NO DRIPS, NO RUNS, NO ERRORS or CHAIRS, BLOCKS & LADDERS

Hey it's another season of baseball... thought the "title" would fit, and may be the Indians will win the World Series this year.

First, A WARNING!!!!! DON"T BUY DuPont Chroma System Paints  or new company Axalta paint!!!!!!! Long story short, if you breath on it IT CHIPS!!!!!!!!!

Long story, I have used PPG paints my entire life for car painting. Never had a problem other than what I did wrong. as I learned to paint a car. The usual runs, drips, sags, orange peel and over spray. In this case the PPG paints I would have used and SHOULD have used would have cost about $3,500.! I should have bit the bullet and paid the price. Being new to the area, I found out later that the local dealer was adding a very large premium to his prices. I should have looked and shopped around. A dealer 20 miles away would have been cheaper. The only other local paint dealer being a DuPont dealer had the paints  for $1,750.00. I went cheap after his assurances that the paint was every bit as good as the PPG. In mixing, blending and spraying, etc. it worked like the PPG paints. It was only during reassembly that it became apparent that the paint has NO DURABILITY, CHIP RESISTANCE or even bump resistance. Wherever the trunk, doors, trim and etc. touched, bumped or were drawn up by bolts there are chips. I taped all edges, joints, seams etc during fitting and reassembly. When I removed the tape there were chips! As the car sits now, it nearly needs repainted and has not even been on the road!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing I can say good about the paint is that the color is fantastic. But that is probably due to my color choice; Dodge Viper Brilliant Blue Pearl and Cadillac Diamond White Pearl.

ENOUGH of my rant!

I can't even begin to teach you how to paint a car.  So.... It took me all summer to prepare the body for painting. I did just like the TV shows: filling, smoothing, straightening sanding, priming and SWEATING: ALOT, to the tune that I lost better than twenty (20) pounds! Not that it hurt me! I did learn one thing. This car has large body panels without stamped body lines or accent lines. All it has is a slight curve or radius. No matter how hard (or soft) I tried, the panels would flex slightly, so could never sand to get a flat, straight surface regardless of how much filler was applied or sanded. I basically gave up.

How do I paint everything in a home garage, and to boot, do it in two (2) tone?

What we discovered during the disassembly was that some of the small sections of the car had "layers" of sheet metal that were held in place by clips, screws and body trim. That was how the factory did the two tone paint schemes. The small pieces were painted the alternate color and assembled in place. I can only guess how the factory did the large sections, but here's how I did it.

I had to cover and mask the car body below the roof line then paint the roof three (3) times. Base coat, pearl coat and clear coat. I had never painted a roof before and the car stands roughly five (5) feet tall. How the heck do I reach up that high without dragging my arm, spray gun, and the air hose on the roof or not touch the roof? I don't! I used several step ladders, 2" x 10"s and laid a "platform" around the perimeter of the body and "walked the plank." It worked reasonably well. Just be careful of the footing, openings and especially hose position. Sorry no pics of that.

Then how do I two tone the main body? Tons of tape, newspaper, old tarps and plastic drop clothes.  I followed the body trim line holes for masking. I figured the body trim pieces would basically split the line of the holes so I half masked them and had nice straight lines to follow. Apply the paint, base, pearl and clear coat. Let thoroughly dry, remove masking, and re-mask everything in reverse, for the other color.

 Prepped for white pearl. The top is done and covered.

Body prepped for white.

Body sections in blue.

The body in blue partially done. Quarter panels are in primer at this point.












Okay, that took care of the body, now what about the hood, fenders, inner fenders, trunk lid, doors nose piece and the other bits and pieces? Not having a spray booth and all the attendant holders, carts etc. What to do? One articulating ladder for door holder, some hand made hangers over the rungs, two (2) large tables for doors and parts, peg board garage wall with tarp for the hood, patio lawn chairs with concrete blocks to balance and raise fenders and overhead garage door tracks with heavy wire bent to support inner fenders and other pieces.

 The hood hung on the wall. It is said that pearls and metallic paints come out better if painted vertically. Less likely to tiger strip if you see it better.

 Doors on tables for back side and edge painting.

Radiator and fender inner supports.

Inner fender/ wheels, doors on tables in background.

 Fenders prepped for blue, white area masked out,

Back side of fenders. Note the patio chairs, masked and on concrete blocks. Back side of fenders are masked. There are also blocks on the chair seat to balance the weight of the fender.

 Fender in blue.

 Fender re-masked for the white arrow.

Doors "hung" on the ladder.

 Door done in blue with stripe still  masked over.

 Door re-masked for white stripe.

 Door is complete. Note the trim holes that were used to "draw" the paint lines.

 Body rolled out of the "paint booth." Arial view.

 Side view of the body.