AVOID The Most Common Auto Body Mistakes That Newbies Make!

Hey it’s Tony with another live stream. In this live show, we’re going to talk about AVOID The Most Common Auto Body Mistakes That Newbies Make.

What do you think are the most common auto body mistakes that newbies make? Prepping, insufficient planning, sandpaper grits, post painting mistakes? I’ll go over the most common things with you before we go to Q&A.

Number 1: Prepping. It is the most important part of body work. If you want to have a nice paint job, you need to make sure that your prep is really good.

You need to make sure you prime over feathered areas. For example, you feathered out some of your clear coat into your base coat with 320-grit, you shouldn’t paint directly over that.

You need to make sure you seal it then prime it. Block with 400-grit. That will come through to your base coat. You will actually see those spots through your base coat. Always prime over your body work, bondo areas, and over metal.

Never paint single-stage enamel or base coat clear coat over a little metal spot even if it’s a little spot. Otherwise, those little areas will start biting which will give you paint problems. People don’t prime where they’re supposed to prime.

Number 2: Not sanding with the correct sandpaper grits. I was speaking with my buddy, Jon Kosmoski of House of Kolor and I asked him what he uses to final sand with. He said he uses 400-grit, which is what I always use as well.

I know some people final sand with 800-grit or 600-grit. The problem with that is, you don’t have enough tooth in the sanded prepped area.
400-grit is the perfect sandpaper grit to use for finishing over primers and even if you’re going over clear coat since you can also paint over clear coat directly. Clear coat is a great sealer foundation to base right on top of. You can base right over it if you want to. I recommend you sand and finish with 400-grit. You can end up with a lot of problems for anything finer than that.

Some people finish with 1000-grit and they put base coat and clear coat right on top of it. When they go to a carwash which use the pressure washer for the wheel wells, they risk blowing your paint right off. Use a grit where your paint is going to stick to.

Number 3: Orange peel is another common mistake. People sometimes complain about orange peel. There are a couple of reasons why you get orange peel.

One is incorrect paint mixture. Make sure you read the instructions on the can and mix your paint correctly. 99% of the time when doing base coat clear coat, your ratio will be 50/50 or 1:1. If you have a pint of base, use a pint of reducer.

It’s fine to have a little bit of orange peel on your base coat. That’s normal. When it dries, it usually levels out. However, if you notice too much orange peel on your base coat, add 10% of reducer in it.

Reducers come in slow, medium and fast. That’s your set time for your paint. If you’re in a warm environment, use a slow reducer to give yourself and the paint a chance to flow out and dry.

If you’re in a colder environment, use a medium reducer while for touch-ups, use a fast reducer (for mid temperatures, 75-85 degrees). It gives your paint time to flow out.

Another reason for orange peel is not enough pressure when spraying. If you’re spraying too much of a low pressure. When you’re spraying base coat, you need to have at least 27-28 psi.

This is good for base coat because you have enough pressure coming out on your panel. On the other hand, when you’re doing a clear coat, you need to have at least 30 psi. This is a nice enough atomization.

You’re getting enough pressure coming out. If you’re using a nice gun, that will flow out nicely. For great spray guns at affordable prices, check out the LearnAutoBodyAndPaint Shop Page.

The last issue is not being close enough to your panel. You need to be about 4 to 7 inches away to your panel. The closer you are to your panel, the faster that you need to move since it’s laying on so quickly.

The farther you are to the panel, the more fan pattern you are going to get and you can move a little bit slower. When you are painting, you need to hold the spray gun evenly with the panel with 50% overlay. Check out the video as I demonstrate this.

Also, use the light to see that it’s coming on glossy, especially on flat surfaces like trunk, hood or roof. You don’t need to worry about running because you’re on a flat surface as opposed to doing doors, fenders and quarter panels.

Question: What is a fish eye?

Fish eye is caused by contamination on the surface. Some reasons for contamination may be a mechanic shop next to you or if you’re using WD40 around the house before your paint job. Fish eyes are like air bubbles on your paint. Make sure to use your wax and grease remover for wiping down your panels to avoid it.

Question: What are the steps to get best polishing results?

After your clear coat is done, you need to color sand and buff. You can start sanding with a DA or by hand using a 1200-grit to 1500-grit sandpaper. Then, finish off with a 2000-grit to 2500-grit. Lastly, hit it with a wool pad and overall compound.

It’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint. I hope you enjoyed the show. Join me in weekly live show every Thursday at 9pm Eastern. Let’s talk auto body!

If you are a newbie and want to learn more about DIY auto body work, grab my FREE 85-Page Auto Body And Paint Manual. For a more comprehensive guide, check out the LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Course and get exclusive access to my step-by-step videos

Thank you everybody for joining me today. Please Like, Share and Subscribe to my videos. Talk soon!

Cheers!

Tony