# Painting Techniques?



## mysergoesvroom (Jun 30, 2003)

My front bumper needs paint bad. I went to WAL-MART and bought some cheap 97cent spray paint. Looks better, but real shitty. 

'looks good from far, but far from good'

Anyway, the paint class at school isnt being offered this semester, but thats all im worried about with my car as of now. Fixing the paint. How do you guys do all this? I have no experience, but this is all I know

sand
primer
paint.

Who know's how to do this stuff? Got any advice. Recomendations? Books, websites...videos? Anything will help. Thanx.


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## samo (Apr 30, 2002)

The best technique is as follows:

1. Drive to shop
2. Pay
3. Pick up painted car

Spraypainting your bumper is never going to look sweet. You might have better luck with a compressor and an HVLP gun, though.


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## mysergoesvroom (Jun 30, 2003)

well. considering i dont really care what it looks like...if i do it. then im willing to learn on my car. your technique sucks. but thanks for the tip at the end 

ps.

i just finished sanding and priming a the parts of the front bumper that needed the most help. then i sprayed a white primer on it to see what it might look like. it looks purty good. (my cars white) a lot better than i was expecting. so thats good. i know spray paint wont look professional. but thats not what im going for. just a better looking paint job than i have now. even if its kinda two toned in whites.....haha. as long as it looks good from far. :cheers:


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## xt_out (Jun 23, 2003)

the only tip i can give is to spray many light coats instead of heavy (drippy) coats!!! mist it from like a foot back i guess.
it might be better to use a different color primer than your paint so you know what you painted and how much. 

good luck!


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## mysergoesvroom (Jun 30, 2003)

yeah i got the gray primer. i just used the white for the last coat cuz i had it and was too anxious. haha, but for the other parts of my car its still gray.


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## dry (Oct 21, 2002)

try getting the duplicolor bumper repair spray paint rather, its really glossy and will match better than that 98 cent wallmart shit... that may help, but it may take a few cans to do the whole bumper... another thing is to prime it when its done.


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## oasaturiwa (Jul 8, 2003)

Prime it then sand with a real light paper. You have to make it really smooth, then paint it in many light coats


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## maxpower559 (Sep 6, 2002)

y does it look like crap?
did you sand it. cause if you sand to hard or with a heavy grit, then you scrach the bumper....and the looks like a cheese grader hit it.
is the primer for that plastic bumber? casue it may want to peel off or chip under flexing. uhhhh uhhhh......i dotn know much about paint....but thats the front of your car and on the highway thats gonna get chipped up


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## mysergoesvroom (Jun 30, 2003)

i sanded it wit 60 grit, 150 then 300something. then i wiped it all down, sanded wit the 300 again wiped with a clean towel to get all the lil dust. then primed wit 2 light coats of gray. one light coat of white primer. and tonight im going to paint with cheap paint.......all that work for shitty paint.......owell. its a shitty bumper, so im just practing doing all the steps right. tomorro ima go get like some kinda clear coat protectant. dunno what its exactly called. then ima hand buff and wax it. i think it will turn out okay for my first guess.....

i just bought some video's and a book. and im talkin wit se_nismo about some stuff. i think thats his name here too. its that on sr20forum. anyway...shouldnt look too shitty....i hope.


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## se_nismo (Sep 17, 2002)

mysergoesvroom said:


> i sanded it wit 60 grit, 150 then 300something. then i wiped it all down, sanded wit the 300 again wiped with a clean towel to get all the lil dust. then primed wit 2 light coats of gray. one light coat of white primer. and tonight im going to paint with cheap paint.......all that work for shitty paint.......owell. its a shitty bumper, so im just practing doing all the steps right. tomorro ima go get like some kinda clear coat protectant. dunno what its exactly called. then ima hand buff and wax it. i think it will turn out okay for my first guess.....
> 
> i just bought some video's and a book. and im talkin wit se_nismo about some stuff. i think thats his name here too. its that on sr20forum. anyway...shouldnt look too shitty....i hope.


hey pm me and give me your number, ill talk to you over the phone and give you some tips that might be able to help you!


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## Hawkon (Dec 9, 2003)

light primer for light color, dark primer for dark color. (you'd get a different 'white' if you use another primer as the rest of the car, even though its the same paint you used on the rest of the car)

Best way to get experience with this is to try it out. Best thing is, if you fail the first time, you've only lost some shitty paint and a couple of hours of your time 

Good luck with your project  Better to regret something you did than something you never did!


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## mysergoesvroom (Jun 30, 2003)

yeah. i worked on my fender a lil bit too. just to see a difference when not blended. i marked the area off. looks pretty shitty...but i spent bout 20mins sanding it and about 5 priming it. haha, so i dont really care. it was just a comparison. but yea, i used the dark gray primer thats very common. so i could see where i was spraying. then i used white primer to help cover up the dark background. i havent painted it with the white because the primer looks just fine for what im trying to achieve... little work, better outcome. so far, ive spent about 40-50 mins on the front bumper. sanding, priming, painting, cleaning, masking off areas...etc. so you can see i havent spent much time. but it looks 98percent better to me. i took a pic, just waiting on my dad to send it to me. 

i got a book on 'how to paint your own car'. so, i should be done with that by next week. se_nismo is helping me out. he might be painting some of my car for me. anyways, i'll try to get that pic up asap...see me ghetto fab o lous work......haha.


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## peterryan2001 (Sep 12, 2005)

*Standard Sentra Bumper Paint Q*

Hello,

This topic follows my quesiton. I have a '94 Nissan Sentra E, with the stock, standard gray bumpers. The front bumper is standard plastic gray, and from my understanding is not classified as a "paintable" bumper. I'm wondering if anyone knows, with all the new flexible primers out there, if I can actually paint this bumper? Or do I need to get the Nissan "paintable" bumpers (black polyethylene?)? If anyone has any info about painting these bumpers, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.


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## 200sx95 (Aug 22, 2005)

If you say "you dont care" why are you asking? Obviously you do care so take your time on anything you do or else of course it'll turn out like crap. I'd use higher grit for your last sanding, buy some quality spray paint from Duplicolor or any other brand your local auto store carries, and at least try to match the factory paint color codes. Also buy Automotive Primer, not just primer, cause its thicker and more workable (sandable). The 98cent all purpose crap from walmart I wont even use on my car clay models I make (crap is like water)!!!! Clearcoat as many times as you think you need, but VERY light Thin coats. Whats 4 more dollars a can going to hurt you? And let your bumper FULLY cure after painting, before you wax. 

Steps::
1. Sand
2. Primer
3. Sand with very fine grit
4. Primer lightly
5. Sand again
6. Primer again
7. Paint
8. Sand very very fine grit if you see any imperfections
9. Several coats of paint after it cures each time.
10. Clear coat, clear coat, clear coat.
11. Dont wax until it fully cures, (it doesnt mean when it dries to touch either). I personally would wait a week before you drive the damn car.

Another advice is they sell interchangable nozzles for the spray cans which will flare out almost like a real spray gun, try finding the nozzles or at least buy one with the nozzles. Oh, ever think about at least taking the bumper off to do this????

Shake your can very often.

GOOD LUCK.


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