How to paint a car well in simple garage conditions?
Many motorists are faced with the need to paint parts or the entire body of a car. Carrying out such work in service workshops requires significant funds. Therefore, to save a decent amount, you can paint the car yourself in a garage. It is enough to prepare a garage and follow certain rules for painting a car, which can also be viewed on a video on the Web.
Equipment and materials
Painting a car in a garage with your own hands most often involves the initial repair work and preparing the surface for further painting. All of these activities require certain equipment and supplies.
Among the tools that are needed for painting a car in a garage, we note:
- grinder;
- building hair dryer;
- a vinyl nozzle for a drill;
- receiver;
- airbrush with compressor;
- sandpaper of different grain sizes;
- spatulas;
- filters with which you can filter the primer or paint;
- planers for stripping putty;
- scotch brite.
To paint a car with your own hands, you should purchase consumables, which include:
- dye;
- degreaser;
- putty;
- primer;
- welding wire;
- masking tape;
- varnish;
- polish;
- solvent;
- antistatic wipes;
- rags;
- containers for primer or paint.
The right workplace
Before using your own garage as a workshop, it must be equipped in a certain way. There are several important criteria, without which the work will not be done quickly and efficiently.
- Lighting – The garage should be well lit. This will require powerful spotlights equipped with halogen lamps. It is desirable to place them not only on the ceiling, but also on the walls in order to provide a directed stream of light to every centimeter of the surface of the car.
- Electrical wiring - powerful lighting and operating equipment will inevitably create a considerable load on the network. Therefore, you need to pay close attention to the creation of high-quality wiring.
- Ventilation - during painting, a lot of harmful fumes are released into the air. The garage should be equipped with a high-quality air exhaust system that will prevent these fumes from accumulating, and will also help remove dust from the air.
- Cleanliness - the garage that you plan to use when painting a car with your own hands should not be dirty or dusty, as dirt can settle on a freshly painted surface and leave marks on it. Preparation of the garage does not take place without wet cleaning, and wet rags hung in the room will be able to keep the dust on themselves.
Car surface preparation before painting
Before you paint a car in a garage, you need to prepare its surface. To do this, you should first thoroughly wash and dry the car, and if necessary, carry out repairs.
Irregularities or dents on the surface must be puttied. Minor damages are puttied with a soft putty, and for leveling deep or extensive defects, it is recommended to use a fiberglass-based product. Before applying the product, you need to clean the area with sandpaper and degrease with a solvent. If necessary, apply several layers of putty.
An important step in painting a car in a garage with your own hands is grinding. It is made using a grinder or sandpaper of various grain sizes. After grinding, the surface of the car should be degreased with a solvent or white spirit. The result should be an ideal surface on which primer and paint will be applied.
Parts that are not planned to be painted are recommended to be removed or covered with newspapers secured with masking tape. If technical drying is planned, it is worth dismantling elements that can be damaged when exposed to high temperatures.
The process of surface preparation is an important and time-consuming stage, without which it is impossible to paint a car with your own hands in a garage. The main subtleties of dismantling can be studied from the videos that are presented on the Internet.
Padding
To improve adhesion characteristics, prevent corrosion and even out small irregularities after puttying, a primer is applied to the surface of the car. These works are carried out immediately before painting. Before applying, the primer should be filtered, and the surface itself should be degreased. Priming is carried out using an airbrush in several layers, each of which takes time to dry.
Important: when applying the primer, there should be no smudges or irregularities, as they will be visible after painting.
Body painting
When painting, special attention should be paid to the process of choosing paint. It is advisable to give preference to automotive paint, such as acrylic. All the main points can be studied in the instructions, check with consultants or watch a video. Before you paint the car with your own hands, the surface must be degreased and wiped with antistatic wipes, and the paint must be filtered.
The application of paint can be carried out in one or more layers. If you need to paint a small area, then the paint can be applied with an aerosol can, while an airbrush is used for a large area. The car paint masters recommend applying the starting paint layer thinly, making the second one more dense, and spraying the third one, like the first one. The subtleties of the technique of applying paint can be mastered by watching the video at the end of the article.
Complete drying of the paint occurs after 2-3 days. After this time, a varnish is applied to the surface of the car, which protects the paint from fading, abrasion or mechanical damage. When painting a car, a garage is a great helper that allows you to save a lot of money. When carrying out work, it is important to be careful, not to rush and carefully follow all the main steps.