Painting the C10

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm on the fence right now between Maaco and a DIY at home for the BWB .... Do keep us informed

I have 3 cars to paint, and I've seriously considered doing them at home, but between crappy shop lighting and the need for surgical room cleanliness in the paint booth, I just am having trouble thinking it's worth it.... especially since the expensive part is the body work itself. The other bonus of having another shop shoot the vehicle is they do the taping, idk why, but I hate doing the taping off...

[langleylad]

On my S10 I did all the bodywork , sprayed and sanded the primer at home , then took it to a pro to spray on the colour . That's what I'll do with the Cougar as well . Worked for me .

[DanStokes]

Basically how I did the Dodge Diesel, but just the green part. Our MAACO did fine except where I should have prepped it better (my mistake). Still, not bad. But I agree - if you don't feel comfortable with the shop, keep shopping.

Dan

[Bob Holmes]

I'm not sure about surgical cleanliness, I've painted in pretty poor conditions.

That's why I discuss the conditions with my paint supplier and then put enough paint on to cut and buff. We did create a plastic paint booth, water the floor and set up a fan with a filter to blow the overspray out.

[DanStokes]

Bob's techniques pretty much mirror my own. Plastic drop cloths make a pretty good booth as they statically attract the dust. I learned to put a few 2x4's along the walls to keep the plastic from blowing around and coming in contact with the paint - every 3-4 feet is fine. Just leave a slit for the door. I put the fan in the door with cardboard to block off the parts where the fan isn't, and furnace filters in the window to let some air in w/o bugs and dust. Works pretty well.

As noted on here before, I actually did one of my best black enamel jobs outdoors with the next door neighbor haying. We had a slight wind in our favor.

As far as the light - carry a trouble light in the hand w/o the gun. I hold it under the area I'm painting and I get a nice reflection so I can see when it gets shiny. Takes a bit of practice but worth it.

Dan

[yellomalibu]

It's gone. Will be done in a week. Amazing.

Here's what it looked like today before I put it on the trailer. As you can see, through my super high quality photography, the driver's side isn't as straight as the passenger... that door really kicked my butt.

[yellomalibu]

When I got to maaco this afternoon, both office employees walked out and started looking over the truck before any words were exchanged.
Eventually, I told them it was to be a work truck, not a show truck, but that I wanted it presentable. I told them about what you (Dan) told me, the sealer and the upgraded UV paint.

They said that a lot of the scratches would show through - apparently 220 grit isn't smooth enough, and they weren't overjoyed with my multiple primers... (but dammit, every time I went back to WalMart, they had a different kind on the shelf!)

-so-

They are going to give it the universal sealer.
They are going to go over the whole thing with the proper grit sandpaper. (I'm not sure if I'm listing these in order or not)
They are going to spray a full coat of urethane primer ( + $275)
They are going to paint it with the medium quality (Urethane) paint with the extra UV.

$831.99

Hopefully the extra $275 for the full coat of urethane primer was necessary. Either way, it's still not a bad price compared to conventional shops.

[yellomalibu]

I've got a question. (yes another one)

The grill and the headlight bezels (plastic) are in need of some spray paint.

Would "steel wheels" from plasticote be a good shade for them? I don't want them to be too silver - I think something a bit darker than primer, but metallic?

Suggestions?

[DanStokes]

I think (but not positive) that Duplicolor makes a silver trim paint that's a pretty good match for the OEM color. Worth looking into.

Let us know how the finished product comes out.

Dan

[JOES66FURY]

you need to prep and sand those trim pieces really well and prime them otherwise they will fish eye real bad when you paint them...painted the grill and headlight bezels on my 91 'burban and had to re-do it due to awful fish eyes...everywhere..

[yellomalibu]

Thanks for the input.

I have some leftover green self etching primer - would that be okay, or should I get the special kind designed for use on plastic?

I'm getting ready to head out on vacation for the rest of the week, so won't be home to get anything else accomplished.

[JOES66FURY]

I am not real wise in this arena, what I first did was just hit the grill and hedlight bexels with semi gloss krylon...FAIL,

I went back, sanded all the crap off and then sanded the coating they put on there a bit, hit it with some heavy rustoleum primer, knocked it down a bit to smooth it out then hit it with a higher quality semi gloss rattle can and it came out much nicer...

I am sure someone else can chime in on the self etching...maybe go to the pull apart and grab something similar and play with it till you get it right then do yours...if I had to do it over again I would do that.

[DanStokes]

Joe has a great suggestion. I always Prep-Sol'd the crap out of everything because you never know what's been done to the parts. If they've had Armor All on 'em they REALLY need a good purge - that stuff is a bugger to get off. Sometimes I'll start with lacquer thinner.

Dan

[Bob Holmes]

I always use hot water & TSP, then Prep-Sol

[DanStokes]

Something else that works great is to run them thru the dishwasher for the first pass at cleaning. Requires an understanding SO.

Oops - forgot to add "top rack"!

Dan