Paint job

[Scott S]

I am curious what other owners have spent on paint jobs. My '23 roadster's paint is about 25 y/o and looks pretty bad. My painter, who is a friend, said that it should be sandblasted and stripped to remove all of the old paint. This is about 150-200 hours of labor and the cost is steep.

[Guest palosfv3]

Paint jobs are labor intensive projects. The quality of the paint job is related to the amount of time put into the preparation of the car . Good jobs are not cheap and cheap jobs usually aren't good. The time your being given doesnt seem out of line but you should qualify what its for . Does the time for paint include disassembly or not ? Quality materials are expensive and color choices can some times add in excess of 40% of the color costs.

[Matt Harwood]

You can get very good results and save some money by doing a lot of the prep work yourself, especially if it's a friend doing it. You can take it apart at the very least, which will save time and make sure your parts are safe. If your friend is willing to work with you, you could strip the body yourself or get it blasted (which I'm not a fan of doing to body sheetmetal) locally for around $500-700. You could even do some of the body straightening (if needed) if your friend will let you do your own prep work. Using the supplies/brands he recommends will increase the chances of compatibility when he goes to spray the paint.

The only thing involved in prep, even for an amateur, is time. If you don't do it right, sand it off and try again. Unless there's substantial metalwork to be done, you can save a lot of money by doing the easy labor-intensive stuff yourself and just let your friend spray the paint.

Don't be intimidated by the project. Do the easy stuff yourself and save a bundle. Hope this helps.

[Scott S]

I guess you get what you pay for. I have several coats of old stuff to remove. Should I be afraid to have it sandblasted?

[Mark Shaw]

If you are going to disassemble it yourself, you can use aircraft stripper to remove the old paint. It is a lousy messy and stinky job, but just about any amature can do it. Just be careful to read and strictly follow the instructions on the stripper container.

You can do a door, hood , trunk lid, etc. after dinner each night during the week and finish the rest of the body on the weekend. I have done this on three of my cars & used Ospho to preserve and prep the bare steel prior to primer coating.

I don't have the hands of a body man, but I did get all of the "rough body work" done prior to handing it over to a pro. This saves lots of $$ and is time well spent getting to know every curve and crevice of your car.

[Scott S]

My car also needs a new top. I haven't got the estimate on that yet. What do you think that should cost? Is there anyone you could recommend who I could send it to? Again, I have a local person, but I would like to compare the cost.

[Matt Harwood]

You shouldn't be afraid to have it sandblasted if your sandblaster is familiar with sheetmetal and old cars. The problem with sandblasting is that the metal can be distorted by the sand hitting the metal at high speed. Some say the heat of friction causes the warping, too. Either way, if your sandblaster isn't careful, he'll damage or destroy body panels. I don't mind sandblasting things like floors, firewalls and doorjambs, but for body sheetmetal, especially large, flat pieces like doors, hoods and roof panels, I'm wary. There are other materials such as soda and plastic media that are gentler, although not as good at removing rust and even thicker areas of body filler. They'll remove paint just fine, but that's about it.

The chemical stripper method is probably better for a do it yourself project. It's a messy job, but ensures that your sheetmetal won't be damaged by an inexperienced blaster. It'll be harder to get all the paint off, and you must rinse the metal very thoroughly to ensure that no chemicals remain in the nooks and crannies that can seep out once you have paint on it.

Does the car have significant rust/body damage/flaking paint on it? If the original paint is in good condition, you don't really have to remove it. Rough it up by sanding it until it is dull with some 150-220 grit paper and your painter can spray epoxy primer over it to seal it and prevent a reaction with the new paint. If it's in bad shape, however, you are better off removing it.

Just go in with an educated eye and use caution. You'll be fine and save a bundle. See the post about the MAACO paint job in the General Discussion form. That fellow got great results with just a little bit of grunt work.

[RocketDude]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Scott S</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I guess you get what you pay for. I have several coats of old stuff to remove. Should I be afraid to have it sandblasted? </div></div>

Sandblasting is a relative term. Most shops don't use sand to blast a car. You can get it blasted with crushed walnut shells, or other less damaging media. The latest thing in this area, probably everywhere, is soda blasting. Using soda will remove everything, and it is so friendly you can blast it with all chrome and glass in place, if you chose to do so. It will remove the paint without damage to chrome or glass, and it is cool, so it won't warp the metal. Talk to your friend and see if he is familiar with that media, or hop into your yellow pages.

[Scott S]

The car has no rust and the body is in great shape. One of the problems is that, for reasons I can't figure out, my grandfather touched up some of the paint with spray paint. Maybe he thought this would be a good way to avoid any rust until he could repaint the car. According to my painter this caused two problems. First, the spray paint is uneven and hard to remove, and also automotive paint won't stick to it. I am guessing there may be several layers of old paint. I don't think the car ever had a real, professional, show-quality paint job. My instinct is to save up, get it done right, and not have to paint it again for a really long time.

I will ask my painter about the soda blasting. He is pretty up-to-date and probably has something better than simply sand.

[RocketDude]

Just for grins, I googled "Soda Blasting" and got a page full of information. Here is one page out of many that gives some information on the subject....

http://sodaworks.com/

[Matt Harwood]

The various paints your grandfather used shouldn't be a problem if you seal the entire thing with epoxy primer before you start painting. The epoxy will stick to anything and is a great base for new paint. It's also very tough and waterproof, which is not true of most regular primers. Ask your painter again whether this is something he's comfortable doing. I wouldn't have a problem with it if I were painting my own car. And if you do have concerns, it shouldn't be hard to sand off.

PS: What's your 1930 Model A like? We have a '30 standard roadster in chicle and copra drab. It is far from perfect, but is a great driver. I often think of painting it myself, but it has pinstripes that were laid down in 1974 after its last paint job by a guy who did it on the original assembly line. That's a neat piece of history I'm reluctant to paint over. The fenders, however, need paint badly--it's coming off in sheets.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

[Scott S]

The Model A currently has two shades of blue on the body, with black fenders. It is mostly a dark blue with some of the edges in the lighter shade. Unfortunately, the paint is in similar condition to the Buick. Both cars have been my grandfather's for over 50 years until he could not really take care of them anymore. Fortunately, they run strong, have no rust, and no body damage. Once they have new tops and paint they will be perfect.

Until then, I will just enjoy driving them.

[michel88]

My Buick club (Buick Owners of Maryland) had a tech session about two years ago. We had a soda blasting demonstration and I think this is the best way to remove the paint from a car. It won't damage the sheet metal and even the chrome, stainless and glass. I am about to have the paint soda blasted on my 40 Roadmaster.

[R Walling]

Quote,

"The various paints your grandfather used shouldn't be a problem if you seal the entire thing with epoxy primer before you start painting"

This statement is not correct if the existing finish is Lacquer or Acrylic Lacquer.

You will end up with cracks in your new paint after it has been in the hot sun many times. The Lacquer "moves" with the heat and will destroy a good catalyzed paintjob.

[Scott S]

I have no doubt that I have layers of lacquer on my car. I would like to paint it once and paint it right. If the old paint is stripped off and it is done right, I know that it will last for many, many years. I will just wait a little longer to do the paint.