Painting a car is the most time-consuming paint job. It works a multi-step process that need much patience. You’ll need to know especially how to spray paint a car professionally. Learn professional level comprehensive steps by steps car paint job techniques which we will describes to day. And lastly painting your own Car.
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Can you paint over existing auto paint ?
First, I would like to draw your attention about automotive paint job. We would guide you fully so that you’ll gather skilled like a pro if you wanted.
In this depth article we’ll guide you It’s All About Prep. We also help you to learn about professional automotive painting techniques that plays an important role in the output of the end result.
One of the popular expert Jackie Joyner Kersee say-
“It’s better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.”
How to prep a car for paint?

One thing you need to know
how to paint a car at home outside ?
Now we try to solve this question. You can noted our expert solution which we collected. There are a several systems prepare your car for paint. Every method depends on how acute awareness with your task .
As it is the most time consuming and expensive job, so set aside your several vacant days or couple of weekends. A good paint job is obviously the end result of a good plan, many hours spent preparing the body and area, priming, sanding and welding; its all about in the paint work. In fact, using proper spray paint needs clean, dust and dirt free place.
How to prep a rusty car for paint ?
Well. Here’s the important solution. For this you’ll need to prepare it properly. Opting a quality finish to the car, you have to sand down the past paint task properly and also remove any impure corrosion, dents, or car wax.

Contents
Can you paint over existing auto paint ?
Yes, you can. When it comes to repainting or re spraying the entire car, prepping the paint job plays an important role before painting. In this journey, we’ll accompany you through few handy tips on step by step process with insider tips and tricks for thoroughly covering this topic. Once you picking the right paint for your car’s new look to give a touch a solid finish.
Okay, We’re here to guide, for you (whatever brand you’re using) to follow that will give you a step by step tutorial where you may found best auto paint solution and excellent results.
Check out several general tips and safety precaution for spray paint for your car :
- Prep your surface properly.
- Clean your surface to remove the rust.
- Get the good paint you are going to use.
- If work outside, choose well ventilated space
- Wear necessary protective mask and gloves.
- Tape and mask the car
- Sand your car.
- Prime the vehicle with a coat of primer.
- Sand again until smooth.
- Properly shake when using.
- Apply up to 3-4 coats of the topcoat.
- Apply lacquer to the car.
- Buff the car with a buffer.
- Properly mix and apply paint.
- Don’t spray too close or too much.
- Give enough time to dry purpose
Why do you need the right paint?
If we look in the market, we find there are a wide variety of paints available now, most depends for a variety of materials. If you need to paint your car or matching the old good paint, you’ll need the actual covered shade. Try to find the good paint that’s the right match for your car’s paint job. We’ve focused now on this essential parts of success.
Remove the rust–
A solid, clean and rust free surface is the free condition of good looking paint work. We know rust is a natural term for the process of steel oxidizing. It may happen when unprotected metal being exposed to water or water vapor. Only accelerates the process that is likely to turn very ugly very quickly. When the oxidation process has typically began it’s continue to full season as rusty mess.
Plus, don’t forget to use on your dust mask and protective eyewear, and then need turn on the dust extractor. Cause all fumes can be harmful for health.
Finally, inspect to ensure you’ve properly treated every rusty spots. You need to take effective action to protect widespread rust damage spot. Once Larger rust spot will need to be treated and tiny rust spot can be sanded out. Then clean the vehicle and wash down .
An interesting Scour up !
To get rid of all kind of metal scrappy things you can use a pressure washer to wash and clean the vehicle before you start.
Keeping your surface neat and clean from any wax, dirt, grease or polish. Remove the rust spots and give touch your car a fresh coat of paint.
So the perfect paint job cannot be rushed. It’s only the way to avoid this potential rust are to remove fully or to fix the process of natural oxidation chemically which convert rust to the solid metal salts.
If you’re willing to prevent this active elements you can choose a covered shed with a dust extractor. It can be done outdoor dry place where weather is calm, air-controlled environment and open air space. But you won’t be working a rainy day or beside the road or under trees. For this work, The easiest decision to this situation is a paint booth would be the right one.

