Auto body questions(ask here)

i dont know how much his class is but mine was about 8000 a year and its a 2 year class, but they give u everything

this class is $150 for 12 weeks, 1 class/week, 3 hours. It's at the local voc-tech high school. No supplies are included, but they have most tools. The tools are kinda crappy, bringing my own tools is better.

They wouldn't care if I brought my camera in, I'd just look like a whacko...

It's really hard to paint a whole car. The shop has 40 kids in there during the day, so they can't be sure the booth will be empty. Also, it's only 3 hours long so there isn't enough time to mask, paint, bake, and unmask a car to get it out of there in the same night. That said, my garage will be a fine booth for a whole-car paint, once I know what the heck I'm doing. If we arrange to have the booth cleared out, we will be able to paint large parts as a class...

Not a bad price at all.

im sorry to tell you this but 3 hours is plenty of time. to mask, prime, seal, base coat,and clear coat, then bake.that step can be done in less then an hour. its the prep that takes time, if your work sucks be for you paint then the paint is going to suck, just remeber that

we'll see. I really want to paint my car. I don't know if I'll have all the prep work done in time for the class to end, so I might end up making my own garage into a spray booth. I'd be happier there anyway, so I can take my time and be careful. I really don't want to rush it.

I'll get lots of practice on the individual parts I want to do on my van, plus I'll use the class to prep my car, pulling the dings and repairing a couple of little rusty spots so it will be easier for me to set up and paint at home.

I'd paint at home too. Rushing is never fun.

ok well spring is finally almost upon us new yorker's. and its been a long hard winter. but my car is just about ready to go in to the body shop. im sorry to say that my concept bumper didn't work out. there wasn't enough support to prevent flexing .ooo well. now to the point of this thread. what should i shave. should i shave the side molding if i do who ever wants it can have em for free, just pay shipping. same with all shaved parts. door handles, im not so sure because im going to want to go to the track. then antenna is a must . the bumpers yupp,

so lets see

Shaved front bumper
Shaved molding
Shaved rear bumper
Shaved trunk
Shaved antenna
Shaved emblems
Custom side skirts for exhaust

OMG, I've been thinking about shaving the antenna too. I want to see how it looks first. How about a ghost "R" on the hood. Maybe ghost script of "Riviera" on the side.

yea thats paint work im no wear near that yet

sounds like exacly what my plans are. Im going with a stealth like matte black color. hopefully radar will have less chance of picking it up

97rivman wrote:

sounds like exacly what my plans are. Im going with a stealth like matte black color. hopefully radar will have less chance of picking it up

It's not just the color that makes them stealth, it is the way they disturb, or don't disturb, the air stream that makes them invisible to radar. I don't think the Riv could ever do that!

ur right, even blind people love the way a riv looks

the color i like is autumn copper

The Riviera has a drag coefficient of .03 something or something like that, so it's about as invisible as you can get without being in a Le Mans Prototype or F1 car.

I'm liking that copper color on the Riv. It's a little loud though, maybe tone it down a bit with some black or brown mixed in. Good color, anyway.

Thats some wild looking paint.
Who makes that paint?
I bet it is expensive...

Bert

im going with cheapo Nason paints the paint code is A50 from a 2007 infiniti FX45

the cost is 173 bucks for a gallon, yes a gallon its so fuggin cheap

WHEEE I'm post crazy today..

anyway.. starting to think about getting the Rivi repainted soon... it's got the GM primer issue.. I know someone on here has had to deal with this situation.. what's the best method?? Do I HAVE to strip it to metal to get the crappy factory primer off or is there another way to skin this cat?

I'm almost contemplating finding a media blaster (I've heard walnut shells are great for this type of work, they don't pit the metal as bad as sand sometimes does)... or someone WITH a media blaster....

thoughts, suggestions?

you need to strip it all down, its not fun thats why im waiting till winter to paint mine . this way i have time.do not use a media blaster, unless if you can get a baking soda blaster they work great just got one at boces. the way im going to strip the car is 40 grit on a 9" DA(dual action) sander, and maybe some chemical stripper

baking soda blaster.. I've not heard of that! thanks for the heads up.

*sigh* I was afraid I'd have to go to metal.. alright, thanks for confirming my suspicions.

you do have to go to metal, thats the point of stripping. if you have the etching like most rivs you need to go right down to bare ass metal

BTW nice sig LMAO

I'm no body expert, but isn't 40 grit pretty coarse? Why not a little finer (80-100 for ex.)?

AA wrote:

I'm no body expert, but isn't 40 grit pretty coarse? Why not a little finer (80-100 for ex.)?

40 grit is more abrasive and will quickly eat through the old paint and primer. You use the higher grit for smoothing and finishing.

I'm still thinking I'm going to go the media blaster route.. it's a lot faster and requires a lot less elbow grease... it's just a PITA to clean up afterward.

Aaron you use 40 grit because it coarse , this way as he said it will get down to bare metal. you dont want to use 80 grit because it will get filed up more quicker then 40 grit because its so much finer. just remeber using a media blaster may put small dimples in the body from the excessive PSI . thats why i said use the soda blaster

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1626&itemType=CATEGORY

Is there a danger of 40 grit making sanding marks in the metal?

there is but there isnt, after you do ur body work and then hit it with etch primer and select primer it should fill the scratches, if not then hit it with 180 then prime again and it will fill the scratches