When you’re painting a car, there are a lot of things to consider. Should you sand down to metal before you paint it? What’s causing the orange peel on your finished product? And what can you do to avoid it? In this blog post, we’ll answer some of the most common questions about automotive painting. Keep reading to learn more!
Get Free Auto Body Training Guides and Videos here and don’t forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to my YT channel. Stay tuned for new videos coming out.
QUESTION: I have a 1967 Ford Mustang in original paint. Looking to repaint this summer. Should I strip to bare metal?
If it’s a sentimental build, if you have the budget and you have the time to put into it to do it right, you could strip down to the bare metal. So you could media blast it, put a chemical stripper on it. You could just send all the paint off, a little dusty but you can get it done that way.
And then what I would do is get it down to like 80 grit then put some epoxy primer on it followed by a 2k filler primer. Before the epoxy primer, you could do your bodywork, so grind it all down, do your tapping. if you have any dents do your sheet metal work, your rust repair, all the dent work with the body filler, then you could spray epoxy on top of everything. Let that sit and then sprayed two to three coats of 2k filler primer on it, and then block it out,
You might have to add some putty here and there. Maybe you missed a dent so if you did then you could basically sand it with 80 grit over your primer areas, and then fill in some more body filler over those areas and then block it out.
So it depends. You don’t have to go down the metal if your original paint is in good condition and you feel that it’s not cracking or bubbling or looking kind of weird. You could just sand it down with like a 150, put 2k filler primer on top of it and then basically sand it out with like a 360 and then finish off with 400 to 500 wet sand or dry, it depends. I like to finish off by wet sanding, and then you should be good to go. So hopefully that answered your question.
Become a DIY Auto body Pro! An in-depth Auto body Work Guide. Get a FREE A-Z Manual NOW! https://www.learnautobodyandpaint.com/
QUESTION: Could orange peel be caused by too much or too little air pressure at the gun? It’s always orange peeling regardless of which I paint, meaning basecoat, primer, clear. -no damage on spray gun.
If you guys are having an orange peel, it’s probably most likely not enough pressure/paint. Having not enough paint will give you orange peel because it won’t flow it out. Also, it could be atomization gun where it’s not atomizing your paint on correctly and you’ll get orange peel. So make sure you have at least a medium-grade gun. I like the ATOM guns, this is I sprayed the Motor Moped Project with the Bluemoon X88.
What pressure are you spraying with? If you’re spraying at about 26 pounds with 25 to 26 base coats, clear coats 28- 29 PSI, you’re probably not putting enough paint on your panels, that’s probably the reason. You’re not letting your paint flow on, so don’t be afraid to run it. Just flow a little slower and make sure your paint is glossing on as you cover it.
And normally on your first coat of clear coat, it’s not gonna really flow out even if you’re doing like a medium-heavy lay it on, it’s not going to look like the second coat or the third coat. I like to usually finish off with two coats of clear, sprayed medium-heavy so it’s probably your gun speed, your flow. And basically, your ability to lay it on wet, you need to lay it on wet. And just don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Make sure you’re set to open fluid flow.
QUESTION: Can you spray filler primer over 320 grit?
Absolutely you can. I wouldn’t go any finer than that, 320s and you’re okay with that. Usually a 2k filler primer you can go for like a 150 – 180 grit or 220 grit. I usually don’t spray over 320 grit but it’s up to you.
QUESTION: What grit do you suggest just before spraying metallics? 400 or 600?