Question About Painting Car

[sprucegoose]

I recently have purchased an El Camino. The paint job on it is decent but I hate the color. What is the best way to take the paint off of the car without having to get it professionally done. (i.e. sander, elbow grease??...etc.)

[tegdream]

get some paint stripper and protect urself from it then sand and fill imperfections .....or you could have it sandblast but thats prolly expensive

[Merkur]

marhyde aircraft coating remover, and a sharp scraper, rub on with paint brush let sit for 15-20 mins, scrape away. worked great on my merkur.

[Zero102]

Hrm, aircraft coating remover. I have never seen that suggested. In the past, I have always used a strong oven cleaner, but that was only on smaller areas.

Merkur, where do you get it, and what is a rough price per litre or gallon or whatever?

Sandblasting is easy, if you have a good compressor it is not a problem, but you will need a very robust compressor with a large tank to sandblast an entire car.
I sandblasted most of the underside of my subaru, and replaced the peeling undercoating, took me about 3 hours to blast the underside down to bare metal. By far it is the best way to go, but it requires some expensive equipment, so it is not the best way for a DIY'er to do it.

I would avoid sanding the entire car. If you take it down to bare metal, you will have some seriously sore arms by the time you finish. And, if you are just scuffing it to paint over, the new paint will look thick and heavy, it will not look good.

So, all that said, your best bet is a chemical stripper, if Merkur has had good luck with aircraft coating remover, (Which I have no doubt about, sounds like heavy-duty stuff) then it would be a good place to start.

[BBMac]

if you want to blast there are a few bays that you can rent in the city. for get the names though. check yellow pages.

[sprucegoose]

Mercur, where can I find this heavy duty aircraft paint remover that you speak of ?

[finboy]

black primer is the only way to go on an elcamino

[Taasman]

Even easier method is to apply the strong aircraft stripper by brush, putting it on fairly thick. The secret is not to leave it on to long...once the paint starts to bubble up you can power wash it off with a good steam cleaner if you know anyone with one of those you can borrow. You will need about 2 gallons of stripper, and a reminder to cover all rubber seals and trim with duct tape before you start. This will get the majority of your paint off. Using a D.A sander set to grind with 220 grit paper you can easily remove the remainder of paint and primer. Use metal conditioner on all the bare metal to protect it from rusting. Block sand the whole car with 220 -320 grit paper and apply a good quality epoxy primer. Make sure you use a sandable epoxy, not the none sanding type. After this you can top coat with a good sealer prime and paint.

[Moe Man]

dont used paint striper.........just sand the car first then clean it with thinner #19 and paint over it simple

if you wanna wait till the summer time i will paint your hole car for cheap

i have the compressor and everything

[Merkur]

its called aircraft coating remover, its really just a strong paint thinner.

go to NAPA they can get it, try the spray first to make sure it will work on your paint, some types 1 coat gets the clearcoat, then next gets the paint.

i think the 4 litre jug is around 50 dollars, but if you don't have to or don't want to go to metal i would reccomend sanding, although that does take forever.

[pressure_ratio]

be careful if you strip you're car,you may be making a whole bunch of work for youself.unless the car has had 10 paintjobs or some really bad bodywork over the years i'd suggest just blocking it and using the old paint as a guide coat.go with like a 220 or 180 grit so you're not sanding for years.If you do sandblast go to consolidated compressor,it's cheap and a self serve but be carefull,you can do some serious warpage if you get to colse.

[jdms13rhd]

If your car is in good shape and the paint is not peeling als ya got to do is sand the car down to 400 grit for base clear. and i think its 320 grit if its single stage. What i do before i sand is to find all the dents and either pull them out and grind them than use bondo. thats for bigger dents. If its just little door dings i take a piece of 100 grit to scuff the area and than use bondo. Remember to scratch bondo with 400 grit and look for little pin holes. If the dent was small and the bondo area is small with no pin holes you wont need to use any primer. Remember primer is for bare metal and for large bondo areas. If your car doesnt have any your set to spray your scealer, paint, opt Purl for try coats unless you add purl to the clead, And finnaly the clear coat. If you have any questions e-mail me at [email protected] hope i helped.

[hockeybronx]

Body work is very time consuming, but if you are committed you can do it yourself.

A buddy and I have been working on an old truck of mine. If you want to go hardcore and do the complete job (including getting rid of rust) I suggest using a grinder. Get a paint/rust grinding disc from canadian tire, hook it up to the grinder and sand everything to the metal. A grinder is the fastest way to get the paint off, it is the best thing that ever happened to our project.

