How do I get the paint arrow straight?
 

How? I want my car to come out as perfect as possible, but the sides of the car is kinda wavy, how do I get it straight? Prime it and then sand it smooth?

skim coat of filler, lots of blocking, high build primer, guide coat, more high build, more guide coat, repeat until perfect. then paint.

Trey, I thought you worked at a paint shop? Can't someone there help you?

How much of a wave?

Surf-able or rock me to sleep?

The better the metal to start with, the eaiser and better looking the end result.
Hours and hours making the metal perfect will result in a higher quality finish.


Mick

Yeah, but what they do isn't always the right way plus I don't have the time or money to have them do it. One guys is going to help me get it ready for paint next weekend but I am trying to get some opinions from the guys here that have $10,000 paint jobs. :thumbsup: Plus he is going to work on his car also and we wont have the shop to ourselves very long, so I am not sure he will have the time to teach me everything.

Ill take a look down the side of the car later and see how bad it is.

200-300 hrs, metal to finish, gaps, sand buff etc

Wtf why does it take so long? That is 8 days straight at the minimum non stop..

Anyways, it's not that wavy, but still enough to notice.
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2900/picture982.jpg

Hours thats just the way it is, you have to long block the sides perfect and if you dont do it right you will put waves into it. Long blocking is not easy and not for someone who has little time. lots of prep will make the paint look perfect

Yeah well, it's going to be my daily driver and not a show car so I guess it isn't really necessary to be perfect.

Guess it would be kinda silly to put 300 hours into a car, then get a rock chip on the way out of the parking lot.

We do it all the time and 300 hours is nothing for a perfect paint job, think of it this way. I have 2-3 guys 10 hours a day for 5 days and it takes about a month to get a car perfect and another week to spray everything and buff it out. Basically you cant really charge what it would really cost to do right so you do the best you can for the time you have and money you have.

At 50-65 bucks and hour you can see how fast they add up and when you look at a done car out of our paint shop you can see the hours. A chip is just a chip and can be fixed easy and that is what we tell everyone we paint a car for drive it and drive it hard and if you chip or dent something we can fix it no problem. usually at our cost because we warranty paint jobs for any problems no questions asked.

Im confused. You wanted to ask the guys with the 10K paint jobs how they got it straight but then you say later that its too much? You get what you pay for. Getting it straight takes HOURS of work. If your keeping your car black then double the time of a lighter color. Black is the most expensive color to paint because the bodywork needs to be perfect or you will see waves.

i dont agree on the double price.... if you get a show paint it needs to be straight regardless of color.... but it takes time to get it right.... lots of tim, and colorsanding and buffing afterwards...

you could paint it in your garage.... all you need is time:thumbsup: and lots of guidecoats and longboards....

I was just trying to see how they did it, if there were any tips or tricks to be learned from the pros. I just didn't know they put that much time into the paint.

Trust me --Chris--John--Duece are right on!! jim :D

My mustang took me 3 months working on it 4 hours a night to get the body prefect in my mind. The trick is to make all the panels flush with each other if ones off light will catch it and the gaps can be a pain also.The longer the sanding block you can use the better and a flexible metal ruler i use to see if the panels are flush or not.Yes its a huge job but worth it in the end you can brag you done the work.

X2 there are no short cuts to this.

The best tip is to let a professional do it. Tricks and tips are as abundant as shops. Everyone has "their" own way to get a result. If you are a novice at body work getting some buddies (3 or 4) to help with the labor. 4 guys/gals sanding at once reduces the time and saves your arms...Offer some beverages / food "after" the day is over not during! Another is always do the body work with the car on it's wheels / ground / table with the same weight as you will be driving it. Panels change alignment when you add weight and suspension load.

I worked he sheet metal on my car for months, and it still isn't as perfect as I would have liked! Frankly, however, your car is going to need a lot of other stuff before you worry about painting the body. If I were you, I'd start with safety stuff first, the I'd take one area at a time apart and clean it up and get it looking good.

For example: Take the front suspension apart and replace the ball joints, bushings, etc. While that's apart, clean the frame and paint it. Clean the A-arms and steering parts and paint them. Etc, etc, etc.

Even if you "rattle can" it, the work will take you the better part of a year!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill