Painting The Corolla Myself. How To Deal With Peeling Clearcoat?
by datsa, July 10, 2009
So, I want to paint my car myself. The clear coat has been peeling for some time, there are numerous dings, and some body damage. Given my tight budget, I'd like to maximize what I can do. My questions are:
? How to take care of the dings?
? How to prep the car, given peeling clear coat: Chemical strip? which stripper? Sand? what grade of sand paper?
? Also, I need to replace some molding which was attached with double-stick tape and some sort of glue (needed a hot glue or UV (?) glue gun to cure the glue).
Any ideas or can you point me to where I can find out more info?
Guest Highway
So, I want to paint my car myself. The clear coat has been peeling for some time, there are numerous dings, and some body damage. Given my tight budget, I'd like to maximize what I can do. My questions are:
? How to take care of the dings?
? How to prep the car, given peeling clear coat: Chemical strip? which stripper? Sand? what grade of sand paper?
? Also, I need to replace some molding which was attached with double-stick tape and some sort of glue (needed a hot glue or UV (?) glue gun to cure the glue).
Any ideas or can you point me to where I can find out more info?
Has your car being repainted previously? Peeling clearcoat could indicate that the color layer (basecoat) was to dry when it got shot with clear.
Dings: if you're repainting the car you can use automotive filler to smooth them out. Try to push the dings from the backside to see if they pop out.
Prep: chemical is possible, you can also sand it all down, use primer/isolator to isolate the old paint. If you sand to bare metal, you wull need to use primer.
Molding: you can get the double sided sticky tape from an automotive shop. No need to cure, clean / degrease the moulding / panel first before sticking.
If you prepare your car yourself, but somebody else is going to respray your car - talk to that person. Not all primers / sealers etc. are compatible with proffesional 2K paints. You could be spending a lot of time prepping the car 100%, and when the paint goes on it may react with the stuff you used resulting in problems / poor finish.
Has your car being repainted previously? Peeling clearcoat could indicate that the color layer (basecoat) was to dry when it got shot with clear.
The paint was fine until I moved from inland (valley) clear across the state; I now live two blocks from the ocean. After about two months, the clear coat started peeling. Perhaps the salt air? My neighbor swears that the fade to his 95 Civic was due to the salt air and sun.
Dings: if you're repainting the car you can use automotive filler to smooth them out. Try to push the dings from the backside to see if they pop out.
I'll try this. I wonder how I can go about removing old Bondo that was put on my car by some lame body shop that is no longer in business.
Their Bondo job was terrible.
Molding: you can get the double sided sticky tape from an automotive shop. No need to cure, clean / degrease the moulding / panel first before sticking.
I am considering removing all the moulding, then sanding, prepping, and painting. Just to see what the car would look like without moulding; perhaps more contemporary?
If you prepare your car yourself, but somebody else is going to respray your car - talk to that person. Not all primers / sealers etc. are compatible with proffesional 2K paints. You could be spending a lot of time prepping the car 100%, and when the paint goes on it may react with the stuff you used resulting in problems / poor finish.
I plan to paint the car myself, either with a roller or more likely with a sprayer (I already have a compressor, I'm looking for a reasonably-priced spray gun to go with it.
What size compressor do you have? How big is the tank? Smaller compressors can be used to paint automobiles, but keep in mind that they might not have enough reserve air (tank size) or supply enough CFM and PSI to get a good job.
For conventional spray guns - I've stuck with Bink brand guns and never been disappointed. Also a good idea to invest in proper air filtration, air drying, air regulation - mostly depends on your air compressor. Frustrating to spend time and money in prep work only to have it go down the tubes because of oil or moisture contaimination in the supply air to the paint gun.
As far as repair previous bondo work - depends on what kind of body filler they used. Regular Bondo will probably just fall out if tapped a few times. If it is something like Duraglas - probably have to grind/sand down the repair area - or just cut it off and do some metal work to bring the body up as close as possible. I've seen some pretty atrocious bodywork - everything from steel wool to plain newspaper stuffed into large cavities and then smeared with 20-30lbs of Bondo to a cavity that wasn't properly prep'd - used wood screws to provide a biting surface for Bondo work. Those kind of things - better (saves time and effort) to grind away the attempted repair and start fresh.
What size compressor do you have? How big is the tank?
