Car Painting

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Taking your car to a paint shop can be a costly adventure in both time and money. But painting a car yourself isn’t difficult. In fact, after you learn a few tricks and make a plan of what you have to do, car painting can be done over a weekend.

At some point, everyone gets bored with their cars color and contemplates buying a nice new looking shiny car. But there is no point to shell out thousands of dollars if your current car is mechanically sound. There are many benefits of knowing how to paint your car including fixing accidents, stones chips, and scratches. You could save yourself hundreds of dollars by going to the store and picking up the materials you need for under $30, in the case of stone chips and scratches.

Let’s look at some tips to keep in mind when you’ve decided to paint your car.

The very first thing I want to mention is the importance of safety. Car painting can be dangerous for your eyes and lungs. When sanding, grinding, or other abrasive actions, you should always wear eye protection. When painting, it is important to realize that paint fumes are toxic just as Varsol and other paint thinners are. I recommend you use a full face mask with organic filters to prevent the fumes from irritating your eyes. Over time the fumes could cause eye or brain damage. When buying a mask or cartridges double check to make sure that they are for car painting and not for some other use.

You should do is wash your car really well. This will help get rid of any unwanted dirt, oils, or grease. This will allow you to get the proper finish you need. Imagine if extra grease or oil got in to your paint. You would be better off to get rid of that can, clean the applied paint off with paint remover, and start over.

Make sure you don’t paint on a dirty or wet surface. It may seem obvious but many people have over looked this because they were in a hurry. If possible, try to use compressed air as this should help blow off excess dust and moisture. 

Masking tape if your friend. You can buy it at the dollar store and it is just as good as some of the other tapes at the hardware store. You will use this to cover parts you don’t want to be painted such as trims and windows. However, for the large things like windshields I recommend you use a couple layers of news paper and seal it up with masking tape. If you don’t take your time to make sure things are exact, when you have finished painting and peel off the tape, you will be in for a nasty surprise. Paint has a way of making its way to all kinds of places. Don’t peel off the tape as soon as your finished painting. Paint will run slightly so let the masking tape do its job. 

Sandpaper is probably one of the scariest things when it comes to car painting. If repainting your car, you will want to use finer grades of sandpaper. The first time you use it will be to scuff up the existing layer of paint to help the primer stick. After the primer is applied, you will want to sand down the roughness and places where too much was applied. If your primer layer is bad, the finished job is going to look even worse. 

And the last tip for today is to buy quality paint. Don’t cheap out because you will only have to repaint your car that much faster. Also, lower quality paints chip and flake a lot easier. 

Car painting can be a fun project to work on over a weekend. Saving money is always a good thing and painting your car can definitely save you thousands of dollars compared to most body shops.