Do not flatter yourself with the seeming simplicity and cheapness of self-painting a car - neither one nor the other does not correspond to reality. If you decide to radically change the color of the car, you will have to work long and painstakingly, and in any case it will cost a pretty penny. And if this is your first painting experience, it is better not to experiment on the whole body - first try to fix any defect on one part. Better yet, start mastering the technology on an old wing or door taken from a junkyard behind nearby garages.
Necessary
- - dye
- - primer
- - varnish
- - solvent
- - White Spirit
- - covering film
- - masking tape
- - building hair dryer
- - sandpaper
- - polyester auto putty
- - putty knife
- - orbital sander
- - spray gun
- - compressor
Instructions
Step 1
The whole process of painting a car consists of several stages, while the lion's share of your time will be spent on surface preparation. First, wash the part thoroughly using car shampoo and wait until it dries completely. You can also dry it out with a hair dryer. Examine it carefully in good light and from different angles: this way you can notice deep scratches, chips, dents, traces of rust and other gross defects.
Step 2
In areas of serious damage, remove the old paintwork to the metal using coarse (P80-100) sandpaper. Try to make the paint-to-metal bevel as smooth as possible. To smooth out the scratches that have arisen on the paint, go over the cleaned surface in succession with several thinner "skins" with a difference not exceeding 100 units.
Step 3
If you used the “dry” method of removing paint, clean the part from dust with a hair dryer and degrease the cleaned areas with mineral spirits. When "wet" cleaning, wait until the surface is completely dry and degrease it in the same way.
Step 4
Mix auto filler with hardener in the proportion indicated on the label. Do it quickly because the putty starts to "set" within five minutes. Apply it to the prepared areas with a stiff trowel, being careful not to leave sagging. Wait until the putty has completely hardened (30-45 minutes) and carry out the initial treatment of the filled area with an orbital sander using sandpaper with grain Р180-220. If the defect remains, apply the required number of layers of putty. Each layer must be thin, otherwise the material will crack. Wait until the filler is completely cured each time, sand the layer and blow off or blow off the dust with a hair dryer before applying the next one.
Step 5
Now mat the entire surface of the part with P300-360 sandpaper. This can be done manually, and if the surface has no relief, the process can be “mechanized” with a planer or grinder. Wipe off dust with a damp sponge and dry the surface. Run your palm over the putty areas: they should ideally merge with the surface of the part. If you are happy with the result, you can proceed with the primer.
Step 6
Since it is better to paint the part completely, then it must be completely primed. the chances that you will be able to put a "patch" of paint is extremely small. This is also necessary because the paint you have chosen may turn out to be incompatible in chemical composition with the original one, and then their interaction will lead to an unpredictable result. Pour the primer into the spray gun, if necessary dilute it to the required viscosity with the solvent indicated on the label, orient the spray gun torch vertically. The width of the torch near the surface to be painted should be 25-30 cm. Select the required viscosity of the primer, the distance to the surface to be painted, and the speed of painting experimentally. Practice at least on a piece of newspaper. The primer should be applied without sagging, in an even layer 30-40 microns thick.
Step 7
When you start priming the part, start spraying past the edge of the surface and finish also beyond the edge to avoid sagging and sagging. Wait until the primer is completely dry - with the exception of epoxy, the primer dries in artisanal conditions for 2-3 hours; to speed up the process, you can use a hairdryer. If the primer is noticeably uneven, it is better to remove it completely using a grinder or a plane with a "sandpaper" 600-800 units. This will allow closing microcracks that are invisible to the naked eye, without using a developing powder, and sometimes it will reveal defects that are not detectable either tactilely or visually. Eliminate the defects, apply a new layer of primer, dry it and, if the result is satisfactory, sand with 2000 units of sandpaper. As usual, remove dust and degrease the surface. Now you can start painting directly.
Step 8
The steps for applying the base are exactly the same as for priming. The only difference is that the paint is applied in several layers, each of which is sanded after drying. If you paint only one part, it is better to entrust the selection of paint color to a computer in a car service. After applying 2-3 layers of paint, the surface is varnished in one layer. However, this is not necessary, as well as polishing the part to a mirror finish. If you want to achieve exactly this result, use an abrasive polishing paste and a sander with a foam pad.
