Do-it-yourself car painting is a rather interesting activity in which a person's creative potential is realized. This type of activity can be both work and hobby. However, both are beneficial and satisfying.

Nowadays, when many different materials have been created for car painting, it has become easy to service your car yourself. This, of course, requires the skills of an auto-painter. If they do not exist, then it is a matter of time, because these skills are quickly acquired and remain for life. It all starts with the theoretical part.

To learn how to paint cars with your own hands, it is important to understand the essence of such processes as:

• putty;
• primer;
• painting;
• polishing.

These processes are fundamental to the work of an auto-painter. They should be done in the above order. In addition, each of the processes must be performed carefully and in no case should it be skipped. Otherwise, this will affect the quality of work: for example, if the car is not primed, the paint will fall on the putty with defects, and all of them will eventually be visible.

Body putty stage

Putty is used when it is necessary to fill an unevenness on the machine, because its main property is to level the surface. This is done as follows: you need to take two spatulas (plastic or metal), one for picking the putty from the can (4x10 cm), the other for kneading (20x10 cm), then take a little putty and add 3-5% of the hardener to it ( included). Further, with haste movements, everything is mixed until the streaks of the hardener disappear.

The amount of hardener can be used to adjust the hardening time of the putty. It should be noted that at low air temperatures, it hardens longer, and at high temperatures, faster. It is important to remember that the putty serves as the basis for the primer and paint, therefore, before puttingty, it is necessary to knock down the gloss from the part with emery No. 240 and degrease it again. To apply the diluted putty to the machine, you can use a set of rubber spatulas, and for large surfaces, use wide metal spatulas.

On a note

If you put quite a bit of hardener, the putty will harden sooner or later. But a large amount of hardener will make it harden in a matter of minutes. Therefore, it is always better not to report the hardener than to transfer it.

It is convenient to use a grinder to process the putty. You can also use painting irons of different sizes and emery from coarse (No. 60) to fine (No. 240). Putty processing methods are divided into dry and wet. Depending on the method chosen, the appropriate sandpaper is selected. For processing with water, it is better to take sheet emery, and for dry - tape.

Do not immediately put a large layer of putty. The upper layers can set faster and block the access of oxygen to the still uncured ones, and it takes part in the curing reaction. As a result, this will lead to subsidence of the putty, and then to its delamination.

On a note

Car putty is applied in layers up to 5 mm thick. It is very important to let each layer dry completely. The drying time is indicated on the material packaging.

You should always strive to ensure that the surface is leveled as best as possible and the minimum amount of putty is needed. The thinner the layer of putty, the less chance it has to fall off.

If you need to putty the bumper, then you should use a special putty for plastic. Regular body putty will not stick. But there is a way to use it if you apply a special primer, which will be discussed below.

Primer application before painting

After leveling all surfaces, you can proceed to priming the machine. Before priming, you need to knock down the gloss from the part with sandpaper No. 360, then degrease it and dilute the soil in the proportions indicated on the can. Then you need to pour the primer into the gun reservoir and apply the first coat.

It is better to thin the first layer to avoid smudges. You can also apply 1-2 coats and leave the car until the primer is completely dry (usually 24 hours). The next day, wipe the primer with an iron and sandpaper No. 500 or No. 600 (with water). The primer is now ready for painting.

There are several types of primers, namely filler, anti-corrosion and epoxy. Filling primers are used for the final leveling of the substrate and ensuring good adhesion to the paint. Such primers, like putties, have some porosity, but their pore size is much smaller.

Anti-corrosion primers are designed to protect steel bodies. If the metal is already touched by rust or has been welded, then anti-corrosion treatment is required. The primers used contain acids, which react with the metal to create an impermeable and insoluble oxide film on its surface. This film protects the body from contact with moisture and oxygen.

The epoxy primer also forms an impermeable film, but does not itself have an active anti-corrosion property. It is good for preserving metal, in addition, such a primer is capable of acting as an insulating layer. It is very convenient to cover small wipes during sanding with epoxy primer.

Bumpers are primed with a special primer. It says so on it: "for plastic". It can be sold in bulk or in aerosol cans. By and large, there is no difference, especially since at the stage of the soil, the quality of spraying that the spray can provide does not affect the final result.

On a note

By using a plastic primer, you can save on putty, which is used to level the bumper. If you cover it with a special primer, then you can then use an ordinary car putty, and not a special one for plastic. This technique is often used by car enthusiasts.

Control points in the process of painting a car

A big plus in painting is the presence of a special camera or room in which there is a minimum of dust and nothing falls from the ceiling. Before painting the car, it must be blown off dust, then covered and pasted over with a cover, masking paper and tape. Next, degrease the surface with anti-silicone.

Body and ambient temperature can affect the quality of the paintwork. It is highly undesirable to keep the car in the sun before painting. On hot metal, paint flows, dries too quickly, and can even boil. In this regard, various defects are formed on the paintwork, many of which cannot be removed after the fact.

Painting equipment also matters. A cheap spray gun will spit paint all over the car, and a low-power compressor with a small receiver constantly makes you wait until the necessary pressure is pumped up. You can count on good results if you use at least average-priced equipment.

It is better to make the first layer thin, because the smudges often break off on it. If the paint covers well, then 2-3 coats will be enough. Then there are 2-3 layers of varnish. The next day you can admire the result, and if there are minor defects, then remove them by polishing.

Polishing paintwork

It so happens that dust particles, specks and even various insects adhere to the painted surface. In such cases it will help. To do this, you will need: a polishing machine, polishes (for example, G-3 and G-10 from Farekla), a bucket of water, a sponge, a scraper, emery No. 1500 - 2500 (sheet).

Emery No. 1500 is torn into 4 parts, and by hand (without ironing) the whole part is rubbed evenly over the wet part until the dust particles are gone. In the process, this can be periodically checked with a rubber squeegee or a car wiper. As a result, the part should become matte and smoother (without shagreen).