Few Materials You’ll Need:
- Air Compressor
- Paint Sprayer (HVLP, LVLP, or airless)
- Power sander with sanding pads
- Hand sandpaper in grits from 120-600-1200-1500 for prep to finished sanding
- Solvents for cleaning surfaces
- Masking tape and News paper
- Primer
- Paint (enamel, acrylic enamel, or polyurethane)
- Paint thinner and catalyst or hardener
- Safety Respirator, dust masks, eye protection
- Body filler or fiberglass components for repairs
Increase your experience, for small to medium size car, To begin with, primarily you’ll need a lot of 1200- and 2000-grit wet-and-dry sandpaper, an electric or air-powered sander, masking tape. During the process you’ll also need big amount newspapers for masking off (you don’t want painted), an air compressor and a quality spray gun, a buffer, paint thinners, face masks, safety glasses, undercoat, topcoat acrylic or enamel paint, and clear-coat lacquer. A dust extractor (Unnecessary if clean place).However, The amount of paint actually depends to vary on your car size and size of cars space demanding paint. Commonly, small to medium-sized vehicle’s you’ll need 1 gallon of base coat or primer, 3 gallons of topcoat, and 2-3 gallons of clear coat. For large cars, use 1 ½ gallons of base coat, 4 gallons of topcoat, and 3-4 gallons of clear-coat lacquer.
However, The amount of paint actually depends to vary on your car size and size of cars space demanding paint. Commonly, small to medium-sized vehicle’s you’ll need 1 gallon of base coat or primer, 3 gallons of topcoat, and 2-3 gallons of clear coat. For large cars, use 1 ½ gallons of base coat, 4 gallons of topcoat, and 3-4 gallons of clear-coat lacquer.
Paint experts will need less than above, but in this case several exam runs to do. Your earned skills with this kind of tool will be much more familiar.
Work as a smart operator
When time to sand main body of this car, close all the paint as long you hit the metal or primer. More fresh coat use circular motions and work your way around the car in order to cover as large an area as possible, quickly.
When repainting or remodeling areas or want to match the original color as the old paint task, give the color code, found on your car’s compliance plate, to an auto paint shop. They will be capable to match it.
Most small to medium size Vehicle can be used HVLP Spray Systems from top brands. Most sprayers are improving all the time. They’re designed to fit a wide range of effects you can use on your car, and so they’re very adjustable.
To make your decision easier, we suggest you check out our Top 3 Automotive Brands to day. They really stand out for their high-quality materials, ease of use, and added safety features.
- Fuji 2203G Semi-PRO 2 – Gravity HVLP Spray System
- Fuji 2904-T70 Mini-Mite 4 PLATINUM – T70 HVLP Spray System
- Fuji 2895-T75G Q5 Platinum Quiet HVLP Spray System
Surface Preparation – Before you even attach your spray gun, you should spend a lot of time preparing the surface of the car. Use low grit sandpaper such as 80 or 300 grit pieces to smooth out the scratches or imperfections in the surface of the vehicle. You should also give some time practicing good wet sanding methods with 1000 or higher grit papers. The more time you spend preparing the surface of the vehicle, the easier spraying the car will be. This is essentially a soft 500-grit pad that is used to give the old paint a mix materials to grab onto. Body work and primer needs to be block sanded to a minimum of 220-grit, and 320-grit is best. If the existing paint is in good shape, it can usually be prepared with a fine Scotch-Brite pad.

