Ok not paint myself haha but my car. I do have the money to have it done professionally, but I have looked at some other threads and it doesn't look too difficult because the pieces seem easily removed. This would be more of a learning experience for me and satisfy my over whelming want to do everything I can myself on this car. I have access to a good spray gun/ compressor and am just going for simplicity with just white for the color (unless I can find out exactly how to put a simple racing stripe down, but I will probably save that for another day).

The only problem I see myself having is it currently has black primer on it. It is sitting on two other layers of paint as well. I would like to have the three layers removed prior to painting. I guess I should be able to have the pieces sand blasted before I paint them. My father had mentioned something about a chemical they used back in the day to remove paint, but he doesn't know if that would hurt the fiber glass or not by softening it. I am assuming it would.

How many of you have done this yourself with good results?

I painted my car candy orange my first time, then repainted it Ferrari rossa red a few years later. It is not difficult, and I don't recommend removing all the other paint if it is factory. You'll be there a long time. If it is factory paint just rough it up and paint over top. Any solid color such as white is easy to paint. If possible rent a paint booth so you don't get dust in the paint. Ask the paint guy what you should rough it up with then smooth it out with before painting. I think I used 600 grit final for my candy then 400 grit final for my red. They both showed up with no scratches, however I used high fill primer for the red beforehand. I would remove the decklid and doors if possible, this will allow you to paint the inside of the sideskirts. The more you take off, the longer it takes and the more damaged the pieces will be upon reassembly. Leaving more on allows for more uniform painting, which is more important in metallic and candies. I like to use more coats to cover up more, which is usually 3-4 base coats of the main color, then 3-4 coats of clear coat. If you see orange peel or ripples in the clear you can wet sand it then use a automotive buffer to smooth it out for a nice shine. Be careful not to burn through though with the buffer, I'm always scared to use those lol

[This message has been edited by DaytonTD (edited 02-05-2013).]

Soda blasting is preferable. Sandblasting will destroy the top layers of plastics because its too aggressive. You can sand off all the other paint and leave the original but it is time consuming. Original is fine to leave, and if the clear is bad, you only need to remove that. Its really not rocket science to paint. Just follow mixing directions for your brand of paint and PRACTICE. I learned how to paint by myself when a shop I started at let me start spraying primer. I retired after owning my own custom paint shop for 40 years. One of the biggest deals overlooked is trying to do it with a small portable compressor. You need to spend $800-$1000 for a suitable one. It needs to be a 220v/ 5hp (min) and deliver 15+ cfms to be really usable. You cant get a good job with a 120 v, 2hp Sears model. You wont just use it for painting...anyone who works or tinkers on their own cars needs a good compressor anyway. I think your dad is talking about using paint stripper. This was fine on metal cars. DONT use it on any plastic cars or you will have some really bad issues down the road. Even if the can says for stripping cars made of plastics and fiberglass .... DONT get sucked in.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 02-05-2013).]

Roger and the Driver along with some others, gave me some great advice when I was going to paint mine. If I had to do it over I would have spent time with high build primer and used those long sanding bars. I've got some areas where I should have filled in to get the surface level. Once painted they become pretty noticeable. someday I'll have a do over. painting didn't cost all that much and I'm glad I did it even with the imperfections. I was able to use someone's shop with a big compressor and large commercial air exchanger. Had a big crack and hole in my front bumber I fixed and even that is staying together with no cracking.

[This message has been edited by Grantman (edited 02-05-2013).]

Well the factory paint is two layers down. So I shouldn't even bother with getting down to that? Also, and I'm sure I can find this out elsewhere, but since I have your attention already, does the primer color matter? Should I be going with a lighter primer because I'll be using white or can it just be any color so that the paint comes out evenly shaded?

As long as the paint on top of the current factory paint was done properly with sanding and it is holding fine then just rough it up, you don't need to take it off. Primer color doesn't matter, it will however take less coats if your really low on paint for some reason. 3-4 coats should cover any color. Grey primer seems to be best to spot dips I find for bodywork.

