August 27 2008   Story: Bryan Joslin

Three years ago we couldn't pass up our little E30 for just two grand. Part of the reason it was so cheap, aside from the fact that we picked it up in Southern California where E30s are a dime a dozen, was the condition of the paint. Oh, sure, it was a solid, rust-free car, but the fifteen-year-old Brillantrot paint had faded to pink in the southern sun. Except, of course, the front clip; that had been repaired after a minor fender-bender, and in the process repainted (poorly) with some very brittle acrylic paint. It shined just fine but chipped easily. The paint job was also poorly blended into the driver's door.

After all the other work we've done to our project so far (new suspension, new interior, new brakes) it seemed like we were letting it down by allowing it to be seen in that tired old paint. So we set out in search of options. With a solid body as a platform, our priorities were to simply freshen the look of the car and to do it on a budget.

Our first thoughts leaned toward a quick trip to discount paint shop, like Earl Scheib or Maaco, with all the prep work done prior to the trip. After investigating that further, the paint materials would have been sub-standard, and by the time we would have paid for better materials and all the additional prep charges, it would have cost us what we've paid a real body shop for quality work in the past.

We figured if we were going to spend the time to set it up properly for a cheap paint job, we might as well try painting it ourselves as well. A little further investigation lead us to a book by Pat Ganahl called How to Paint Your Car on a Budget. The author focuses heavily on the type of paint job we were looking for, a simple scuff-and-squirt respray in the same color. No color changes, no fancy pearls or candies, just basic single-stage red. Armed with the book, we committed ourselves to the next big stage in the project.

Preparation

One of the problems with most cheap paint jobs is the lack of preparation before going into the booth. Because prep takes time and time is money, poorly masked trim is the norm in most production shops. The right way, of course, is to remove as much trim as possible to minimize the amount of necessary masking.

With more time than money on hand for this project, we decided to invest heavily in stripping the car ourselves. Off came the bumpers and their unpainted rub strips, the side moldings, emblems, grilles and all of the lights. Oh, and the door handles, door lock bezels, sunroof seals, wiper arms, washer jets and radio antenna. Only the windows and their moldings were left intact, but we had a special treatment for them which you'll see further on.

With the car entirely stripped, we gave the entire body as chemical bath with Eastwood Company's Pre-prep Solvent. This step removed any waxes, oils or silicones that might have still been resting on the surface; skipping this could have result in poor primer adhesion and those nasty fisheyes. Once the surface was clinically clean, we took to scuffing the paint with 3M Scotch-Brite pads, using the red-colored medium grade. Less abrasive than sandpaper, these pads are the perfect way to open up the surface of the paint for better adhesion without removing much of the underlying paint. This step is critical to getting a good "bite" for the fresh primer, and is essentially the point of no return in the repaint process.

Next, it was time to attend to a few surface issues. Fortunately we had only minor blemishes to deal with, mostly rock chips on the front clip from a previous body repair. There was also a minor door ding in the right rear quarter panel, and a handful of convex dents in the trunklid from where a previous owner had clearly closed the deck onto something too large.

We called a local paintless dent repair service for the trunklid. The guy was in and out in less than an hour, leaving us with a bill for a $125. Still, it was cheaper than paying a body shop for that repair, which was way beyond our talents. One of the four dimples had broken the paint surface, just as we had predicted, which is why we had never bothered to fix that panel before now.

The quarter-panel ding was easily repaired with Bondo, since it was shallow and only about the diameter of a nickel. But the front clip needed a fair amount more work. For starters, some of the chips on the lowest panels were starting to flash-rust from exposure to the less ideal Midwestern climate. Rather than sanding eternally to remove the light rust, we chose to blast it out using Eastwood's "blast-from-a-bucket" media blasting kit. Connected to a small air compressor, the kit siphons fine-grade silicon dioxide particles and throws them directly against the offending pits, removing the rust and loose paint instantly. The process was quick and very effective, but left the garage floor look like a gray beach.

