How to Prep a Car for Paint

It is a common belief that a good paint job depends on the work done in preparing the body before painting. Even if you are hoping to hand over your vehicle to a professional or paint shop to paint your car, you can carry out the preliminary work yourself and save a lot of money. Here are the basic steps you should take to prep your car for painting.

First and foremost wash the car well and take out any gadgets such as antennas, trims, badges; and if possible even door handles,in order to avoid working around them during painting. This will be very helpful when the painting starts.

Make sure that the surface of the body is smooth by filling in scratches and pulling out dents. Remove rust and carryout any other body work that may be required. Next, its time to do some sanding. Before getting down to this job, you must decide what your target is. If you wish to go right down to the bare metal, you will have to do an extensive job by using paint removers and deep sanding. If you however need to sand down only the existing paint work all you will need is a scuff pad to remove the paint and remaining coat. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have the type of smooth surface that can accept a high build primer.

Once the scuffing and sanding is completed to your satisfaction, two to three coats of high build primer should be sprayed over the entire car. Always wear a mask when performing this job and see that the area is well ventilated so that you will not be breathing in the chemicals.

Wait for the primer to dry out completely before block sanding the entire car to identify any tiny dents or scratches you missed the first time. Use a different color of primer from what you used the first time. The second coat has to be sprayed over the first and sanded off;after which, you will be able to find any low spots.

When you have completed this procedure, its time to wipe the entire car with a solvent that will remove any wax or grease residue, to ensure that the body of the vehicle is free of oil, silicone and wax, after which you can apply a finishing primer.

Using 600 to 800 grit sandpaper, lightly sand the freshly applied primer by using a sanding block. Be careful never to use your bare hands for this procedure. Once you have a smooth surface ready for the primer sealer, use the solvent once again to remove any remaining grease or oil.

Now for the final step of applying two coats of a primer sealer to give the paint a smooth surface to spread on. This will also help to seal in everything that was applied earlier on the bodywork, such as fillers, glazing compounds and primers. To ensure that the primer sealer remains very clean, it is best to apply it just before the painting of the car commences.

Now that the prep work has been done, you are ready for your car to be given a brand new coat of paint.

Photo Credits: Audin

This post involves:

antennas, badges, bare metal, chemicals, dents, gadgets, grease, mask, paint coats, paint job, paint removers, paint shop, paint work, rust, scratches, smooth surface, solvent, trims

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Car Paint, Car Tips

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