Hi,

After months of repairing the shell of my 1303 (rust, dents, dodgy repairs etc) I am hoping to spray the shell in primer next weekend.

I wanted some advice from some experienced players as to where to start & finish and what direction to spray the shell in. eg roof then quarters etc

Also when it comes time to the final colour spray is it best to paint with the doors, guards, bonnet etc bolted on?

I will be painting the trunk area, door jams, engine bay & dash, do I need to mask the rest of the car up just to paint these areas or can I paint these areas the same time I paint the rest of the shell?

Any help appreciated

Cheers Paul

[ Edited on 17-4-2006 by 1303 ]

There are no rules as such. More than one way to skin a cat so to speak.

Roof first then work around the vehicle in a direction that suits you.

If the colour is metallic, then the panels should be done on, especially the doors as the flat sides will show a different flip in the metallic if painted at different times.

If it is a solid colour, then make sure you mix your colour real well, really really well if you want to paint panels seperatley.

If you go to the thread that is sticky about the respray of a Beetle parts 1 and 2 you will see some of the stuff there. Now I know that was metallic and the panels were painted seperatley, but the doors were mainly white, and the colour actually was quite dark and didn't have much of a flip in the pearl. Boot and Bonnet dont sit as flat to adjacent panels as the doors. Experience and gut feeling helps in these circumstances.

thanks for your reply Helbus.

I have looked at the thread alot and I have also looked at dasdubbers rebuild which is good also.

i keep noticing that the trunk area and interiors are done separately, as in the exterior panels are masked up.

What are the drawbacks of painting the whole lot at once? I have attached a picture of my car, basically i have covered up areas that i dont want painted, I was hoping just to do it all in one hit?

Cheers Paul

You will find that no matter how hard you try, there will be a certain amount of dust inside, and that will come out onto the outside paint. Usually the inside is covered by a lot of things like trims, components etc. The outside however is what you see all of the time, so getting dust in the paint is not good.

I masked off the underbonnet and interior after painting them to avoid as much overspray as possible. There will always be some that sneaks through (no matter how vigilant you are with the tape), but minimising it will help to avoid unnecessary work down the track (ie. getting rid of overspray later).

I second Helbus's comments about painting the guards/doors etc in the position they sit on the car esp with metallic paint....haven't painted a solid colour so can't comment about that sorry. :blush

Hi 1303,
My Son has painted a lot of Beetles including Mine..
but I've never watched Him....
He did paint the inside of My Beetle and under the bonnet first, in a colour I didn't like [at the time]
but it looks great on Laura's Blue Metallic beetle...
so it had to rubbed back & repainted....
which He did at His place.... so I didn't see it...
The flat vertical surfaces are most important [as someone else pointed out] as the reflection will show.... if its not perfect.....
I do know the guards were hung loosely in place..
but the underside of the guards was painted first..
off the car I presume...
Doors were left on the car... engine lid & bonnet were taken off I think.... at least the enine lid was...

Best of Luck with Your painting....

PS. My Son is an Auto Spray Painter

Lee

[ Edited on 19-4-2006 by 68AutoBug ]

As You can see in one of the photos,
I painted under My Guards with blue Killrust Paint...
My Son says I shouldn't have done it....
I suppose because He had painted under there the same colour as the car....
I was in Anti-rust mode at the time....
and it was some paint I already had....
Shame it can be seen.... sometimes...

Lee

Paul,
If you paint with the guards on you tend to get spray bounce off the top of the guards onto the side of the car which will be quite dry. This is ok but you need to do a light ( I mean real light) rub with 800 paper (dry) and then tack rag before continuing otherwise the orange peel will start on subsequent coats. I think that if you have the patience a rub back before the clear goes on will improve the end result no end.

The experts may not agree with me but it is a consideration.

I did mine with all panels off. Last color coat before clear was a 70/30 clear/color to give it depth then 4 coats of clear. No problems with guards matching body.

What day are you spraying it?

Brendan

I hear ya Brendan,

There are so many variables and so many ways to do it, it really makes it hard to come up with a 'right' way so to speak. You are best having a go and seeing what you can do on one panel, say the decklid. Then you will be able to guage the skill level you have in tacling the whole job as one or seperate panels.

I have done quite a number of cars in up to three lots.
1) front guards, bonnet, boot
2) four doors
3) body shell

It has only been on solid colours, and critical attention paid to stirring the paint.

As for a metallic with a lot of flip (colour change when viewed at different angles) you have to consider the only way is to paint with the panels on. However with a beetle body shape I believe the problem of colour flip is not such an issue with the fenders as they come out at different angles to the body anyway, so a flip chacteristic will occur based on shape anyway.

Have a look at the pics of 68autobug's pictures above, and see what the colour silver does with different angles and light.

Good on ya for giving it a go. Hope that helps

Good advice, I will try with the guards on and see how I go. If I find it too difficult I will paint them seperately.

Brendan, I am going to spray it with primer saturday afternoon....all things going well. Then do the bonnet, decklid & rear apron on Anzac day.......then start rubbing it back the following weekend...paint it the weekend after........thats the plan anyway!
I want to be at the Porche Club sprint on the 25th June and the interior has to be done before then too!

Cheers Paul

Hey Pauly,
The first time I painted my car I did it with all the panels on the car, http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/270408.jpg 
but i wasn't happy with it & did again with all the panels (except doors) off the car, this allowed me to get better coverage under all the guards as well. Was definantley a better result second time round.
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/270410.jpg  Sold the car not long after for a $3500 profit!
regards
Jak

Oh, & the last 3 coats of gloss I diluted quite heavily with thinners, risky with running, but the finish was awesome.
Jak

Paul,
Good idea to do it over three weekends. I'm not doing anything Sat arvo after the son's soccer so I might drop over. I have a nice touch up gun you can borrow as well. Great for doing the interior and hard to get places.

Oh and Jak. Warm milk should help you sleep.

Brendan