Anybody else out there do their own body work and paint their vehicles themselves?

[old_man]

I have been modifying and building hot rods and off road vehicles for 50 years. One of my passions is keeping a 35 year old vehicle in like new conditions. That gets a bit hard when I have flipped and flopped it a few times. It has never been garaged so the cheap automotive paint rarely lasts more than 5 years. In fact I just spent the day sanding down the front clip in preparation to paint again.

Historically I have painted with Acrylic Enamel for the last 40 years but it just doesn't hold up. I have recently switched over to Urethane Enamel and like it so far.

Anybody used any of the new 2K paints or water borne paints? How do they stand up to corrosion, UV, and pinstriping?

Do you guys clear coat? I gave up on Acrylic Enamel clear coat. They get cloudy and start falling apart in a year or two here in Colorado.

I would love to see some pix of your rigs and discuss your successes and failures.
This is what I started with over 20 years ago.

https://photos.smugmug.com/XJ-Build/i-5m6cNXR/0/ed44f742/X2/Oct%20019-X2.jpg

 

[old_man]

Here it is in process



and now 20 years later with a couple of paint jobs inbetween.

 

[Anak]

My father was my car painter, but he is gone now. It is a skill I am going to have to learn.

And no, he didn't teach me to paint. He taught me to prep, but the painting was something only he did himself.

He was old school. DeVilbiss high pressure, low volume gun. I don't think he would have had any use for the stuff that is sold today.

 

[PCO6]

I'm currently painting my '04 Jeep LJ. I used to restore British sports cars, mainly MG's, and did a fair bit of painting. I stopped doing that in the mid-90's when my sons came along. Up to then I painted with Dupont Centari acrylic enamel. I am not up to date with current paints and I decided to keep things simple. I'm using Tremclad single stage enamel and cutting it with mineral spirits and adding a hardener (3:1:0.3). Tremclad is a Rustoleum product and has been around forever in Canada (not sure about the US). As far as I know it's the same as Rustoleum enamel.

About 3 years ago I had a local shop paint a pair of front fenders for the same vehicle. They did such a terrible job I decided to take up painting again. In fairness, they can't take the time to get into all of the "nooks and crannies" and still make a profit. Like anything, mechanical, fabrication, etc., if you did it in the first place it will be easy to to it again if you have to. If I decide to modify, replace, etc. anything on this Jeep I know I will be able to do it. If I scratch or damage it I will be able to fix it. I'm doing all of the work outdoors. I have a canopy beside my garage and that helps but weather is still an issue. In the end, I'll probably have 4 or 5 coats on this Jeep. I wet sand between coats and no doubt some areas will need some cutting and polishing. So far so good though. It's more than "presentable".

Last thing, I went with a colour change from Jeep's "Bright Silver" to Tremclad's "Gloss Grey" which I think is the same as Rustoleum's "Smoke Grey". This is straight off the shelf so no mixing. In the end, the only unpainted areas will be most of the fire wall and the floor boards under the carpets. I used the same paint and colour on my off road trailer so they should be a good match.

 

[PCO6]

My father was my car painter, but he is gone now. It is a skill I am going to have to learn.

And no, he didn't teach me to paint. He taught me to prep, but the painting was something only he did himself.

He was old school. DeVilbiss high pressure, low volume gun. I don't think he would have had any use for the stuff that is sold today.

My Dad was a mechanic but his hobbies included painting and lettering. He painted several of his shop vehicles and lettered his company name on them. He taught me the basics with his "DeVilbiss high pressure, low volume gun". He's gone too and I still have his old gun. I now use an inexpensive Princess Auto (like Harbor freight) HVLP gun.

 

[PCO6]

I have been modifying and building hot rods and off road vehicles for 50 years. One of my passions is keeping a 35 year old vehicle in like new conditions. That gets a bit hard when I have flipped and flopped it a few times. It has never been garaged so the cheap automotive paint rarely lasts more than 5 years. In fact I just spent the day sanding down the front clip in preparation to paint again.

Mine too and that includes my XJ & MJ which run great. They look good too but who knows, I may paint them too one day. The MJ actually went through a colour change with a previous owner. It was originally "Colorado Red" but is now black. The shop did a good job with the door jambs, tailgate jambs, etc. but understandable did not do under the hood which is still red. I've changed under the hood colours of older, simpler cars, but that's going to be a bit of a challenge on this one.

I like your trailer which I know you built yourself!

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I'm currently painting my '04 Jeep LJ. I used to restore British sports cars, mainly MG's, and did a fair bit of painting. I stopped doing that in the mid-90's when my sons came along. Up to then I painted with Dupont Centari acrylic enamel. I am not up to date with current paints and I decided to keep things simple. I'm using Tremclad single stage enamel and cutting it with mineral spirits and adding a hardener (3:1:0.3). Tremclad is a Rustoleum product and has been around forever in Canada (not sure about the US). As far as I know it's the same as Rustoleum enamel.

About 3 years ago I had a local shop paint a pair of front fenders for the same vehicle. They did such a terrible job I decided to take up painting again. In fairness, they can't take the time to get into all of the "nooks and crannies" and still make a profit. Like anything, mechanical, fabrication, etc., if you did it in the first place it will be easy to to it again if you have to. If I decide to modify, replace, etc. anything on this Jeep I know I will be able to do it. If I scratch or damage it I will be able to fix it. I'm doing all of the work outdoors. I have a canopy beside my garage and that helps but weather is still an issue. In the end, I'll probably have 4 or 5 coats on this Jeep. I wet sand between coats and no doubt some areas will need some cutting and polishing. So far so good though. It's more than "presentable".

