Noobie painting thread

**JET** · 10-07-2014

So I have always wanted to paint a car and my wife's 2003 Denali XL has a little bit of bubbles starting around the one rear wheel well. There are some rock chips and a few small bubbles on the hood and a small one on a front fender. A couple small dents elsewhere also.

We want to keep this truck for 3 more years, so it is time to take care of it before it gets bad. I will end up painting the rear hatch (aluminum), both rear quarters, the hood and one front fender. I am tempted to paint the other front fender just so it matches the hood.

I picked up a spray gun set that has great reviews from Harbor. This is the exact item number you need, they sell 3 of them that are interchangable but the others are not as good.

http://www.harborfreight.com/air-too...kit-94572.html

I already had a DA sander and a good variety of disks. I picked up some wire wheels and scotchbrite pads to help out also. I also got a small sanding block.

I have glaze to fill the small imperfections. There shouldn't be anything over 1/8" so no body filler needed. I will be picking up the paint and all supplies from Welle. They aren't the cheapest, but they are really helpful and have great stuff. I am using PPG's value line and will be doing base/clear.

I just got all my buffing supplies today, they will be used on all the cars. Pretty pumped to polish the BMW after I get this project done!

I'll be updating the thread with pictures as I go along. It should be an adventure!

turbotalon1g · 10-07-2014

Hot damn!!
Looking forward to this, paint/body work scares me.

TkrPerformance · 10-07-2014

bring back the cheap paint gun. You need to spend some good money on a paint gun to get anything that is worth a shit.
good luck on your first paint job

**JET** · 10-07-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by TkrPerformance

bring back the cheap paint gun. You need to spend some good money on a paint gun to get anything that is worth a shit.
good luck on your first paint job

This is the Devilbiss Starting Line but without the price tag, parts are interchangeable and they are made at the same factory. In the reviews many pros love them and use them over their big $$$ guns. I did my research and was planning on buying a Devilbiss until I found this one. Why not save $100?

b00sted_spyder · 10-07-2014

I don't know, a lot of harbor freight reviews are mostly from guys who love to buy harbor freight tools. One of my buddy bought one and said it was a piece of crap. Spray pattern was horrible and he threw it away after using it.

Kevin 1G Drummer · 10-07-2014

I had one of the nicer devilbiss guns a few years ago and threw it away after a couple uses. My super old SATA gun I got from another painter who had it for probably 10 years still sprays better.

**JET** · 10-07-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by b00sted_spyder

I don't know, a lot of harbor freight reviews are mostly from guys who love to buy harbor freight tools. One of my buddy bought one and said it was a piece of crap. Spray pattern was horrible and he threw it away after using it.

Harbor has 21 different paint guns, he probably wasn't using this set. There are 45 reviews on it and only 3 are under a 4.0 out of 5. I also read reviews on quite a few forums where the guys love them and some professional guys using them too because if something goes wrong they toss it instead of having to try and fix a more expensive gun. Anyway, not here to argue about guns, I made my decision on that. Just trying to share my adventure for anyone else that has thought of doing bodywork but never gave it a shot.

tehehodi · 10-07-2014

I have a wagoner paint sprayer that my parents used to paint their fence

**JET** · 10-07-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by tehehodi

I have a wagoner paint sprayer that my parents used to paint their fence

My last job was at Wagner and I hired Spaz and Grappler when I was there :P

Dark2g · 10-08-2014

I am almost willing to guarantee failure with a hvlp low quality gun. Been there done that, it is all good tell it ruins a paint job. If u insist on staying cheap I would shop Eastwood if I were u. They sell a better quality then harbor freight and are still somewhat affordable. Obviously the better the gun the better your experience will be. All the prep in the world won't mean anything if your gun is dripping well spraying or the spray pattern makes it impossible to avoid proper layering of paint. Just my 2 cents but hvlp needs to be a quality gun otherwise u are better of just using a cheap siphon gun.

**Halon** · 10-08-2014

Jet, you should know better than to try and share or ask anything here without getting ridiculed by the peanut gallery!

Grappler · 10-08-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by JET

My last job was at Wagner and I hired Spaz and Grappler when I was there :P

:wave:

I do like the direction this thread is going I'm in for updates

AwdGSX13 · 10-08-2014

what color is your denali or do you know the paint code? Chances are, unless its black there will probably be a few variances of that color. Let me know if you need some help, i am not a genius when it comes to this but I have been an estimator at a high volume body shop for the past four years and know a good amount about auto body and paint work.

**JET** · 10-08-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwdGSX13

what color is your denali or do you know the paint code? Chances are, unless its black there will probably be a few variances of that color. Let me know if you need some help, i am not a genius when it comes to this but I have been an estimator at a high volume body shop for the past four years and know a good amount about auto body and paint work.

