Triggerman, I do want to use a metalic color, so should I use lacquer or something else? I think I'll built a car port out of 2x4s and a tarp but maybe keep the ends open for ventalation
Alright, so you want to shoot a metallic color. That means you do want a clear if you want to color sand the paint before buffing. This will ensure you do not sand through different levels of the metallic which will look like mottling. The advantage to lacquer is that is flashes very fast so that is a plus for shooting outside. Enamels and urethanes dry/cure slowly so shooting outside means dust and bugs in your paint. The advantage to those paints are that they are more durable than lacquer. It kinda depends on what is more important to you. Personally I shot an overall in lacquer one time because I had never done it and wanted the experience. I feel no need to do so again unless someone specifically requests it. I will admit that the car, shot in lacquer, has a shine that is unlike other paints. It is deeper and more reflective. Clear coats give glossiness. I hope you can grasp what I am trying to convey in words. It is tough for me to translate what I see into words. In a nutshell, tell me what is most important to you from paint and I can advise which paint will best satisfy you. One last thing. Pretty much every OEM car in the last twenty years or more has been sprayed in clear. Pay attention to those jobs, look them over. This is for everyone here. Catch the sunlight in certain angles and the clear reflects light in a particular way where you cannot see the color beneath. All you will see is what the clear is reflecting and not the color underneath. 99.9% of humans do not pay attention to this but really start looking at the way newer cars catch the light and you will eventually see it. If this is a BIG deal for you, once you see it, then clear is a no go for you. However, with metallics that makes the job so much harder, not impossible just harder. Last, last thing. You want to shoot outside right? You live in Minnesota? It is getting close to winter. Isn't it cold up there? Shooting paint, especially for your overall body, when it is cold is a really bad idea. You can do it but paint performs so much better when it is at least in the high sixties. Something to consider.
Wow, lots of paint threads. Lacquer is fine so long as you buy decent quality stuff. Cheap paint generally means a shit finish. Glad to hear you bought a decent gun. Considering you'll probably use more than a grand's worth of materials it was well worth the extra initial investment. Cheap guns waste more $$$ of paint than good guns cost Sanding off rust with a DA gets old REAL quick. Find a blaster by recommendation, and see what their work is like before you trust them. Or, search on here for " reverse electrolysis "
DONT USE RATTLE CAN PRIMER ON BARE METAL!!! Itll rust under it. You have to use a epoxy primer through a gun.
that may be a bit of a stretch any 2k primer will work fine. some require a self etching primer to be laid down first. some can be used direct to metal. some can not be used with etching primer. technically weld trough primer is rattle can and has to be applied to bare metal. All blanket statements are wrong, including this one.
if this is your first time i dont think you should be useing metallic paint.im not saying its impossable but its not as easy as a solid color.as others have said if you get a run you have to be very carefull when sanding it out,also you need to criss-cross your paterns or you will get some tiger-strips.i have seen pro.paint jobs with some.the tent thing is a good idea.i used one from tractor supply do do my car in,and it worked great,just watch out for dew inside if its not that warm,because they sweat ALOT!!also go to one of your local paint stores and see if they have any miss tinted paint.they usually will sell it pretty cheep and use it for practice.im no paint guroo but i have painted acouple of cars and its a blast.just have fun and dont get in a hurry!!ps thats j-bird doing the hand lettering on my car{man is he good!!IMO}
I dito this. Im sure ill get razzed for this but Ive used the "Cheapo" like $15 Hvlp's from harbor freight (Purple ones) for primer (DP90) and have had pretty damn good results. even my buddy with 20 years or so experiance recomended it to me. I dont know about soda blasting, Ive always just used a DA-sander, and sandblasting for NON Flat areas. Works great best $90 i ever spent.