Once the dust has been removed, it's time to start polishing. This procedure begins with an abrasive paste and ends with a finishing polish that increases the gloss and removes the hologram. Finish polishing preferably with a preservative polish that will protect the paint from external influences and add 10-20% gloss.

On a note

When polishing, you need to be very careful and make sure that no third-party abrasive gets on the treated surface, which can scratch the whole part with deep scratches.

Do-it-yourself car painting, according to many motorists, is a very difficult business and inaccessible to mere mortals. Meanwhile, it is good to paint a car at home, if there is a desire and some experience, almost everyone can. In this article, we will tell you in detail how to paint a car yourself after repair.

Painting the car body, like other elements of the "tin", consists of several stages, following one after another:

1. Preparing the car for painting (cleaning, priming, putty);
2. Body painting, doors, hood, bumpers and other details;
3. Grinding and polishing.

In addition to this instruction for painting cars, on our website you can read and see the following materials:

To paint a car with their own hands in the garage, some craftsmen use a regular vacuum cleaner. But you can't paint the whole car with a vacuum cleaner, so we still recommend renting or buying a compressor for painting cars.

We also recommend stocking up on two spray caps. In the kit of each of them it is useful to add several spare tubes with a smaller and larger nozzle diameter, corresponding rubber plugs and O-rings (see the example in the video at the end of the article).

Before painting the car, take care to protect all body parts that cannot be painted by covering them with the help of improvised means (for example, plastic wrap, adhesive tape, paper, etc.).

The surface of the car must be very carefully prepared: cleaned of dirt and rust. For this procedure, coarse sandpaper is usually used.

• Where the old paint and primer hold tight, you should not be zealous. It is better to “fog up” such places by removing the top layer with a sandpaper, and degrease by washing with gasoline.
• To remove old, cracked and fragile paint from large areas, it makes sense to use chemical compositions, that is, apply etching. Apply a 30% caustic soda solution with a brush and the paint will be easily washed off with hot water in 10-12 hours.
• You can also use a homemade paste for etching. Here is one of the recipes for its preparation:
  • Knead half a kilogram of potato flour in half a liter of cold water and add a solution of two kilograms of caustic soda and two liters of water to this mixture.
  • Then, stirring continuously, pour another five liters of boiling water into the mixture.
  • The resulting homogeneous paste is applied to the painted surface and left for one hour.
  • After that, the paint is removed with a spatula and washed off with a strong stream of cold water.

In order for the paint to hold firmly and for a long time after painting the car, a well-cleaned surface must be primed.

If small areas of the surface to be painted can be coated with a primer No. 138 without dilution with a brush, then it is better to spray it on large areas (spraying), adding solvents No. 647 or No. 646.

After that putty is applied. Here are some practical tips to make this task easier:

1. It is most convenient to use a rectangular piece of rubber sheet with a thickness of 4–8 mm to apply the putty.
2. A thick layer of putty should not be put, it will inevitably crack, so it is very important to pre-align the body parts well, and even treat some places with babbitt or soft lead-tin solder.
3. However, for whatever reason, you still have to putty in a thick layer. In this case, it is recommended to apply the nitro filler in several steps and dry all layers well.

This completes the preparation of the car for painting.

Until the end, it will be possible to reveal the slightest defects of the prepared surface by applying a so-called revealing layer of enamel (more diluted) to it. On the glossy surface of such a coating, all imperfections become easily noticeable. Having found defects, they are corrected by repeated filling.

The process of painting a car in a garage

Car painting in garage (home) conditions is carried out as follows:

• The paint is made up immediately before work, diluting it to the desired viscosity directly in the spray can with solvent No. 647 or (in extreme cases) No. 646.
• Before use, it is necessary to filter the diluted paint through a fine sieve or gauze.
• It is useful to heat the diluted enamel to 50 ° C - this will allow you to save solvent and paint not with five or six layers, but only two or three.
• The viscosity of the paint is selected empirically, and it is desirable to apply its last layers with a more liquid solution.
• Natural drying of each nitro enamel layer takes 10–20 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature.

When painting a car with your own hands, it is useful to grind each layer of primer, putty and paint. At the same time, the treated areas are abundantly moistened and washed with water from time to time. Grinding must be done with waterproof abrasives. In addition, for these purposes, you can also use a special grinding paste.

To remove small scratches, using a spray gun, solvent No. 648 or 647 is applied to the surface.

The last stage of painting a car is polishing. The painted surface is polished with rotary movements using polishing paste # 290 with a fine abrasive, and the final “finishing” of the surface - with polishing water. To do this, it is better to use a tsigay skin or a flannel rag (see detailed instructions for polishing a car, current and after painting).

Now you know how to paint a car yourself. Then your car should be thoroughly washed (how to wash the car correctly) and sent for anti-corrosion treatment, which, in order to save money, can also be done by hand.

And for clarity and a better understanding of the process of painting a car with your own hands, we suggest you watch this short video.

DIY video tutorial on painting a car with a spray gun

How to paint a car with your own hands

Painting a car in a service center is very expensive for an average car owner, so many would be happy to perform this procedure on their own, but do not have the necessary knowledge or equipped place for this. Having studied the technology of performing work on painting a car with your own hands, you can make sure that all operations are quite feasible in garage conditions. It is better to use not a vacuum cleaner as a spray pump, but a special electric compressor.

What you need to paint a car with your own hands

Car painting is done for many years, therefore, this procedure should be taken with full responsibility, especially at the stage of choosing a quality material and preparing the body for painting. All equipment, tools and materials must be purchased in specialized stores with certificates. There they will select the desired paint color using a computer and calculate the required amount.