How to sand a car before painting ?
Tape off any part of your surface to avoid overspray. Then just mask the areas you don’t want painted. Make sure to use a painter’s grade of masking tape that will not damage the finish of the car. No need for a plenty of prep work here- only scuff up or prime the surface you are going to paint. Make sure its will adhere. For this you can use steel wool to scuff it up and get a primer at the auto body supply shop. Next you need a little exam to avoid mistake. Simply use a piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil or to test on. It can be a process of trial and error until rather teach those errors themselves and then get to work.
At the paint of any parts of your car, its essential to ensure to always sand the edges extremely well.
Either using a large-grain sandpaper (say 600 grit, or similar), and rub on the surface of the car. Soon you will see a small amount of paint coming away on your hand. When the paint is mostly removed, need swap to a finer paper, as like 1500 grit, it will remove all scratches or corrosion. If you see any tiny holes, you can use few putty to repair the damage.
In the process, whatever system that you use, remember it up using 400- to 600-grit sandpaper to sand the paint to prep the old paint materials for the new coatings to be applied.
Body Filler– Once you’ve fixed the dents or damage or any tiny hole to the best of your ability, then you need to apply body filler over any small imperfections in the car body. It is most commonly available in a “plastic” version. For repairs prep the area (bare metal or epoxy primer) with 60-80 grit sandpaper so the filler has a good texture to adhere to.
Time To Prime
Primer is a one kind of preliminary coating put on surface before painting. It can ensures better prepared to receive the paint. It is essential for better adhesion of paint to the surface which growths paint durability, and provides extra protection for the material being painted. For this reason Primer is the called solid foundation for vehicle paint work. Once we’ve thoroughly cleaned the metal base and when the paint will completely dry and correctly adhere to the metal. Now it is time to prime it. Even at the unsmooth surfaces, need to mix everything in properly so that the entire materials is level.
Primer-After you have clear off the old paint, fixed body damage, and abraded the surface, you can now move on to sealing up the surface by applying a primer to the vehicle before applying color. The type of primer you use depends on few different situation. Another things be considered that how distance you’ve gone with removing the previous paint. Below are the common types of primer used when repainting a car. This primers are capable to hide joints and seams to give a finished look.
Such as epoxy primer(Compatible with most any other coating), self etch primer, high build surface primer, to ultra build polyester primer, Eastwood has the primer you need to get your vehicle’s panels block sanded laser straight.
Next, you can learn to use automotive paint easily. Just shake the can fiercely for two minutes that the paint is thoroughly mixed for proper suspension. after the primer dries, Apply a number of coats at 15-minute intervals, shaking the can between each one. If you’re using a metallic paint color, allow the paintwork 24 hours to dry then rub it down with 1200 grit wet and dry paper. Remember that the next coat of paint should be applied as promptly as 24 hours or as long as two weeks.
Steps to all out it.
For optimum professional results, sand down can be performed any primed areas to make sure an even surface. Whenever you see any of the primers left drip marks at any space, sand this quickly. In this way you can give away any dust you’ve gather when the priming/ sanding process. It will ensure that the base you’re using is ready to go with neat and clean.

Paint Sanding- If you’ve reached this stage generally, you’re using few things like a sanding block, a bucket of soapy water, and progressively higher grit sandpaper to even out any small dust like orange-peel (texture in the clear coat), minor runs, drips or sags, etc. After you’ve successfully sprayed a coat of paint onto the vehicle, you can start with more aggressive sandpaper like 600-800 to rapidly avoid the orange peel and major imperfections. Remember to keep the surface dry and check your progress often. Check out surfaces that have been ideally sanded and removed out will be dull and low spots will remain glossy. This will leave the clear coat looking empty, but it can be corrected in the next step until entirely flat looking. For whole your paint job by buffing out all painted surfaces you can use circular motions. In this process carefully using 800-1000-1200-1500-2000 grit sandpaper until the panel is flat and smooth with free from texture or minor imperfections. Plus you also use a rubbing compound to get shiny and smooth finish. This paint sanding can be used as manufacturer directions.
Lets play that game !
Waiting is a boring part probably paint your car. In the stage, you need to check thoroughly the paint label so you know how much to thin it out as learned instruction. Be careful, This time can be wholly protected from any impure or debris. ,Give the paint a lot of time to cure and set. Normally at the new paint and painting space is full of light and air, it will be touch-dry within 24 hours. To whole cure and adhere to the car it may take around near a week . To get even finish, I’d recommend applying around 3 or 4 coats of paint after using this technique.
Finishing Touches
Now that the paint is perfectly with unbelievable smooth finish. The final stage is car body assembly. The car is full set and proper cured. In this long process you need carefully looking any dust particles or air bubbles probably gotten in the way. Wash out the vehicle to remove this dirt, or impurities and then buff it to bring out the shiny glaze in the paint. As paints normally prepared from toxic substance and their solvents will be same hazardous to skin and human health. Whether you’re spraying in a fancy paint booth or outside, this time needs to get few fresh air.
How ever, along the process paint slowly. Don’t rush. If you do this you’ll need to redo. If you follow our above article we hope auto painting give you a new look. It does not appears an expensive job. Be charm with confident.

I read through your blog post here. I wanted to ask you something though… Do you know what the average price is to paint a car a different color? I’ve been told a paint job can be thousands of dollars. Looking forward to your reply! 🙂