pancake
+1y
Well bro, this is my experience with high end paints. prime only what needs to be primed like most people have been saying. when I sprayed mine that bitch was about five different colors. But if you are looking to do a full color change. I would seal it. If you are going to seal it. make sure to start off with a little more abrasive then 500 grit. although you are going to no doubt get a surface that paint will adhere to you will never see a diffference by using 220 first then like 320 then 500ish (wet sand ofcourse) and you will only use about half the paper. I promise you that if you are going to seal it(or just paint it) 220-400 is plenty but a lot of people like to lay it out real smooth first and that is ok too. as a matter of fact I would paint stick the whole thing with each making sure to pay special attention to the body lines and inbetween the panels. But any body work I would do with 80 grit(not wetsanding). then once I was happy with that I would run back over with 180 then again work up to 400 then prime the body work. scuff the body work (paint stick straight) then blow the sealer. Sealer is freaking chunky as hell and if you try to mix up all the particulates quick you might snap off a paint stick in that stuff haha. but it self levels and does wonders for hiding the ass ugly color underneath. also keep in mind that many of that days cars were painted with acrylic enamel and now a days unless you are going to napa or some such store you are prob going to get a urethane enamel which is much better as far as shine and durability. but you never want to mix paints or spray ontop of different kinds. unless you seal it first. I used dupont 7800 chromaclear (hmm it might have been 7600, its the one that was taken off the market cause it killed a bunch of animals but shined like fuck and killed my neighbors cat. true story swear to it!) This time it will be HoK kandy apple green over a very special base... (kan't tell you what it is but if you can guess at a show i will buy you a beer ). Best advice is take your time, get your mixture and pattern right. Use a HVLP gun I like devilbiss or binks. Stay away from siphon feeds. And get the right reducer you get reducer for 70 degrees and paint in 90. you are looking at big time orange peel. cause the paint dries too fast for the outside temp. If you can use a facility that you can bake the paint when you are done. and remember good paint prep=good paint job. Great paint prep=great paint job. If you go to maaco you can get paint slapped on in a day. But if you are looking at competing with the big boys be sure to spend time. Charles armstrong (the kid) used something like two miles of tape and what not when he sprayed the time machine. that is only important because imagine how long it took to prep the paint spray tape out the graphics paint. tape out some more, paint, more, paint. Good things come to those who wait. It is a killer kick to pull up next to someone at a show and watch their face blank out knowing that you just made their paintjob look swirled and faded. Laying it down is great but then you get the stress of doing the compound and polish work.... UGGGGGGGG.