Buying Paint Questions

[parrot]

So because I'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to paint, I thought I would ask here.

 

Have been touching up a few minor rust repairs on my AE86, and also need to spray a guard and respray my sunroof panel. I thought I may get away with using spraycans rather than pulling the supercheap spraygun from its box, but the cans gave a shit finish to my repair areas so have realised I need to go with a "proper" job. Plus despite supposedly being the right code, the colour isn't right. That I can understand, as they can only have so many colours in a can.

 

I appreciate there are lots of variables with gun types, air flowed, paint to thinner ratios etc etc. Not really asking about that stuff.

 

What I don't know, is what to ask for when I go into the paint shop. The finish is factory, although the sunroof was a later replacement and sprayed (I don't know what with) at a panel place years ag when having some accident damage repaired. Do I just go in and ask for this much acrylic in paint code 3E6, and this much thinners? Or is there more to it than that? And how much would I ask for?

[altezzaclub]

If you want it to look like a professional job, do all the prepwork and have a spraypainter paint it.

 

i used to own a little backyard style garage that also did panelbeating-spraypainting, and unless you're going to respray the car or are pretty slick at doing touchups it is not worth the hassle.

 

Option one- Strip the car of bumpers and trim as needed, get all the sanding done, and the bog sorted. Then hire a spray setup, buy u'coat, topcoat, thinners, and whatever chemicals you need for cleaning it off, slowing the paint dry time or speeding it up... all the shit you will never find another use for before it all goes off! Then mask it up & undercoat it, return the hired gear, sand it back, re-hire the gear & touchup the undercoat, and finally tackle the topcoat. What would be really nice would be to use aerosol undercoat, but those cans are pretty thin and weak.

 

Option 2- Find a small spraypainting shop and chat to the guy about what you want him to do and how much you can do yourself. Go home, and strip the car, bog it, sand it and take it down to his shop one Saturday morning and mask it up down there. He can blow undercoat over it in 15minutes. Take it home and sort it out, or if it looks great just sand it while he does someone else's car. Then he can topcoat it while you wait.

 

That way he matches the paint and if you've done good prep work it looks like factory. Costs a couple of hundred bucks, but it is a much better job. You should paint a whoe panel at a time, don't try to patch bits here and there, so you might need to paint 4 or 5 panels over the car..

[jimmy-d]

So because I'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to paint, I thought I would ask here.

 

Have been touching up a few minor rust repairs on my AE86, and also need to spray a guard and respray my sunroof panel. I thought I may get away with using spraycans rather than pulling the supercheap spraygun from its box, but the cans gave a shit finish to my repair areas so have realised I need to go with a "proper" job. Plus despite supposedly being the right code, the colour isn't right. That I can understand, as they can only have so many colours in a can.

 

I appreciate there are lots of variables with gun types, air flowed, paint to thinner ratios etc etc. Not really asking about that stuff.

 

What I don't know, is what to ask for when I go into the paint shop. The finish is factory, although the sunroof was a later replacement and sprayed (I don't know what with) at a panel place years ag when having some accident damage repaired. Do I just go in and ask for this much acrylic in paint code 3E6, and this much thinners? Or is there more to it than that? And how much would I ask for?

Hey,what suburb are you in? Lots of paint shops can mix you up a spray can to suit a sample of your color,so say,take in your petrol flap and they will match best as possible to that.Otherwise,if your anywhere near Milsome paints in ferntree gully, go there and ask,they mix paint but also give good advice from my experience.

[Timofee]

http://adelaide.gumtree.com.au/c-Cars-Vehicles-Motorbikes-Parts-other-spray-chief-candy-apple-red-2pac-paint-paid-1000-sell-450-W0QQAdIdZ286866765

 

Buy this.

Make a portable paint booth. Can find how-to's on google and on fibreglassforums.com on the painting section.

I would buy this paint if i had the money..

 

Repaint the whole car

Get insta looks :)

[ke70dave]

in terms of what paint to buy, either go have a chat to an old guy at a paint and panel shop, or maybe there is a good paint shop near you. there are certain types of paint that don't mix well, not sure if factory paint is 2-pack? so you may not be able to use either enamel or acrylic. or certain brands may be better for touching up factory stuff...

 

from my somewhat limited experience with painting cars, the painting part (spray gun), is the easy part. just mix thinners to what it sais on the tin. A few goes on an old guard, and we had paint coming out of the gun quite nicely. runs are easy to avoid, just be careful and keep the coats light.

