Paint stripping question

[JimmyZ]

I didn't see JimmyZ's post and link before I posted, but I have read the link before. There is some good information put together in a well thought out manner. Nice work Jim. Your methods seem to run parallel to mine for the most part.

PS - Looking forward to seeing the pics Randy.

No problem Geezer... and thanks! :)If the same info is coming from more than one person it can only help steer them in the right direction.

Mally,

The real question is how far you want to go with your stripping and painting. The first time I did my Z(19 years ago or so) I didn't do the engine bay or interior. It always bummed me that I didn't do them. Now I can't imagine not doing the entire car. If you look at what some of the guys in the club have done with rotisseries, etc it is very motivational. In another 7-10 years when the Z is due for another refresh I'll probably do a rotiss.

Enjoy your Z for a while before you paint it. I became paranoid about where I parked and who was leaning on my car after the new paintjob(s). It was much more fun as a beater.

Jim

[five&dime]

What ever you do, DO NOT put WD40 on any parts you plan to paint. It will destory your possibilities for a nice paintjob down the road.

[jmortensen]

The oils, solvents and silicones or whatever is in there will positively and definitely cause problems... fish-eye, crazing, lifting, amongst others. The body shop I worked at would fire you if you used it on the premises. The problems it can cause usually won't show up until you're shooting the base coat of paint... at which point you'll want to shoot someone.

What ever you do, DO NOT put WD40 on any parts you plan to paint. It will destory your possibilities for a nice paintjob down the road.

I realize that WD-40 was a bit extreme, but when you tow in WA in the fall things are going to get wet. For the record, I did clean the crap out of my car afterwards with carb cleaner and the shell did take the paint just fine. Mine is a race car and not a show car, so I'm probably a bit less picky than some here would be, but I'd say my Rustoleum spray job looks better than the paint job I paid $2500 for about 10 years ago.

My paint thread on Hybrid Z:

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=128212

A few pictures:

I got sidetracked and still need to paint some odds and ends, but I think it looks pretty good.

Edited August 26, 2008 by jmortensen

[five&dime]

I saw that someone already posted the issues with WD. Sorry for the dual post. This forum is so quick to disallow editing.

If you ever do get oils on a surface you intend to paint, rubbing alchohol is supposed to be the best at removing the residues.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Zero Z

[EScanlon]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a spray can paint job. If that is sufficient for your needs and desire, then it meets and may possibly exceed your purpose.

Heck, with proper care and careful application, you can do some wonderful finish schemes with a rattle can. You just need to know how to paint with one. The flash time, the compatibility of the paint to the base paint, and the need for double wet coats etc all play into a nice finish.

I agree about a race car not having a $2500 finish, that would be ludicrous to consider ... unless you can absolutely guarantee that nothing would mar it... no chunks of rubber, side scrapes, no "bumping" on curves etc. which is doubtful.

The point on WD40 is that it can linger for weeks or months, and sometimes you don't notice the fish eye developing on your paint until you're applying that second double-wet coat of very expensive special mix paint at $50 quart. There's very little that can be done at that stage. Your paint is now mixed, and activated, you can't stop and wipe it off without some really disastrous and horrendous effects. You can add fish-eye remover to the balance of the paint, but it's not a sure-fire 100% guarantee and it still won't remove the fish-eye from the previous coat, and it will show. Heck, even spray can paint won't cover fish-eye from WD-40.

2¢

E

[five&dime]

Have you all ever seen the rustoleum paint jobs out of the can with a roller. Unbelievable!!!

Very impressive. Great results for next to nothing.

Here is a post taken from this link. There is tons of info online on this method.

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

here's how i painted my car for about $50, it's actually very easy and the results are amazing. First off, get a can of tremclad real orange (or what ever color u want) in the can, not spray, yes tremclad, it is a acrylic/enamel paint which is very durable. next prep your car as if was any other paint job, fix all the rust, ect....no need to prime the car since the tremclad allready contains elements which allow it to be painted over bare metal. next, after prepping the car get a small 4" professional FOAM rollers, it's tiny and has one end rounded off, and the other cut straight, and is a very high density foam. u also need a jug of mineral spirits to thin the paint. The thing i really like about this is that there's no mess, no tapeing the whole car, just key areas, and u can do it in your garage, since your not spraying there is virtually no dust in the air, just clean your garage first, also it does'nt really smell at all, dries overnight and it super tough paint. also it you decide to paint the car professionally later, just prep and paint, there's no need to strip the tremclad. i have done this to a few cars, and i can say it works amazing, u just have to be paitient. next u thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker. get out the roller and paint away, don't get the paint shaked when u buy it, enamel is stirred, otherwise you'll have bubbles in the paint for a week!!! after u do 2 coats, wet sand the whole car, then repeat, 2 coats, wetsand, 2 coats wetsand. i painted the charger using a can since your not spraying the car u use all the paint and not spray 50% in the air, use progressivly finer sand paper each time. it's not really that much work, cause u can stop and start any time, u can do just a door, or the hood, ect. do one panel at a time, and don't stop once you start. once your done the final coat, wetsand with about 1000 grit to a totally smooth finish, and then using a high speed polisher i use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound. do the whole car with this, and i'm telling u, depending on the amount of time and paitence you have, the results are amazing. laugh if you want, but for $50 ($30 for paint, about $20 for rollers, sand paper, ect...) it really looks good. also you can do these steps overnight, paint one evening and by morning u can wet sand. i have personally done alot of painting, mostly single stage acrylic enamel, and i've sprayed several cars in my garage with really good professional results, just it stinks, it's a real pain to do, easy to make a mistake, messy, and expensive. The tremclad is awesome paint, the "real orange" is an amazing hemi orange, and almost looks like it has some perl in the sun, awesome color right out of the can. I used this technique on my 1974 beetle also, here are the results:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/Picture10.jpg

