When is STRAIGHT, straight ENOUGH for final paint?

Hey wait a minute! Are you guys telling me that.........all of the Hot Rod TV shows that roll the bare body down the alley one night, and it comes back in the morning perfectly done, striped, and buffed is not REAL LIFE? LOL

Seriously, I have great respect for what you guys do and the results you get. Jay, The "last 5%" comment was great. Don, I'm going to drive the hell out of it, hopefully to Bonneville this year, or next. I just finished fabing a reciever tow hitch so I can tow a small tear drop trailer, or my sons race car at the drag strip. I selected my paint color so it will be easy to blend in on touch-up's.

I still remember seeing John Buttera's polished aluminum bodied track roadster parked at the Del Mar Good Guys show a couple of years ago filthy dirty, full of empty soda cans and candy wrapers about the same time as it appeared on the cover of Street Rodder! None of us are getting any younger, we are not taking them with us, so lets enjoy them with family and friends for as long as we can.

Now........BACK TO SANDING!

for the life of me i will never understand trying to save a few bucks on paint. hell your saving all the labor cost and want to use walmart paint ?????? there's a pick up here done with ebay paint. he's the kind that thinks 1500 for a paint job is a rip off. guy was all cocky for about 6months. now he's looking at completely redoing it. i tried to tell him to use better products but he was going to show me . he hates me because i bring it up every time i see it. you buy maco you deserve maco. beer budget and champagne appetite :3dSMILE:

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Originally Posted by shine

for the life of me i will never understand trying to save a few bucks on paint. hell your saving all the labor cost and want to use walmart paint ?????? there's a pick up here done with ebay paint. he's the kind that thinks 1500 for a paint job is a rip off. guy was all cocky for about 6months. now he's looking at completely redoing it. i tried to tell him to use better products but he was going to show me . he hates me because i bring it up every time i see it. you buy maco you deserve maco. beer budget and champagne appetite :3dSMILE:

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One of the things that may cause this attitude is the "need to compete". If a guy can't afford to put that kind of money into paint... because he has a young family, does not make an income that allows extra expense, he should just say so.

Too often they want to belittle the guy who is fortunate enough to have the "means", as a "goldchainer"... even though the guy may have busted his butt to earn it.

Sometimes he may blame it on the painter, for being a thief! Sure it sounds like a lot of money, but they don't seem to understand that you have to deduct materials cost, then sometimes divide the balance by hundreds of hours.

Knowing about the time it takes to do this, I usually try to point out that it's easy to say, I'll just repaint it, if that cheap paint doesn't last.....but how much will it really cost??? I would hardly call it wise to save 1000 dollars on paint, then lose $2000 or more, in time and materials, each time you redo it!

When it's straight!

It either is or it isn't!

I was taught this mantra by an old bodyman:

"Shape - Straight - Smooth"

Shape: Do your metal repairs then hammer & dolly to the correct shape.

Straight: Cross hatch with a body file and more hammer & dolly to straighten the panel. Shoot your primer, then crosshatch with a longboard to get the panel perfectly straight. You may have to shoot several coats of primer as needed. alternate light/dark as mentiond above.

NOTE: "Coarser is straighter" use 24 grit He said: "The scratches don't lie!"

Smooth: Once the panel is straight, then work your way up to a finer grit until you're smooth enough to paint.

The biggest mistake that amateurs make is they start the final step of smoothing BEFORE the panel is straight resulting in "happy sailors" ie nice smooth waves!

Shape - Straight - Smooth

Guide coat helps a lot. Do not sand in only one direction either.