Hey, it’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint with another live stream. Thank you for coming on. Today’s live stream is all about Auto Body for Newbies – How To Fix Rock Chips and Prep a Car for Paint.
I’m very excited about tonight. I finally got some work done on the BMW project today and I’m pretty happy of the 2-hour work that I’ve done so far. I’m not putting all day into this project.
I think within the next two days, I’ll be done. We’ll talk more about How To Fix Rock Chips and Prep a Car for Paint.
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Awesome! Thank you! I’m going to show you what the game plan is and then some Q&A.
I took the front bumper cover off today. We got it sanded off. Can you guess what sandpaper I used to feather out all the thick clear coat?
Yes, I used a 220-grit. (You guys are paying attention! LOL!)
We have a couple of rock chips. You could see that I didn’t completely feather it out. It’s a pretty deep rock chip.
We could feather it by using the DA sander, then you have to flatten it out as shown in the video. I have quite a few all over the place. You can feather them out or you can glaze and water sand them.
I like to blow them off, but I can’t do it right now because I have to put my mask on and get dusty, so I just telling you what I usually do.
I will not feather each rock chip out, only on the corners and the edges. We got about twenty chips all over the hood.
Make sure I blow the car down really well, take all the dust off and clean it. You have two options. You can get your glaze putty and glaze right on it without primering. Or prime it then glaze putty it.
If you’re using a filler primer, most of the time it will fill it up, you just have to block sand it out. For extra, you can 2K prime it, then you can just the little spots with a glaze, block sand it all out with 400-grit.
You always want to make sure you re-prime the blue spots or red spots of glaze, even if it’s a rattle can primer. You never want to paint over that because sometimes it bleeds through to your paint.
I still have to sand the whole hood. I was just doing the 220-grit across the front because it’s where the rock chips were. The guy was probably doing a 20 miles an hour since it’s a BMW Z3M at some point.
I am going to wet sand the rest of the car with 400-grit. If I see some imperfections like some bubbling, I’ll block it out with 400-grit and see how it looks. If I’ll put some glaze on it if I have to, then block it and hit it with a coat of primer.
I’ll be taking off the wiper nozzles so we won’t end up with a big thick paint around it. You make sure to take pieces out when you paint to have professional results.
I did take the markers out on this bumper. It looks really bad when you mask up parts that should be taken off. You get overspray and it just comes out really bad.
By tomorrow, I expect to have the whole hood prepped and ready for paint, the front end primed with glaze putty on the chips as well as the front bumper cover.
I plan to finish the car in two days, so I’ll do a YouTube live tomorrow and maybe on Saturday. I only spent two hours for this, but if I know if I spend all day on it, it will be ready for paint in a day then shoot it the following day. It’s a day and a half job.
Maybe I’ll put in about four hours tomorrow, getting it all sanded, primed and glazed. Then, about four hours for quick prep, mask and paint.
I have probably another 8 to 10 hours of work to get the job completely done without buffing. If we’re going to do buffing, we’re looking at another 5 to 6 hours for color sanding and buffing.
We had that big scratch on the side of the bumper. I feathered it all out and glazed it. It’s not deep enough or bad enough to bondo it.
I ordered the paint and we’ll pick it up tomorrow. If you’re not a high six-figure body shop with a paint mixing system at the back, then you need to go to the auto paint store and have your paint mixed.
You can have them come over your shop and they’ll put a machine on the color of your car’s paint job, get the color code off of it and mix the up the paint for you.
If you go their paint shop, they’ll have you bring a piece of your car to match it. You want to bring something that is as close as possible to what you’re painting.
You can also give them the color code. For BMW, usually the color code is under the hood. Some cars have the color code in the glove box, some in the VIN, on stickers inside the door jamb. It will say CC for color code, or TR for Trim.
The color code helps the paint store determine what pigments and tints are in the paint and the part of the car helps them match it up accurately, so it’s good to give them both the color code and the piece of the car.
Paint does fade over time. Just like what my father said, “You can’t make new paint look like old paint.” This BMW is 16 years old and all of it are original paint, except the hood and the bumper cover because I can see it.
I think my paint girl will be able to match the color, so I don’t have to blend it. Another way to blend is, to not base too much in that area.
When I’m painting, I’m going to base the whole front and the hood and just dust the side, so I’m not painting too much to change the color.
This way, when I clear it, it will blend in into the old paint. When we’re done, we’ll buff the adjacent panel. We’ll bring out the shine by buffing to match the paint on the car.
Question: Is 2K rattle can available at the paint shop?
Yes, 2K rattle cans are available at the paint shop. They can mix you that stuff. The only issue with that is, you’re not getting full spray paint, sprayer atomization.
You’re not getting that power behind your gun to really atomize and lay on your clear coat. Rattle cans are good if you’re doing a little touch up on something very small.
Don’t use it on large projects, like a hood or a door. You’ll not have enough paint. It’s going to come out really bad.
I hope you guys are liking this. You know the game plan. I’ll meet you up tomorrow at 9pm Eastern and show you the updates on this.
I have to take this grill out and get everything sanded and hopefully primed by tomorrow night. I can’t wait to get this thing done.
Let’s go ahead and do some Q&A.
Question: Tony, Can I use a low volume, low pressure gun with a 26-gallon compressor?
Absolutely, but you have to worry about running out of volume in your tank, especially if you’re painting a big project.