It's not holding fine at all. It is peeling off everywhere. That's why I know how many layers are underneath haha

If it is peeling off then sand all that paint that is peeling. Once you get to the factory paint it should be fine. You can use rougher grit such as 200 to go down faster, then go over with 400 or 600 once it is gone.

[This message has been edited by DaytonTD (edited 02-05-2013).]

You need to take off ALL the non-factory paint. Never paint over re-paints - you never know what's under them.
I always seal the car with PPG epoxy (DP) primer. Lots of threads here on what to do, just do a search for my username.
Stripping a Fiero: http://gafieroclub.org/strip_fiero.shtml You CAN use chemicals if the paint takes too long to sand off, just be careful (read the Ga. Club page which I wrote).
HTH,
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts

I say, just take it to Paul (aka Tha Driver)!!! His paintwork is amazing! I usually do all my own work, but on the top chop I wanted it to be perfect. He is currently putting his magic painting skills on the chop top car. CANT WAIT to show it off!

REMOVE all that non factory paint for sure! It could be Enamel like rustoleum or something dude. Enamel will paint over anything but you cant paint over Enamel with anything but enamel due to the chemical activeness other paints have over enamel. Like 1st if its totally cured and non active its like painting over an ice cube to get proper automotive paint to even stick to even the most ruffed up enamel. 2nd it will most likely turn out to look like a spider had a party on your Fiero if it sticks. Its real nasty. I learned all this the hard way painting all my Fieros. I F'ed up a ton before I got the black ice talent. Sand sand sand sand with like a 320 to remove paint by HAND/flex block. Dont try to get nifty and get a DA and a paint removing hook and loop made for paint stripping on fiberglass. You will burn up and eat in to your Fiero as it is not real fiberglass, its a plastic/fiberglass composite except the hood and deck lid. Sand ruff 320, then sand smoother like 600 or so, prime with grey and hit with 800, prime again and scuff with scuff pad ( i hit with 1500 cause i am strange), paint your base 3 to 5 coats following flash and recoat instructions, dont make error of not doing a correct overlap of last pass or you will get inconsistency, clear it per instructions on flash and recoat a bunch. Chill out, let it gas off and beat it up with 1000(if orange peel is talking to you), then 2000 both WET (color sand), mix in some dish soap in water (I have done and not done with exact same results with or without a dab of soap.) CAREFUL not to burn thru new paint clear. You are gonna be like I just destroyed my paint job... LET IT GAS OFF, now love your DA with a wool pad and rubbing compound, keep that DA moving and as flat as possible. Man its gonna SHINE now! Now DA with a hook and loop buffing pad like an orange foam pad or the like and polishing compound or maybe something a little lighter to remove all the wool pad swirl marks and surface scratches. Now wax that Fiero and you got some glass. I am not a professional and dont fool myself that I am, but from massive mistakes and tons of learning from them this is my lets get some glass. Obviously white or light non metalic colors are way easier to do at first as they hide your mistakes. Black and Blues show every single issue like its on blast with a neon sign. Hope this helps and gives you another solid idea of the process. A good gun makes the job wicked easy. But Air Jordans alone cant make you dunk from the line. lol (;

[This message has been edited by tntcary (edited 02-06-2013).]

I've painted 3 cars in my garage over the years but It was always more expensive that taking it to Macco for a quick one.
I once painted my 86 GT with a deep red 2 stage epoxy. The paint cost $65 a qt and that was 10 years ago.
The labor to sand, prep,paint was long, total paint/supplies were $300 +. Macco at the time was $200.
I have since had them paint 3 of our race cars. I am satisfied with the work. and minimal time investment on my part.
IMO.......................