Immediately after blasting, the surface was cleaned again with Eastwood's Pre-Prep solvent and then sprayed with a couple liberal coats of self-etching primer to prevent new rust from forming on the bare metal. The remaining pits were then brought up to surface level with plastic filler. This was repeated for the hood and both front fenders as well.

Before masking the car we put it up on jack stands, getting it away from the ground to reduce the likelihood of floor debris finding its way into the fresh paint; it also meant less bending over. Using blue painter's tape, we carefully masked the few remaining trim pieces, ever watchful of the tape edge. Our goal was to not have any hard masking lines on the finished job. Heavy masking paper covered large surfaces, such as the window glass. Remember the windshield and backlight trim? Rather than simply taping to the rubber seal, we pulled the locking strips out and then ran a course of 14-guage insulated wire under the rubber seal to lift it off the paint. The rubber was then taped up, rolling over the edge and providing a soft, feathered edge for the new paint to blow into. We're sure it's been done before, but we came up with the idea independently and we're pretty proud of the final results.

Large openings like taillights and the grille area were blocked off with heavy masking paper. The fender liners and suspension components were also masked to prevent overspray, and because the hood was removed entirely for this process, the engine compartment was completely covered as well. With everything masked, it was time for a final dustoff with compressed air and a one more solvent bath before shooting primer.

Priming

There are a couple ways to lay a foundation for new paint. You can either use a sealer (which is what the discount paint shop was going to do) or a true primer. A sealer essentially acts as a barrier to neutralize the potential chemistry conflicts between your original paint finish and the new one. If you're not doing bodywork - perhaps just a color change or adding a two-tone effect - you can get away with a sealer. Any time plastic filler is involved, you'll need to shoot primer, which won't react with the repaired area.

We chose a specific primer known as a primer/surfacer, which is basically a very heavy, high-solids primer that is ideal for cars that have repair work. The thicker application acts as something of an ultrafine body filler, topping fine sanding scratches and resulting in a better paintjob. We chose DuPont paints for this project and the appropriate two-part primer for the final paint system.

To spray the primer, Eastwood once again helped us out with a basic HVLP (high-volume, low-pressure) paint gun set from DeVilbiss. This starter set runs about $120 and includes two complete guns with three different nozzle sizes. We chose to dedicate one gun exclusively to primer and the other just for color. Feeding the guns required a substantial air compressor, and the 35-gallon, 6-hp Craftsman model we had was adequate for the task. We simply added an inline water separator right at the gun to take moisture out of the line.

Shooting the primer was rather easy, at least once we had the gun dialed in. Being relatively thick, the primer laid down well and stayed put without any major runs. It also dries quickly, allowing us to build up multiple coats in a very short period. The overspray was fairly minimal, and was dust by the time it hit the floor. We should mention here that even though we were painting the car in one of our personal home garages, we took no chances with safety. We ensured not only that we had proper ventilation and no open flames, but we also invested in a 3M respirator specifically for solvents and wore form-fitting goggles as well. When we did eventually remove the safety gear, we were surprised just how noxious these products actually are. A simple dust mask will not suffice.

In less than an hour we had gone from a car with mottled gray and red surfaces to a solid, uniform gray shape. We now had a better idea of how the car would look when it was done, as well as a confidence boost that we hadn't ruined a completely good car.

The next phase was sanding out the primer with 600-grit wet/dry paper. This leveled out any surface imperfections, including a small amount of dust and a couple miniscule insects that settled into the wet primer. We did all of this by hand rather than using the speedier dual-action pneumatic sanders so common in the trade. By hand-sanding, we got a closer look at surface and a better feel for what the painting phase would bring. And to be honest, we sanded through a couple areas and had to reprime and resand them. When finished, we just marveled at how beautiful a car can look in smooth, almost shiny primer.

Painting

The moment of truth had now arrived - time to put down some color. It's been stated that you could teach a chimpanzee to lay paint; that all the work is in the preparation. And while it's certainly true that you can't have a decent paintjob without decent prep work, we discovered that the actual spraying of the paint is an art form in itself.

