Painting my car in sections

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 5:17 am
I’m about to paint the body of my car and this is also the first attempt at such a job.
First the plan was to paint the car all in one go. But now I feel I’m not up for the task.
I’ve done all the bodywork in my garage where space is quite limited, and it will be sprayed here as well.
The car is assembled and I’ve done all jambing. I’ve also painted the front and the rear.
The color will be a single stage red.
So I’m thinking splitting up the paint job in 2-3 sessions. Reason is I’m scared of touching the door panels while painting the roof. Same touching the front fenders while painting the hood etc..

The car: BMW E3 2800 1969
BC835738-51C9-4B22-B6CA-F3D1A8653AED.jpeg

Alt. 1. First session paint hood, A-pillars, roof, C-pillars and decklid. This involves making a tapeline where the c-pillar meets the quarterpanel.
Second session paint the rest, quarterpanel, doors and front fenders
833E4552-C5B7-4889-B8BE-5D788F5DA745.jpeg

DB37D922-CF7D-4A00-9F09-841EB5A513A1.jpeg

As you can see there will be a chrome trim piece there, but it will not cover the edge at the rear.

Alt. 2 First hood, A-pillars, roof, c-pillard AND quarterpanel.
Second doors and front fenders.

What do you guys think? If Alt 1. How to make the the paint line at the C-pillar the best?
I know some will say do it all in one go..



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 6:22 am
personally, im all for spraying all at once. i understand the fear but heres how it is:
practice practice practice. without paint in the gun.
im just a greenhorn but heres how id paint it:
pick a side any side. start at the middle of the roof and spray towards you. go down the pillars to body panels.
then jump to other side and start at middle of roof. go down pillars on that side.
quick coat on wheel wells then start at back quarter and spray entire side top to bottom.
when thats done, on to the hood. do same as roof but start from fender and work towards middle then jump to other side and finish hood from middle out.
then onto other side. same way- top to bottom.
then trunk.

basically, the object is to do whats possible to keep a wet edge.

do dry practice runs. plan it out. have yourself ready to reload your gun.

youre saving grace is solid color single stage. rather easy to fix in the even ya rub against it somewhere.

i understand where youre comin from. my first full paint was a 97 Z71. try sprayin THAT hood and roof!LOL base/clear. i did a **** of dry runs before pulling the trigger. i didnt have a single problem with anything. practiced for quite a while, thought through the process, laid everything out, rocked it out.\
then when i was done, i was geeked to see it in the sun. went to back it out, hit the button for the garage door opener, jumped in, and backed it right into my taurus.LOLOL
fortunately the taurus took the damage.
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 8:21 am
Thanks for your reply. I see your points.
I’ve actually done lots of dry runs to practice, and thats also why I came to my current conclusion. I feel very out of balance standing on a stool reaching for the middle of the roof while making sure my shoes and legs not touching the fresh paint on rockers and doors.
Not having a clean booth I think painting the sides secondly will introduce less dust and dirt in the paint. But I could be wrong ofcourse..



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 9:17 am
E3AV wrote:Thanks for your reply.
Not having a clean booth ...

first things first- clean the booth.
one pic i posted shows a bit of the door to the shop i painted in- 26 by 36 garage. its also where all of the body work was done. doesnt look like you can roll that out but you could do similar to what i did:
first rolled the truck out. put a temp wall up to cut the shop down to 16 by 26.
then put a row of fans blowing out. i have a few old furnace blowers that moved a lot of air i put along the door and lowered the door to the fans. a window on the opposite wall for intake air i found a pleated furnace filter that fit the window good .turned on the fans, put on my mask, grabbed a leaf blower, and started blasting out the whole place. i spent a few hours doing this- blast, let dust get sucked out and settle, repeat. i hit every nook and crannie and just kept doing it- thinking like dust:" if i was dust and want to really screw up a paint job, where would i hide until the trigger is pulled on a spray gun?"
then blasted every nook and cranny on the truck in the drive. you can do the same cept in the garage.
pulled the truck in and blasted it all again. fender wells, under carriage, under the hood- every where on the truck was blasted with compressed air. its amazing how dust materializes once the triggers pulled on a spray gun!
i spent a LOT of time prepping the paint booth and truck. pretty much 6 hours of the day. i might have gone overboard but that paint wasnt cheap and i didnt feel like learning how to fix dust nibs and crud in the paint. :)
with all that done, taped it out. then blasted again.
i didnt have any dust/debris in the paint or clearcoat( i also put on clean clothes and wore a tyvek spray suit).

that car does look like its up a bit. instead of a stool, maybe some sort of little scaffold along the side. its what i had to do for the truck to get the roof. i just used 2 six foot ladders and an 8 foot 2 by 10. before pulling the trigger, i practiced moving that all to the other side. found out it was easier to borrow a pair of ladders and get another 2 by 10. that way, instead of moving it all from side to side i just had to slide them back out of the way for when i sprayed the sides of the truck.

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:28 am
Get you a step ladder similar to this:

Step Ladder.jpg


This will give you adequate reach but also a barrier to keep your body from getting too close to the sides of the vehicle. Also, you want to wear a painter's suit if possible rather than loose fitting clothing that might contact the wet paint.

When painting the roof and hood, be sure to keep the air hose over your shoulder so that it stays behind you and away from the vehicle. Again practice this before you start spraying.

I actually have two step ladders so I don't have to drag the one around.
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 11:27 am
nothing wrong with doing solid colors in sections. i would do the top trunk and rear quarters. then doors hood and front fenders. you have already tested it on the jambs so you should have a feel for it. you could also do the front fenders and see how they turn out, if there's any problems you can fix and reshoot or do the hood and fenders. there's a lot of ways to do this, but IF your worried do sections at a time. get a step stool, take your time any enjoy your work. if you do sections be sure the previous coating is dried long enough before cover it look on your spec sheet for tape times.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:02 pm
Lots of good advice here :goodjob:

badsix wrote:nothing wrong with doing solid colors in sections. i would do the top trunk and rear quarters. then doors hood and front fenders. you have already tested it on the jambs so you should have a feel for it. you could also do the front fenders and see how they turn out, if there's any problems you can fix and reshoot or do the hood and fenders. there's a lot of ways to do this, but IF your worried do sections at a time. get a step stool, take your time any enjoy your work. if you do sections be sure the previous coating is dried long enough before cover it look on your spec sheet for tape times.
Jay D.


Yes I would like to stress down doing this. Risks makes me nervous. Nervous makes me shaking. Shaking makes holding the gun steady challenging. :flatten:
The paint TDS doesnt mention tape times, only "ready for assembly 12-24h" Same?

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:28 pm
Relax, painting is the enjoyable part of the process.
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:39 pm
Yes, I'm actually looking forward to it. Waiting for my "new" gun, Devilbiss gti pro lite 1.3 with T110 air cap. :happy: I'll do some more test panels with it to get the right feel before I start on the car.



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 3:30 pm
i would do the 24. a lot of variables here. paint can feel dry but if tape is left on for several hours it can sometimes leave an imprint on the paint, you want to avoid this.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay
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