Prepping for paint

**precisionmobile85** · 07-19-2016, 08:52 AM

I have a couple questions for all of you body work and painting experts out there

I have a 2000 civic hatchback that has been painted before. They did awesome on the little body work it needed but the paint wasn't the best. They mostly just went light on the clear and is dry in some spots.

Then some genius decided to buff it and burnt alot of edges and even some of the flat panels.

Needless to say I'm sanding it down and respraying it. I want to do a matte finish. Haven't 100% decided on a color yet but I have it narrowed down to a few.

Questions
What grit sandpaper should I start with? I already started the jams with 220..

Do I need to prime it or should the primer from the previous paint job be okay? It was only done about 9 months ago.

If I do need to prime it then what order sandpaper should I use for each step?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or answers you may have.

**oldmodman** · 07-19-2016, 11:41 AM

Are you just scuffing the paint to promote adhesion or are you planning on taking it down the the level of the factory primer?
If just scuffing just use a scuff pad. if taking it down to the original primer start with 120, then 320. Is the new paint going to have metallic flakes in it? Then you should follow the paint manufacturers suggestion on a final sanding grit. Metallics will really show sanding marks up to a certain grit level.
Once you get down to the original, baked manufacturers paint level you should not need to re prime. Unless the new paint requires it due to the contrast between the old and new colors. Plus, it never hurts to lay down a nice coat of epoxy primer/sealer and then you will have a known surface for your color to adhere to.
Does the metal work show any signs of corrosion? The time to fix that is before anything, even sanding is done.

I'm way far from an expert. But I have slept in a paint booth or two.

**rmagnus** · 07-19-2016, 04:21 PM

With factory paint a good scuff is all you need.

I've got a 2006 Lexus SUV where the clear has failed on the roof. My shop wants 2K just for the roof. It's been about a decade since I'v painted and now in CA everything is water based. That's a good thing because the isosynates were literally killing me. I really liked painting but it's nasty stuff. I figure I'll prep it down to primer or metal, shoot a sealer primer then base and clear coat and see if it's like riding a bicycle, lol. For a couple hundred bucks and sweat equity it's worth it to me. Maybe I'll try to document it here for AG.

**precisionmobile85** · 07-19-2016, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by oldmodman

Are you just scuffing the paint to promote adhesion or are you planning on taking it down the the level of the factory primer?
If just scuffing just use a scuff pad. if taking it down to the original primer start with 120, then 320. Is the new paint going to have metallic flakes in it? Then you should follow the paint manufacturers suggestion on a final sanding grit. Metallics will really show sanding marks up to a certain grit level.
Once you get down to the original, baked manufacturers paint level you should not need to re prime. Unless the new paint requires it due to the contrast between the old and new colors. Plus, it never hurts to lay down a nice coat of epoxy primer/sealer and then you will have a known surface for your color to adhere to.
Does the metal work show any signs of corrosion? The time to fix that is before anything, even sanding is done.

I'm way far from an expert. But I have slept in a paint booth or two.

The paint that is on it now Isnt factory. The car was painted about 9 or 10 months ago along with a little body work. They just kinda half assed the clear coat and didn't spray as many coats as they should of and some spots are really dry looking because of that

I'm just gonna paint a matte color on it without any clear on top.

If I sand it down to the primer coat they sprayed that is good enough for what I'm doing right? The body is flawless and doesn't need any body work at all. Just a sand and spray

**precisionmobile85** · 07-19-2016, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by rmagnus

With factory paint a good scuff is all you need.

I've got a 2006 Lexus SUV where the clear has failed on the roof. My shop wants 2K just for the roof. It's been about a decade since I'v painted and now in CA everything is water based. That's a good thing because the isosynates were literally killing me. I really liked painting but it's nasty stuff. I figure I'll prep it down to primer or metal, shoot a sealer primer then base and clear coat and see if it's like riding a bicycle, lol. For a couple hundred bucks and sweat equity it's worth it to me. Maybe I'll try to document it here for AG.

2k just for the roof?!!. That's nuts. I would do it myself in that case too. Good luck and you should post up the process when it's done!

**rmagnus** · 07-19-2016, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by precisionmobile85

2k just for the roof?!!. That's nuts. I would do it myself in that case too. Good luck and you should post up the process when it's done!

Yep but in all fairness it's usually about $1K per panel but the extra labor is the sunroof. I'm not taking it apart but planning in taping off and blending it in. It's a 10 year old car not a show car. Plus it's the roof were talking about. If I lay down the clear well enough I doubt I'd even color sand it. You have to stand on a platform to even see most of the roof, lol. Flaking clear is just butt UGLY. Figure it's a good DIY project as I have all the equipment.

**Travw3911** · 07-19-2016, 06:07 PM

If your just doing a respray, follow the paint makers recommendations. For example if you plan on using a primer sealer then you should be fine sanding in the 320-400 grit range and using a red scotch brite. If you plan on just base coating over what you have now I would sand in the 600-800 range and a gray scotch brite depending on the color. If you do it that way I would put a wet bed of color blender over your panels to eliminate sand scratches and metallic laying different in the sand scratch.

If you have any questions feel free to message me, I am a refinish technician with a little over 10 years of experience.

**Crispy** · 07-19-2016, 07:24 PM

I'm not a Pro, but have done quite a bit of the type of paint "repair" you were asking about. I use 400 grit to level and provide "grip" for Sandable Primer. I use a contrasting colour primer so when I sand it I can "see " how I am doing (all by hand by the way). I use 800 grit at this stage and am trying to get a nice smooth surface for the Base coat. You can keep applying primer and sanding with 800 grit until you are satisfied. I don't sand the Base coat ever. I would try sanding a small metal panel to refine you process. Good luck ( I had a lot of trial and error, but every once in a while excellent results). One last thing, matte paint shows defects same as clearcoated.

**rmagnus** · 07-19-2016, 08:05 PM

I would think a flat/matte paint without clear coat to protect it would get eaten alive by UV rays and weather. I don't have much expierence painting that way. I know I've used some inter clears to flatten the shine in paint and provide a layer for graphics but never just sprayed a matte paint w/o clear.

**precisionmobile85** · 07-20-2016, 07:50 AM

The reason I'm going matte finish is because I want to do all the work myself to start. Secondly I don't really have the doe right now to bring it anywhere and have it done professionly. And I had decided the matte finish because that was kind of the look I'm goin for. I have expeirience layin down basecoat messing around at my buddies body shop years ago so I know I can make it look decent....the clear coat would be another story lol. Wich goes back to the original reason why I'm re painting it. Thanks for all the advice