redmill

Any goto paint types / brands that are forgiving for a newbie with an imperfect painting environment ? One stage etc...
Especially one that will hold up well given the harsh conditions on the nose?

Will not be painting on bare metal , so a sealer of some type may be needed .
Mixed Paint and used a spray gun a few times before, looking for some advice to improve results on a bigger canvas

Factory paint seems to have superior chip resistance compared to non factory. Are there agents that you are adding to pliancy ?do you only do the non metal parts with the agent mixed in or the whole car

also found previous owner went heavy on the bondo on the nose (968). It was pretty cracked, but the integrity of the nose was good . Not sure how wavy the finish will be without the gobs of bondo

Is there any better way to do a bit of filling on a flexible nose ? Would a bit of fiberglass resin be a bit more flexible?

.... asking for a friend
thanks

Matt Romanowski

Find a local guy to wrap it. Check out the local short track scene and see who is doing cars. The price will be marginally more than the paint materials and time, but the hassle will be about a quarter.

924RACR

Kinda going further with the above - you can readily buy and slap on vinyl too, I went this route on my prototype for the high-impact areas for stone chips on the nose. Plus the finish, in 5 minutes of install, is as good as many hours of effort painting... and easy to replace.

For racecar, many of the colors you might want can be found online and cheap in smaller pieces (like 12" x 6'). In my case, bright orange, works really well to protect my splitter.

I hear it's also possible to, for a greater cost, buy color-matched vinyl... but I'd go with the commonly-available cheaper colors on a racecar, just like choosing your paint scheme colors by browsing the racer tape selection...

RobT 394

If you go the paint route head to your neighborhood auto paint store. They will set you up with everything you need. Primer, color then clear is what I have followed over single stage paints. It is all in the prep, not the application. The clear holds up well and comes in different hardness. Clear bra on top of that for the high impact areas. You can also wrap, much less durable but just as effective.

stownsen914

I've heard that a decent wrap job is several thousand dollars, even for a basic design?

OP - what's the budget you have in mind?

Matt Romanowski

We don't pay close to that. Have a solid color done and then put your stickers on it. If you want it printed and applied, it's far more.

docwyte

Not sure where you're getting your wraps done Matt but out here in Denver a basic wrap is easily $2500-3000. I was drooling over a Gulf liveried 997 Cup Car at our Club Race, it was a wrap and it cost $6000 (!!) to do!

Matt Romanowski

We wrap for about the same as paint materials. Find the guy doing the local short track cars. I don't doubt a printed Gulf wrap would be $6k. I'm talking single color wrap and then you put your stickers on it.

raspritz

For us guys racing low-powered cars, what is the weight comparison of a wrap versus paint (which weighs a surprisingly large amount)?

EDIT: A little bit of Googling goes a very long way. A typical car paint job weighs about 10-14 pounds, and a typical wrap weighs about half as much, which is why serious race-cars are wrapped, not painted. A plain-Jane wrap job costs about $2000.

