Painting Process - Required procedure for repainting a car?

[SirAlec]

This is one aspect of cars I know very little of. Am trying to learn though.

Say you get a brand new car. But some reason the color you want is not on the manufacturer's list. So you want to paint yourself. What are the actual procedure. And also the chemical/primer used.

Thanks


PS to Mods: couldn't find a similar thread

[white_vdi]

painting a brand new car? one has to be really adventurous to do that.
i would say scrape off the paint to start with and then the same procedure as painting any body piece.

[SirAlec]

Originally Posted by white_vdi

painting a brand new car? one has to be really adventurous to do that.
i would say scrape off the paint to start with and then the same procedure as painting any body piece.

I don't know that much but I am sure that scraping is not in the list.

[white_vdi]

i dont remember what is it called but there is a process of removing paint from metal. saw it on television (overhaulin'). wonder if that is available in india or not.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by white_vdi

i dont remember what is it called but there is a process of removing paint from metal. saw it on television (overhaulin'). wonder if that is available in india or not.

I think its called sand blasting

Cheers,
gpa

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by gpa

I think its called sand blasting

Cheers,
gpa

Sand blasting is to get down to bare metal. Not required for a new car. Just ask the painter to change the colour. He'll roughen the surface with emery paper and apply the new paint. Don't know how much it will cost though. I have a Silver Siena. Any Idea how much a full paint job will cost? I was thinking of changing it to Formula Red.

[Spinnerr]

Interesting topic! I too have a whole lot of questions, and lot of half baked theories.

Now, regarding paint removal. This is what I heard from my tinker-er.

You don’t 'scrape' the paint totally off the car. His reasoning is that, older generation cars had gauge 18 metal, newer generation use gauge 22 or much thinner material. So something like scraping will totally ruin its integrity.

But I did remember in some thread where someone had complained that the paint had cracked, after a full body repaint, and it was rectified after repainting, but this time they scrapped the whole car off the old paint

When I put this question, this was his answer. "Painting is not a big thing; anyone can do it, just running the spray gun evenly over a surface, that isn’t anything great. Its all in the body preparation...that makes the differance. That is the foundation"

He went one for a minute about some putty, and some comparison with older techniques where they used 'wet putty' or something like that and how time taking it was. There was applying - drying - finishing - painting earlier, but with new techniques, all that is not there.

I have forgotten most of the details. Hope to know what is what from this thread.

[Prithvi]

wish we had chip foose of overhaulin here in india. Awesome guys and awesome work

[muralisk]

Btw, when you repaint your car, you need to get the same updated in your RC book and am not sure if there is any cost associated with it.

[wanderluster]

well, repainting a car is a bit tricky - especially a new one. There are not many workshops that have proper paint booths (where the painting is done and is dried) - the company workshops do have them.

The process of painting the car involves removing the transparent coat and rubbing down the base colour of the the car with an abrasive to help prime the base for a fresh paint. The car is then given a couple of coats of the new paint and dried out before appling a clear coat to seal in the paint.

This has to be done meticulously or the paint job will be ruined - this is also an expensive and time consuming proposition.

And, this will need to recorded in the registration book and with the RTO.

[71Convertible]

Repainting a new car should be easier than an old car -- the underlying paint and metal is in good condition. In many restorations, the reason for going down to bare metal (media blasting, rotary sanding, or chemical stripping) is to confirm the state of the metal and to fix poorly done past repairs.

However, if you are changing color, keep in mind it is difficult to change the color in all locations -- eg. engine bay, under the trim etc. I personally dislike cars which have one color on the outside and a diff color inside the car/under the trims etc. Even on the outside, if all removable parts are not carefully removed, you can have the old color show thru when you replace some part later. IMO, not worth it -- just sell the car and get one of the right color.

PS: IMO it's ridiculous that color is on the RC boo-- braindead bureaucracy

[gpa]

Originally Posted by Prithvi

wish we had chip foose of overhaulin here in india. Awesome guys and awesome work

There would be a huge number of cars lined up for Mr. Chip, if he does set up shop here!!

[71Convertible]

Originally Posted by gpa

There would be a huge number of cars lined up for Mr. Chip, if he does set up shop here!!

ha! ha! I doubt it. Most people will not pay for quality. Would anyone pay Rs 5000/hour with a good paint and prep taking 30 hours? That's just labor.