paint prep

[eyentheterrible]

any painters in the room? i was going to sand and prime my car to get it painted, but i dont know how to do the plastic stuff....bumpers and side skirts, spoiler.... can anyone give me a crash coarse in auto body prep??

[Carreragt2e]

Ive got about 3 weeks of experience working in a body shop. BAsically, all you should have to do for prep if your bumper has never been painted is pick up scuffing pads .. dont know what the size is of the corse(I remeber I used the red ones at work, they also had a rhino on the box if that helps at all, maybe at a paint shop they can help you find which to get). Basically scuff every inche of that bumper. If you have flaws you can take bondo to fill in holes then take an orbital sander to go over that. If you forget to do this and just paint, when you are done, the paint will peel, and all you have to do is take a compressed air blower tool and you can blow all the paint off the bumper

If your bumpers been painted already, scuff it, then take the orbital and sand everything smooth. I cant tell you what grain size to start with. I havnt done any DA'ing. Dont know what DA means exactly either, thats what they called it at work.

Then when your ready to paint, you can take something like a cheese cloth to clean the bumper off, it wouldnt hurt to wash it to to take off all dust particles and such, but remember to dry it 100%. Also make sure if you are painting to use the correct mixtures for paint to what ever that stuff you mix it with is. There are different chemicals for different temps that you are painting in and for how fast you want it to dry.

Make sure to wear masks while scuffing, breathing in all the paint dust isnt healthy. If your around the paint, make sure you have a really good breathing mask. I was at work one time , walked by my friend painting a bumper blue and didnt have a mask on and I blew blue snot for 2 days. Not cool. Especially if your by clear coat. That shit will get on your lungs and really mess you up.

Sorry I cant give specifics on things. I just started working at a body shop for 3weeks over my winter break and I wont be working there again till summer time.

HTH and good luck. Let me know if you have any other questions. Ill see what I can do to help you.

eric

[Carreragt2e]

shit I didnt even mention primer.. after you scuff sand and clean, yeah the primer, wow you can tell Im still a begginner my self at this. Yeah just do an even coat across your bumper. I have yet to paint anything but with primer you cant really go to wrong as long as you dont end up running that a whole lot. Do that and get out the orbital sander.

There are other things that can be done once you have the car painted and such. Wet sanding. Taking 2000plus grit sand paper and wetting the bumper, then after that buffing. If you buff, make sure you know what your doing. I suck at it and Ive only buffed one car hood. I didnt do so well. I didnt burn any of the paint so I didnt do that bad.

eric

[jdmaccordbo!916]

eric

i have got to say that for only being a shop aprentace for only three weeks, you are catching on to the work fast... i know ppl that normaly toake a cuple months to remember what you have just put down... good job.. the only thing that i would hav to add onto what you said to do, is an the plastic peices an th bumpers an such, mke sur the primer and or paint has a flex additave in it... this will also help with the prevention of cracing an peeing...

an if you are going to be doing any buffing on the car,the best way to not have to realy worry about burning the coners of hoods/feners/doors an such is to use automotive masking tape.... run it along the edges or every corner so that if you were to go around them, you have less risk of burning through if you know what i mean...since the tape will act as a gaurd in a way... (an dont use the realy wide shit either....

but hey good job for only three weeks...

p.s. by the way i been doing shit for about 7 years now, an i still dont know what th hell D.A. stands for either..lmao.. i just know how to work it an that is all that matters to me...hehehehehehe :D

[eyentheterrible]

damn thanks yall, i had already given up hope on this post and just saw it had a few replies. thanks for the info i think it just convinced me that i can do the job myself. ive also gotten a little info off some guys i know that painted a few cars and ill probably try to get my car primed soon. ill keep yall updated.

[96cordlx]

Damn you guys really know your shit for not being in the body business that long. You guys basically hit all the major points. Just a few details i'd thought i'd trow in. When you are sand you should start with a low grit (corse) sand paper and work your way up to a higher grit (fine) sand paper. You should start with somewhere around 180 grit, and finish with around 360 grit. And MAKE SURE you use FLEX AGENT in any plastic pieces on your car like was previously posted. Otherwise the second that plastic starts to bend all of your hard work will go down the drain. I've been restoring cars my whole life and I know how bad that is from experience. Another thing is after you prime your going to want to wet sand it all with 1200-1500 grit sandpaer to get all the imperfections out, otherwise you will end up with a bumpy paint job. And before you paint you want to wipe the whole surface down with a product called 30-30, its a solvent from dupont that takes all the fibers off of the pieces. Oh and always do finish sanding by hand with a block to make sure you don't go through and layers. Thats about it and good luck!

P.S. D.A. stands for dual action, it means the sander goes up and down and left and right at the same time so you don't get a pattern in the pieces. And if you mess up a little on the paint just spray a ton of clear coat on it LOL.

[Carreragt2e]

Awesome. I thought I was the only one that ventured in the lost art of working in a body shop.

The first car I buffed I thought I burned the crap out of all the edges, I was freaking out. This was a car that had to get out of the shop quickly, I got my friend and he started to laugh at me cause he just gets a clothe out and rubbs the corners off and it was fine. There was just the buffer solvent on there and it was a dark grey. Man talk about a heart attack at the age of 18.

Hey any ideas where I can start to look online for tips on body work? Maybe some books I can look into?

Eric

[Carreragt2e]

O yeah, what happens if you use the flex product in paint that goes over a metal surface?
-eric

[jdmaccordbo!916]

hum i dont know where you can realy get any good info on anything like that... you might wanna look at the book store... i seen a few good ones there before, i know that there was one out a couple years ago by house of colors
(same company that makes candy paints)... you just gotta look around, but pay attention to every little detail that goes on in the shop you are working at... every bit of info will benafite you in the long run... trust me...
to be the best you have to think like the best, an in order to think like the best, you have to watch the best.... even if the best aint that great at what they do, you will still learn from them...

dont be afraid to fuck shit up, cause the only way you will learn is from doing just that....

[jdmaccordbo!916]

i dont think that anything will happen either if you have the flex addative in the paint you are using on the body... i think that it might just make it a little stronger... but i dont know this one to well, never tryed it on anything besides bumpers an the lip around the cars...

[Carreragt2e]

damn, I dont get to work at the body shop again till may. Your exactly right about watching learning trying and messing up. messing up really is the only way to learn unless your just good at everything and not human

[jdmaccordbo!916]

ya just remember.....

nobody is perfect, if we were then we wuold know how to make a computer work perfect every time... but no it has flaws just like all of us.....

bumer about the shop though.. you should look around at other shops in your area an see iftheyneed any permanit help.... you alredy got your feet wet yo... time to jump in now.....