DIY How To Auto Body And Paint Questions and Answers

Hey! What’s goin’ on!

I recently submitted an email out to my subscribers, asking them what their most burning questions are on how to auto body and paint and in just a few hours, I got 10 pages of responses.  I just printed them out. We probably have another 50 pages or so.

Thank You for replying to my email, guys.

So this is the first batch and I just wanted to do a quick Q&A today. I’m not going to do any demo on a project, I just want to go through some of these questions and answer them for you.

Let’s start with a question from Frank…

“Doing a two-tone color paint job…how to decide where to put the change in relationship to body lines.” 

So this is where you can get creative and start thinking what you want to do. It’s usually a great place to do color-changing on the body line or right above it. Maybe an inch above it or an inch below it. You just have to follow that body line or you could do your fine-lined tape right on the body line and then do a two-tone from there. 

But what I would do is, try to find the black and white version of your car…maybe you can take a picture of it or find it online and then you could experiment. If you’re not the best artist like Chip Foose, you can just trace or shade and color the picture to have a clear picture on how it might look like. You could do all your designs, two-tone graphics, use markers and pens, etc. That’s how you could come up with some general concept idea of how you would want to do your graphic and your two-tone color scheme. 

So I suggest you do that. Go print something out on paper and get an idea of what it’ll look like. I did this with the Yamaha YSR50 Project.

Watch the video below as I talk about this concept. I also show you step-by-step of how I came up with the color scheme for the motorcycle and how we did it.

Next question… 

Tony, I want to set up a hobby paint shop. I have a basic compressor and a suction type sprayer. What would be the minimum cost to properly set up a basic shop with essentials? Thanks, Sam

So, I think your #1 expense would be your Air Compressor, #2 would be a Spray Gun and then, your body tools and materials. 

In the video, you can see my 60-gallon 5 hp BelAire compressor. I think I paid a little over a thousand bucks for it. It is on the high side because I wanted to get something that would last me a long time. It’s more pricey because it’s high-end, the motor is made in Italy and all but you don’t have to do that. You can get one of those less expensive brands like Campbell Hausfeld or Craftsman. You can get those compressors for $600 or less.

And if you find the time to look around in eBay, you could probably pick one up for just a few hundred dollars and in great condition. You’d want to get something with at least a 60-gallon air tank size. This way you have the volume to complete painting your work and projects without running out of air or your compressor having to strain.

I would say, save $500 for a good size compressor, another $200-$300 for a paint gun, $200-$300 for a bunch of auto body tools, dollies, etc. I’d say for around $1500, you can have a pretty good set to get started. 

You don’t have to get everything at once. That’s the thing about auto body or any kind of mechanical tool sets that you’ll have…little by little, you’ll go buying new ones and add it to your arsenal.

I didn’t have everything complete when I first started. As I made money with customer jobs, I bought more tools and equipments. Like when I needed say, a stud welder for a particular job…so I just tacked it on to the job and bought that tool for that purpose and I have it forever. You know, so little by little. 😀

Here’s another one from Bryant…

“Hey Tony, I have been doing cars for over 40 years. Your info is outstanding. I would like to help if possible.”

Well, thank you very much. I’ll be contacting you.

Jeff is asking…

“How to block sand panels for a perfect finish?”

Okay, I have a little demo for a motorcycle tank that I did. You just take the same concept…Use a big, flat block and when you’re sanding, make sure you do it on a criss-cross motion on the panel. You can use a guide coat or a charcoal guide coat like those they use nowadays, to powder or some flat black spray paint or of course, you can use primer. As you’re sanding primer down, you can see the high and low bondo spots. I usually use primer but some people, they just like to use paint for guide coats.

We also cover all of this stuff inside the VIP Course. If you’re interested, check it out to get access to over 72 Hours of step-by-step auto body and painting videos.

 Here’s the last one for this episode, I didn’t want to make this too long…

“Hey Tony! It’s me Frank. My most burning question is about buffing clear coat . 2 weeks ago, I painted my good friend’s 2004 Nissan Altima. We went ahead and redid a super black color. After a week, I went back and color sanded but for some reason, I still have these fine spider web-like swirl scratches. I’m using the 3M (perfectit05873) rubbing compound /machine polish/swirl remover system. Its a wool pad, waffle pad, and rounded buffing pad. I used 1000-grit then the 2000 grit, then I came back with 3000 screen pad. But you know on the black paint, it shows everything so I know it’s very hard, at least for me, to get it swirl-free. In the shade it looks real good but when the Sun hits it, it’s very noticeable. Please guide me in this situation. Thanks Tony. You do awesome work!!”

So if you’re getting that light swirl mark…when you buff out on the first stage with compound and your wool pad, it’s important to really get it as glossy as you can. Some people just miss that step. What they do is, they get it semi-glossy and then they think the wool pad with the compound is going to make it ultra-shiny.

No, that’s not how it works. You’d want to get that ultra shine on your first buffing step.

Once it’s super shiny, then you can do the buffing with the machine glaze and your wool pad. You don’t want to overdo it. It will just be the final glaze. That usually takes out all the swirl marks.

If you still have a bit of fine-lined swirl marks, you can use a good Carnauba wax. Make sure you wash the car well, not with detergent but just with water. Wash it all down, take all the compound off and dry it with a shammy, then go over it with some Carnauba wax.

Some of the polymer coats (like that I show you in the video) work well with it but I noticed that something with a more concentrated Carnauba wax works a lot better. The polymer coat has a little bit of Carnauba wax in it but if you could get something like Kit, it’s a good wax. That brand has more Carnauba in it. That should help get rid of the fine scratches out at the end of your projects. Also, use a micro-fiber cloth to finally detail it out. That should be good. You’ll probably need just a little bit of the polymer coat for a black paint job. For all other colors, the wool pad should be perfectly fine. Just that, sometimes black is tough so you need a little bit more help with these stuff to achieve that final glossy look. So go ahead, try that.

That’s it for this quick Q&A episode. I’m going to make some more videos like these.

So guys, feel free to comment below and put in more questions. This is a good place to hear out those most burning  auto body and painting questions you have.

Next time, I’ll do the same…print out your questions and we’ll keep on doing this. Every once in a while, I’ll also make a live video to demonstrate and answer some of the questions you send me.

For this first batch I printed out, there’s tons more I have to go through and I’ll see which ones I think are good ones to discuss with you, you know those frequently asked questions.

Don’t forget to LIKE and SHARE the video on YouTube. Tell your friends about us. They may be interested in car stuff, too. Post it on your websites or your walls.

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We’ve helped thousands of people from all around the world to learn this stuff and get amazing results with auto body and painting. Whether you’re an enthusiast, a hobbyist, or maybe someone who’s wanting to open up your own shop…you will love what we have to show you inside! I guarantee it!

 Thanks and I’ll see you soon!

 -Tony

Other Helpful Links:

Get A Free 90 Minute Auto Body DVD Here

How To Block Sand Primer Flat

How To Pinstripe A Motorcycle Tank

How To Paint A Motorcycle Yourself

Preview Finished BMW Body Kit Video

How To Plan Your Auto Body Project Easily

How To Setup Your Air Compressor Part 1