We stayed with the factory Brilliantrot color, mixed to match in DuPont's Nason Ful-Thane urethane system. Like the factory paint, this is a single-stage catalyzed paint with no clearcoat. It would have been cheaper to go with an acrylic-based system, but we wanted a more durable, less chip-prone finish. We bought a full gallon on the recommendation of our paint supplier, this being our first attempt at painting a car and almost being guaranteed we'd make some mistakes. The paint alone set us back almost $200, not including the catalyst and reducer. In total, we spent around $350 on paint supplies for both the color and the priming stages.

Donning our masks and goggles (and eventually a disposable painter's coverall) we went back to the garage to make things red (including the walls and the floor and just about everything else in the garage). We set up the DeVilbiss gun with a finer tip for the color coat, which is considerably thinner than the primer, and made our final spray and pressure adjustments, testing on a scrap of cardboard. Once we were satisfied with the pattern, we "dropped in" on the hood, which was detached from the rest of the car, to get a feel for how the paint would flow on the actual bodywork. It's a thing of beauty to watch the shiny liquid run out and make a perfect surface.

With the hood now red, we moved to the rest of the car, starting with the roof, working our way down the pillars and onto the trunk before traveling around the sides. All the loose accessories had been placed on top of the masked engine compartment to be shot separately. The bumpers were detached as well, receiving their spray once the bodyshell was complete.

To say the paint and the primer work differently is like saying the same about Fox News and NPR. Where the primer flash-dried quickly and left a dusty overspray, the color coat remained tacky for a long time, allowing it to flow completely and evenly for nice finish. This also meant the overspray took a lot longer to dry, which is why it didn’t sweep off the garage floor but rather "refinished" it as well.

A second full coat of color was applied shortly after the first and was allowed to air-dry for a full day before we visited the surface with sandpaper. Because it took so much longer to cure, we noticed considerably more debris on the surface as compared with the primer. We also notice a few thin spots in the paint, which manifested themselves as dark areas. The color coat is remarkably translucent, making it critical that you not only get enough paint down, but also that you lay it evenly and consistently. The thin areas were reshot and blended before the masking was removed.

Finishing

The little 318 looked almost perfect in its gleaming new red coat. Well, from a distance it did, anyway. There was some unevenness in the final coat, as well as a few minor runs and those nasty insects. But the plan was never to just shoot it and walk away; we always intended to color-sand and buff it to a factory-like finish.

With everything cured, we busted out the finishing papers - 1000-grit, 1500-grit and 2000-grit 3M wet/dry sandpaper made specifically for this job. We started, naturally, with the 1000-grit paper, wetted and backed by a firm rubber block. We took special care around the edges and any high spots to avoid sanding through the paint. Our goal with this initial cut was to level the majority of the orange peel and the minor imperfections (600-grit was required to knock down the bigger stuff), leaving just the slightest bit of texture as evidence that we hadn't sanded too thin. The subsequent sandings with 1500- and 2000-grit paper would remove very little in the way of paint, but would bring us one step closer to a more polished surface.

The sanding process was long, tedious and messy. The red sanding slurry seemed to permeate everything it touched - garage floor, driveway, fingernails. Nevertheless, the sanded body looked pretty amazing; in fact, even though it wasn't shiny, it almost looked better than before we painted it.

Nevertheless, we knew we needed to buff the paint to a shiny finish, but we decided to outsource this step. Buffing up paint is a black art left to an experienced buffer jockey. We sent it to our local detail shop, which agreed to bring it up. He fired us three days later. In roughly 5 hours of work, he was only able to buff out less than a third of the car and had no interest in finishing the job. And that's where things are right now. We're working to line up another buffer and hope to have it back together shortly.

Conclusion

The process of painting a car ourselves was a great learning experience. We now know that a) we can do this, b) it's a lot of work, and c) it's not so simple that a monkey can do it. At this point we have roughly 60 hours of our own time and approximately $1000 out of pocket for our project. Even though it's still not done, we feel satisfied in our decision to do it ourselves. We could have spent the same money at a discount shop and been back on the road by now, but the results would not have been as good as our own work.