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Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

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Recently updated on September 22, 2023 at 04:01 am

Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

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When it comes to a new paint job for their own vehicle, most owners decide to visit a workshop. But it is also quite possible to paint your car yourself with a little manual skill and the right preparation. But this requires a little talent for painting and additional patience and perseverance. However, you should always weigh up whether you really want to paint an expensive vehicle yourself, or whether you would rather entrust your car to a professional. If you decide to paint yourself, then you should proceed as follows.

Preparing the car

Before you can start painting, you have to do some preliminary work. It is important in advance to find a suitable place to carry out the painting. For this you need a clean, dry and additionally well-ventilated place. The car must be able to stay in this place after painting until the new paint is completely dry.

Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

Apart from that, you need some equipment for painting, such as a sander, a polisher, a spray bottle or alternatively a paint gun. Be sure to wear protective clothing and rubber gloves. The gloves are also particularly important so that you don't get your hands dirty on the new paint. You should also wear a protective mask during all steps to avoid inhaling toxic fumes.

Remove rust and touch up existing dents

When preparing the car, the first step is to remove any rust spots that may be present. You need sandpaper in different thicknesses to achieve the best possible result. Once the rust is gone, apply a rust converter to protect the metal from new corrosion. Be sure to pay attention to the drying time of the product used.

After the rust has been removed, the vehicle should be checked for any dents. If there are such dents, the corresponding point must first be sanded off. Then apply the new layers with a filling compound, for example in the form of a spray. Allow enough time for drying after each new layer and at the end use a sander to ensure a smooth surface. Basically, you should always wear a protective mask during these work steps.

Remove the panel

If there are plastic or chrome parts on the vehicle that are easy to unscrew, then this option should be used. Ultimately, you save yourself the time-consuming masking and painting is also easier later on. Always proceed carefully when dismantling and avoid scratches at all costs.

Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

Sand off the existing paint and clean the body

The next step is to remove the old paint from the vehicle. Either a hand sanding block or a sanding machine can be used for this. Remove the paint until you can see the primer. If you want to give the car a new primer, then the old primer must be completely sanded off until you can see the bare metal.

Then the body must be cleaned with a silicone remover. This removes all unwanted fats, resins, waxes, oils and silicones. These substances can often not be seen with the naked eye, but such cleaning is still essential. Spray on the silicone remover and then let it work for a short time. Then clean the paintwork with a clean microfiber cloth.

Avoid time-consuming rework with masking

When all these steps are done, it's time to mask off. For many people, masking is a very unpopular job. This is understandable because masking is sometimes very laborious and takes a lot of time. Nevertheless, it makes perfect sense to mask off windows, rubbers, wheels and other parts that are not to be painted. The bottom line is that this saves a lot of time, because it is much more time-consuming to remove the new paint from such parts.

Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

The paint job

If you have decided to apply a new primer, you first have to wait for the primer to dry. Otherwise, this intermediate step is omitted and you can finally start painting. There are a number of different options for doing this. For example, you can use spray bottles or a spray gun.

When using a spray gun, make sure to use the correct settings and also use the thinner recommended by the paint manufacturer. When applying the paint, always apply the paint to the surface to be painted with the same distance and slowly. Avoid dust after painting and let the car dry in peace. You can enjoy the new paint for a particularly long time if you use it regularly in the future with a high quality car wax protects.

Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

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Painting a car yourself - what to look out for!

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About Thomas Wachsmuth

Thomas Wachsmuth - He has been an integral part of tuningblog.eu since 2013. His passion for cars is so intense that he invests every available penny in them. While he dreams of a BMW E31 850CSI and a Hennessey 6x6 Ford F-150, he currently drives a rather inconspicuous BMW 540i (G31/LCI). His collection of books, magazines and brochures on the subject of car tuning has now reached such proportions that he himself has become a walking reference work for the tuning scene.  More about Thomas

a comment

  1. I would like to paint the car myself. Good to know that space is very important for this. The car should be able to stay there until the paint is completely dry.

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