Next fill in any divots, dents, or rust spots with Body Filler (Bondo).

Once everything is perfectly smooth (so hand sand each panel with like 320 grit sandpaper), then buy some quality primer and prime the whole car in light coats. We are going to use about 3 coats to try and protect the metal as much as possible.

It should now be ready to paint. Remember though it is very meticulous work. If you are lazy and you leave inperfections in your sanding work, then they will show up in your new paint job and it wont look very good.

[pressure_ratio]

Prep work is everything,if you do go to bare matal first spray the car with etch primer,then use bondo sparingly after working out the dig dents,Don't use bondo to fix rust!Use poly glazing putty not the red stuff,it shrinks like mad.The glazing putty takes care of small imperfections.For the cost of hi build($30 a quart)you'd be silly to skip this step.It'll probably take 3 or 4 coats to get it perfect.Start with220 and go down to 400 grit for final sanding before paint.Use a guide coat,mist black paint over the primer to contrast when you're sanding,it will show up all the high and low spots.take you're time and do it right.It took me 4 months to do my car but it was worth it,and I'm no body man.

[James]

Shit, so many differenet opinions on here on what to do. Ive started to remove some body mouldings from my car so i can start some body work, fix a bit of rust etc.....but ive never done any myself before, im thinking its gonna take ALOT of time , overall the paint isnt that bad, just alot of scratches, small imperfections, so im not sure weather or not i should strip the paint or just sand, plus i havnt decided on a color yet ( currently metallic grey), im thinking of either the new VW platinum grey or Reflex Silver.

[Taasman]

Ok...Take it from me...I am a Bodyman. If you have as many scratches and imperfections all those need to be feathered out.
That means a half inche for each layer of paint, primer ect. Thats major work for a novice. And if its not done correctly, your car will be filled with swirl marks. Take off all the trim you can for the best looking job. That goes for door panels, seals, mouldings, lights, ect. If its a coulour change, thats a must. Keep everything in boxes out of the car in storage. Steam clean your engine compartment and inner wheel wells ahead of time. For the best looking professional job...take your time and strip the paint, one panel at a time. You can use 180grit on a grinding disc to remove alot of paint fairly quick. Pick out or ding minor dents as smooth as you can and grind with 24grit disc. DO NOT apply bondo to rust!!@ you'll have problems very soon. Instead sandblast the pitted rust areas only, then apply a very thin film of etch primer before a good two part finishing putty. DO NOT USE that pink garbage!! Sand all bear metal with 180 grit, and pay attention to detail, as paint does not cover things...as some people seem to think. It instead highlights all your work. So what ever work you put into your preparation job, will be your final result. Being a Novice as you suggest, do nothing with your bare hands, get yourself a rubber sanding block and use it with every sanding. High build primer and block sanding your final bodywork and puttying will make for a quality finish. And BTW, don't expect rust areas to last for years as alot of people do!!! Rust is like cancer, you can treat it and keep it in remission, but if its not treated %100 correctly it will return. Remember, don't let anyone push you...take your time and do a quality preparation job and it will pay off with the final finish.

[finboy]

this is why i'm glad i work at a reputable body shop, cheap body work

[Taasman]

Don't know why anyone would be glad to work in a body shop !!! Its the crappiest job around....ever seen a retired bodyman???Common....Tell me one...Thats because they die suckin in all the rust, bondo, and iso !!! I would never BRAG about being glad I worked in a bodyshop of any kind...28yrs of this crap...and Im not a penny richer because of it! Just I failed getting a good education
and it was the only alternative of what I liked at the time. After your done 28yrs of it...tell me your still glad!

[finboy]

yup, because its a job to cover me till my job with the city, then back to school, i don't do the body work, i wash the cars

[ninspeed]

Originally posted by Taasman
Don't know why anyone would be glad to work in a body shop !!! Its the crappiest job around....ever seen a retired bodyman???Common....Tell me one...Thats because they die suckin in all the rust, bondo, and iso !!! I would never BRAG about being glad I worked in a bodyshop of any kind...28yrs of this crap...and Im not a penny richer because of it! Just I failed getting a good education
and it was the only alternative of what I liked at the time. After your done 28yrs of it...tell me your still glad!

Hrmm... i can think of a few guys who have retired... where do you work???