Learning how to paint!

[hineas]

I have purchased the Mk4 roadster and am waiting for my kit.

One thing I really want to do is the body work and paint because I want to be able to say "I did everything." Another part of me also realizes that everybody will judge the build based on the paint job, so part of me wants to have a professional do the body work and paint.

I have been thinking about this (I have a LONG time to decide), and realized I have the perfect way to decide.

I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. I use this off road and it isn't a big deal if the paint isn't perfect. The paint job is in pretty poor condition, especially the hood. The clear coat is gone and the paint is cracked and chipping. There is bare metal but not much rust, so I figured I needed to do something soon so it doesn't rust.

What a great situation to learn. I have a vehicle that NEEDS paint and I don't care if it isn't perfect. In the picture you can see how bad the paint is.

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I removed the hood and started sanding. I used my random orbital sander. I used 40 grit and then 80 grit. After sanding I can see why using a paint stripper instead of sanding sitios be nice. It took me about 6-7 hours to sand the hood.

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[hineas]

Even though I didn't NEED to use a body filler since I don't have to have a perfect finish, I decided to do it for practice. I have used Bondo once in the past but it was miserable. I splurged and got some Rage Gold. Holy cow, it is so much better. I will NEVER use Bondo again. I did learn I am horrible at applying a skim coat. I used my orbital sander to do the bulk of sanding since I put way too much on. Then used an 18" block and hand sanded to get a better finish.

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I learned the importance of a guide coat. I had some more spots that I really should have done some more filler, but I wasn't going for a perfectly smooth finish so I didn't spend too much time on it. Honestly, the metal hood only had a few low areas and was actually really flat. I sanded almost all of the body filler off.

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[hineas]

Then I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. I was amazed at how much grime I removed with each cleaning!

I sprayed the primer. It went fairly well. I did have some orange peel and I sanded that out. I have tried spraying once before and this time the orange peel was minimal unlike my first time which was pretty bad.

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[hineas]

After sanding the primer and cleaning up my mess I moved on to the color coat.

I mixed and mixed and mixed and mixed and mixed. The colors had separated some and there was a lot of blue streaks in the green paint. I got this mixed but could never get the metal flake smooth.

I finally figured I had it mixed enough for my liking and then sprayed the color.

I have only painted automotive paint once before (a skid plate) and it was a solid color. Wow, metal flake is hard.

I was having issues laying down an even coat, so my metal flake was settling differently giving it a tiger stripe appearance. I ended up using a full quart of paint on the hood because I had to keep respraying. I could never fully get rid of the stripes and I ran out of paint. However, my last coat was almost perfect and only I will notice.

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[hineas]

Even though the flake caused some mild tiger striping, the color coat came out perfectly smooth and with no orange peel. I couldn't have been happier.

I then sprayed my clear. I realized that my issue with the color coat was my lighting. I had poor lighting and really struggled seeing the leading edge of my spray pattern on the clear. My first 3 coats were adequate, but the 4th I figured out where to stand to see the spray pattern better. The 4th coat was almost perfect. I did have some mild sagging of the clear coat in a few small spots. I also had drip of clear fall into the hood while spraying somehow. But over all, the last coat was the best coat I had done on the hood. When it dried the orange peel was essentially the same as the paint job from the dealer.

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[hineas]

In these pictures you can see the issues in my clear coat, but it wasn't bad at all.

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[hineas]

I then started wet sanding (so much more enjoyable than dry sanding my body filler!) with 1000 grit, 1500 grit, 2000 grit, then 3000 grit. I sanded out all the defects. I did have one tiny spot in the edge that I sanded through the clear, but I fixed that with just a dab of paint.

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[hineas]

Sanding the clear coat is the hardest part for me. Each step the paint job gets better and better. Sanding the clear, on the other hand, feels like a step in the wrong direction. It is hard to go from a shiny, reflective finish to a dull finish.

However, I love buffing. Each step just gets better and better.

After buffing I had a nice, shiny hood! The only issue is now I have to paint the whole vehicle because the hood looks so good and the rest of the vehicle just looks dull. The color matches well, though!

The tiger striping from my base coat is there but my wife couldn't even see it until I pointed out exactly where it is. The last picture looks like tiger striping but that is actually just the reflection of the garage door.

Now I just need to clean up and attach the hood.

