Hello. I am matte painting the vehicle in the subject line. This is my first project so i dont have any experience, a 1star level of knowledge.

I want to repaint the van a matte color. I researched that you can just paint over basecoat, but on the outside, the paint bleeds when you take a squeegee to it, the inside of the van on some spots on the roof and walls, if you spray spot cleaner on it the color instantly changes and wipes off a ton of yellow brown color nasty smelling old discoloration

I know terms like oxidation, but not experienced to call it what it is.

The van is a dark redish color, so it makes sense on the inside that the spots that almost just spray off are a brownish yellow color, makes me think this 25yr old vehicle is extremely oxidized in some sections.

Before i spraypaint the outside myself, i thought my first step should be to wetsand the whole vehicle with 800 or 1000 grit and remove the top layer of damaged or oxidized paint that bleeds when i use a squeegee on it.

Here are my comments on various sections of the picture
1 and 2 Sun reflection but paint job is spotty, covered in swirl marks from just handwashing the van and paint coming off
3. Same as 1 and 2 with various long scratches
4. Used a 800grit drill bit attached sand paper to wetsand. This caused a ton of bleeding that discolored my bucket of water and dripped down the side of the van turning the gutter cement red until wiped clean
5.wetsand with same drill bit sand paper, 800grit, but by hand(with 2 fingers)

Its my opinion that the paintjob is so old and soo much bleeding that this might not be a normal learning experience and that if im just going for an amateur paintjob for practice, that i should hand wetsand the van twice because it goes faster than using the drillbit attatchment.

(Going over van twice means vary little to you im sure because idk what signs to look for or how throughough to make each pass)

The paint is 24 years old and disintegrating. It needs to be removed.
Your paint job is only as good as its foundation and painting over failing paint is a mistake.

I would strip it to metal, apply epoxy primer and then go through the build primer blocking process.

If the vehicle is not worth that much to you, then you could sand off the color, clean it and spray a reduced coat of epoxy as a sealer. If things look good enough at that point, move to your color.

Be advised that matte finishes are a "you get what you spray" process.

Thx, half of me knows i can do it, the other half finds a lot of reasons not to. But im going to call a rent a booth paint place, because my latest "con" is that ill be washing a ton of crap into the sewers, which pushes me towards paying someone, but it would be better if i just rented a booth, even for 2 days if i need to take more than1 day.

And i think im going to have to go on amazon and buy a spray gun kit and mix some light blue and white, because i cannot find sky blue matte paint anywhere

Base coats dry to a matte like finish. It is the clear coat that provides the gloss.

This is base with no clear:




So you could order the color code you want, then get a matte finish clear coat.
I don't have any pictures myself but check out DarrelK's Dodge Charger Truck Build for an example: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=27971&start=190

Just a few comments.....mixing your own "color", uhhhh....bad idea. It's not like mixing house paint. Colors push all over the place and even if you do end up with a blue you like will you be taking exact enough measurements that you can recreate it again? Just find a stock paint code you like and get it in base coat. And, the ONLY matte clear I would consider is Tamco's. It is a whole other animal compared to other matt effects. When you open a can of that stuff the micronized acrylic flattening agent is mixed in full dispersal from the top to the bottom of the can with NO settling. Bob, at Tamco, told me that it is their same Euro Clear with just that flattener added and I believe him. My paint shows almost no wear, chipping, or peeling. I drive it at least 3 days a week and we've been on several long trips with it. Car show buddy of mine used Hot Rod Flatz about a month ago and it is already scratching and glossing up. In my opinion, the flat effect wasn't even to begin with....