Painting recommendations

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

First, please verify what you're doing. Is your 986 originally Ocean Jade Metallic or are you changing the color to OJM? For some reason I have your car as red in my mind from when you were a member yrs ago. A color change from red to green is best left to the experts.

Second, my comments on the video... Use a sanding block as it keeps more sand paper on the surface of the car. Then do what I'll call cross-hatching motions - sand from 10 to 4 and 8 to 2 on a clock. Use long, sweeping motions. This keeps the sand paper on the contour of the body, with a 986 having a lot of contours. Going 9 to 3 will create flat spots or troughs.

Now for the tough part. To get a properly prepared surface, you'll need to sand it 4 times. Start with 220, next with 320, again with 400, and finally with a Scotch pad. Each time reduces the amount of scratches with the paint feeling almost "smooth" when the Scotch pad sanding is done. You could probably do the first 2 steps with a dual action sander but the last 2 would be best with sanding block for the 400 and by hand with the pad. When my dad and I were rebuilding wrecked cars in the 70s and early 80s, we didn't have dual action sanders so we did all 4 steps by hand. I haven't done body work since my dad passed away 34 yrs ago, but the basics haven't changed based on what I see on today's TV shows.

If you're changing colors, you'll need to remove all the parts that are attached (doors, hood, etc) so you can get paint on all painted surfaces. This means you'll also need to remove any attached parts too. LOTS of work. You won't have to sand these areas to perfection, but you'll have to rough it up enough so paint will stick.

I would assume a 20+ yr old car would have accumulated a few door dings over the yrs. You'll need to deal with them now, as you don't want to leave them and paint over them. This opens a whole new can of worms - body filler. That's a whole 'nuther set of YT videos.

I'm not trying to scare you out of doing it yourself. Just remember - the prep work is the foundation of a great paint job. It's easy to cut corners but the final result will magnify in a negative way any time "savings". It's not rocket science, it is very labor intensive, but it does require a bit of knowledge to get it right.

I don't think she's looking for a concourse car. Just a simple re-spray on a $5000 car. No reason to shell out $3000 on a car worth just that.

FWIW I think a wee bit of wet sanding and a $1000 Maaco re-spray and the OP will be right as rain.