Last thing, I went with a colour change from Jeep's "Bright Silver" to Tremclad's "Gloss Grey" which I think is the same as Rustoleum's "Smoke Grey". This is straight off the shelf so no mixing. In the end, the only unpainted areas will be most of the fire wall and the floor boards under the carpets. I used the same paint and colour on my off road trailer so they should be a good match.

View attachment 173174View attachment 173175View attachment 173176View attachment 173177

So you did not cut that final grey with anything to spray it? That's an awesome job. It's probably the same way the guy who extended the rubicon my buddy has did his paint job. The smurficon.

 

[MMc]

I pretty good at denting and scratching. My speciality is a spontaneous body modifications. Getting back to original not so much. I am glad I live close to Mexico for prep and paint.

 

[PCO6]

So you did not cut that final grey with anything to spray it? That's an awesome job. It's probably the same way the guy who extended the rubicon my buddy has did his paint job. The smurficon.

Thanks! You'll like this ... I bought my main paint products at Canadian Tire. They are Tremclad enamel and Varsol. I had to go to Car Quest to get the hardener which is a Proform product specifically for enamel. I used 3 parts Tremclad, 1 part Varsol and 0.3 parts hardener. There are a lot of videos on YouTube where guys have tried various mixtures and this seems to be popular. It worked well for me.

We used to paint cars this way back in high school (late '60s) and it still works!

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Thanks! You'll like this ... I bought my main paint products at Canadian Tire. They are Tremclad enamel and Varsol. I had to go to Car Quest to get the hardener which is a Proform product specifically for enamel. I used 3 parts Tremclad, 1 part Varsol and 0.3 parts hardener. There are a lot of videos on YouTube where guys have tried various mixtures and this seems to be popular. It worked well for me.

We used to paint cars this way back in high school (late '60s) and it still works!

Awesome. We may tackle painting the jeep again using the medium blue tremclad. That's what she is now. Thanks for the ratio sounds like a killer combo. Yours looks deadly!

 

[Drmiller100]

I use urethane paint. I'm not good but it is pretty easy.
I use the 18 dollar harbor freight gun at 50 psi.
2 stage paint is a lot easier than single stage. 5 or 6 light color coats and 3 medium clear coats.
For primer 2 part epoxy is the best imo

 

[Billiebob]

I painted with Dupont Centari acrylic enamel.

we must be kindred spirits, me too I painted 100?cars in a garage with Centari before I had kids. Still have the Sharp gun and Devilbis masks. 2, one for me, one for my Dad who loved to watch the colour go on. I might be painting my old TJR this spring so I'm watching this thread, hoping for ideas.

 

[JDGreens]

I haven't painted anything I want to turn out like a show car since I was 20 years old. Forty years later I'm in the same boat as old_man. I have a project that I want to come out as good or better then I have done in the past.

I'm very curious about what this thread could avail. So subscribing.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

That square body looks awesome. And awesome turn of events my father in law is a body man of 30 years. I'm gonna learn alot from him soon

 

[BCMoto]

I work for a PPG Platinum supplier and waterborne is the newest and greatest. It matches better than old solvent and enamel paints. You do need to clear it over to protect it and now you can use a ceramic clear its alot tougher than regular clear.

 

[old_man]

I tend to shoot my stuff on my driveway or my garage depending on the weather. We have Californicated Colorado to the point where they are banning VOC paints and my city limits you to paining 9 square feet of surface. I am going to have to drive up to Wyoming to get a gallon of Toluene to prep the plastic interior pieces before dyeing. In my fabrication I routinely use Toluene and MEK. Heck it is getting hard to get plain old lacquer thinner here.

Anybody have similar restrictions?

 

[old_man]

What brand/types of spray guns do you guys use? I have used the cheap gravity fed HF guns as throw away's for a while but hate the large nozzle size. They have a kit with two different size guns and now different size nozzles for the standard gun. I am going to give it a shot on my current project.

Anybody else have any experiences with lower cost guns? I grew up on a suction gun doing lacquer. Maybe that explains all the dead brain cells.

 

[M Rose]

What brand/types of spray guns do you guys use? I have used the cheap gravity fed HF guns as throw away's for a while but hate the large nozzle size. They have a kit with two different size guns and now different size nozzles for the standard gun. I am going to give it a shot on my current project.

Anybody else have any experiences with lower cost guns? I grew up on a suction gun doing lacquer. Maybe that explains all the dead brain cells.

I don’t know the brands off the top of my head, but when I was an auto body tech apprentice, my mentor gave me three guns. A wide nozzled Gun for primer, a medium sized gun and hopper with 4 nozzle sizes, and a tiny touch up gun that has three nozzles. I do remember that the gun set was bought at a local auto paint supply store.

After doing all the body work on my first truck, my dad sent it off to the professionals to have a show quality paint job sprayed. When I got it back I was so disappointed knowing that I could have done a better job myself with 0 experience. My dad owned and operated a mechanic shop where we took on 2 -3 restores a year and he would do the paint, I would do the body work. He thought our skills weren’t up to my expectations so sent it off.

Over the years I have painted several rigs for customers. But I always had a professional dedicated booth and proper equipment. I want to paint “The Adventure Machine” myself, but I think in the end I am going to take it to a professional that I have used in the past. She (yes she) specializes in custom paint and full restores. She is the only shop I know of that will separate the body from the frame to get the undercarriage prepped and painted correctly. I will do all the body and prep work in my driveway then trailer the Bronco up to her. While up there, I’m thinking of having the upholstery shop cover my seats and door panels for me as well.

Any ways I love this thread, keep on posting guys.

 

[BCMoto]

Yea here in cali especially in the bay area we are so limited on what we can sell and use. Most of the painters I know use SATA or IWATA guns andfor my own use I just go with a simple 3M gun kit.

 

[Sgtanderson]

I have done some body/ paint work in the past...haven't had time recently. It's all about prep work and very time consuming.