So, to paint a car at home, you will need the following materials, fixtures and equipment:

1. spray device or spray gun;
2. compressor;
3. machine for grinding and polishing;
4. respirator or mask;
5. masking tape;
6. car paint and varnish;
7. priming materials: degreasing anti-silicone, developing powder, acrylic primer;
8. various types of putty - leveling, finishing, finishing;
9. consumables for grinding - discs and sandpaper;
10. consumables for polishing - protective, matting and polishing pastes;
11. spray lids with different tube diameters and O-rings;
12. oilcloth and napkins.

If you buy new equipment and tools for painting, then the total cost can exceed 10 thousand rubles. However, it will still be about 3-5 times cheaper than painting in a service center. For example, in Moscow, full painting of a middle class car is estimated at 50 to 60 thousand rubles. Experience shows that you should not save on materials and equipment when carrying out paintwork, as this directly affects the quality of the final result. High quality painting in service centers is ensured by the use of modern equipment, tools and materials.

A place for painting a car with your own hands

The ideal place to paint a car is a spacious covered hangar with good all-round lighting and an exhaust hood. If there is no such room, then painting can be done in the garage, which should be carefully prepared for work. The main requirements for the place of work are:

• cleanliness, absence of dust and debris that can stick to the painted surface of the body;
• bright uniform artificial lighting;
• lack of wind and strong drafts;
• the presence of air exhaust from the room;
• positive temperature above +10 0 С.

Preparing the garage for painting a car must necessarily include wet cleaning with moistening the walls, floor and ceiling to remove dust, lighting equipment, a hood or ventilation device. In addition, you need to prepare clean overalls and a respirator. In winter, you should take care of heating the garage to ensure the required room temperature.

In the warm season, in the absence of a garage, painting can be carried out in an open area under a canopy. However, in this case, it is difficult to provide ideal conditions for painting, as there can always be wind picking up, rain or an insect landing. Here, much will depend on the vagaries of the weather, but in terms of comfort, working in the fresh air is always more pleasant and convenient than in a cramped garage.

Preparing the car for painting

Before painting the body, you need to remove the bumpers, optical devices and decorative parts that cannot be painted from it, seal the glass, wheels and other parts that do not need painting with a film using adhesive tape. Next, remove old paint, dirt and rust from the surface. This work is done with coarse sandpaper on the disc of a sander.

The processing of places where rust has penetrated deep into the metal is especially carefully processed. The entire surface of the body is cleaned and "skinned". Then it is degreased with gasoline or thinner. If the body has large surfaces with old peeling paint, then they can be cleaned with special chemical solvents.

Video: How to prepare a car for painting

1. make a batch of half a kilogram of potato flour in half a liter of cold water;
2. make a solution of caustic soda in a ratio of 2 kg to 2 liters of water;
3. dilute the batch with this solution;
4. constantly stirring the solution, gradually add another 5 liters of boiling water.

Cover the treated area of \u200b\u200bthe body with the resulting liquid paste and leave for 1 hour. Further, the softened paint is cleaned with a spatula and a water jet. If the cleaned body has any dents or irregularities, then they need to be straightened.

Then, all damaged and uneven areas of the surface should be leveled with a putty. The nitro-enamel-based putty should be applied without haste, but quickly and in a thin layer, using a rubber spatula. Particularly uneven areas may require a second coat to be applied after the first coat has hardened. After final drying, the repaired surface is sanded with fine emery paper flush with the rest of the body.

The cleaned and degreased surface of the body should be primed. The primer will allow the paint to form a stronger bond with the metal surface, as a result, the paintwork will last longer. To apply the primer with a spray gun, dilute it with solvent 646 or 647 to the required concentration. Small areas that are difficult to reach with a spray gun can be primed with a brush. It is necessary to work with a spray gun so that a uniform and uniform layer is obtained over the entire surface of the body, starting from the roof and ending with the sills. After drying, the primer must be sanded and degreased.

DIY car painting

The paint is prepared just before use so that it does not have time to thicken. Dilute the paint to the desired consistency with solvent 646 or 647, refilling it directly into the jar. Before connecting the spray gun, the finished paint should be filtered through a sieve to remove coarse fractions and foreign particles that can clog the spray nozzle. To reduce the viscosity, the enamel can be heated to 50 0 С, which will significantly reduce the consumption of the solvent.

Video: Do-it-yourself full car painting

If some small scratches remain after sanding, they can be removed simply by spraying a little solvent on them with a spray gun. After finishing painting and drying, final polishing is carried out with the help of special polishing agent No. 290 and finishing with polishing water using soft skin or flannel cloth. At the end, the assembly of the hanging and decorative elements, the removal of the protective film from the unpainted parts and the general washing of the machine are carried out. After that, you can carry out anti-corrosion treatment and apply a protective film or varnish.

(1 estimates, average: 2,00 out of 5)

(1 estimates, average: 2,00 out of 5)

DIY car painting - the secrets of the masters

Do-it-yourself car painting is a laborious process that requires skills, preparation and at least a week of time. If for some reason you are going to paint a car with your own hands, then you need to know that the technology of painting a car consists of several stages.

1 Preparatory work before painting

First of all, the car must be thoroughly washed using a special car shampoo and other means that are capable of removing any dirt that appears on the car body over time. After successfully completing the first step, it is necessary to dismantle the car body parts. This is done using factory instructions and special tools. Before painting, it is imperative to remove the following elements:

• front and rear bumpers, as well as a radiator grill;
• optics front and rear, including direction indicators, fog lights, etc.;
• door sills or fenders, other external tuning parts.

After removing all of the above parts, the body must again be thoroughly washed with detergent and solvent, removing any traces of contamination.

2 Correction of surface defects

After the first preparatory stage, it is necessary to take the car to a well-lit area and carefully mark all visible body defects. It is recommended to mark them with colored chalk or special acrylic paint with a fast drying rate. This paint can be purchased at any automotive store. It is better to inspect it twice so as not to miss any of the defects.