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[hineas]

Things I have learned with this experiment:

1) Don't use Bondo. It is hard to work with and a pain to sand.

2) Use a guide coat to sand the body filler. This really helped me make sure I was getting rid of the previous grit marks and helped me identify any lows and highs.

3) Clean clean clean clean clean before painting. It was amazing at how much dirt I cleaned off after each washing.

4) Metal flake is harder for me than a solid color. I had good coverage but couldn't keep each coat perfectly even which caused tiger striping. This was because of how the metal flake settled in the ticker areas when compared to the thinner areas.

5) I need better lighting in my paint booth. I had a hard time seeing how wet of a coat I was applying. I'm confident that better lighting would have reduced the tiger striping because I would have been able to see my overlap and leading edge of the spray.

6) I need better ventilation in my booth. If I'm going to paint the roadster myself, I'm going to buy some explosion proof fans for better ventilation.

7) Use paint with the appropriate catalyst! Mine was for warmer temps so I had to wait a LONG time between coats.

8) I need a real buffer system. I just used some cheap pads from Harbor Freight on my 6" orbital sander. This worked, but it wasn't perfect.

9) A nicer gun and bigger compressor would be beneficial! I ended up using the cheap $14 gun from Harbor Freight because it had a lower CFM requirement. I only have a 30 gallon tank and it doesn't provide enough CFM for better guns. I suspect that having a better gun with a 60 gallon compressor would help.

10) I really enjoyed painting. Maybe I chose the wrong career!

I am amazed, though, at how well my first attempt turned out. Especially when considering I used the cheapest equipment I could find with an under powered compressor. The finish and overall quality looks better than the original paint job.

[KDubU]

Good on you for trying this. I agree doing it all yourself is the perfect solution but one not only has to have the skill, there is also the location. I just don’t have the patience do this work so I know my effort would suck.

[hineas]

Good on you for trying this. I agree doing it all yourself is the perfect solution but one not only has to have the skill, there is also the location. I just don’t have the patience do this work so I know my effort would suck.

I think you nailed it on the head. One of the biggest factors on body work is patience. You just can't rush it and you can't cut corners.

[Shades]

Great job, and thanks for the overview. I too want to do it all myself, and I know I may be crazy with zero experience, but I consider it an adventure. I'm going to have to find something to practice on. A few more weeks until my 33 kit pickup!

[hineas]

Great job, and thanks for the overview. I too want to do it all myself, and I know I may be crazy with zero experience, but I consider it an adventure. I'm going to have to find something to practice on. A few more weeks until my 33 kit pickup!

I am lucky I have something to practice on. I'm going to finish painting the rest of the Cherokee when it warms up, but I also have an old 1963 Jeep Willys CJ3b. The previous owner used a single stage roll on paint and you can see the texture from rolling and there are brush strokes as well. I would also like to paint that vehicle too. Needless to say, I should be decent by the time I paint the roadster!

[dukegrad98]

I have a mechanically-sound-but-total-cosmetic-beater BMW parked out in a dark corner of my shop, and I haven't driven it in a couple of years. It runs just fine, but the body is a mess -- failed clearcoat, suffering paint, dents and scratches, you name it. (And the worst aftermarket wheels that have ever been imagined!) So kind of the same starting point you had.

I have zero experience with automotive paint, but I do own the same sprayer you mentioned and I have had pretty decent results using it for painting gates, signs, etc. Posts like this *almost* inspire me to think that I could get out there and put that car back in order myself. Then I think...when am I going to have the time and patience that a project like this requires?!?

Well done! And thanks for sharing -- very interesting read. If you wind up doing the rest of the vehicle, please update so we can follow along.

Cheers, John

[ggunter]

Great job, learn by doing.

[hineas]

I installed the hood today. The mild tiger striping is almost not even noticeable after buffing. When it was out in the sun I could see a few defects in the clear that I didn't entirely sand out. However, there are only two small spots and only I will notice it.

Honestly, it came out great and I'm pleased with how well I did for my first real try. The biggest issue is that this paint job has a much better finish than the rest of the jeep so now I HAVE to paint the whole thing! Also, the rest of the paint is faded so the color is just slightly off.

I really like the color and how it came out. I am glad I stuck with the stock color.

The difference in color is worse in the picture than in real life. But you can see that I need to do the whole jeep now.

[narly1]

Hat's off to you for taking on the one aspect of these builds that scares me to death, LOL.