Get rid of the old factory paint. It develops defects from the sun rays over time. Get down to metal. clean . then put on three coats of primer. sand down the rpimer according to instructions. use base and claer coat. three coats of base. three of clear. sand dwon the clear with 1000 then 2000, then use the rubbing coat buff out, then use the glaze coat and bugg out. Use a paint booth, other wise you will pick up any dirt in the air it will go on the base and you cant get it out. you are asking for a lot of work. you can get a good job out of the paint guys, but you have to prime it, sand the primer, and tape it yourself.

After doing this for 45 years, I find that red oxide primer is much easier to sand and to see flaws as you go. Gray just seems to gum up where the red dont. Ive also seen issues of paint peeling off of gray, something you never see with red. High solid basecoats cover pretty easily no matter the color. At a Goodguys car show a few years ago, I got into a long discussion with a Dupont Chemist who works on their paints. He did confirm that gray primers have smaller pigments and can provide less grip to paint applied over it. He told me that you should use courser paper to sand gray than you would use for red for that reason, to prevent peeling. Look at any factory car on the road that has peeling paint and you will ALWAYS see gray primer. In all my time painting, the only cars I ever had come back for any peeling issues were ones that i used gray primer. Since then (30+ years) Ive never used anything but red or black primer and never had a comeback. I will concede that I may use gray primer on a silver car for a car lot, just to save money.

painting oneself is rather easy, strip naked take paint and poor over your head, repeat until you get the desired look.

dan

Haha the work doesn't bother me. I like working on my car. I had never in my life changed a clutch before I got this car, and although it took me way longer than it should have, I got it done and saved myself a ton of money doing it.

I don't trust Maaco. Some of their more expensive paint jobs are good, but the cheap ones are total crap sometimes. At least the ones around me are that way. Besides, like I said, this is more for me to learn how to do it rather than just get it done. I have a goal to learn how to do everything on this car then it will truly be mine in my opinion. I still take it to the mechanic for things I have no idea how to approach, but he always teaches me as he's doing the stuff anyway because I try to stay to learn.

Back on topic though, should I remove all of the panels and what not to paint them or should I leave them on and tape the car? I feel like removing them would get a much cleaner look when finished.

Roger is talking about lacquer primer. With the PPG epoxy primer it doesn't matter what color you use. It sticks better & paint sticks to it better than any other primer. I haven't used lacquer primer in about 30 years. BTW I never had any problem with paint sticking to grey lacquer primer when I was using it.- it's all in the prep. Did many show cars in lacquer paint, but as I said that was a LONG time ago.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts

quote Originally posted by Tha Driver: Roger is talking about lacquer primer. With the PPG epoxy primer it doesn't matter what color you use. It sticks better & paint sticks to it better than any other primer. I haven't used lacquer primer in about 30 years. BTW I never had any problem with paint sticking to grey lacquer primer when I was using it.- it's all in the prep. Did many show cars in lacquer paint, but as I said that was a LONG time ago. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Custom Fiberglass Parts

No, this is with ANY primer, not lacquer primer specificly. The Dupont chemist also confirmed it. Its the gray pigment that different no matter the kind of primer. Now tell me how many cars, even new cars you seen on the street with paint peeling off by the square foot with gray primer showing....now how many with red ...?

I do use lacquer primer still, and successfully under ANY paint. Ive got customers with cars I painted in the 80s that are just fine. I use it a/ because I can leave it in the gun all the time and use it as needed, b/ i block primer to get panels perfectly straight and may sand and reprime one panel 20 times before its done. You cant do that with primer that hardens in the gun in 3 hours without having tons of waste. I couldnt afford to waste a gallon or two of primer per car that costs $150 per gallon and stayed in business.

You can use whichever you choose. After several fiascos painting customer jobs already primered with catalyzed primer, I wont touch any car with it on without them signing a release that they accept responsibilty for any problems down the road. Cars I prime and paint are guaranteed against ANYTHING as long as they own the car except accident damage. Out of literally thousands of jobs, I havent had even a handful of comebacks, in fact I cant think of any except the few I used gray primer on. I did custom vans in the 70s and 80s for a conversion company and did 2-3 per day, 5 days a week for over 11 years with only one comeback...that was a bad sanding job by a prep guy id just hired. Those were all primered and painted multi color graphics/ murals. Ive had catalyzed primer crack and split the paint open sitting in the sun before they were even delivered.