 

bogging and sanding though.....what a pain in the ass.

 

spray booth = garage with plastic sheets draped everywhere. Once the paint is airborne its pretty much dry, so you are just catching dust, not wet paint.

 

i did a metalic blue when i did it, came up ok, we did something funky withe the paint though...seemed overly flecky (or maybe the metalic bits were too big?)...or maybe thats how its supposed to be.....but the paint it self was awesome. next time i might stick to a non metallic standard colour. i suspect it may be much easier to get a good finish.

 

pending how much you actually have to do, it may be much cheaper and easier to just get it done by a shop. strip it yourself and let the shop sort out the right colour code. it is VERY difficult to get the colour right. my 1999 car, i got the bonnet painted to the color code, and its slightly different to the rest of the car (if you look real close in the right light), i guess that's 10yrs of sun there.

[parrot]

I'm not hugely fussed with this car if colour match isn't perfect. A longtime ago I did the hatch in cans and whilst close, it isn't perfect. If I was doing the whole car, well then things would probably be done different, but not for two panels.

 

I did think of taking the two panels in to a panel shop and getting them done there, but I am keen to learn how to do these things. Both panels are off and easy to managae size wise. I have prepped the guard, and the sunroof just needed a couple of deep scratches dealt with.

 

The Inside of the sunroof is perfect so can get the colour matched to that. Realistically, if I screw it up, I can take it all off and take them to a panel shop. The two small rust repair areas are on the underside of the bonnet and in a door shut.

 

I gather spray cans are acrylic, and when I have touched up little things in the past, it has always gone on happily. Candy apple red, I don't think so!

 

I'm near Heidelberg if anyone knows a decent place to buy paint near there

[Evan G]

372 Settlement Road, Thomastown - (03) 9465 9411

 

all car paint supplies

 

just take a sample panel in and they'll match it as best as they can

[parrot]

Cheers Evan

 

I'll give them a go.

[rollapv75]

Even closer again is Paintmobile Preston.

Address: 6 High Street Preston, Victoria 3072

Phone: 03 9484 6100

 

There are a couple of old boys behind the counter that are more than happy to offer advice if you aren't a smartass, are spending some money and not kicking tyres (or is that 'tins'). My old man would've been proud of that gag.

 

Cheers,

Sam.

[parrot]

That's hella close!

 

I'll let you know how I get on.........

[Timofee]

I like your idea of giving it a go yourself.

Theres a section on Fibreglassforums.com That is for painting, I have learn't a lot from that part of their forums and from my father in-law who is a panelbeater / spray painter / mechanic by trade :) but main help was from that forum for learning and shit.. Give it a look if your not sure or you could go into a paint shop if your having any troubles.. so your looking at going back to the original colour as such or close to?

[greenmac80]

any repair you do is going to end up looking better than the rest of the car.

most likely the car being an ae86 is clear on base well... back then they were doing acrylic and the 2 pack clear.

the paint shop will be able to mix the colour into pretty much whatever paint you want.

 

depending on the colour would dictate my choice of paint... if its a metallic i would go basecoat + clear.

if its a striaght colour the easiest way would be a 2 pack. Acrylic urethane enamel protec 604 or 606 or forget which code it is.

 

if you want more advice etc. pm me.

[JJT036]

Bayford's on Sydney Rd in Campbellfield. Dad works in the Paint section and mixes colours there, and they use good proper PPG paint. :)

 

Josh :cool:

Edited August 17, 2011 by ewt

[parrot]

So i popped along to Paintmobile in Preston today (thanks Rollapv75)

 

The guys there were great, put up with my semi informed questions, and took the time I needed.

 

Best advice above was to take along a panel to colour match. I assumed I would just have to give the colour code off the build plate. Apparently it took them 3 hours to get it right.

 

Plus they had masses of stuff like filters and what not, really cheap too.

 

Now I just need to work out the compressor situation, mines pretty small. Debating whether to get another small one from somewhere and T piece them, or go out and hire one for the day. And find a spare few hours!

[Mic]

Parrot, there is a big thread on Toymods in the Tech section on spray painting, the last few pages are pretty similar to what you are doing. If you have the time to read through the whole thread (93 + pages), there is some useful info and some of the guys really seem to know what they are talking about (others on there, unfortunately don't). Info on compressors, guns and style etc.

Cheers

 

Mick