I have a 19 gallon 6 cfm @ 40 psi 1.5 HP compressor. I bought it for portability, but I realize that 1.5 HP isn't a lot.
I am currently looking at larger 26 gallon compressor. Bigger usually means more air, but less portability.
Do I need more horsepower (say 5-6 HP)?
Alternatively, I could get a turbine sprayer, preferably 4 stage turbine. Any thoughts on this?
For conventional spray guns - I've stuck with Bink brand guns and never been disappointed. Also a good idea to invest in proper air filtration, air drying, air regulation - mostly depends on your air compressor. Frustrating to spend time and money in prep work only to have it go down the tubes because of oil or moisture contaimination in the supply air to the paint gun.
Yes, I am looking at various spray guns as well as inline filters to filter out air and oil from the compressor.
As far as repair previous bondo work - depends on what kind of body filler they used . . . Those kind of things - better (saves time and effort) to grind away the attempted repair and start fresh.
It's not a lot of Bondo, but I think I'll grind away and start fresh. That's one of the reasons I got a compressor; the other was that air tools makes it so much easier to do work in narrow spaces where manual tools can't get enough torque.
Lastly, why not just get a Maaco/Earl Scheib/One Day/Miracle paint job? Because, I want to put on multiple layers of paint and clear coat to protect the car from ocean air/salt spray, but I don't want to spend a fortune on painting the car.
Should be OK with your current setup. The 19 gallon tank should be good enough to put down a couple passes of paint before the motor kicks back in to fill the tank. I've used tanks as small as 13 gallons and gotten pretty decent results. HP would depend on the power you have available - about 2HP is the max you can get with standard 15A/115V service. If you jump to a 5-6HP unit, you'll have to run them off of 230V.
The turbine sprayers is one that I've entertained as well. These HVLP setups (typically 60CFM @ 5PSI) is similar to how OEM does it, everything is a plus with these - up to 80% less overspray than conventional setups (uses up to 50% less paint), heats the air to cook out moisture, and no oil in the lines. Plus they can spray just amount anything that will flow through the spray gun. Something like this guy - http://www.tptools.com/p/2994,60_Showtime-90-HVLP-Turbine-Unit-with-ProLine-Spray-Paint-Gun.html
Drawback is they are fairly expensive and can only be used for painting purposes. But if you can rent one - might be worthwhile.
Guest josedrifter
hi ,, i painted my 240sx a wile ago,, i was also on a budget ,,,, and all it cost me was arround 100dlls i belive,, my 240sx had a nasty looking bump ata rear fender so i had to use a hammer and a piece of wood , to hit it ffrom the inside of the car to push the bump out ,, then i sand the hole car with i think it was 400 wet and dry sand paper,, aftes i sand it , i used bondo , i bought the cheapes bucket,, bondo is simple to use but you has to have patients! , ,,after puting bondo everywhere i had to , the i sanded the bondo ,, with the same sand grade 400, and then! after sanding it like that i used a lighter grade 1000 sand paper to smooth ,, then i used like am,, it was a bout 10 cans of primer that i bought in walmart for about 1 $ or something,, o i have to say i did not sand all the way to bare metal! , so i did not need to much primer , just enough to cover the whole car , then after i primed it ,,
i whent to autozone,,, looking for car paint, and i found this ready and prepared duplicolor bucket paint , so i bought 3 cans of silver paint , here they cost about 24 dollars or something like that , and well,, i just washed the car so that i take away all the dirt and dust ,, waited until it completly dried , used old paper , new paper magazine paper , ani thing even plastic bags to perfectly cover all tail lights ,head lights , windows , and frames you dont want to get painted do this befor using primer and again befor painting , o yea and the i used a big compreseor ,, as talla as me , and a paint gun that i found some where in the back yard , , so i just got the paint gun clean , and ready to start spraying , hope it was use full
The paint was fine until I moved from inland (valley) clear across the state; I now live two blocks from the ocean. After about two months, the clear coat started peeling. Perhaps the salt air? My neighbor swears that the fade to his 95 Civic was due to the salt air and sun.