What I will agree with is prep is the single most important thing. You HAVE to sand it completely and thoughly..before and after primering. I also usually strip a cars bad paint with #80 and a DA, going by hand for places like grill openings in Fiero GTs. Then primering and sanding that with #360- #400 before paint.

Ok, I'll start looking at primers tonight based on what you all have told me.

Question about a "painting booth". Can I just use my garage? Like put up plastic sheets and enclose an entire side. I am not about to drop 5k on a booth that frankly I don't have the room for.

quote How hard is it to paint yourself?

Sorry I have to...

I never painted myself, however my wife has painted me with some glow in the dark paint...

Now, all joking aside. It's like anything. The first couple of times you go through a learning curve. Once you have done it a few times it gets easier. If it's your first time be realistic in your expectation. It most likely will not be perfect and you will most likely end up with runs and such that you will need to fix.

Yeah man. I have a purdy big garage that is kind of like a carport. Its a 3 car size with only half of one side open and obviously the front. I plastic it over real quick and leave a small area on the semi open side open for venting. I could seal that off too but I like the 'idea' of having a good vent. It is on exact opposite corner from where I am painting too. That works awesome for me. Plastic or drop anything you dont want paint on of course. I dont drop the floor because I am fascinated with how different paints react with each other on the floor. LOL (: I watched a disaster of one of my friends that used my garage to paint his Civic with a WAGNER POWER SPRAYER. It was better than watching the Super Bowl. Dude is super corn field. Please get a good respirator and not a 'I dont wanna catch SARS' foam/paper mask thing. and good eye protection. Corn boy didnt use a mask at all... it was just priceless.

quote Originally posted by tntcary: Yeah man. I have a purdy big garage that is kind of like a carport. Its a 3 car size with only half of one side open and obviously the front. I plastic it over real quick and leave a small area on the semi open side open for venting. I could seal that off too but I like the 'idea' of having a good vent. It is on exact opposite corner from where I am painting too. That works awesome for me. Plastic or drop anything you dont want paint on of course. I dont drop the floor because I am fascinated with how different paints react with each other on the floor. LOL (: I watched a disaster of one of my friends that used my garage to paint his Civic with a WAGNER POWER SPRAYER. It was better than watching the Super Bowl. Dude is super corn field. Please get a good respirator and not a 'I dont wanna catch SARS' foam/paper mask thing. and good eye protection. Corn boy didnt use a mask at all... it was just priceless.

I have a friend who is a pro body man, who sometimes does some paint on the side.
If he's not in a booth, he will wet down the floor of the garage to keep the dust down. (Of course, he has to be a bit careful how he walks, so he doesn't splash/splatter.)
I own one of his "garage jobs" (wife's Odyssey van) and have seen several others that he has done. It works very well.

Just remember any catalyzed paint (finish and primer) overspray is also catalyzed. Cover anything you dont want painted. Dont just paint in open like with a garage door open unless your house is isolated. Any cars in the yard or nearby neighbors house, cars, yard equipment, etc will all be hit with the overspray. Ive known people that got in expensive trouble. Myself, I had a box truck a few years ago to fix for a car lot. It obviously wouldnt fit in the garage, so I just pulled the nose in to paint part of the front. One of my cars was uncovered, prob 50 yards away in the parking lot. I had to wash it completely down with lacquer thinner and buff it out. Thankfully the paint was old and the thinner didnt hurt it, other wise I would have had to repaint it. Might have gotten away with wetsanding it and buffing it out.

Catalyzed primer has to be treated like catalyzed paint and done in a closed space because the overspray stays wet a lot longer. Lacquer primer can be sprayed 5 feet away from another car and all it leaves is dry dust. I primer cars in my shop all the time with at least one of my uncovered show cars parked right beside it.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 02-07-2013).]