the car before:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/IM000475.jpg

another after pic:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC00164.jpg

here is a car i sprayed (71 beetle, midnight blue metalic):

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC00194.jpg

here is the car before (71 beetle):

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/Picture1.jpg

here's a few pics of the charger done:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC02764.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC02769.jpg

well that's my 2 cents worth, sorry for the long post. i was borred

i painted the orange beetle in 1999, and it still looks like the day i painted it, the 71 blue beetle i painted in 2000, and built the car for my dad, i used the same paint on my charger, maybe one day i'll spring for a good paint job, prepping is 90% of the work, stripping the car, sanding, ect.....painting is overrated!!!

So if you have TIME, then i'd say go for it, the worst that could happen is that it does'nt turn out and your out $50, but if your paitient, and expriement with lets say just the trunk pannel and if you like it do the whole car, if not just get it done by someone else for $4000. i don't know about you guys, but i would rather spend the $4000 on other parts like getting the mechanics sorted out and new chrome, cause when u have really nice paint and crappy bumpers, door

[jmortensen]

I sprayed Rustoleum from an HVLP gun for the record. I meant to distinguish from the roller paint jobs that you hear so much about these days, but brain farted and didn't take into account that you can get it in a spray can.

[Fun_in_my_z]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a spray can paint job. If that is sufficient for your needs and desire, then it meets and may possibly exceed your purpose.

Heck, with proper care and careful application, you can do some wonderful finish schemes with a rattle can. You just need to know how to paint with one. The flash time, the compatibility of the paint to the base paint, and the need for double wet coats etc all play into a nice finish.

I agree about a race car not having a $2500 finish, that would be ludicrous to consider ... unless you can absolutely guarantee that nothing would mar it... no chunks of rubber, side scrapes, no "bumping" on curves etc. which is doubtful.

The point on WD40 is that it can linger for weeks or months, and sometimes you don't notice the fish eye developing on your paint until you're applying that second double-wet coat of very expensive special mix paint at $50 quart. There's very little that can be done at that stage. Your paint is now mixed, and activated, you can't stop and wipe it off without some really disastrous and horrendous effects. You can add fish-eye remover to the balance of the paint, but it's not a sure-fire 100% guarantee and it still won't remove the fish-eye from the previous coat, and it will show. Heck, even spray can paint won't cover fish-eye from WD-40.

2¢

E

Some brands of fish-eye eliminator will also have negative effects on the paint. I'm not sure what causes it, but something in the eliminator will keep the clear from sticking.

I have only done 3 overall paint jobs and a few blend jobs. so i'm not certain this is true or not. But that is what the P.P.G sales guy said at his seminar:ermm:

[geezer]

If you ever do get oils on a surface you intend to paint, rubbing alchohol is supposed to be the best at removing the residues.

Any of the fast evaporating alcohols, brake clean or acetone, are the best methods of removal of WD40. The rustoleum paint is actually a lot less subseptable to the oily solvents in WD40, than other paints because of its formulation. I have been surprised by the excellent results achieved using Rustoleum. For the money (which isn't quite as cheap as you might think) it does an excellent job for the intended use such as on Jon's track car.

[Jaspendlove]

great info. I am almost to the point of taking the paint off

[MEZZZ]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a spray can paint job. If that is sufficient for your needs and desire, then it meets and may possibly exceed your purpose.

2¢

E

I agree. I painted my Harley a few years back with rattle cans. I had absolutely no experience besides painting interior walls. I researched a bit, took the old paint off down to the metal, prepped, primed, sanded, sprayed, cleared, sanded and buffed and it looked awesome.

I did a black base with color shifting flames. The color shift was in the clear coat I used. Out of the sun, it looked plain black, in the sun the flames popped. The hardest part of the whole affair was laying out the flames to where they looked like a pro did it, no straight lines, uniform curves, etc. I cussed many times and spent many hours doing it.

The result was very worthwhile. I had many, many people ask me where I had my paint done and I always loved their reactions when I told them I did it with rattle cans in my garage, it seriously looked that good.

I doubt I would repeat it when it comes time to do my Z but i will strip and paint it myself. I think a decent HVLP gun makes the job ALOT easier.

As with the paint by roller method (too much sanding IMO), or a rattle can job or even with a $500 gun, prep and finish is the most important. There are a few different options of applying the paint, knowing which ones work with each other, final color sanding and buffing is the key to a great job.