DIY Car Paint Protection Tips
The paint process on a car or even a small part of a vehicle can be quite time consuming. The foundation of a quality paint job that lasts is the prep work you do in the beginning. But how can you make that paint work last longer without damage or failure? We divulge some of our top tips for paint care below.
- Clean Base Surface- If you’re repainting a panel or an entire vehicle you need to make sure that you have a clean base surface. This means removing as much of the original coatings and taking the surface down to bare metal. If this isn’t that involved of a project at the very least remove any loose or damage coatings and take the steps to smooth the surface before applying any new coatings. If you have any doubts as to the condition of the old coatings you should remove them and take it to bare metal. We always suggest wiping a surface down with PRE paint prep before applying any coating to the surface.
- Proper Application- Another secret to long lasting paint is the application process. You need to make sure you’re applying the paint in the correct manner with the best technique as possible. Applying to heavy of coats of paint or allowing contaminants to get into the paint can cause your paint job to fail much more quickly. Be sure to check invest in a good air filtration system or add-on moisture traps to keep your paint job clean.
- Use Proper Equipment- Painting a car is a big undertaking and you shouldn’t leave all of your hard work to a gun that isn’t going to give you a long lasting finish. One of the biggest mistakes we see customers make is that they are using a paint gun that doesn’t meet their compressor ratings. Check the CFM output of your air compressor and the minimum requirements of your paint gun. Just because the gun is cheap doesn’t mean it will work on a small air compressor or has low CFM requirements. We have paint guns developed to work with small DIY shop size air compressors and require low CFM.
- Don’t mix products- Painting a car should entail using a full system of coatings and following their system all the way through when possible. At the very leas you should be stacking primers and colors and clears together that are meant to work together. Be careful mixing brands and products as their can be small chemical differences that could cause a reaction and paint or clear coat failure over time. Eastwood offers a full line of coatings that will take you from bare metal to clear coat HERE.