Painting my hood, help please...

[trigger94587]

First of all I have a 90 240sx. Heres the problem my hood has a several couple of dings and I want to clear it up and paint it gloss black. The hood still has the OEM paint with no Oxidation or anything just small dings. My question is... do i have to scrape or take off the OEM paint in the hood first then put Bondo, Primer and Paint it? or ill just put Bondo on the dings then paint it? what u think guys? Thanks for the help!

[Diggity240sx]

Well I am by far not an expert but I do know that you dont have to sand down to bare metal.

First question for ya are you painting the car the exact same color

Secondly if you are you can save money by roughing the hood up a lil, not to metal, then you give yourself a good surface to work on.

Last question I assume you have lookied into pulling the dents or what not out or pounding them out, but if you can get some of the ding out it will save time and effort just make sure not to crack paint or crease hood.

Now that you are ready you can bondo sand primer then paint. Anything else just ask and if I dont know I will talk to my painters at work and then tell ya. BTW we use PPG paints and they have really worked well for us.

Oh one more tid bit, I am doing the same for my car but instead of fixing old hood I got a used one for 65 bucks and its perfect but I get to paint my car for free and no bondo will be used what so ever. Used parts in your area try http://www.Car-Part.comLater and good luck

[silpena]

Well, if your hood only has a few dings and if they;re not to badi would pull them or do some dolly work if you have the tool then some simple hammering could work but be carefull not make it work. Sand down the hood and break through the clear then do the body work where you need to. then Primer it isuggest nason since its cheap but they have that ugly banana yellow color but its cheap and since its not to cold and not hot right now in cali i would get a medium type hardner or a fast hardner if you paint it later on like in may when it gets hot. use plastic filler and get the good quality kind (poly urthane) they fill in better and are eaasier to sand then most cheap plastic fillers. After your done with all the body work wet sand the car with 320 grit and then with 500 grit and hav a hose with you and a bucket with detergent soap to act as a lubercriant wehen you sand it gives the paint a better shine and reduced orange peel. After find a paint booth if u can, if not then use your garage. If u use your gerage make sure to clean the ground of dust and damp with water to keep dust from flying around but not too much to make it spash onto your paint. Buy a fan, like one of those old school box looking ones and stick it by your door almost shut or beter in a opening or window facing out so it can pull the dust and paint fumes out not in. Buy or rent a ait compressor maybe barrow or buy a spray gun. Sata is the best but expensive. And your good to go! oh yeah i forgot after u wet sand clean the car with laundry soap like a regualr car wash and clean it with a tack cloth to clean the car of solvents like oils and silicone, they screw everything up. Ppg is awsome but hella expensive, in my autobody class we use nason, dupont, omni, matric products. I gonna be using alsa paint for my car when iin may they;re pretty cheap. Are you going with a sing;e, 2 or 3 stage paint and are you gonna use a gun? i advise using a gun and a 2 stage paint for maxium gloss and durability. Buy Poly Urathane based paints and clear coat paint. they are more durable, shine way better and spray alot easier. Don;t buy lacuqer type paints they're illegal in cali. I hope that helps.. its late and i'm tired i can explaine more if you need too.

[trigger94587]

Well I am by far not an expert but I do know that you dont have to sand down to bare metal.

First question for ya are you painting the car the exact same color

Secondly if you are you can save money by roughing the hood up a lil, not to metal, then you give yourself a good surface to work on.

Last question I assume you have lookied into pulling the dents or what not out or pounding them out, but if you can get some of the ding out it will save time and effort just make sure not to crack paint or crease hood.

Now that you are ready you can bondo sand primer then paint. Anything else just ask and if I dont know I will talk to my painters at work and then tell ya. BTW we use PPG paints and they have really worked well for us.

Oh one more tid bit, I am doing the same for my car but instead of fixing old hood I got a used one for 65 bucks and its perfect but I get to paint my car for free and no bondo will be used what so ever. Used parts in your area try http://www.Car-Part.comLater and good luck

Thanks for ur reply...

Ur first question is if im gonna paint my car with the same color. My answers is No. I have still the original paint that is Yellowish White and im goin to paint my hood Gloss Black.

Second. What do u mean by roughing the hood? Sand it untill the glossy paint came off or the base coat?

Last. Its hard to pound the hood under because of the metals that is in there. And theres a lot of small dings like i leave my car outside the car overnight while raining Hail. So I cant use ding puller because theres like hundreds of dings half of penny size.

Thanks!

