. Pair it up with a minillium(sp) gti for base and u got a bad ass set up for the price. I cant wait to get mine soon or ill pick u a lph400 from iwata. I sold my lph100 since it was too small for bigger cars. Tell me how it works man. Heard that guns clears so good but you have to move quick since its made for fast production work. I dont think i would use it for bases unless ur using solid colors since the mattalics might bounce around from the high pressure efficancy. Such a nice gun....

bottom line just let me know how u like it. I have used devilbiss guns and love them but not as much as sata and iwata though.
btw dude... tape off the molding on the window man before u sand that area. So you dont scratch the molding or put body filler on it unless your replacing it.

[babowc]

I just painted my car jet black and gold pearl..

it's my second time painting a car and first using base/clear and i got a couple runs in the clear.

All i'd have to say is just take your time with everything.. I got rushed because the shop I was working out of gave me a deadline and my bodywork on the doors weren't 100% and it showed right through.

I'd like to see where this turns out!
Your car was very sexy in zenki too...

[gsracer]

Originally Posted by silpena

btw dude... tape off the molding on the window man before u sand that area. So you dont scratch the molding or put body filler on it unless your replacing it.

Yea i still have to take the door apart, so i can sand it up there.

After dicking around with the origin front fenders for a while, i finnally solved the problem, drove about 45 minutes and bought oem kouki fenders problem solved.







Wait some one told me 18 by 10 +18 with a 275 would fit stock fenders up front, fuck....




Better roll them





Much better






Put a little ding when the hammer slipped, got to fix now.








It was getting late so i didnt take pics of the pass side, but that one came out perfect with no dings. Much much happier than with the fiberglass fenders that would have taken me 2 weekends to get striaght. With the oem it took me longer to go drive and get them then to actually do the body work after i pulled them.

[xs240]

why did u get rid of the origin fenders?

[gsracer]

because the sucked hard money c@ck.

The fitment was way off, spider cracks every where, dome parts didnt even have fiberglasss just resin, wavy, the list goes on and on

[keMz]

mean, so what u run... 18x10s in the front??

[gsracer]

yea

18 by 10 front 275
18 by 11 rear 315

[Kuzumi]

my friend sprayed my car with that gun. only thing is that we did it at night and the plastic fell onto it when we finished. gotta re spray it

[silpena]

^^^ wow that sucks. I would just rent a booth if u can find one for cheap just for a day. I would get a true down draft with a curing system.

[silpena]

Originally Posted by gsracer

because the sucked hard money c@ck.

The fitment was way off, spider cracks every where, dome parts didnt even have fiberglasss just resin, wavy, the list goes on and on

so u got rid the orgin fenders that you tried to fixed?? did you sell them or trash them? Didnt work like i told you to??? If u still have i might take them and fix them then sell them lol. I am bored and like doing fiber glass work....

[Om1kron]

I tried fitting my 18x10's in the front... however I couldn't turn the wheels outward without destroying my vertex side skirts.

[opponheimer]

dude you're takin forever!! finish!!! Did you not like the harbor freight gun?

[gsracer]

Yea, i know lol .

Dont forget i took like a 3.5 month hiatus and did chassis work, and an engine swap.

THe harbor frieght gun does not atomize the paint nearly as well as the devilbiss gun resulting in far less orange peel in the final finish.

[Mott6904]

Damn i wish i could do some paint work. I just wrecked my car so i might try my hand at it. I think im going to try and find a bodywork/paint work for dummies book. looking good so far

[longfellow]

Looks good, I think your car would look good in a dark metalic red. But the Gunmetal/Gold would look sweet as well.

I'll be repainting my car here soon after I finish fixing the front end damage and tubs. Im not 18x10's up front cool, but I still smack the inner fenders pretty nasty under suspension compression so while I'm doing all this work might as well fix that problem as well.

This is the hell I'm going through;
S14 Reconstruction; 56k No. - Tampa Racing

[gsracer]

Ok, Im pretty much ready for paint, Got the doors taken care of today, the front fenders are done, the rear 1/4s are done, trunk bumpers etc...

Im just hung up on how to taclke this, I want to paint the car in pieces so that i wont have any tape lines anywhere but i dont have enough room to do it all at once. So either i paint the doors and rear body one day and the front fenders and bumper the next, or i have to paint the jambs assemble the car then paint it all at one time. People keep telling me the metallic wont match if i paint it seperatly.

Next dilema is the damn color, i dont know what i was thinking when i picked this color out, im seriously contemplating painting this fucker black or even red.


This is the color i had picked originally and bought a gallon of paint for.

its just so bland, last year i liked it this year what ever, its just got such a brown bleh thing going on ,








anyway heres the doors got all the dings and dents out finnally...

[Kuzumi]

when you sand on larger pieces are you making X shapes or what?

[Om1kron]

drill hole, pull dent, fill, sand?

[gsracer]

Originally Posted by s14wannab

when you sand on larger pieces are you making X shapes or what?

Yes i am, in this pictop you can see the pattern

[gsracer]

Originally Posted by Om1kron

drill hole, pull dent, fill, sand?

normally yes, but since i can access the rear to these i just hammer and dolly them as straight as possible and fill, as you can see towards the end there was very little fill needed even though i applied alot, if this was a bigger panel id break out the shrinking hammer and fix it right but since they where small door dings i just filled them for sake of quickness.