Next, you need to purchase a set of sandpaper, options 60, 80 or 90, it all depends on the thickness of the paintwork on your car, as well as a chisel or a well-sharpened screwdriver. It is necessary to clean the defective places with sandpaper boldly, but carefully. Ideally, the area of \u200b\u200bthe body surface cleaned to metal should be identical to the area of \u200b\u200bthe original defect. This will avoid unnecessary waste of material during further painting of the car.

Wipe cleaned surfaces with a cotton cloth soaked in solvent. In some cases, when the car body has undergone severe corrosion, it is cleaned of old paint before painting. However, it is very difficult to do it yourself; in such cases, they resort to the services of specialized workshops with a paint shop.

3 Cooking the body - highlights

The technology of painting a car includes the obligatory work of puttingty and priming the body before painting. You need to purchase a special synthetic polyester filler from a car dealer, as well as a set of spatulas. In order to stir the solution, you must use a metal "spatula". In what proportion to stir the solution, you can find in the manufacturer's instructions indicated on the jar with the material. The mixture should be stirred for about a minute.

After the procedure, it is necessary to allow the material to dry. This takes 20 minutes to 1 hour. To understand that everything has been done correctly, you need to walk over the sealed places with sandpaper. If the putty is poured into a dry powder and does not stick to the emery surface, then everything is dry as it should. Using the same sandpaper, it is necessary to clean up the putty surface, leveling the layer with the paint layer. If the dust is very dusty, you can add a little liquid to the sandpaper.

The final touch of this stage of the painting job is the application of the primer. The primer can be purchased together with the paint - it is sold in special cans. When spraying it, you must use a respirator. After the primer has dried, possible inaccuracies in the work done will immediately catch the eye. If none are found, then you can proceed to the next stage.

4 Last preliminary stage

To work, you need to have masking tape and paper available - as a rule, newspaper sheets are used, they cost nothing and are great for closing places where paint will not be applied. This is primarily the glass of the car, wheels and mirrors, as well as areas of the body that are not planned to be painted - in the event that painting the car with your own hands is partial.

After gluing all parts, the entire body must be cleaned again of dust and dirt and wiped with a cloth soaked in solvent to degrease the surface.

In the room in which the car will be painted with your own hands, there should be enough space for an indent of 2-2.5 meters when spraying paint. In addition, the room must be ventilated and clean, the floor can be wetted with a spray bottle or covered with polyethylene.

5 Car painting at home - paint application

If all of the above recommendations have been followed, it's time to start the painting procedure. The technology of painting a car is best followed if the paint is enameled, with a quick drying rate. It is best to give preference to paints from foreign manufacturers with special markings.

The paint is mixed with a solvent in the proportion recommended by the manufacturer. The mixture must be stirred for 5-6 minutes until the optimum paint thickness. You can determine the density using a metal rod. Dip the rod into the paint, and then gently raise and observe the dripping rate of the drops, the best option is 4-5 drops per second.

After the final coat has been applied, allow the new coating to dry. Final drying lasts up to two days in a well-ventilated room with a constant temperature of at least 15 degrees.

Personal experience of painting a car

Quite recently, I got into an unpleasant situation. I turned around in the parking lot and I don't even know how the wing touched the parking post. The unpleasant grinding of metal was like a knife to my heart. An unpleasant picture appeared in front of me: the wing of the car had rather deep scratches and chips, and the paintwork, like confetti, powdered the asphalt.

The only consolation for me in this situation was that my "opponent" was a parking post, and not a Lexus of the last year of release.

You can't even imagine how upset I was on my way home. The numbers of paint bills, car service costs, and paint costs flashed through my head. The family budget is planned down to a penny. There was, of course, a stash, but I didn't want to pull out of it, because it was my savings for the purchase of a new laptop.

What is now goodbye to the dream of a new device? This I could not allow. I decided to act independently. After reading mountains of information on the Internet, and watching a large number of videos about painting a car, I came to the conclusion that everything is not so difficult and such work is quite within my power to do it myself. Without hesitation, I started painting the car.

Preparing the surface

The first thing I did was wash my car thoroughly. This must be done because dirt and dust, as well as grease and bitumen stains, do not in any way contribute to the tight adhesion of the paint to the surface. It is best to wash your car with a special detergent. Treat stains that cannot be washed off with water and cleaning agents with white spirit. Never use thinners or benzine.

Now carefully examine the location of the damage. Depending on its location, you will need to remove the radiator grille, bumpers, radio antenna, etc. In my case, there was no such thing.

Next, I carefully examined the condition of the paintwork of the damaged area. I marked large defects, chips, cracks and dents with chalk. It is best to do this with acrylic quick-drying paint. It is sold in any store and comes in the form of aerosol cans. I didn't have such paint on hand, so I used simple chalk.

Then, taking sandpaper No. 60, you can - 80 or 100, I cleaned the damaged areas to clean metal. Here I want to especially emphasize - just to the pure metal. Otherwise, in the shortest possible time, you run the risk of getting a large rusty spot in this place.

When cleaning up damage, try to make the transition from a defective surface to a non-defective one as smooth as possible. Make sure that there are no ledges, overhangs or depressions at the transition point. It's easy to check. Simply iron your hand over the area to be sanded, and you will feel by touch where else you need to sand. In this case, the main thing is not to rush and do everything gradually. After completing this stage of work, wipe the sanded area with a cotton cloth dipped in white spirit, and dry well.

We even out defects with putty

Another step in preparing the car for painting at home is to putty the damaged surface. I used:

• polyester synthetic auto-putty;
• metal and rubber spatulas.

