How to Spray Paint a Car

Whether you are a car enthusiast or simply a car owner with little cash to spare, spray painting your own car may seem like an attractive proposition at some point in your life. If you are into the body work aspect of owning a car, the notion of painting your car probably doesn’t seem all that imposing. For those with little technical expertise in such things, however, painting a car can be both challenging and risky. In fact, most experts don’t recommend that amateurs spray paint their own car unless they are just doing small touch up work to specific areas of the vehicle. With the proper guidance, however, anyone can spray paint a car – and save a bundle doing so.

What you’ll need

To even begin the job, you will need a number of different sandpaper grades, two or three bottles of spray paint in the color you intend to paint the car, car wax, primer, and a good putty to use when fixing any dents that may be exposed after you are done sanding the car. You will also need a garage in which to perform the spraying – though you should remember to make sure that the garage door is open while painting to ensure proper ventilation. The shelter will also help to protect the car from the elements as you sand away the old paint and leave it without its protective coating.

Sanding the car

Beginning with 600 grit sandpaper, remove the old paint coating. Be patient, as this may take some time to accomplish – spray painting your car is not something that you can expect to complete in a few hours worth of work! As the paint is removed, use progressively finer sandpaper of 1500 and 2000 grade to obtain a smooth and glossy finish. As you sand, look for any indentations, scratches, or other imperfections so that you can repair them before you begin to paint. That’s where the putty that you bought comes into play. With the sanding done, use masking tape to cover every single area of the car that you don’t want to be painted. Be very diligent with this part of the process, as a good masking job is the difference between a bad paint job and a professional looking one. When complete, you can spray primer on the car in an even coat, and let it dry for several hours.

Let the painting begin

This is the part where the rubber meets the road. Spray paint the car with an even coat. Be careful as you complete each of the two coats of spray paint, since it is all too easy to apply more paint in one area than another and end up with a less than attractive paint job. That is the biggest risk in the process, and is also the reason why most people prefer to leave the job to the professionals – who have the tools and resources available to ensure that they get an even paint job.

Once you have applied two coats of paint, you can leave the car in the garage for a couple of days so that it can dry completely without wind or any of the elements disturbing the paint. When it is dry, apply an even layer of quality car wax to the surface of the car and voila – your car is painted!

Photo Credits: Randy Son Of Robert

This post involves:

car wax, dents, grit sandpaper, imperfections, masking tape, old paint, paint coating, painting a car, painting your own car, proper ventilation, putty, scratches

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Car Paint, Car Tips

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