Do You Know How to Give Your muscle Car the Perfect Paint Job?

Laying down a first rate paint job always starts with basic preparation. The steps to a great result are based on skills that one can learn and choosing a few good products to work with.

The first step usually involves cleaning and then removing the existing paint which may be in several layers. The more of the body trim, accessories, glass, handles, etc. that you can remove will make the whole process easier. The best shops actually remove the body from the frame and separate the various parts like doors, hood and trunk.

Using a media blaster as well as the usual grinding tools and hand sanding will reveal the condition of the basic metal. Often there will be repairs needed to fix bent, rusted or corroded areas. Sometimes replacement metal panels are welded in to restore larger areas. And then the process of filling and sanding to achieve the proper shape goes on from there.

Here filler is being applied after all paint is removed:

After filling and sanding to the point where the surface and shape are taking pretty good form, a surfacer is applied. Then additional sanding and smoothing will be done to finally get to the best shape and a good smooth surface.

Spraying on a primer/surfacer:

Next the primer/surfacer is sanded to the desired level of perfection (which the professionals call blocking). More cleaning, additional primer coats and sanding will most likely be required. This is the stage when the final shape and alignment of the body panels will take place so it is really very important to do a good job here! When this step is finally complete, we can start the process of actually applying paint.

Finally after careful masking and cleaning, multiple coats of paint with more sanding and spraying the next coat can start:

Here is what Kevin Tetz from Hotrod.com says:

Perfect paint is an illusion. It doesn’t exist—at least, not in the real world. But it’s a goal we can strive for and improve our work in the process. The reality is that spraying the paint is not the most difficult or the most time-consuming part of the job. I like to say that spraying is the reward we get for doing all the hard work that goes into the prep work. Yes, you need skill to spray paint, but it’s a quick study compared to bodywork, blocking, and surface refinement. The masters will tell you there’s no trade out for time investment, and the more you put in, the more your paint job will give back. To think that we could stuff 30 years of experience into a magazine article that shows you everything you need to know to get perfect paint is silly, but what we can and will show you are some great techniques that will send you on your way to improving your skills. The rest is up to you.

Read a more detailed article from Hotrod.com with suggestions of products to use here