Really Khw? Haha

I figured what I would do is have the door open, but section off the entire side of the garage. Four walls of plastic, a plastic ceiling, and I have some old carpet I can use for the floor. I should be able to erect it all with PVC pipe fairly easily. Somehow I'll get ventilation in there, otherwise I do have a large supply of gas masks/canisters I can use....kidding. Sort of. I have them, but I'm not about to waste a good 6 hour 40mm Nato gas canister on this haha.

I still haven't decided on a primer i.e. lacquer vs. catalyzed. I assume that which ever primer you use the paint needs to follow suit. Lacquer on lacquer, catalyzed on catalyzed correct?

I use and recommend catalyzed basecoat / clearcoat. Just remember if you leave a door open to the outside for ventilation, park your stuff upwind down the street and not spray within 100 yards of a neighbors cars. Its fairly easy and quick. You prob dont want to paint it with lacquer since color selection is pretty much only basic generic colors nowadays. Lacquer also must be machine buffed in almost all cases. Unless your expert, it dries with almost no gloss. It requires a lot more upkeep (cleaning and polishing) than bs/clrt. When lacquer IS done right though, in the end nothing can match lacquer with a rubbed finish. No matter how good any other paint, it just cant achieve the same look as an expert lacquer job. Bs/ clrt can be glass smooth and shiney, but still has a 'fake shine look' to it to me.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 02-07-2013).]

quote Originally posted by pprbart@cs.com: Get rid of the old factory paint. It develops defects from the sun rays over time. Get down to metal. clean . then put on three coats of primer. sand down the rpimer according to instructions. use base and claer coat. three coats of base. three of clear. sand dwon the clear with 1000 then 2000, then use the rubbing coat buff out, then use the glaze coat and bugg out. Use a paint booth, other wise you will pick up any dirt in the air it will go on the base and you cant get it out. you are asking for a lot of work. you can get a good job out of the paint guys, but you have to prime it, sand the primer, and tape it yourself.

Had to laugh! If you get down to metal you only have a frame left.

LOL, im sure he meant car in general terms. Most cars are metal....for the most part. You dont have to remove factory paint unless its defective, like peeling or cracking. Look at this way, it stayed stuck for 25 years already... Cars that have nice original paint, but its just faded or you want a different color, I just go over it completely with red scotchbrite then new paint. You dont even need to primer anything at all unless you had to sand places to bare material like for scratches or chips. Then you only need to prime those spots. I painted my Sebring this way several years ago. Nothing was wrong with the OEM paint, it was just silver and I wanted something a little more showy...orange. All i did prior to painting, was mask and scotchbrite. It still looks the same as the day I painted it 3 or 4 years ago and I drive it year round in sun, rain, snow, ice and salt. Its only got a few stone chips in the front bumper and you cant avoid that unless you have a chrome steel bumper.

Alright so here's the plan. I got to playing with colors and this is what I came up with. It's nothing fancy, but I think it'll look nice when all is said and done.

I like it! I repainted my Fiero not to long before I sold it.

I'm just learning on the car painting thing myself, but with respect to the title "paint yourself, you reminded me of something that happened to Fiero67 a few years back with super-sticky POR15 paint

[This message has been edited by KurtAKX (edited 02-09-2013).]

Haha! How long did that take you to clean up? I'm going to attempt to avoid that happening to myself.

Paint your car in your driveway..... I did....and it wins Best of Show trophies

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/101963.html

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I will not paint it outside. Pretty much I'm uncertain as to when I can start because the car isn't moving right now and I'm in the process of getting it fixed. The pollen here is terrible in spring and it will definitely get in the paint. Clouds of yellow dust plague Georgia every year haha. However, I really like that thread simply because it is a very good visualization of what to do when painting a Fiero. ...plus I have rather sh*tty neighbors and would probably get sued for over spray