Lots of misinformation AGAIN about paint. Probably due to lack of experience,as well as relating stories people heard from other people who weren't experts either. First, you can clear over lacquer. You can use lacquer clear, and back in the day, we experimented with putting urethanes, or polyurethanes (Imron) over lacquer base colors. Worked well in the shop I was taught, but my mentor was a painting expert. He did LOTS of multi layer, multi color graphic paint jobs, and because lacquer clear was known to be brittle when put on in heavy thickness', he quite often used a 2K or Imron clear over it. Better protection on bikes and racecars, as well as resistance to abrasion and cracking. You have to be careful doing it, as the urethane tends to want to delaminate from the lacquer if done too soon, or too late. Lacquer metallics. You do not have to clearcoat over them. Again, back in the day, the factory did NOT do it and neither did most body shop painters. Lacquers did not tend to mottle, due to the thin coats, and fast dry nature of the beast. Even sanding and buffing, which was almost manditory with lacquer, did not usually bring up mottling in the paints. In old enamels, hell yeah, they were terrible to shoot in metallics. Not so lacquer. The paints were different from todays, as well, the amount and size of the metallic particles were less, and smaller, so mottling wasn't as prevalent due to this. If I were to do a lacquer paint job today, I'd probably pull out my old Devilbiss siphon gun, instead of using my newer Sata, Just because I am used to it, and it was made for this. The modern HVLP's might put on too much material, so watch how you set up your gun! Thinner temperature was extremely important in shooting lacquer. Be sure to match it to ambient temps. Also....another myth I hear all the time, is you can't shoot paint when it's raining or damp out. Not true at all....EXCEPT with lacquer! Lacquer WILL blush when shot in humid conditions. You can get away with doing this if you add retarder to the paint, but that will slow dry time a LOT, including how long the piant will continue to shrink back into sandscratches, if your prep was not perfect, or if you used lacquer primer for a build primer. I used to shoot lacquer almost exclusively, including candies, pearls, and multi color paint jobs at my boss's custom shop back in the late 70's and 80's, so I do know what I'm talking about! We even did a slew of nitrocellulose black jobs for the "real" show cars!
Yup its gettin cold up here in Minnesota, I wont be painting the car till next summer, just doing the tin work over the winter, as far as the rust goes sounds like I can sandblast with a fine media on the rigid areas and DA the panels, like the cowl, doors and trunk. as far as using a lacquer primer Im assuming the temps have to be in the 60s too? so maybe Im better off just leaving the car the way it is and concentrate on the tin work before stripping the rust, I will have a portable heater in the garage when working, can I use a lacquer rattle can to cover up my tin work and strip it off when It warms up? Id hate to weld in some nice patch panels and have them rust over the winter.
At6 my local jobber he has 2k primer in a rattle can. If you want to work on small areas for repair and metalwork and then protect your work then perhaps they are a potential solution for you. Check your local stores for something similiar. For all those folks that warned you against using spray bombs, the paint I am referring to is basically the same as what comes in cans for spray gun usage. The downside is that once you activate the paint you have to spray it all or it will harden in the spray can. I would recommend using either a 2k primer or specifically epoxy primer instead of lacquer primer. Modern primers really are that good in my opinion. Epoxy primer also has the added benefit of being a sealer so moisture will not get under the primer and rust your panels.
Listen to chopolds. He's got it right on the money, especially the use of the gun. You can use a gravity gun but reduce the paint properly, shake often, and play with the volume to get proper film build. Did a gravity gun finish in lacquer recently. The old 15+ coats I was used to, about 9 did the trick. How did it turn out? Like this:
^^^agree^^^. Use epoxy primer after the car has been blasted. Then start on the body/metal work. Good luck.
I do not mean to trespass your post or anything, but just personally, I've had good experience with rustoleum spray paint primer. My car's been outside for 5 years without any care and it still holds up pretty nice (although it's been covered in rustoleum paint) However, if I run into problems what would you recommend for a good compressor and gun for an amateur painter?
You can clear coat lacquer if you want to and and you don't need to buff out the color prior to spraying the clear. Just color sand the base color, clean, and then spray the clear. I would wait about a month before you buff it out. It can be done by hand or machine (make sure you tape the edges if you use the machine) Also you don't really need to spend a fortune on a spray gun. Unless you are going to paint for a living, a $30 gun will do. That is what I have been using. I painted my first car, a 55 Nomad, outside, in the driveway with a mickey mouse compressor and gun back in 1982. It looked good when it was finished and never had the so-called problems that they say about lacquer. I currently have a 51 Chevy A.D. and I will be painting it in lacquer. So don't let all these chumlees scare you into not using lacquer.
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