Their width should correspond to the size of the damage. I recommend using a finishing putty, as it has a fine-grained structure and is very easy and simple to work with even for a beginner. The bank usually comes with detailed instructions. Actually, I acted on it. Stir the filler with hardener with a metal spatula. The proportions are indicated on the can.

The putty should be applied vigorously. The movements should be cross. The first layer should overlap with the next. You need to work quickly, but without unnecessary fuss. I will say that you will have to make a lot of efforts, but as my experience has shown, they pay off with interest. Especially when compared with the price of painting a car at a service station.

After filling the surface, let it dry well and harden. It took me 45 minutes, given that the air temperature was +20 degrees. Checking the readiness of the surface is easy. Take sandpaper # 80 and rub the putty place with it. If there is no sticking on the skin, and the putty itself is covered with fine powder, then the surface is completely dry.

Stripping

Now you can start cleaning the surface. This will require sandpaper from # 120 to # 600. We start with a coarse-grained skin and finish with a sanding one. This way you can level the surface and make it perfect.
I recommend dry cleaning without being wetted with water. Moisture trapped in the putty structure significantly impairs its properties and quality. It is better to control the place of stripping with your hand.
The final stage:

1. Remove dust from the surface.
2. Wipe with a cloth dipped in white spirit.
3. Dry.
4. Apply a thin coat of primer from an aerosol can and lightly grip the untreated body surface.

Preparation for painting

We clean the treated area and cover the areas that cannot be painted. I covered all the surrounding areas with newspapers, which I secured with masking tape. Thus, you prepare for yourself the area that needs to be painted over.

Now you need to sand the paintwork near the treated surface with 1200 grit sandpaper. It should be matte. We remove the dust again and treat the place with white spirit.

It is very important to prepare the area in which you will be painting your vehicle. There should be no dust and dirt here. I painted my car in the garage. Therefore, beforehand:

1. I removed unnecessary objects and tools so that they do not interfere with work.
2. Thoroughly cleaned the garage from dirt.
3. Swept dust off the ceiling and removed any loose plaster that might have gotten onto the freshly painted car.
4. I moistened the floor abundantly with water so that dust particles do not scatter and do not settle on the painted surface.

Now the enamel should be diluted with a solvent to the required thickness. All proportions are indicated on the can or in the instructions. However, I will share my experience. When I watched a video about painting a car with my own hands, I saw a simple and effective way to determine the optimal paint density.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this process. It is only important to strictly follow the sequence and carefully follow all the stages. From my own experience, I can say that the cost of painting a car that I painted myself is much lower than if I went to a car service.

If you are interested, the prices for painting a car in Moscow start from 30 - 35 thousand rubles. In other regions it will be cheaper. For example, an acquaintance painted his car in Chelyabinsk, so he gave 20 thousand rubles. It all depends on the chosen artist. It is good if there are acquaintances who do not mind giving this money, because you know that they will do everything right. The main thing is not to rush and not be afraid. But I bought a new laptop.

Car paintwork is extremely difficult to keep in decent condition if you use the car every day. It seems that all known road factors work against the paint of your favorite iron horse, pebbles flying from under the wheels of neighboring cars, dusty suspension flying along the road in spring and summer, snow and reagents in winter, ultraviolet rays, which in the end also burn out the structure of the paint making it weak and faded.

Against this background, do you think that nothing can be done in order to restore the former beauty and appearance of the car body? No matter how it is! And we'll show you how to regain pride in the look of your car. An inexpensive and simple car paint repair that will help the paintwork shine again with all the colors of the rainbow.

However, do not get us wrong, we agree that there are times when it is better to send a car for repainting to professionals, to one of the body shops of a local workshop that you trust. However, if you just want to freshen up your old car by repairing minor paint defects, this approach can certainly save you a lot of money and reward you with presentable results. We'll consider the following types of body repair:

Removing mechanical damage on the bumper

Removing bumper cracks

Local touch-up

Painting chips

Find your color

Before starting painting, you need to go through the first, but extremely important stage - the selection of the desired paint color. Dozens of shades of the same color can make searching tedious and ineffective. Of course, you can come to the store and sort out all the samples from them, applying them to the body of your car, or you can make it easier, see the coded designation of the paint shade that is used on your car. The factory paint code for your car can be found on a plate on the inside of the pillar on the side of the driver's door or under the hood (usually the car manufacturer installs it on the front reinforcement in front of the radiator or at the back of the engine compartment).

An example of the location and type of code

Type this code into a Google search, and you can easily find the name of the desired color.

List of materials

You shouldn't have any problems with finding and purchasing materials for work. Remember one simple but effective technique for any type of work. To save money and time, you need to buy everything you need in advance.

Armed with the paint code for your car, you can easily find all the products you need online and order them directly at home. Within a few days, you will have them. However, only paint can be included in the list of virtual purchases (if its shade is not available in your local auto dealership).

Materials like primer, sandpaper, putty, and masking tape can be easily purchased at regular auto dealerships.

Click on the photo to enlarge

An exhaustive list of the plastic bumper you need to repair your car is presented in the photo above. The total cost of quality automotive material will be approximately 5.000 rubles ... You can find cheaper options, but the quality of repairs using such tools may not be as high. Therefore, we advise you to ask professionals on the forum or from a seller in a paint store for the best quality materials for repairs. You don't want to pay twice, do you?

However, if you only need to retouch the resulting chips, the list can be seriously reduced.

The photo above shows a set of all the items you will need for your car's bodywork. Such a repair kit will cost about 1000 rubles and it will serve you for a long time. Not a single chip can remain uncovered.

Preparing for repair

Do-it-yourself home repair professionals have long noticed that paintwork repair is easier and easier if it is possible to isolate the part being repaired from the entire car. For example, to work with the bumper, it is best to remove it from the car. This process can take different time on different cars and cause more or less difficulties depending on the method of fastening it to the car.

