How do you paint large vehicles?

Any ideas on how to paint vehicles that are too tall for a standard 9 foot high paint booth?

I'm thinking a commercial truck place or aircraft refinisher might have gantries that would allow you to paint a too tall vehicle. Mine's a 50's step van and ideally I'd like to rent space and do a two tone paint job, or pay for prime and paint.

Any ideas, especially in SF bay area gratefully appreciated

 

yes, you get a big push broom and load it up with paint and have someone hold it up to the vehicle and then drive back and forth.

 

^^^^^yeah what he said^^^^

 

scafolding.mightyladder.....

 

I've seen painters set up a temp booth in front of their paint booth made from 2x4's and covered in clear plastic. That way the air system can still pull air, and it works better than no booth.
I have a friend who did this painting his 4x4, and just put a fan at one end to exhaust the temp. booth. Worked just fine also.

 

Work out! I have heard a few painters complain how tired they are when finished. Then they have to color sand and rub the barge out.

 

I have used the 2x4 frame covered with clear plastic. I cut some holes in one end and tape in about 6 furnace filters. I made a duct at the other end using large stove pipe to an old squirel cage blower. This worked very good for me and I hae used it many times. When I'm done with a paint job, I pull the plastic off, put in the dumpster, unsrew the frame and stick it in the corner of my shop until the next time I need it.

 

The average aircraft repaint job is expensive and doesn't look all that good The quality standards for aircraft paint jobs aren't nearly as good as for cars. Most of the aircraft that are repainted are done in a large empty hanger. This is only slightly better than painting the plane/car outside on a taxi/drive way.Take a trip out to your local "general aviation" (small planes) airport and look at the paint jobs on most of the aircraft. You will not be impressed.

 

I would paint the roof section seperately, outside on a clear morning. Hell, do the whole thing outside on a nice morning!

I painted a Fiero once outside, turned out great. When I went back to it, the trunk lid had 100s of gnats stuck in the paint. They buffed off.

 

check with local commerical truck body shops and see if it's an option they will certainly have a booth large enough, painting semi's is big money so they may not want to deal with the hassle for what you would want to pay to rent it.

I had a neighbor that painted ambulances in his driveway, a decent paint job can happen outside of a professional paint booth but tends to be alot more work, course depends on your neighbor situation

 

I wouldn't want to have all that extra work of buffing and sanding because of stuff stuck in the paint, step vans are a pain in the ass lol...

 

Ladder. Do it outside. Nobody sees the roof. do the roof white, anyway for the heat rejection. Bugs and dirt don't stick on the sides cause it's verticle. Do enamel with hardner and lay on a heavy third coat. No sanding and buffing needed.

Is it a trailer queen/show car? Or a driver?

 

Big Booth!!!

Sorry you are so far away, I would let you use it for your van....

I have done trailers outside and it can work, but the sun is a bitch, even with white, the paint can dry so fast that you don't have time to make a pass with the paint gun and then come back across, let alone blending side by side.

If you must paint outside, paint 1/2 the vehicle at a time while in the shade, turn the vehicle and do it again. If your van has some lines that allow masking this will work fine if not it is going to suck.

 

Before painting, I would chop it, section it and lower it. Problem solved....

 

i shared a building with a sign shop, when they had to reletter a box truck or van [usually white] they would roll the paint on. the paint jobs came out pretty good for a work truck. maybe you could in the very least roll the roof. allowing the truck to go into a booth that wouldn't be tall enough to paint the roof but allow access to the sides.

 

I work on Enterprise Ave in Hayward. right off HWY 92/Clawitter. there is a place up the street that does buses and motorhomes and other big trucks. don't know what their name is. maybe google bodyshops, Hayward Ca. 94545 and see what pops up on Enterprise Ave. there is a couple bodyshops on this street, only one doing the big stuff.

 

Thanks all.

The van only just fits in my shop, tough to even roll paint on top plus it's a curved roof so the sides are pretty visible especially at the front so painting in house would be tough, and since I'm in SF the street isn't an option. I might roll the primer on tho that could be a good solution, and then spray the paint somewhere after I've blocked it all down.
49 ratfink I'll check out Hayward thx. Currently no glass so don't want to drive too far for paint if possible, but that could work. I need like 39allfords but that's a long drive in local delivery truck! This is a half driver half show truck so don't want to be too half assed about it...

 

Lmao!!!!

 

Performance Color in Sacramento, they have a large booth for motorhomes. They are slow right now so they would probably rent it out to you. Talk to Jody.

 

Scaffolding and let air out of tires ,Can be cynder blocks and planks

 

<-----I painted this locomotive in a 50X85' building. I guess it's about how clean or perfect you need it. But I wasn't sanding or buffing. Good luck!

 

Hey,

I wish I could fine aircraft owners that would part with good money for dry or orange peeled finishes

If the vehicle will just clear the shop doors you're half way home! You can clean up the shop enough to shoot it inside. Cover anything that dry spray will land on, wet down the area and get it done. I've removed the wheels of some vehicles and rolled them into the booth on floor jacks with a winch. Place jack stands under & shoot. You may be able to let air out of the tires to clear the booth header, too!

I'd go with a single stage finish, and a slow reducer/retarder, and panel paint if possible to keep dry spray and peel to a minium. You can not coloursand & polish a job of this size and expect to make any money

Life is not a Disney movie "

 

I've talked to a few bodyshops now and thinking it through what I might do is a three tone Rustoleum roller job - been looking at various youtube vids and it looks as though if you've got a good base and can put in plenty of elbow grease on the finish sanding you can get surprisingly good results. I have to air down the tires to get the van out of my basement shop and since I'll be getting new tires anyway drop it down low and use my air inline dual piston long sander to flatten out the paint.
I have a body shop on the next block with a booth - I think I might spray rustoleum clearcoat there to seal the pinstripes and get a good final finish. Couple of people have pointed out if the van lives in the city it's going to need retouching after the parking rash from the local incompetents and the folks that like scribble on everything and this approach will make life a lot easier to do that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPJTTRWttQ

Never done this before but it seems like a good option - I've got a lot of details to iron out and this approach will allow a bit of patching and refinishing as I go. I have a ton of time into the bodywork, welded in patch panels and leading so the base is very good...

 

If you are thinking of rolling Rustoleum, why not roll some good paint instead?


DuPont makes an excellent "industrial paint", Imron 3.5 HG, it is more than twice the paint that rustoleum is in every regard but price. Well bought, it can be had for about $50 a gallon including activator. It WILL cover 3 times better at least.

 

That's a really good point, that's the stuff they paint fleet vehicles with isn't it? Do you know if it can be mixed in custom colors? I've only ever seen that in safety colors

 

Imron 3.6 G seems like a great solution however you apply it. I got a sample of black today and applied it to see how it sits and to see if it reacts with the old paint - rolled it on a section, brushed some on and will try spraying a bit also. You can get colors mixed up and there is a clear coat as well although the guy I bought it from told me I wouldn't need it. There's also a semi gloss which got me thinking. Going to sand it back tomorrow and see how it behaves but seems like a good solution - thanks for the tip 39 All Ford!

 

turns out imron is the most toxic paint known to mankind - you need the full breathe on mars kit and if it gets in yr mask you are in a lot of trouble according to my local paint store...

 

you should treat all paint like that.

 

Outside!

 

x2
Even lacquer paint isn't the best for you. You should always wear a charcoal respirator as a minimum. If it has a catalyst you know its bad mojo. Suit up, use gloves and some sort of eye protection, full face respirator if you can afford it. And wear your respirator while your mixing!