Salt air will do it. As will dry bird excrement (its corrosive). I live on the east coast, and like you I'm right next to the ocean. My car that I just bought used in May (10 years old but well taken care of) is beginning to show the effects of 10 years exposure to salted roads in the winter, salty air year round, and sea gull droppings (nasty stuff). I never really noticed the extent of it until I hand washed and waxed it today for the first time: peeling clear coat (mainly on the front bumper and grill area); a few very small spots of exposed metal on the roof, hood, and trunk area (from the gull scat); a couple small dings on the sides; a thin, shallow vertical dent just behind the front wheel well (likely caused by another car's door hitting it in a parking lot; and some superficial rust.
The rust is my biggest concern and the first body work I'm going to do on it, because I know if I leave it unchecked it'll begin spreading like cancer by the fall. Right now its confined to small spots, very easy to miss, on the door edges, wheel wells, the vertical dent where the paint chipped, and along the underside chassis. It was factory undercoated so there's nothing serious anywhwere - yet.
Like yourself I'm a complete novice to any kind of body work. I plan to start out by dealing with the rust on the wheel wells and such where any rookie mistakes won't be noticed, then move on to the surface rust on the other parts of the car where mistakes will be more noticeable. After that I'll tackle the dents. I'm on the fence yet as to when/how I'll deal with the peeling clear coat.
Overall, despite the above, its held up very well to the harsh climate here. I doubt many who looked at it would even notice all the above were it not pointed out to them. But when you own it and want to care of it, you soon start to notice and take note of, every little scratch and ding (or I do anyway). Its the getting to it that's the hardest part for me (tight budget, no tools beyond a basic socket set and adjustable wrench, and nowhere to work on it other than my driveway). Excuses.. excuses... the joys of used car ownership LOL.
I have considered having my '02 Corolla re-painted because the paint from the factory seems very poor in this particular year (or perhaps in other eighth generation). It's a white car, but there was a lot of oxidation on the roof and paint fade of the driver's door. I used Mothers clay bar, polishing compound, rubbing compound and wax to get it back to a nice condition on the roof, driver's side and rear. Took some time. I am spending today doing the hood and the passenger side.
I would have it re-painted professionally. I don't know much about what shops charge for re-painting a car. Any ideas? Also, I've heard of "Maaco", but with a low cost for the service, I assume quality is lacking. Anyone know anything about Maaco? There is one located in the city I live in.
Yes, the car has 230,000 on it, but it's in excellent condition. I am very attached to this car and my goal is too keep it until at least 400,000 miles.
On some models - especially monochrome paints (solid colors, no metal flake) - there is no clear coat at all - just the paint (pigment) coat. With a good machine polish (DA orbital polisher + quality polishing compound) - might get a good amount of the paint back.
If the paint is too far gone - repainting may be the only option left. Those painting shops - Maaco, Earl Schieb, etc. - being franchises, the expertise is dependent on the skill level of the painters at that shop. I've seen some that looks halfway decent and others that looked like a 5 year old kid painted it.
You could save a lot of time and money, if you prepped the car before it taking it to those shops. Of course, depends on how close you are to the shop - but this could mean you doing all the masking, removing trim, remove lamp assemblies, filling in dents, etc. Having a good prep is vital to a good quality finish. No matter how good the painter is, how great the paint or equipment used to spray - if the prep work is poor, the end paint job will also be poor.
Why didn't they put clear coat on some models?
Clear coats are mainly used to enhance glossiness and paint depth - critical in polychromatic paints and metallics. Has less of a visual impact on solid colors. Even with its inherent paint protection ability (basically a second coat of pigmentless paint) - it wasn't cost effective on solid colors, so the manufacturers didn't use them.
Also, when they switched to low VOC paints - clear coats had an unfortunately affect of yellowing the finish on a white car. So on certain solid colors - Toyota and many others, went to a single stage urethane paint. Just means that you have to protect the finish as much as possible.
On the plus side - you can get a really nice shine and luster on single stage paints, if you buff them up with the right polish. On clear coats - if there isn't enough solid particles in the paint or if the solvent didn't dry just right - the clear will be slightly translucent instead of crystal clear. Also, clear coats can cover up a poorly laid color coat - if they used an incorrectly type of solvent or dried too quickly/slowly, or if the paint was laid up too dry - could affect the overall luster you can get. That's why some clear coats never look "perfect", even after lots of work on the finish. Cars that have that 3 foot deep reflection and luster are usually single stage paints.
LOL.