However, for superficial repairs, for example, painting chips and removing scuffs, you can leave this part in its place, but according to the canons of repair, it would be better to twist such a complex element as a bumper from the car in order to avoid paint spraying on other surfaces of the car.

Help site: In order to find out how this or that element is removed on your car, refer to the manual.

The car that will be used today for the repair demonstration is the Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo. Let's get down to work.

But first, a little advice, before starting work, drive the car to the wash, the body must be clean.

1) Mechanical damage to the bumper

The damage looks serious, what can you do about it?

Step first step In our photo example, someone has already tried to fix the damage to the bumper, so first, let's remove the layer of old and unnecessary putty. A dremel is perfect for such work. However, if it is not at hand and your neighbors in the garage do not have a problem, we act in manual mode, with coarse sandpaper. Tedious and long work, but it needs to be done. It is important that the roughness remains on the working surface, thus the epaxid composition better "sticks" to the bumper surface.

Step two Then work over the surface with a finer-grained sandpaper.

Step three Remove fine dust from the surface.

Step four Epoxy resin application. * On a clean surface, apply an epoxy base coat on the inside of the bumper, after mixing the epoxy with hardener (proportions are indicated on the package). Before this, it is important to combine the bumper elements as they should be located in their normal form.

Immediately after applying the epoxy, reinforce the surface with fiberglass, a piece of which you previously cut out according to the dimensions of the bumper part being repaired. Crimp the fiberglass to form an element over its entire area and soak in epoxy. Coat the fiberglass with a second coat of epoxy.

Wait for the time allotted for the composition to harden. It is written on the package. At the end of the work, you will see that the crack is practically invisible, and the element has regained its rigidity.

* We will not advise soldering broken bumper parts. The effect of it will be comparable to the use of epoxy, but the risk of completely ruining the part due to inexperience is too great. However, there are a number of other options for eliminating cracks: using acetone and pieces of plastic, welding with a hot air gun or a soldering iron, sealing the crack with liquid polymer. But in our case, the repair will be carried out using epoxy resin and fiberglass. We carry out the work in rubber gloves!

3) Painting the part

We continue to work on the bumper. Let's move on to painting. The most difficult and responsible part of the cosmetic repair. In our example, the paint was applied using a spray can. It is imperative to practice spraying paint at the right angle and distance to get started. Too close and you will get smudges, too far and the paint will fall into place too thin. Therefore, practice on unnecessary parts, if the result is almost indistinguishable from the factory one, proceed to painting.

Security measures! You need to work with paint in a well-ventilated area or outdoors. Its vapors, however, as well as vapors of acetone and other chemical liquids in high concentration, are hazardous to health.

For a good painting result you need *:

* We wrote about this in detail in the following article: Here is an excerpt from it:

Step one Paste over the borders of the car paint, which should not get paint. There are many pitfalls here.

Do not use newspapers, paint can easily soak or leak under folds, leaving smudges.

Buy in advance a special film used for painting bodies. There are a huge variety of them and their main advantage is density, through them the paint will not seep to other surfaces, they adhere well to the body, are able to take various forms of relief. Usually sold in paint shops.

But just wrapping the car with foil is not enough, for a good result, glue the joints with adhesive tape, only in this case there is a guarantee that the paint will not get onto other surfaces.

Step two Apply a primer to the surface. The tone of the primer should be as close as possible to the color of the paint. Prepare the surface for painting by rubbing it with white spirit. Apply primer evenly from a spray can. It is necessary to apply three coats, allowing each coat to set within a few minutes. Let the primer harden for at least 12 hours.

Step three Smooth the primed surface with fine sandpaper (400th). It is necessary to achieve perfect surface evenness. Mechanization of labor will again help here. Wipe dust off the surface.

Step four We apply paint. Three or four layers, over and over. Gradually, the primer will show less and less under the layer of paint, you will understand that the job is done when the old and newly applied color merge together.

In our example, simply painting over a previously damaged surface would have left a clear stain, so we had to resort to a trick of applying new paint over the old with a thin, light coat. This will mask the fresh paint against the faded old paint, and the redecoration will only be visible at close range.

Let the paint dry for 24 to 36 hours.

Step five Apply clear varnish. The wash off of the application is the same as that of the paint. Keep an eye on the surface while applying the varnish, it also needs to be applied in moderation. Disguise your work by switching to old paint. Let the varnish dry, the hardening time is written on the can.

After that, you can remove the masking tape. Peel off the tape carefully to prevent any visible edges appearing on the border of the new paint.

4) Painting chips

Probably the easiest part of the job. Chips appear on the car inevitably, unless, of course, it is a museum piece. Therefore, you need to fight them.

First step Cleaning the surface from dirt. You washed your car at the car wash, that's good. But just in case, the surface where there are chips must be wiped again, degreasing it with white spirit. Clean cloth, cleaner and go!

Step two We take a bottle of paint and shake it so that the paint takes on a uniform consistency. Unscrew the brush and remove excess paint by wiping it on the inner surface of the bottle neck.

Step three Apply paint to the chip. Make sure that its amount is not very large.

Step four Take a paper towel, dab some leveling solvent on it until the paint has set, and lightly rub the paint so that it lies evenly on the chip. Thus, you will avoid a solidified ball of paint on the chip, it will lie flush with the native paintwork of the car.

Do the same ritual with all other chips.

Excellence Budget or Budget Excellence

Are you expecting the perfect result from your work? Don't worry in vain, it probably won't be. Not every spray booth can paint a car body well, let alone at home. Therefore, in our today's article we talked specifically about the old car, for the redecoration of which it is a pity to spend a lot of money, but on which it is not a pity to experiment.

During the operation of the vehicle, its appearance may deteriorate noticeably, the paintwork will darken, and in some places chips and abrasions may appear. This is primarily due to the impact on it of negative environmental factors, the influence of ultraviolet radiation and a sharp temperature drop, as well as the aggressive impact of chemical road reagents and gravel flying out from under the wheels.

