This video is about the basics and things to consider on painting a car.
First, you need to find out what kind of paint to use.
Are you going to use a single stage? Which is basically an enamel. They have acrylic, synthetic, and different blends of enamel which are a lot cheaper.
It is usually just one time application, and you’re not going to use a clear coat on top of it. But if you want to, you can. It doesn’t have to be that week, that month, or that six months span. You can always clear it later but you don’t want to wait too long because the paint is going to start to chip and fade.
You can also use the newer version like the base coat – clear coat systems.
With the base coat – clear coat systems, you lay your base which always goes on flat, picking your color choice. Usually 2 to 3 coats of base and then you would lay 2 to 3 coats of clear coat, too. That’s more of a durable and longer lasting finish. You can sand the clear down after you painted it and you can color sand and buff it to a showroom shine.
You also would want to think if you want to do a color change paint or just paint the outside.
Looking at this sample car, if you’re doing a color change paint job, you’re going to want to do door jams. Because if you want to do a color change, you’re going to prep the insides near the door.
Some people do color paint jobs and just do the outside and when you open the door, it looks like crap on the inner side.
If you’re not doing a color change, you can just roll tape on the rides – masking it good and just paint the outside. But if you want to do it the right way, you can take the moldings off, strip them back, take all the leather stripping, sand, and mask everything.
The other thing is ordering paint. How much paint are you going to need to paint your car?
It’s different with base coat, clear coat, and enamel.
If you’re doing enamel, usually you can pick up a one gallon kit and that will paint as much as a van or a pick-up truck.
If you’re doing something larger like a 10-passenger van, or a bus of some type, you’re probably going to need to pick up a gallon and a half to 2 gallons of enamel. Because with enamels, you’re just going to lay 2 – 3 medium heavy coats of paint and that’s it! There’s no clear coat.
With base coat/clear coat, it’s going to take double the time in different paints. With base, you have to go around the car 2 to 3 times. With clear, you have to go around the car 2 to 3 times, as well. And on average, a medium size car will take you 20 minutes to go around painting it.
So typically 2 hours for base/clear coat and about an hour for enamel. A gallon kit enamel can go from $80 to $150. Base/clear coat can also go from about $500, depending on what brand and quality clear you are getting to do your paint job.
Now you’ve heard one of the most important advice you should know on how to paint a car. The next thing is the number of body work and dents and what you’re going to be tackling…all the dents or just a few dents.
I will show you the exact step by step process in the next videos.
I hope you got a lot on that information.
I’m giving a FREE Auto Body DVD (90 minutes of Auto Body and Paint – body work, painting, primer, color sanding & buffing)…Just help me with shipping.
Also, you will be able to download an 85 – page Auto Body and Paint Manual and I think you will like it. Just tell me where to send it, give me an email address so I can mail it to you.
Thank you for reading and please post your comments below. I would love to hear from you!
-Tony
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