V2Rocket

Alright, I'm mentally preparing myself for getting some new paint on my car. The crappy PO job is coming apart in places and there are plenty of scratches that need to be addressed. I'll be doing this over the summer and plan to do at least the prep work myself. I had a good experience having another car painted by a local Maaco but I may end up building a booth in my driveway and going at it myself.

Anyway, I just threw together this list of prep work for a good paintjob. I only am painting the exterior, not the engine bay, and it will be the original color, Mahogany Brown Metallic (LB8Z).

- Pull front valence/foglights/markers
- Pull front bumper/turn signals/pads
- Remove door seals inner/outer, mask doorway to paint doorsill
- Pull door handles
- Pull mirrors and mask the black part/glass
- Pull sunroof, remove interior hardware, mask the hole in roof
- Pull window scrapers, mask the windows
- Pull hatch/hatch carpets/rubber seals, mask interior of cargo area
- Pull rear bumper/flexible plastic pieces/pads/markers
- Remove taillights, mask holes
- Scrape off "PORSCHE" banner below license plate
- Remove license plates/brackets
- Remove gas door/flap/gascap, mask filler hole
- Remove antenna/944 badge/Porsche badge
- Remove rain rails

Then sand the bastard down to primer, give it another coat of primer, a few coats of paint, and eventually a clearcoat.

Two questions though:
1) Should I remove the quarter windows or just mask over them?
2) Anything else I should pull off the car before paint?

420WHP944

Sounds like a plan! .... Yes you would be better to remove the quater windows for a better more pro job. One thing though...make sure you DONT sand the final coat of metallic before you put the clear on.

Hope it goes well for you!

harrisonrick

Sealer is a good idea when covering other paint jobs. It will prevent sinkage.

Also...when the door handles are gone, overspray can get into the cabin if there are ANY holes in the door panels...you might want to mask them too.

When my first 944 was painted...I stripped it apart...like you...even the door panels inside the car. I had no rubber for overspray to hit. the guy who painted it had a noob do some tinted primer...and he didn't mask the holes. let's just say there was a mad scramble and screaming when the painter saw the overspray misting into the cabin of my car....good thing I had stripped most of the carpet and seats out...the old steering wheel had a red tinge to it, but I swapped it with a Dino wheel...and the front windscreen had to be scraped with a razorblade. I got a free buffing after that fiasco.

V2Rocket

For the door handles I'll just pull off the interior card and put tape on the inside of the doorskin so paint won't get through.

And what do you mean by "sinkage"?

rosco

You dont have to sand it down to primer. But ,yes it is safer to do this.

Why wetsanding before clearcoat? I dont see any reasons to do this.

me @ making living with car painting

420WHP944

Thats what I'm thinking and said 2 posts previous....DONT wetsand final base coat...

V2Rocket

wetsanding crossed off to-do list lol.

V2Rocket

One gallon of paint or two for a good deep paintjob?

apierce918

probably one, you will thin it with reducer so you will have more than 1 gallon of actual sprayable paint. i would also take your mirrors apart so you dont have to mask them, i made a little rack that held the 3 pieces and it worked out nice, i think i have paint pics during my prep somewhere to show how i did it

edit: gah, looks like i only have the after its painted pics had hard copies of prep somewhere, but i think they are gone forever

Marcquito

V2 Rocket,

Check out my thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...56#post5421656

It's already packed full of useful information due to painting. Also, I'm in the sanding process as we speak. Hopefully the car will be finished during this Summer. I'll be documenting everything from sanding, to booth building, what paint I used, to the final buff. I hope it helps you out.

Oh, and good luck!

V2Rocket

Marc - I had it bookmarked the day you posted it

V2Rocket

So what other chemicals will I want? I keep reading about "flex agents" for bumpers/valances etc, I guess that helps protect the paint when the parts, well, flex...

Also what is the purpose of reducer? Does it make the paint thinner and spray easier?

drift a 944

Here's my paint thread with a bunch of pictures. As you can see, I did a color change and still didnt feel the need to go so far with removing a bunch of stuff and outdoing myself. Since you are painting the car the same color it already is, you really dont need to remove things like the tail lights and quarter windows, because the paint behind them will not be faded, chipped, scratched, or old looking. It would be worth it if your goal is a professional paint job, but since you are painting it in your driveway, how professional can it be?
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...s-of-pics.html

What I used was 3 quarts of color (3/4ths gallon) and a bit over a quart of reducer. It varies though, because different paint types will have different mixing ratios. I bought a gallon of clearcoat, with a quart of reducer and a quart of hardner, and I was left over with plenty extra of these materials.

F18Rep

Wait a minute, I thought we decided roller paint jobs was the way to go, maybe I dreamed that..... Bruce

DarylJ

Get the flex agents if you can. I skipped them, because they only came in much larger quantities than I needed - I needed about 2 ounces and it came in a quart minimum.

Reducer is part of the sprayable paint formula. It will be in the spec sheet how much to use. But, yes....it makes it thinner. And affects how it dries (you can get reducers for various temperature ranges).