Re-painting will help to improve the appearance of the car, and in some cases, additional body repairs will need to be done before painting.

Painting a car is not a cheap pleasure, so many car owners arm themselves with a spray gun and decide to do all the work on their own. In the process, it is necessary to observe the technology of applying paint and be sure to pre-practice on an unnecessary part.

So you can not only adjust the spray gun, but also evaluate the quality of the paint and fill your hand a little. You need to adhere to some tips from experienced auto repairmen:

1. You cannot save on paint, it is better to use materials only from a trusted manufacturer.
2. From painting with a brush, streaks remain, so it is better to work with a spray gun.
3. Before starting work, check the spray gun and practice a little to apply the coloring composition to any metal surface.

Many factors will affect the quality of the coating. Here are the main ones:

• If you work in an unprepared room, there is a risk of defects in the unpainted surface. Under the influence of dust and dirt, the paint will lie unevenly and the car will have to be repainted.
• The quality of the resulting coating is strongly influenced by the cleanliness of the painted surface and its preparation (including degreasing).
• Has the body been repaired correctly?
• Was the coloring mixture well prepared (proportions were observed when adding components to the mixture).

It is recommended to perform work in a specially equipped spray booth. But many car enthusiasts do it in a garage converted into a workshop. Before performing work, you need to read the information on how to paint a car at home.

How to properly paint a car at home

First, the vehicle is well washed and dried. This is necessary in order to assess the appearance of the vehicle and detect coating defects. Some parts can be dismantled to make it more convenient to work and there was no need to protect them with plastic wrap (these are optics, radiator grille, etc.), but you can work without dismantling.

Defects are best detected when the vehicle is well lit, and immediately after they are found, they must be carefully cleaned with sandpaper of different grain sizes. You can use a grinder or a drill with special attachments to remove the old paint and varnish coating, this will significantly save the time and effort of the master.

When working with sandpaper, you need to periodically wet the surface and check the transitions. After sanding is completed, the body is cleaned with a soft cloth and degreased.

Defect filling and surface priming

The putty mixture must be carefully mixed with the hardener, it is imperative to follow the recommendations of the material manufacturer. You need to work with a spatula, on which a small amount of the mixture is applied. It is necessary to close up the scratches both along and across so that the defect is completely filled with the putty mixture.

Usually you will need to apply several even coats of putty to get an even surface. At the same time, each of them must be given enough time to dry completely and only after that the next layer should be applied.

After drying, the surface is sanded with sandpaper with a gradual decrease in the abrasive grain until the moment when the body acquires its geometry. Before this, the surface is checked for drying - if, after rubbing the place with sandpaper, no adhering mixture remains on it, then the putty is dry.

At the same time, it should crumble with fine dust. It is better to work without the use of water, as this can lead to the fact that the properties of the putty will noticeably deteriorate. Masters recommend using a finishing putty to seal defects - it is fine-grained, so working with it is very simple and convenient.

Sometimes a few minutes after mixing the mixture, lumps appear in it. This is a signal that it is no longer possible to use the putty and it is better to prepare a new one.

Then, after degreasing, you can apply a thin layer of primer to the surface from an aerosol can. If defects are found, they must be eliminated immediately and proceed to the next stage of work. All unpainted surfaces must be protected with masking tape and polyethylene before painting.

In this case, it is necessary not to forget about the boundaries of the parts that will be painted and unpainted surfaces. Painting work will be successful if the room has been carefully prepared and cleaned of dirt and dust.

Next stage

To avoid the appearance of defects and paint peeling, experienced craftsmen recommend painting the car and using materials exclusively from one manufacturer during its preparation.

Material rejection can occur due to the fact that different manufacturers add different chemicals to paints and varnishes. Usually, defects will be immediately visible on the applied paintwork, at best, such a coating will last a little, but soon it will completely lose all its performance and the vehicle will have to be painted again.

Using materials from one manufacturer will protect against this.

Unpainted body parts are protected with masking tape, while observing the boundaries between the painted parts and those parts that are not painted. It is best to arrange such boundaries along the boundaries of individual elements of the vehicle body.

Just in case, the body is re-cleaned from dust and degreased. You should not get carried away with a degreaser, because its abundance can lead to a softening of the primer layer, it will become unusable and all preparatory work will need to be done anew.

The room for painting works must be chosen very carefully.... It should be spacious for easy work, clean and dust-free. It is also necessary to equip a ventilation system in it, since the fumes of paints and varnishes are very toxic.

You need to choose a paint in accordance with the taste preferences of the owner, while you also need to pay attention to its chemical composition and quality. Mobihel paint is well suited for work.

Paint application

Before starting work, you need to make sure that the spray gun and compressor are working. The paint is mixed in a special container, while it is necessary to strictly adhere to the manufacturer's recommendations and not violate the proportions.

Particular attention should be paid to the choice of a solvent, it should be selected only after consulting the seller (too fast or vice versa, its long evaporation can lead to the formation of defects on the only applied paintwork).

Then the prepared paint must be filtered through a filter or through an ordinary nylon stocking, and only after that it is allowed to be poured into the container of the spray gun. It is best to start painting the car from the roof and gradually go down.

The spray gun should be at a distance of at least 25 cm from the surface to be painted (the distance should be carefully monitored - the paint should not spray and form smudges on the surface). Before starting work, the pressure of the spray gun can be adjusted by painting an unnecessary body part.

You need to work smoothly, not strive to apply all the paint in one go. Each strip of paint should overlap the previous one by about half, it is recommended to dry the applied layer thoroughly and only then apply the next one.

The color will appear fully only after a day, it is forbidden to operate the car and wash it at this time, the paint must dry. All defects that may appear on the surface are recommended to be eliminated only after the vehicle has dried.

