Okay, I’ve never tried my hand at painting a car. This summer I plan to give it a go.

At my past employment for 10+ years I painted machinery we made. All this stuff I painted, and it's just a small sample.





I painted 2 part epoxies, WB acrylic enamels, WB latex, OB enamels, some automotive finishes and some aerospace finishes for satellite parts. The 2 part epoxies were the worst as they went on semi translucent. The aerospace paints were extremely sticky and next to impossible to get off. The majority of the paint I used was from Sherwin Williams.

I used a siphon feed gun and a pressurized pot gun. For some of the latexes and acrylics I used a airless. I have never used a gravity feed.

I’m going to have to buy a paint gun (nothing to expensive, I doubt I will paint many cars with it). I have read many threads and it seems popular consensus is a HVLP. However I see very little discussion on gravity vs. siphon.

Which paint feed is best for painting cars?

man its sad to see noone has commented on this for this long..
hang in there
i have a siphon fed gun but i dont know if it matters.
just like you said high volume low pres is the best but the feed type is up to you.
...
one wierd thing someone told me is that gm never used primer on the fieros...
wierd huh. i dont know for sure but someone said this. never checked it out myself
but soon am going to.
maybe you can give a few pointers on painting? i really never have painted, just have an old gun
from my dad.(who btw never painted either)
i use a brush and can, and thats the best ive done.
...
someone is bound to chime in soon.
"patience young padawan" lol....

I plan on painting my 85 this spring. Last cars I painted where years ago also using siphon.

I just bought a new HVLP gravity feed gun I'm going to use now. Figure without the pressure feed pot that the delivery might be more consistent. Plus less overspray..

[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 01-10-2009).]

I vote for gravity! Good luck!

quote Originally posted by BlackGT Codde: maybe you can give a few pointers on painting?

Really the other threads cover it well, like this one https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/090549.html . DeLorean00 gives a excellent write up.

Another good thread to read through https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/084246.html .

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 01-10-2009).]

Gravity feed. You use much less paint and have less overspray to contend with. Since you have a lot of experience with the siphon feed and pot guns, you'll appreciate the gravity feed gun right away. It may seem to be top heavy, and it is, but you'll soon get over that once you start spraying. It's a different feel but well worth the switch.

Mark

No Doubt gravity HLVP. ( high volume low pressure) If you are spraying at home the low pressure will help with dirt. Use base coat clear coat. tack off in between coats, if you get dirt in the base coat you can use 1000 grit give it a light sand to get dirt out. make sure you cover enough with base. 2 coats of clear, then you can wet sand and apply more if desired. 2 is fine though. If car is metalic , make sure you not to close with the gun, or you can get the railroad track look.
I have done and seen great paint work in garages with pep boys hlvp gun pack. Good luck!

ive used both siphon and gravity feed guns and i prefer hvlp alot more less overspray to deal with if you decide to give it a go do what i did and found a junker car to practice your technique with. for the time being you can use any gun to practice with and build your skills i started with a harbor freight gun and gradually made my way up to a better gun i have few different brand of guns 5 guns total that i have accumulated and each one is different in its guality. if you have any questions on painting delorean and roger garrison are the guys to talk to im a novice with a few yrs under me. patience practice makes perfect and it took me a bit of hrs to get my technigue down.

definetly the gravity feed is better especially with metalics since they don't settle to the bottom of the cup. as for hvlp or non with the new guns it dosn't matter a whole lot. i have a Sata that is pretty new its not a hvlp but is rated very close to them and its the best spraying gun that i've ever used, i've been painting for about 4 years painted about 50 cars or so mostly partials doing repair work. one thing to keep in mind with the hvlp is high volume thats the air flow from your compressor, most manufactures of the spray guns say to use at least a 3/8 inch air hose to provide the proper air flow to get the paint to spray right. as for the paint you want to go base clear and on the clear when you get it find out how many coats the recommend, most all over clears (made for a total paint job not for spot or panel this does matter since it effects cure time so you can apply all the coats before it cures to much and dosn't flow right) call for 3 coats and it does make a differance in how the clear flows, too little and you get a lot of orange peel in it, to much and you get runs or you can get solvent poping. i have found that i like 3 coats looks good flows great and you know that you have enough to wet sand and buff if you need to.

just my 2cents enjoy
Ant

Yeah, I bought a syphon feed myself... and, I've kinda been kicking myself for it ever since... You can't get all the paint out of the bottom of the pot with the damned thing, meaning you're throwing away that last bit of paint... and, as you well know, that stuff is expensive! Next spring I'll have to look at getting a better gun.

Hopefully though, you'll paint with better colors than sea-foam green on those machines :P

[This message has been edited by Twilight Fenrir (edited 01-11-2009).]

quote Originally posted by Twilight Fenrir: Hopefully though, you'll paint with better colors than sea-foam green on those machines :P

Yeah, um... Actually I have long wanted a orange over black. After seeing Pumpkincarraiges I really like how it looks on a Feiro. I don't think I will go with metallics though, and maybe a lighter shade of orange. That seafoam green was a common color for the machinery. Then there was a darker green like hunter green that I painted commonly. Safety yellow and saftey orange was sprayed alot to. Some black, white, silver, blue and various shades of brown but mostly green and yellow.

Gravity feed it is! I will probably do like suggested and just get a Harbor Freight gun to toy with first. If I like the outcome I may start painting cars on the side and look for a more expensive gun. It's been a couple of years since I held a paint gun in my hand but I think it will come back quickly .

Thank you all for the input! Some +'s are in order.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 01-11-2009).]

For you the gravity is by far the best. Like said, lots less material, less overspray. Some states even outlawed siphon type guns now. One exception is my Accuspray gun. It is a siphon style gun, but its HVLP. Routinely spray cars with about 7 pnds of air pressure. It uses about 1/2 as much material as a gravity gun. Its not unusual to paint a complete large car like a Crown Vic with 1 quart of color (2-3 coats). Its also not cheap at about $700 list. Its more than paid for itself over last 15 years in material savings alone. Almost no overspray...i dont even cover shop stuff when painting although I do cover or move other cars out.

Any kind of painting is good practice. I learned how by spraying primer at a body shop. Ive painted boats, tractors biggest being a steam shovel, airliners (Aero Commander in Okla), fire trucks (Amer LeFrance), semi cabs, and cars.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 01-12-2009).]