Paint Job

Alright! I'm getting the old Piessan painted this month, but I'm a noob. I'm going with maaco to actually get all the paint shot, but i wanna do as much as i can myself to avoid a shit paint job that starts peeling in 3 months. So...

Buying paint - Should I get my own or just let maaco pick the white? Any suggestions for good brands of paint?

Prep Work - She's bondoed and primed over the bondo areas (although some of those are nicely re-rusting ...). Should i do the rest of the prep work myself? aka - removing shit, sanding her down, masking?

How many coats - How many coats should i go? Should i bother getting it clear coated?

Any other hints or tricks from you guys out there would be great. I'm NOT getting a color change so taking it apart/painting the door jambs and stuff is not important.

All the prime work you can do the better.

As far as clear, this will prevent pealing. Now the question is how many coats. Usually 2-3 of the main colour, then 1-2 coats of clear does a descent lasting paint job. This is of course all relative to how thick the coats are.

Maaco usually does thinner coats to save money (from what I've heard) so going an extra if you can afford it will definately not hurt. 8)

You're lucky ... white is the great concealer.

Some places, if you do the prep work, they won't warrantee the paint job.

Maaco only offers a 1 year warrantee anyway I think.

If your bodywork is already starting to rust ... hate to say it, but strip down the rusty parts and start again. If you paint over the rust, it will bubble in no time.

Ask Maaco if they'll shoot pure white. That's if they let you pick the color.

Pure white pigment looks amazing, so glossy.

As for base/clear ... not a lot of places will shoot acrylic enamel anymore, so you're probably stuck with base/clear.

if you're going for the cheap macco stuff, they use crap paint.

so either pay more for their higher end stuff or buy your own

Will they spray a paint that you buy else where?? 8)

Will they spray a paint that you buy else where?? 8)

prolly not lol

I dont think they'd spray a paint you bring in, so i think im stuck with what they use. They don't use cheap paint per se, just they dont use a lot. Whatever the case mr. 200's right about white being a good conceiler. Show me a picture of a car in pure white, i'm not sure i know what it looks like. In any event the car will leave beater status and look nice, specially when i take off the ugly black plastic moulding and spray over the ugly black bumper/whatnot. Sigh. can't wait.

I'll look around, I don't know if I can look at a picture and say "that's pure white" *lol*

But yeah, pure white has zero pigment in it. Most whites you see on cars has a bit of yellow, blue or even black pigment mixed in to soften the colour.

Automotive paint is just like any other paint. They start with a primary colour and mix in pure white or pure black pigments (or other colours) to get the right shade.

Hold a piece of blank white paper next to your car. That's the difference between pure white and not.

Then we think back (back for me, maybe ahead for you) to the reflective properties of light.

What makes things glossy? Reflection of light off a surface. The more reflective something is, the shinier it will look.

We all know black absorbs light ... white reflects it.

Clear coat and buff it ... your S12 will cause stigmata driving down the road.

i like white cars... they just are so much upkeep to make them look nice. i prefer dark colors but not too dark as they show dust easily. my 200sx has origional paint around most of it but a whole side is acrylic and it looks like shit.

Pure white would look pretty sweet now that i think about it. So long as it's kept clean and rust free it wil look awesome. Good tip, i'll go with it.

Let me know when/where and how much this sets ya back, my paints faded bad buy there are still some things i have to get to before i spray it.

how much are you going to pay?

in 1-2 years I will be sandblasting and shooting my own paint in my garage. :-P

i'd like to do it myself too yankee but i can't afford the down time. I've gotta hit up some junkers and get a few things for the exterior before she's painted, plus remove the black moulding, but i will get back to you when i get a price.

The Maaco paint is crap, and they do shoot it thin. If you can, take it somewhere else. Go with the base/clear, the single stage goes dull really fast. You should try a local community college. They usually have an autobody class. Their paint is usually better, plus they can paint as good as Maaco, if not better. I dont like Maaco.

yeah.. everybody's jealous of my talent/downtime... :p :roll: . Are you gonna get the black molding shot white? I was gonna do all red, but my dad thinks I/we should keep the molding black

take the moulding off and fill the holes and never put it back on again. I thin that would look even better

i believe the moulding is just glued on, so no holes. if there are holes im not taking it off, if there arent i am. it'll be white either way, even though my dad too thinks i should leave the moulding black.

there most definitely are holes on the MKII

http://img75.photobucket.com/albums/v228/mr200/200sx/trim2.jpg

Each of those spots is a hole. Well, not the wheel well ...

Patching the holes is easy though

http://img75.photobucket.com/albums/v228/mr200/200sx/trim.jpg

and I think the car looks a lot cleaner.

Don't paint the rubber. You need a special primer for it, and MAACO won't use it. Then the rubber will absorb a lot of the pigment, and look like shit.

by the rubber do you mean the shit on the bumper? and yeah iknow mk2 with the ****ing huge moulding has holes, but mk1 just has skinny moulding that fits in a groove.

Yeah, I forgot the MKIs had the nice molding.

But yeah, I mean the black rubber strip that runs across the bumper cover. There is a specific primer for the bumper type of rubber. You can buy it at Canadian Tire, it's not like exotic or anything. The rubber on your bumper is very porous and absorbant, so if it's not sealed properly, it will absorb some of the paint and bleed really weird. It's also flexible, so you need a primer with some elasticity.