Small shagreens can be removed by careful polishing, more serious flaws will require removing the applied coating, carrying out all preparatory work and reapplying the paintwork to the car body. There are several types of drying a freshly painted vehicle:

1. In a special chamber under the influence of high temperature.
2. Drying under the influence of ultraviolet radiation.
3. Infrared.

It is not recommended to force-dry the parts using a hair dryer, acrylic paints and enamels dry well at room temperature.

When painting, you must follow these rules:

• Work in a well-ventilated garage and wear a respirator.
• The air compressor must be located outside of the painting area.
• It is forbidden to smoke in the room where the paint is applied.

Then you can apply varnish over the paint and polish the car to a shine.

In this article we will tell you what you need to paint a car if you decide to do it yourself.

Some motorists decide to paint a car on their own. They start looking on the Internet for a set of tools and materials needed to paint a car. Car paint shops have a huge range of different tools and specialized equipment that allow you to paint your car efficiently. The list of professional tools and materials can shock ordinary motorists. Moreover, their cost is really so high that high-quality painting becomes a very expensive pleasure. In this article we will tell you what you need to paint a car if you decide to do it yourself.

List of tools for painting a car

For high-quality painting of a car with your own hands, there is no need at all for professional equipment and tools. That is why ordinary motorists should not despair, they can really paint their report card on their own. The table below lists the tools you need to paint your car yourself.

Tool	Description
Portable spotlight	The cost of such a tool is about 2,000 rubles. During painting, it is necessary that the site has high-quality lighting. It is best if two spotlights are purchased at once for work and installed opposite each other. Thus, it will not be necessary to move the spotlight in a circle during painting. At the moment, there are a lot of LED floodlights on the market. It is desirable that the power of the LED floodlight is at least 50 W.
Building hair dryer and nozzles	A set of building hair dryers with nozzles can be purchased for an average of 1,500 rubles. The construction hair dryer will help to remove various plastic moldings, decorative elements and stickers that were attached to the body panels with glue from the car body. In addition, the construction hair dryer will help in straightening the plastic body panels, for example, a deformed plastic bumper can be easily brought in the right direction.
Vinyl power drill attachment	The average cost of a vinyl attachment is about 500 rubles. The vinyl nozzle for the electric drill helps to easily and quickly remove putty and old paint from the body panel, and the vinyl nozzle can also perfectly clean the body panel from the appeared corrosion.
Grinder type grinder	On the market you can buy a grinder at a price of 2,000 rubles. We need such an orbital sander to prepare the surface before applying the putty in front of the paint. We will also need to purchase polishing wheels for the grinder with a soft layer.
Polishing machine	The cost of a polishing machine on the Russian market is from 5000 rubles. After each painting of the car, it is necessary to polish the body. This will help the polishing machine and attachments for it. As attachments for the polishing machine, you will need to purchase foam wheels of different densities.
Grinding planer	The cost of a grinding plane starts at 500 rubles. We need this tool during the processing of putty flat surfaces.
Spray gun	The cost of the spray gun is from 2000 rubles. Any car painting will not be complete without this main tool. A spray gun, which is also called a painting gun, will be necessary for us to evenly apply paint, liquid, primer or varnish. For the spray gun, you will also need to purchase nozzles of various diameters. Each individual nozzle is designed for a different type of fluid.
Compressor	The cost of the compressor starts at 6,000 rubles. This equipment is necessary for the painting process itself. The compressor will pressurize the gun. If you plan to paint a car professionally, to order, then you need to purchase a professional compressor that runs on an oil engine and has a power reserve, as well as a large receiver.
Painting mask	The cost of a painting mask starts from 1,500 rubles. Any paint or varnish is toxic to humans. That is why it is necessary to work with a paint mask when painting a car. This tool is extremely indispensable for paintwork. You will also need to additionally purchase replaceable pre-filters and carbon filters.

We have described the sets of tools and equipment that are necessary for self-painting a car. And, of course, for paintwork we need the materials themselves.

We have described the sets of tools and equipment that are necessary for self-painting a car. And, of course, for paintwork we need the materials themselves. To paint a car, you will need to purchase the following materials:

- Abrasive materials, which include planer skins, sandpaper and sander wheels.

- Wipes for surface degreasing. Such wipes will help very quickly and effectively remove greasy stains and anti-silicone from the treated surface of the car body.

- Masking tape, they will need to seal all the edges of the body panels, as well as joints and glass.

- Putty for car painting. You will need two types of putty - universal and finishing. The first putty will be used to deal with deep dips and scratches, and the finishing putty will be to remove paint swelling.

- Ground. We will apply the primer just before the paint.

- Matting paste, which will be necessary for us to detect defects left after grinding the universal putty.

- Selected by color car paint and varnish.

- Polishing paste.

Preparing a box for painting a car with your own hands

Of course, in addition to tools and materials for self-painting a car, we also need a place where we will carry out these works. Now we will talk about the requirements that apply to the room in which the paintwork will be carried out with the car.

The car paint box shouldn't be small. You should not be constrained by the size of the room when painting the car. Usually, self-painting of a car is carried out in its own garage. For an ordinary middle-class sedan, you will need a box or garage measuring at least 4x6 m. If the width of the garage is narrower than 4 meters, then it will be extremely inconvenient for you to paint the car on the sides.

Now we will talk about the requirements that apply to the room in which the paintwork will be carried out with the car.

Preparing a box for painting a car with your own hands is comparable to sanitizing a room. We need not only to clean the garage of dust and cobwebs, but also to get out of it all the insects that live in it. Otherwise, dust, cobwebs and insects will simply ruin your work when painting a car. The walls and shelves in the garage must also be covered with plastic wrap.

We hope that our advice on purchasing the necessary materials and preparing a box for painting a car with your own hands will help you do this work efficiently and quickly.