DIY Painting your parts...

I have personal "backyard" experience with PPG DBC (Deltron Base Coat).

Here is my personal story on painting a very large bodykit on my Lexus LS400. It took some time but I managed to complete the painting. This was all done in the backyard in HOT, DRY weather (in San Diego).

I purchased my basecoat paint at Tri-City (they have a website). I gave them my paint codes and they mixed the paints on the spot. I had no idea what I was in for. The counter guy asked me what kind of paint I wanted and I said PPG. He was like...ok... and I told him that I was not familiar and he was more than happy to help. So we ended up choosing DuPont PPG DBC. I also purchased Wax and Grease remover and a mask. I went away spending about $150. on 1 qt base, 1 pt base, 2 bottles of reducer and the W&G Remover and mask.

I ordered my primer and clear from SPI (Southern Polyurethanes). I purchased regular grey primer they sell and their Euro Clear. This set me back about $200 for everything including reducer.

So i have everything paint-wise now. I purchased a stirrer from harbor freight. I'd recommend at least 3 stirrers. 1 for each color/clear/primer.

Application:
My gun is a cheap purple HF gun. Do a search loads of info.
Scuff the surface (in this case FG) with 400 grit.
Clean thoroughly.
Apply primer.
Wetsand Primer.
Apply more primer.
Wetsand primer.
Repeat till happy with primer coat count.
Let dry overnight.
Clean thoroughly before applying base.
Apply base.
DO NOT WETSAND.
Apply base till coat count is to your liking. *This isn't really important because it's really all about your clear.
Let base cry for about 30 minutes.
Apply Clear.
Let dry to tacky.
Apply clear.
Let dry to a dry touch.
Apply clear.
keep going through the motions.
Let sit for 1 week.
Westsand with 2000 grit.
Polish with buffer using a ~2000 RPM spin and Turtle Wax rubbing Compund. Careful with burns on edges and corners.
Follow up all with Turtle Wax Polishing Compound.

This is a quick rundown. I did it and my paint came out almost as good as OEM. I will tell you that it truly is all about prepping.

Chris

nice writeup. Do you have any pics of the progress through it all?

Why are you going to let the base cry for about 30 minutes?

[quote=Caoboy;182498]Why are you going to let the base cry for about 30 minutes?[/quote]
 
Haha...
 
 
Nice write up by the way.

[QUOTE=Caoboy;182498]Why are you going to let the base cry for about 30 minutes?[/QUOTE]

Funny man.  HAHA.  Good catch.  Sometimes base coat needs to be put in it's place before you clear it.  So I yelled at it and made it cry.  Then i cleared it and called it a little bitch.

Chris

It's very important to apply thin, even coats!

picture plz
:rules:

[QUOTE=chrisngo;182348]
Let base cry for about 30 minutes.
[/QUOTE]
 
really??? what does that sound like???
 
haha... put some pics up of the finished product at least

[QUOTE=chrisngo;183415]Sometimes base coat needs to be put in it's place before you clear it.  So I yelled at it and made it cry.  Then i cleared it and called it a little bitch.[/QUOTE]

haha, I missed this post

Good to see I'm not the only one who shouts at the paint to intimidate it into behaving!


Only thing that I don't do, that you do, is wetsand the primer. I just block it dry. The only thing I wetsand is the last priming before base, if it needs to be super flawless looking, and clearcoat, for reclearing.

Cheers for the good write up! :biggthumpup:

Good writeup... The guys at tricity are great. Which one did you go to? I havge yet to play with 2 stage paint but I have the same gun and painted my old 3000gt's front end and rear wing. All came out great but as you said its all about the prep and the final cut. I had issues with a little run and decided wasted time trying to sand it out and redo. I later realized I could have let it fully dry and then sand and only re-paint if necessary. Post up some pics.. PS. Should not using the blue or green masking tape as opposed to the regular if available. another quick tip is to use petroleum jelly on some parts you don't want to paint. Makes for quick paint proffing and saves time on trying to remove overspray.

got a couple steps switched around...

let base dry to touch
let clear dry to tacky

man...you make is sound so easy...haha...

you guys do know this post is 2 years old right? chris doesn't even have the LS anymore... but good write up anyway. even though he doesn't sign on here anymore either. at least i dont think

[QUOTE=VI IX;321687]you guys do know this post is 2 years old right? chris doesn't even have the LS anymore... but good write up anyway. even though he doesn't sign on here anymore either. at least i dont think[/QUOTE]

lol...damn, didn't even realize...

[QUOTE=VI IX;321687]you guys do know this post is 2 years old right? chris doesn't even have the LS anymore... but good write up anyway. even though he doesn't sign on here anymore either. at least i dont think[/QUOTE]
 
yea he does lol
 
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[/LIST]Last Activity: 05-18-2010 [COLOR=#d9c26e]10:22 PM[/COLOR]

Haha. Maybe he's planning on doing something with his cts-v. Uh oh.

I'm going to be doing this same thing. I have about 4 years of experience and training in autobody repair so I will take lots of pics and make a detailed write up of everything, including the dent repair.

so i guess i do it differently but then again i work at a production shop.

i use an alcohol based cleaner before scuffing the primer area with 320 dry.  i usually scuff at least 6" around the repair area if not more. after that ill use a red scuff pad over the sanded area. then ill blow it down with air, and then ill clean it with the alcohol based surface cleaner (autoclean) and then ill use a solvent based cleaner (m600). ill let it dry for a minute or two then ill lay my first medium wet coat of primer (you dont want it to look dry). ill let it flash til the primer looks like an egg shell finish (approx 2 min). ill apply 3 coats, all medium wet.  if its on a bumper with whicking ill add another coat or two. i then heatlamp it to decrease drying time (approx 20 min), about 40 min in open air.  i dont like tapering my primer coats, bc i found that if you do this you will cut through on your widest coat bc its so thin. if you do want to taper your primer coats you will find that your primered area will be really large. anyway, so after its dried i then sand it with 320 dry if the repair area is large, 400 if its small.  on larger repair areas ill come over it with 400 grit dry on a 6" da and aviation pad, and after that 600dry also with a da and aviation pad. make sure you hit it well with 600 so you dont see scratches, you will eliminate the chance of sinking, and you will be able to have a even substrate for metallics.  if i need to blend the panel ill hit it down with 1000 grit dry on the da then scuff it with a grey scuff pad and scuff paste. this operation is done wet.after that i blow the car down thoroughly and then wipe it off with the alcohol based cleaner then the solvent based cleaner. i mask the car up well then spray. this operation is for waterborne paints. with solvent based paints you are able to get away with using courser grit papers since solvent has a little higher build characteristics for its base then water.  hope this helps