9 Crucial Tips to Remember for Painting a Car

Crucial Tips for Painting Your Car

If your antique car is showing signs of needing a new paint job, you’ll need to know all the important steps for a beautiful paint application that you’ll be proud of!

Painting a car can be a great experience for the DIY car painting enthusiast, but to do a good job you will need to pay attention to important tips that could help you do the job properly. Read more here in our article about DIY Car Painting Tips.

Here are 9 important tips for painting your car safely:

Crucial Tips to Remember for Painting Your Car

1. Always wear protective gear while painting a car

Don’t overlook this one!

It is not just your clothes that need protection during a paint job, but also your health. Paint and the other materials you will use in giving your car a new coat of paint may have toxic materials that could enter your system.

So for your safety, you should get yourself a paint suit, a respirator, goggles, and gloves. At Paint For Cars, we have everything you need for painting your car, including protective gear to keep you safe.

2. Make sure your paint booth is well-lighted, clean, and has the right temperature

Next, you should keep your spray booth or the area where you will be painting your car clean from dust and dirt at all times. It should also be well-lighted so you can see what you are doing clearly. It is imperative to check on the temperature of your work area as well.

This will affect not just the amount of paint and thinner you should use, but also the time it takes for the paint to dry between coats as well as the ultimate results.

3. Prep all your car panels

Cleanliness is a very important in any painting endeavor. You should clean your vehicle or all your car panels with soap and water as well as wax and grease remover to get rid of any debris, dust or dirt that could block your spray gun or mar your new paint.

You can also use a tack rag to wipe the surface of your panels or your car. Compressed air is needed to clean out complex car parts like the deck lid though. This is the only way you can get every last speck of dirt and drop of water.

You also need to prime and block-sand your vehicle or car panels with the use of a 600-grit paper before you can start painting them.

4. Get ready with all the car painting materials

You will need a specialized table to hold the car parts in place during the painting process. It is best if you will cover this table with masking paper so that it won’t get a layer of paint that it doesn’t need.

You can also get such things as plugs to ensure that threaded inserts are kept clean while you are painting. These plugs will also make sure that these inserts won’t get any primer or paint in them.

5. Stir up the paint

When you are already in the process of DIY painting your car, never forget to stir up the paint. Remember that as time passes, a lot of the product you are using will get to the bottom of the spray gun’s tank.

So, to make sure that your paint’s viscosity is maintained, stir it up often and thoroughly.

6. Don’t forget the paint filters!

You should also see to it that the paint is filtered as it goes into the reservoir of your paint gun. Although paint filters are standardized, you should take note of the type of gun you are using for your paint job.

It is preferred that you use a high-volume, low-pressure spray gun though for higher efficiency.

7. Ask a paint professional which nozzle you should use

The inner fittings of the nozzles of spray guns are adjustable. They are changed according to the type of paint you are using for a project. To ensure that you are using the right kind, ask your paint supplier or a paint professional which is the right one suited for the paint you prefer.

Check out all our car paint supplies here to find the correct items for your car painting project.

8. Maintain proper distance between vehicle and your spray gun

Make sure that your spray gun is as far as 18 inches or farther from your vehicle or your car panel while you are painting. You can test the distance between your panel or your vehicle and your gun before you start painting to make sure that everything is what you wanted.

As soon as you notice your spray gun spitting, you should stop immediately. Clean your gun’s nozzle with acetone before you start painting again. You should also make sure never to touch your gun to your freshly painted vehicle or panel.

Failure to do so will require for you to go through the tedious process of letting the wet paint dry and sanding out the marred area before you can repair it.

Read More: Auto Paint Application Methods

9. If in doubt about painting your car, always ask questions!

Remember that asking questions is never bad. If you are not sure about something that has got to do with your paint job, you should consult with paint professionals. At Paint for Cars, we are happy to assist you with choosing the right paint finish for your car, proper paint application, and more.

This will prevent you from making mistakes with your paint job and will save you the time and money in possibly doing things all over again.