Thank you, finally a constructive comment! I am about to say F this thread with all the stupid ass gun comments by people that haven't even researched it. How can you say the gun is crap when you have zero knowledge of it? It IS a Devilbiss gun without the name on it. Some people actually got the gun with the name ground off.

Code is 805k and Welle said there are no variations on that one. That is why I decided to go with the PPG value line instead of the premium. The value line does not offer variations, but the premium does.

I have done a little body work before, but have always sprayed from a can (custom mixed PPG cans at Welle) and it actually looked as good as the factory paint just out of a can! I find that prep work is 90% of the paint job. This will be my biggest job by far, so I am sure there will be a bit of a learning curve there. My biggest concern is probably avoiding fish eyes and orange peel. It seems like cleaning is the big key there. Any insight or tips are appreciated!

tehehodi · 10-08-2014

At least he's not using a roller. \_(. . )_/

AwdGSX13 · 10-08-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by JET

Thank you, finally a constructive comment! I am about to say F this thread with all the stupid ass gun comments by people that haven't even researched it. How can you say the gun is crap when you have zero knowledge of it? It IS a Devilbiss gun without the name on it. Some people actually got the gun with the name ground off.

Code is 805k and Welle said there are no variations on that one. That is why I decided to go with the PPG value line instead of the premium. The value line does not offer variations, but the premium does.

I have done a little body work before, but have always sprayed from a can (custom mixed PPG cans at Welle) and it actually looked as good as the factory paint just out of a can! I find that prep work is 90% of the paint job. This will be my biggest job by far, so I am sure there will be a bit of a learning curve there. My biggest concern is probably avoiding fish eyes and orange peel. It seems like cleaning is the big key there. Any insight or tips are appreciated!

Yeah definitely preperation is key and painting in a clean environment is important. Wash the truck good and make sure their isnt any hidden dirt. We disassemble everything to avoid dirt hidden in wheel liners ect. also to not have any tape lines and to make sure the product comes out 100% and will last. Avoid ANY products that have some sort of silicone base because this will cause fish eyes.

I looked up the paint code - looks like a black metallic? we have a few variations but thats more than likely is because we spray with waterborne which is a different ball game entirely.

Dark2g · 10-08-2014

Sorry man didn't mean to sound like .

AwdGSX13 · 10-08-2014

Having a good quality paint gun is important, I do not know much about paint guns, our painters use SATA and so does my brother who is a painter also. When you do it every day, having a nice gun and spending the $$ on it is a no brainer.

For someone who will do one or two jobs maybe, i dont see spending an uber amount of money on it. If you did the research and people have had good luck with it, id say give it a shot. Maybe do a couple panels first and see how it turns out. you never know until you try.

jeremy1375 · 10-08-2014

In my experience of learning to paint, I found that a surface that hasn't been properly cleaned can result in an uneven color pattern, fish eyes, orange peel. I bought Eastwood PRE Painting Prep based on it's reviews and it does a good job of cleaning up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by b00sted_spyder

I don't know, a lot of harbor freight reviews are mostly from guys who love to buy harbor freight tools. One of my buddy bought one and said it was a piece of crap. Spray pattern was horrible and he threw it away after using it.

I find the Harbor Freight reviews to be extremely useful and reliable. I bought the same paint gun as the OP and found it to do a good job. It did end up leaking at the trigger, but I had no trouble returning it for one that didn't have that problem.

**JET** · 10-08-2014

Thanks guys, this thread is headed where I wanted it to go. I want this to be informative for someone looking to do this themselves later on. Not a total how-to, but a good initial read to get them pointed in the right direction.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwdGSX13

Yeah definitely preperation is key and painting in a clean environment is important. Wash the truck good and make sure their isnt any hidden dirt. We disassemble everything to avoid dirt hidden in wheel liners ect. also to not have any tape lines and to make sure the product comes out 100% and will last. Avoid ANY products that have some sort of silicone base because this will cause fish eyes.

I looked up the paint code - looks like a black metallic? we have a few variations but thats more than likely is because we spray with waterborne which is a different ball game entirely.

It is a metallic charcoal grey. After doing some more research I am probably going with the premium line. They say the value line has less solids in it so it takes more coats. Here is the recommended list that I put together, may go a little cheaper if I won't sacrifice quality.

DP50LF epoxy primer for the initial coat
DPS3055 sandable primer over that, probably 2 coats
Deltron base coat with DX57 hardener, 2 coats
2021 clear coat, 3 coats

I have an extra clear coat on there and may or may not do that, but I wanted to leave a little extra in case I have to wet sand afterwards. This dark metallic paint actually looks like it will be pretty forgiving.

I was worried about a couple of scratches on the one door so I busted out the new polisher last night and the Meguiars 105. 10 minutes later the scratches were gone and it looks great! I was pretty shocked it took out that big of scratches. Now I don't have to paint any doors, huge bonus!