Do It Yourself Car Painting

With a little time, a good deal of patience and the right tools, you can paint your own vehicle yourself. This is sometimes done using special kits that you can buy for your vehicle that will help you mask the proper areas and match and mix the right color paints that you will need for the job. Painting your car yourself will cost significantly less than having it done professionally, but if you do not already have the proper tools for the job, purchasing them could eat into your profits by a good amount.

The Right Materials

Car coats are spray painted with special machines that allow you to adjust the pressure and flow of the paint through them. This is important rather than thinking you could hand-paint a car well. It would be impossible to achieve the smoothness and beauty of a professional car paint job by hand application. You can usually purchase the right materials, including the sandpaper, masking, and paint from a qualified auto-body shop or even from one of the popular auto parts stores near you.

Masking

First thing to do is to protect your bumpers (if chrome or separate from the car) and your windows from being painted over by applying a special masking or other type of adhesive to them that will prevent any excess or stray paint from landing on them and causing problems. Masking must be done very carefully so as to avoid either not completely covering that which you don't want to paint or avoiding covering small sections of your car that you do want to paint.

Sanding

You may want to sand down your current layer of paint using a hand sand paper that is between 175 and 250 in coarseness. If you don't want to sand off all of the old car caots you don't have to, but you should definitely focus on those areas that have damage which will show through in your final paint job. Remember that painting a vehicle does not conceal anything. If you can see an obvious flaw in your old paint job you will likely see it through the new one as well.

Applying Coats

The coats of paint that you will use for your new car coat depend on the type of paint you are using. If you are using a simple flat, easy single color than you will probably just want to apply two or three coats. If you are using a paint that is tri-color or has other special features like a metallic gloss, you will have to take extra steps when applying it according to manufacturer specifications. Just remember to allow enough time (at least a half hour) for the paint to dry between each application, but not too much time (more than a day), or else your paint will not adhere properly to the coat underneath it. You may also want to start with a primer.

When applying the paint remember to use smooth, even strokes across the section you are working on. If you have never painted with this type of sprayer before, practice on something else before you begin working on your car.

A Clear Finish

You should always apply a clear coat finish as the last step in your paint job. Do not sand the final coat of paint before adding a clear coat or you may see the scratching underneath. The clear coat will help to protect your car's paint finish much longer.