[trigger94587]

Well, if your hood only has a few dings and if they;re not to badi would pull them or do some dolly work if you have the tool then some simple hammering could work but be carefull not make it work. Sand down the hood and break through the clear then do the body work where you need to. then Primer it isuggest nason since its cheap but they have that ugly banana yellow color but its cheap and since its not to cold and not hot right now in cali i would get a medium type hardner or a fast hardner if you paint it later on like in may when it gets hot. use plastic filler and get the good quality kind (poly urthane) they fill in better and are eaasier to sand then most cheap plastic fillers. After your done with all the body work wet sand the car with 320 grit and then with 500 grit and hav a hose with you and a bucket with detergent soap to act as a lubercriant wehen you sand it gives the paint a better shine and reduced orange peel. After find a paint booth if u can, if not then use your garage. If u use your gerage make sure to clean the ground of dust and damp with water to keep dust from flying around but not too much to make it spash onto your paint. Buy a fan, like one of those old school box looking ones and stick it by your door almost shut or beter in a opening or window facing out so it can pull the dust and paint fumes out not in. Buy or rent a ait compressor maybe barrow or buy a spray gun. Sata is the best but expensive. And your good to go! oh yeah i forgot after u wet sand clean the car with laundry soap like a regualr car wash and clean it with a tack cloth to clean the car of solvents like oils and silicone, they screw everything up. Ppg is awsome but hella expensive, in my autobody class we use nason, dupont, omni, matric products. I gonna be using alsa paint for my car when iin may they;re pretty cheap. Are you going with a sing;e, 2 or 3 stage paint and are you gonna use a gun? i advise using a gun and a 2 stage paint for maxium gloss and durability. Buy Poly Urathane based paints and clear coat paint. they are more durable, shine way better and spray alot easier. Don;t buy lacuqer type paints they're illegal in cali. I hope that helps.. its late and i'm tired i can explaine more if you need too.

Thanks for ur reply...

Whats a Tack Cloth? and im just gonna use a Aerosole Spray because its just for temporary im gonna paint my whole car with a different color. For now im just painting the hood Gloss Black.

[trigger94587]

Ok heres an update...

I put bondo on the small dings on my hood and im goind to sand them tommow because of lack of time.

Heres my question...

if i sand the bondo on the hood. Do i need to put primer just on the bondo part then sand it again to level? and do i need to take off the clear coat of the OEM paint or take out the whole paint? Because i dont want to take off all the paint because its a long job. Can I just sand the bondo sand it, primer the bondo then paint it without removing the OEM paint?

Thanks Again

[teddy]

Dude, you're going to have to take off the clear coat, and probably some of the base coat as well. What you need to do is sand the whole hood, then take your body filler and fill in your small dents. Then sand down where you filled. If the spots didn't come out smooth, or you took it down too much, you'll have to fill and sand again. Then you're going to want to primer the whole hood, and sand it again with some higher grit paper, like 500-600 grit. The primer works as a thin filler, filling in pinholes and unnoticeable low spots. Then you spray another 2 coats of primer, then wet sand, and you're ready to spray it with the real paint.

Make sure you're using a block when sanding!!! Otherwise your hood can come out very uneven and unlevel, with high spots, low spots, and whatever else. You can pick up a block at autozone, or a local shop. I would not bother to seal the filler if you're going to be repainting the car in the near future.

If you do not sand off any of the paint, your rattle can job is going to fade because of constant weather abuse, and your red is going to show right through the black eventually.

[Diggity240sx]

He's right bro sand down all clearcoat and you will notice some unevenness in your hood now if you have spots that are not gonna sand out like you said you have dings or dents where your supports are that cant be hammered out, then i suggest glazing before you start sanding so you are saving a step of sanding. Also I am not sure what you are using to sand your hood with but I would reccomend an air sander, preferably a palm sander using 180 grit to start. That will give you a nice roughed up surface to prime. Try to sand out as much of the probs as possible and keep the sander flat so you dont end up with waves. As for spray painting big wast of time. You will have to prep the entire hood again. Waste of money. Just find someone with an air compressor. Ya gotta know someone that works for a shop. I am lucky I work for one. In materials alone I am spending about $45 to paint my hood stock gloss black with PPG paints. We have plenty of clear lying around so I dont have to worry about that. Lets see we covered sanding. Now with your primer the guy who left the long message pretty much lays that out with the wet sandbut I have never done it quite that way, but it works. The tack cloth he was talking about is like a swiffer sheet for your car. It picks up minute particules that would fish eye or orange peel your paint and clear coat. Very cheap stuff but worth the effort. After you have primed you will know how to paint but please dont spray paint it. Guns cost like $60 for a decent Ingersoll Rand. air compressors just find somebody with a nice size tank and you r in businessLater Guy