fatbillybob

I actually just learned this. My 1st paint and body work was on my Ferrari. Dumb choice? Not really...it is only paint. If I screwed it up I can always pay someone to paint it. I learned a great deal and would be better next time maybe I'll go at it again next summer. For now I'm just driving it and few could tell I did a repair, color match and panel blended clear. I think that is way harder to do than paint a whole car one color. I'm in Cali and the state has lots of rules on paint VOC's. New paints suck. They are way harder to paint with than lacquers used decades ago on my bikes. The big thing to me is they don't flow as nice and I was using the top grade PPG Ferrari paint that was $700 bucks for 1/2 gallon! Other paints are much cheaper but I do not know how they handle. This fancy PPG I was not impressed. A good spray gun is important but not essential. I bought a top of the line Italian spray gun and shipped it from italy. It made my life easier because it sprays so nice. A cheap gun works you just have to be a better painter. I am not so I cheat. It's like a cheater cam in your racecar. You can watch every youtube video and they are all correct and all slightly different. I say watch a bunch and get a general idea of what needs to be done. Note that many videos are in a real paint booth and are production pros showing you things that just can't be done hanging plastic sheeting in your garage next to your kid's bikes and wife's box of X-mas tree decorations. So go try it and see what works in your hands. There are some guys for example who cut and buff after 1500G wetsand. That works just fine but takes to long to me. I found wetsanding down to 3000G cut the paint faster and allowed me to rip though cut and buff faster and easier but it is extra steps. Then cut and buff chemicals make a big difference too. I mix different system chemicals in my personal business because I know what I am doing. Paint and body I am clueless so I picked the 3m system and used their 3 stage cut and buff system then you can final wax with whatever you like. One thing I learned is...IT's only paint! I did that quarter panel about 4 times and I probably will do it a 5th time next summer and make it concourse perfect. Which leads me back to pro paint booths. Next summer when I go at this again I will paint booth my garage. In my situation it is very easy to have a big $100 buck attic fan blowing laminar flow though a homemade filterbox and exhaust out the other side. Paint and box plastic sheeting is special. You can use it on the car which is imperative to control the paint spray and over spray. But you can also use it to cover the walls in your garage to build a temporary paint booth which will control dust and overspray. This is how I will get the concourse look to my attempt next summer. I was unwilling to do that earlier because I was trying to learn to paint and see if I was good enough. My result It isn't perfect now because...you gotta pay your dues and learn. It is fun to take an eyesore body damage and rebuild it so no one can tell it ever happened. It is quite satisfying and a fun challenge. The other cool thing is now I don't worry about paint scraps and door dings and where I park my Ferrari. It's just paint and I know how to paint it. Some idiot with a shopping cart nail my door is no big deal since I can fix it on the weekend.

fatbillybob

Aren't most racecars some paint underneath if for no other reason that unpainted metal rusts and then wrapped on top so a wrapped racecar carries paint and wrap? I thought pro racecars wraps were for sponsors? I have never wrapped a car. I think a racecar paintjob would be easy because a racecar paintjob is called a 50-50. It has to look good from 50ft or 50mph. That means at does not have to be factory designed to last the life of the car. It can be a layer of primer sealer, 1 layer basecoat, and 1 layer of clear and a few more layers of clear on the nose for protection. I bet you would have 1/2 the weight of a factory paintjob? But you still carry weight if a factory job is there and you spray a new color on that because you are never going to bare metal on a racecar unless you are racing some vintage $1million car with pedigree with HMSA.

Matt Romanowski

Top level stuff is starting to go Aeropaint. The wrap is lighter, cheaper, and allows more creativity for less than paint would cost to do the same job.

Kein_Ersatz

Check out Wrap Institute web site for some video training for DIY. Buy some wrap and practice 2x2.5ft squares over curves, concave area, etc. with some practice and patience, at 10ft looks good ;-) for track car/HPDE duty.



A DIY wrap effort, over Arctic Silver 3M1080.

redmill

Last car had a very minimal surface issues, and was pretty happy with the results as a newbie wrapper. I figured out pretty quick what to avoid as a first timer

the new car has lots of small flaws I wouldn’t wrap over without fixing

this is a bucketlist task...started detailing at 14 -burned plenty of paint with the old school wool pads , wet sanded and prepped a few cars and did a few panels prep/paint / polish... mostly trial and error...hence looking for wisdom outside of the YouTube and its ‘subscribe to my channel’


I expect to use wrap for anything beyond the primary color

Fyi
went to Eastwood store today, had some good info, their website videos are tolerable but don’t cover the questions I’m still stuck on

Matt Romanowski

What are you stuck on with painting? I'd suggest primer, paint, thinner, reducer, and hardener from a local supplier. Get the best gun you can afford for this project. Dry air, mix it up, and spray.

And get mixing rulers not cups.