DIY paintjob?????

hey does anyone know how to do a close-to-professional paintjob???

 

How close to professional? The cost of the paint "base coat clear coat" is a bunch of $.

If you were willing to accept a "enamel" paint job you would have to deal with dust settling on the paint until it dries. The Earl Schieb and Macco shops beat this problem by having down draft booths and lights to dry the paint. But they do a crappy job of prep. If you were willing to prep and sand this might be an option

If you want to spray it yourself there is a lot of technique in spraying that takes practice. Its not really the kind of thing that you can learn on the internet, you would need to watch and ask questions. And you would need equipment.

The best advise I can give is to wash , wipe down with a de wax ing solvent, sand and take it to get it sprayed

 

Oh yeah I never realized the dust can settle on the paint when you finish. Thanks for the tip, you're absolutely right I cant just see a "how to" segment on this topic haha

 

Ya sorry i should have specified; i need to repaint or just touch up some of the little scratches on the side of my truck, just below the top of my bed. Sorry it might sound a bit confusing but that's the best i can do at explaining in exact detail of where i need the job done

 

If the scatches are not deep ( you can not catch a finger nail on it you may be able to polish the scatch out.

If it is deep get the factory match touch up paint in a bottle. You get the paint code off of the sticker on the door jam

clean the scatched area. I like wiping it down with paint thinner to kill the wax

Carefully apply the touch up paint in the scratch. Apply enough to fill the scatch with paint.

Now for the scary part. Get some wet dry sand paper 600 grit and 1000 and 1500 if you can find it.

Get a popsickle stick (or any flat thin thing like a popscikle stick, tongue depresser ect)and fold some of the 660 grit sandpaper over the stick. Wet the paper and try to sand only the scratch touch up paint and not the rest of the paint. You will not be able to do that you will get over on to the good paint, thats ok just try to stay on the touch up paint. keep the sand paper wet and get the touch up area level with the good paint.

Put the 1000 grit sandpaper on a popsickle stick( or resonable substitute) , wet the paper and keep it wet and blend the touch up into the good paint. you want to sand as little as possible on the good paint to protect the clear coat. Use the 1500 if you have it and repeat the sanding. You could just fold the sand paper in a small flat pad to use like the stick if you feel more comfortable with this.

Now you should have a dull flat area where the scatch was, and you will be wondering what have I done to my truck.

get some very fine micro polish. Thiis is not wax it is a polishing compound. Rub it per the directions and clean it off the check the results. It will start to shine and then you can apply wax and it should look great. If the paint is metalic it will not be perfict but it will be close. Doing the polishing with a random orbital polisher helps speed this up. Walmart has some cheap ones.

It takes some guts to do this the first time but it does work, but if you are not good with you hands this may not be for you. this stuff is hard to explain just typing

 

Use a Spray Can-Red Neck Job

 

ive done autobody/painting for18 years. what do you need to know?