You have to wait for your tank to charge up and drain your water out because it will get hot and you’ll get condensation. You’ll have water build up so you have to make sure to drain the tank every time you go around the car for painting. You also need a filter on your gun and a filter off your compressor about ten or fifteen feet away.
Question: Is there a difference between acrylic 2K primer versus urethane 2K primer?
I like both. It’s all based on budget.
Question: I want to try micro flake on a motorcycle gas tank, but you scared me when you said it was for advanced painters.
I don’t want to scare you. If you’re going to do flake, I recommend you use a micro sequence flake. If you use jumbo flake, it’s going to be a little bit more challenging to lay it nicely.
Use the small flake like the one I show on video. You’ll have less chances of making a mistake. You could mix it on your clear coat. Put a very little dust in your clear coat and spray your motorcycle tank. It will give a glitter to it. I love that stuff.
I bought that can that I showed you when I was about 15 or 16 years old. I’m 34 years old, and I still have it. I have it for 20 years. It really lasts a long time. I bought all of my pearls years ago.
Question: That’s a Texas car. Are you in Texas? I worry about humidity.
Humidity is really not going to kill it. As long as there is heat, it will dry. I wouldn’t worry about humidity too much, unless it’s raining in your garage.
Question: Any advice for spraying a whole car in a garage?
As you can see, I’m spraying these parts in a garage. I don’t have any special spray booth. I sprayed my Miata and my godfather’s truck in here.
In a previous live stream where we talked about “Can you do a professional paint job out of a garage?” Absolutely, you can!
Question: Can you bang out a hood with a 22-gallon or 33-gallon tank?
Absolutely, yes. It’s only one part. It’s no big deal if you’re doing one hood. If you run out a little bit of air, let it build up and just continue.
It’s not going to take that long. Your paint is still going to be wet for you to wait 3 minutes to complete the job. You need to give it two or three heavy coats of clear.
Question: Is it okay to spray paint outdoors?
If you want to paint outside, no problem. In the LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Course, I have the 24-hour El Cheapo Paint Job where we did a complete paint job under a tent outside. I show you the complete step-by-step on how to do it.
Question: Do you have more videos on pulling bigger dents?
Okay. When I get those jobs in, I’ll put them in VIP.
Question: In regard to spraying the garage, what do you do for circulation?
I have a big industrial fan blowing out of the bottom of the door. That’s what we do. You can have a hole in your back wall with a filter if you want, then a fan at the front, so it sucks in and just blows it out.
From my set up here, I basically shut my garage, with a big fan below the door, blowing out. I don’t have any issues. There’s no dust flying around. Just make sure to wet the floors and make sure you wash out the floors and just paint.
I had a friend next door when I was in Hawaii who was a bit more advanced in car painting. He was doing jobs that went into car shows. He was doing a lot of awesome candy paint jobs from his shop garage.
That’s where he would do all of his body work. He would just blow his place out, clean it and do $10,000 paint jobs.
Question: How does a Z3 drive compared to a Mazda Miata?
Big difference. The Miata is fun, sporty, light and noisy. Since it’s light, it’s a little bit noisy on the road. It’s more like a go-kart. It’s such a little convertible, but it’s fun riding a Miata.
The BMW is a beast on the road. It is heavy and the tires are a lot wider. The steering is awesome, you have a really good grip. The suspension is really good. The BMW is a true sports car. When you’re driving it, you really feel solid on the road.
It doesn’t feel like the wind is going to blow you away, unlike the Miata.
Question: How do you color sand and buff small parts like motorcycle gas tanks? It’s hard to use a big buffer.
I did my motorcycle with a regular buffer and came out really nice. Check out the video as I show you my motorcycle. I had most of the parts off it. I think I did the tank off of the bike as well.
If you want to get a mini-buffer, you can go ahead and use it. There’s a little 4-inche pads. I have a pneumatic one but I don’t use it that much. It’s was my dad’s, but I don’t really use it.
They even have a little pneumatic one with a three and a half inch disc. You have the foam pad and the regular wool pad.
I did a complete frame off restoration on my bike. The complete step-by-step project is in the LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Course as well. Check out my moped as well.
Question: Are you going to race the BMW?
I’m not going to race this BMW because in order to race a convertible, you need to have a full roll cage installed.
The basic roll bars are not enough. The specs are completely different. I plan to get rid of this BMW after I paint it.
I need a Coop to race. You don’t need a roll cage in a Coop. It’s a lot cheaper. If I were to convert the BMW to race, the hoops that I have to go through are ridiculous so I’m not doing that.
I have two Z3s. They ride and handle nice. Z4 is harsh. Is a Z3 M harsh also or in between?
I think it’s in between. I don’t know. I’ve never really driven a Z4, but the Z3 M handles really nice. I had a BMW e46, it rides like that.
It’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint. Let’s wrap this up. I hope you guys have enjoyed this show. I will be back tomorrow for an update on the BMW project.
For the newbies, don’t forget to grab your FREE 85-Page Auto Body And Paint Manual. If you are interested and want to have exclusive access to my complete projects, check out LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Course.
Please don’t forget to Like, Share and Subscribe to my videos. I’m going to close this off. I will see you in the next live show.
Talk soon! Cheers!
Tony
Other Helpful Links:
Quick and Easy Cheats On How To Use a Stud Gun Welder
2000 BMW Z3 M Roadster Bumper Cover and Hood Paint Talk Plus Q&A
Yamaha YSR 50 Auto Body Paint Project
Midland Tx
thanks fo the help