How many hours for painting?

[chevynut]

Smooth, thanks for the input. Wow, I would have never thought 4 gallons of shootable clear wasn't enough. I thought when sanding clear you used 1000-1200 grit paper that hardly takes anything off. I've read that 4-5 coats is enough, but it depends on what's defined as a "coat". I guess different painters put it on differently.

[smooth 56]

Yes you do use 1000,1200 grit but to really get all the orange peal out you end up deeper than you would think. I like to let the paint cure for a wile to before I start to sand not saying you can't sand rite off but thing's will come back when the paint cures.

[chevynut]

Yeah, I expect the painter will want to let the car sit for a day or two before sanding and buffing. But it's my understanding that it's easier to do right after painting, instead of waiting weeks to do it. I think the real critical thing is to get a good coat of clear everywhere, so you don't sand through. I don't think I'll be buffing the bottom of the car, and I hope he's a good enough painter that I don't have to do anything there.

[Troy]

Cnut,

I hear MAACO does very good paint jobs if you do all of the prep work!!! And for only a few hundred dollars!!! ps I'm scared shitless about the paint when it comes time, I can imagine how you feel!

[LEE T]

Cnut,

I hear MAACO does very good paint jobs if you do all of the prep work!!! And for only a few hundred dollars!!! ps I'm scared shitless about the paint when it comes time, I can imagine how you feel!

That sounds reasonable, so I helped a friend do that back in the late 1960s, but the main problem with it is the paint they use.

[chevynut]

Sorry guys, I'm not going to cut corners like that now. I can't imagine them doing all that masking and buffing for a few hundred bucks and doing it right. There are probably some good painters working at MAACO and if I could find someone like that to do a "side job" where he didn't have to work on the clock for the company at a flat rate I'd consider it if I saw some of his work. Just too much risk, imo. I'd let my brother do it before I did that, I think.

Painting a car is like finishing drywall in a house...it's the last thing you see and if it's not done right it looks like crap. I hung the drywall in my basement when I finished it, but I had someone else tape and texture it. I didn't want to do it because I'd know where every little defect was and it would bug me. Same with painting my car.

[Troy]

I was just kidding!!! I had a neighbor that owned a used car lot and he used to have cars painted at Maaco If he didn't sell the car quick the paint would turn bad really quick.

[chevynut]

My brother and I went over to visit the painter today who was recommended to me by my interior guy. Larry said he does some really nice work, is very meticulous, and has painted several award-winning cars. He had a one-of-a-kind '59 (I think) Maserati there that they just finished and the paint on it was truly amazing. It was as flat as a mirror, and flawless everywhere. He was working on a 55 Chevy sedan that was in primer and another rare 1953 European car that has just been "restored" but not to the owner's standards, so they were re-doing it. There was a couple of other cars in bare metal including a nice '69 Camaro that looked like they were waiting for bodywork and paint.

He lives out in the country about 45 minutes southeast of me, and has large shop with a paint booth in it next to his home. It's a little further than I would have liked, but with a trailer it won't be a problem getting my car over there on a rotisserie. He's also a hunter like me and one of his employees is a bowhunter.

I took my computer with me to show him some pics of my car. He told me he was very impressed with what I've done, and that he could see I was a lot like him when it came to being meticulous about my work. He liked the way my car looked especially the custom sheetmetal. I showed him pics of my fender/door/hood gaps, and of my metalwork, prep, priming, and block sanding. He seemed very comfortable with what I've done so far. He also said he really liked the color I have chosen for the car.

I told him I was mostly looking for someone with a paintgun, a steady arm, and a good eye who was as picky as I was, and was willing to work with me. I told him I was retired and I wanted to help with the sanding and masking, and anything else that I could because I like doing this stuff and would rather not just watch the progress. I said I had access to a booth and probably could paint the car myself, but I wasn't confident enough to do that and wanted some help. After I showed him what I had and what I wanted to do, I asked him if he was interested. He said he was and would love to work with me. In fact, my brother said he seemed to act like he really WANTED to paint my car.

I asked if he worked by the hour or how he dealt with paint jobs. He said he did work by the hour, gave me his shop rate, and I asked for an estimate of the time involved to do what I wanted. He's working on that and will e-mail it to me.

I told him I wanted to get some of the parts ready to paint and bring them with the frame (on a rotisserie) some time before the body is ready to be painted. That way I can be working on frame assembly and hopefully have it done by the time the body is painted. He said he could probably fit the frame in between other jobs. I figured if I took some of the under-hood sheetmetal and fenderwell parts with me we could paint it ahead of time and not have to deal with it in the booth when the body is finally painted.

He told me a few things he does to ensure that he gets a great paint job, one of which is to wet sand the sealer to make it perfectly smooth before painting. He lets it dry for 2 days, then wet sands all of it and then shoots the basecoat. That way he says the basecoat lays perfectly flat, which you can see in the finished paint.

He told me he prefers to use european bases (Glasuirt, Sikkens, etc.) and duPont clears, but will use whatever I want to use. He says the duPont clears buff out better, but the PPG clears are harder, therefore harder to buff. I can also supply the paint and the clear if I want to or he can get it for me. I can also help him wet sand the sealer and the clear before buffing. I really like his flexibility.

I mentioned that I have used PPG products all the way from bare metal and was told not to change brands. He said he used to feel that way too, but has mixed brands with no problems over the years. He also said that he would use whatever brand I wanted to use and has used PPG a lot.

So it looks like I might have found what I want, but I'll have to see how much time he estimates it will take to make sure we're on the same page. I don't know what pace he works at.

[chevynut]

By the way we talked about how many "coats" to apply. He said he once hired a painter to work with him, gave him 3 gallons of clear and told him to apply 4-5 coats on a car. The guy told him he was finished, and still had a gallon left. He asked how many coats he applied, and he said 4-5. So the bottom line is that you need to apply a certain volume of clear on a car, not just "coats" because one guy's "coat" is different than another guy's.

I suppose if you could estimate how many square feet were on a car and how thick you wanted the finished clear to be, then you could estimate the volume needed. That's basically how I epoxied my shop floor.

[Bihili]

Let's look at your car from his point of view.

His first impression would be, here is a car I can use to promote my business when your are done.
Your car would be a marketing promo for future high end business.

If you agree to refer business or put his name on a sign at car shows or some other promo then maybe you could work out a agreement in advance and get a discount.

I like the idea of wet sanding the sealer but I thought the sealer had to be sprayed within a few hours of the base coat.