Truck will be ready for paint this week, anybody have some words of advice or simple things i should know, this is going to be my first paint job.

thanks

 

You gonna be spraying it yourself ? In my opinion paint jobs are 80 percent prepwork and 20 percent spray work. After your primer coat spray a guide coat and block it out to find high/low spots and re-prime it and repeat if needed. WEAR A PAINT MASK and wear long sleeves as iso's absorb through the skin as well. before the basecoat wipe the body down with a wax and grease remover ( i use rubbing alcohol) then wipe over with a tack rag and lay down a coat of base alnd let it flash and re-tack before you spray the clear coat (don't try to tack the clear) i usually lay down 3 wet coats of clear and that allows me enough to wetsand and buff. oh yeah read on the cans for the proper flash time and go by that as you don't want any solvents popping through the clear

highway

 

thanks alot highway, ya i am going to spray it myself, i have put about 60 hours into prep work, i am making sure everything is perfect before i start to paint

just a few questions

what is a tack rag? where can i get some?
what is flash? (time to dry?)
and should i spray on numerous clear coats without letting them dry or one at a time allowing them to try inbetween?


Thanks again for the help

 

tack rag- as the name implies a tacky sticky rag. you can get them at the paint supplier. best way i have found to use them is to unfold them and make a ball out of it and very lightly rub over the body. don't push down too hard or you may leave residue behind. some guys will take them out of the bag the day before and let them air dry out some

flash- usually 15 minutes the can should say. the flash time allow the solvents to dry out between coats and helps avoid runs in the paint, if you don't allow enough time th epaint stays to wet and you will get some sags/runs. thats no problem in the base because you can sand them out after it dries for a bit and lay down another coat.

As far as the clear that sorta for me depends on the work/dust enviroment. if you are using a booth then shoot the coats of clear after the proper amount of flash times i put on my 1st coat of clear just like i do my last ....wet, the days of tack coats are long gone in fact those who start with a tack coat in clear will start with more orange peel. if you do get dust in the clear you can always stop and wetsand the next day and shoot a couple more coats of clear or if afterwards the dust is minimal then you can let it sit overnite and wetsand with some 1500-2000 grit and buff it out

also you may want to read this for the gun setup: http://www.autobody101.com/articles/...%20Atomization

 

X3 and wipe the heck out of, and use a good cleaner so you don't have fish eyes on your paint.

 

My tips
1. paint it inside (out side gets bugs in it)
2. chase your runs leaving runs looks tacky trust me lol
3. prep is key 60 hrs sounds like you got that covered

 

usually if i get a run , after it dries i take a single edge razor blade and scrape the run backwards which shaves off the run a little at a time and when i get it close finish up with sandpaper 1000 grit and upwards to 1500 grit and buff them out.

highway

 

cool thanks again guys for the advise, very helpful

ill post up picks when im done

thanks again,
Bryan