How to Paint a Car?
How to Paint A Car?
You may have been looking at your car for quite some time and decided you wanted to change something about it, and you decided you wanted to change the color of it. Initially, you may think that changing the color of your car will be very expensive and you will need a professional to be able to do it for you. However, this isn’t always the case as you can quite easily do it yourself with the right automotive touch-up paint!
Another reason you may want to paint your car is that there may be a little scratch on it and you would quite like it to be covered up without it being too costly. Therefore Best of Machinery has given you all of the answers just below about how you can paint your car.
Related: Airless paint sprayer
Selecting the Car Paint
Firstly, you can’t just go and purchase any type of paint in the hope to put it onto your car, because this will actually completely ruin it. You need a very specific car paint, you should be able to get this from most car stores, or you can even purchase it online. If you’re looking for a paint that will match the current color on your car, then you will need to get somebody to match it for you and mix the paint to create the exact same color.
To find out what color your car is there will be a specific code that will be located on either the bonnet, under the boot, or on the inside on one of your car doors.
What tools will you Need?
In order to paint your car, there are actually quite a few different tools that you will need, and you will also need tools to clean your car before you paint it too. Here’s the list of things that you will need:
- Paint
- Sanding and polishing tools
- Safety equipment
- Painting equipment
- Mineral spirits
- Cloths
- Masking tape
- Corrosion resistant paint primer
- Wax
- Paint sprayer
- Polish
How to Prepare to Paint your Car?
Before you apply new paint to your car, there are actually several steps that you will need to do. Firstly, you will need to find a suitable place to place your car where you can easily paint it. Once you have done this, you will need to get all of your equipment ready, and this includes your safety equipment like gloves and safety goggles.
Before you do anything, you will need to remove any rust and repair any dents that are on your car, this is because you don’t want to still be able to see these through the new paint. It’s important that you then take any plastic or chrome off of the car, you should be able to easily do this, and it’s also easy to put them back on once you have finished the paint job. Want to paint the plastic? Try one of these spray paints for plastic.
The next step might take you quite a while, and that’s because you will then need to sand off the paint that is currently on your car. You will need to do this until it’s completely down to the bare metal. Once you have done this it’s important that you clean the car with mineral spirits, you need to do this to make sure that there are no oils left on the car.
Next, you will need to grab your masking tape and cover all of the parts of the car that you do not want to get painted, the masking tape will be able to protect them from the paint, so they do not change color at all. This is everything you need to do to before you start painting your car.
How to Apply Paint to your Car?
Before you start applying any paint to your car, you will need to prime that part you want to paint with a corrosion resistant primer, but you only need to do this if you have removed all of the paint, so there’s only metal left. Once you have applied the primer you will then need to leave it to cure, the times may vary depending on what primer you have. It should tell you how long you need to leave the primer to cure for on the tin.
Once it has finished curing you will then need to sand the surface until it is smooth; it’s best to use 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper to do this. After you have done this, you will then need to clean the surface, and you must make sure that there is no dust or oil on the surface. Now it’s time to spray the paint onto the car and to do this, you will need to use a paint sprayer.
There should be directions about how you should apply the paint to the car on the tin, so make sure that you follow these instructions, plus, you will need to make sure that the paint has been thinned before you apply it to the car. You will need to leave the paint to dry between 24 hours and 7 days, it will vary depending on what paint you have purchased. Once it’s dry, you can then finish sanding the car over one last time.
Conclusion
Overall, it may seem quite complicated to paint your car, but trust us it’s really not, all that you need to do is follow all of the steps that we have mentioned above, and you will have a new and fresh color on your car in no time.