getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. March 24, 2005, 04:30:52 PM okay so it's spring already, and its slightly getting warmer day by day, so it's almost getting time to paint the bird. The paint on it is really bad, especially on the plastic parts, seems like you can just peel it or scratch it off, but that would take forever. Now my question is, what is the best way of sanding the whole car down? I have a DA sander that i haven't used yet so i might try that out. Also there are a lot of parts that have rust that needs to be sanded down and cut. It's going to need a little body work done to it. Can anyone give me a few pointers on what I should do. Thanks Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #1 – March 24, 2005, 06:19:32 PM Unless you're taking it down to metal, personally I'd just hand sand it. Paint sands down a lot quicker than say metal or plastics. Using the correct grit, it should go fairly fast. Wet sanding with say 120 grit to get down below the weak/surface paint is a good step, then use around 220 before priming it. Once primer is applied, stick with 220 grit in known-high spots and 320 over the rest. Using 2 or 3 different colors of primer, you can see if there's still high spots in between each coat. Other than that, just take your time and don't put too much pressure on the sandpaper. A quick job will usually require more time in the long run due to numerous small mistakes needing correctionOn body work, I haven't a clue. I'm lazy and would just buy new/replacement body panels :p I'm in the same boat as you though, in a few months I'll be repainting the car. Hood, nose, and bumper cover will be replaced most likely and that leaves 2 dents in the passenger side door I get to probably just fill in. No body rust on the entire car minus an area on the trunk that the paint got sed off of in the early 90's.Are you going to be painting it yourself? If so, I'm curious if you can keep a timestamped journal (thread?) or something so I can see about how long I should expect mine to take Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #2 – March 24, 2005, 07:02:48 PM hey i do this for a living my advice is if you want it to look real good get help if you dont care for it then you'll need a lot of stuff. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #3 – March 24, 2005, 07:19:33 PM Im not wanting it to be a show car, so i don't really care if it looks perfect, I just want a decent job. I've done this once before, so i kinda know what im doing. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #4 – March 28, 2005, 04:12:19 PM Use your DA, sand the whole car with 320 or 360. If your going to do a little body work, sand those areas with 150, then apply the filler, block the filler with 80, re apply final coat of filler, block with 150. Prime the body filler areas, block with 320. Now sand all of the edges/jambs/underhood/decklid with scotch brite or sanding sponges. No need to prime the whole car. Use a decent brand of paint and clear, follow their instructions for # of coats, flash off times and drying times. Don't be affraid of applying to much clear, the more the better. Now after the clear has dried, go to your loca auto paint supply store and buy a hook-it 2 pad for your DA and some 1200 and 1500 sanding discs. Dry sand the clear with the 1200 and then the 1500, wiping off the clear in between sanding. You will be able to see when you have sanded the paint flat as it will all appear flat and dull. Now rub the clear with either a wool pad or a hook it 2 foam pad and some fast cut rubbing compound. Don't worry about how shiny it becomes, just rub until the sanding scratches are gone. Be careful around the edges, make sure that the rotation of the wheel turns over the edges, not into them. Finally, polish the car with some matching polish and a foam pad. You will have a good looking car with a mirror like finish. I have been painting show cars for 15 years, let me know if I can be of any help. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #5 – March 28, 2005, 04:22:15 PM One more thing, don't forget to wipe the whole car down with some form of pre-kleno, or pre-paint de-greasser. Clean it very well, then wash the whole car with plain water, and dry off with paint rags (non-treated) as this will help you avoid most problems when you are painting. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #6 – March 28, 2005, 04:35:42 PM I'm curious, how much clearcoat can be applied before the lower layers become too far away from the upper that a wax's oils no longer reach it? After a certain point, wouldn't the lower layers dry out?I haven't done more than about 5 coats or so of clear over a basecoat but if there's little problems with extremely thick clearcoat, I may go for that when mine's repainted. Its so much easier to repair chips when you still have the basecoat intact Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #7 – March 28, 2005, 05:05:04 PM I thought you need to primer the whole car down, because it acts like an adhesion to the paint. Thats what some others told me, and some told me just primer the spots that I did body work to. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #8 – March 28, 2005, 05:14:01 PM sanding/roughening up the paint will allow new stuff to stick better. Primer doesn't always help adhesion in my experience, but I'd use a thin coat over the entire car just to make sure there aren't any uneven spots I'd miss Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #9 – March 28, 2005, 06:11:10 PM No need to primer the whole car, only the spots that you do body work to, this is to avoid " bullseyes" and lifting. Back in the day, you needed to either prime the whole car or apply a sealer to promote adhesion and lifting. The new paint however is extremely more forgiving as far as lifting is concerned, and adhere's a hundered times better. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #10 – March 28, 2005, 06:21:48 PM sorry...prevent lifitng. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #11 – March 28, 2005, 08:14:41 PM but you also have to keep in mind, depending on the type of paint you use, the color of the primer makes a difference on the color coat, ive made that mistake a few times, primered 2 differnet parts with 2 different primers, sprayed them the same color, and both came out completely different Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #12 – March 28, 2005, 11:53:49 PM Also, another technique I learned from doing body work is to get a can of sandable primer, primer the spots you did body work to, and see if it turns out the way you like it. Because when you apply the primer that is kinda what the paint will look like. Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #13 – March 29, 2005, 12:18:22 AM also, remember, your hands sometimes see more than your eyes Quote Selected
Re: getting ready to paint t-bird, help please. Reply #14 – March 29, 2005, 12:29:49 AM Quote from: Tbird232cialso, remember, your hands sometimes see more than your eyeswhich is why I hand sand everything...doesn't matter what it is. Kills my arm but comes out great same could be said about waxing the car. I don't like orbital buffers much Quote Selected
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