Painting sucks. The only thing worse is the prep work leading up to it. In all, we spent a total of 17 hours alone prepping the hail damaged and previously spray painted roof.
Even with a full breathing apparatus, the fumes are obnoxious; this paint is nasty. Without a mask, the booth would have been uninhabitable. Furthermore, painting the inside and outside of a car is a lot tougher than one might expect. It certainly wore me out. Holding a loaded spray gun at various angles and extensions really gave my shoulders a workout. Whodathunkit?
After 4 fumigated rounds, the shell is painted. I initially laid a bonding/sealer primer to bond with the various surfaces that existed on the car (I.E. 3 types of body filler, existing paint, existing clear coat, and bare metal). All my bases were covered. After the primer cured, the metallic silver was sprayed. The base coat laid quite nicely but once dry, it felt very rough. It turns out that was normal due to the metal flake in which the final clear coat would cure. I was worried that dust had settled into the paint. Indeed, the roughness was corrected upon the application of two rounds of clear coat. The paint looks surprisingly good in person with only a slight orange peal which was to be expected. The spray looks many times better than the paint applied to the Miata (though, I have yet to see the Tracer in direct sun light). Said orange peal will be corrected with a good buffing and compound.
The most difficult portion of the spraying is complete; that being the chassis. I still have the doors, trunk lid, hood, fenders, and side skirts to paint. I'll complete that within the next few days as I'll be able to clear the booth of the chassis. I can't wait to start reassembling the bits and pieces. It feels as though a huge page has turned in the build of the car.
Even with a full breathing apparatus, the fumes are obnoxious; this paint is nasty. Without a mask, the booth would have been uninhabitable. Furthermore, painting the inside and outside of a car is a lot tougher than one might expect. It certainly wore me out. Holding a loaded spray gun at various angles and extensions really gave my shoulders a workout. Whodathunkit?
After 4 fumigated rounds, the shell is painted. I initially laid a bonding/sealer primer to bond with the various surfaces that existed on the car (I.E. 3 types of body filler, existing paint, existing clear coat, and bare metal). All my bases were covered. After the primer cured, the metallic silver was sprayed. The base coat laid quite nicely but once dry, it felt very rough. It turns out that was normal due to the metal flake in which the final clear coat would cure. I was worried that dust had settled into the paint. Indeed, the roughness was corrected upon the application of two rounds of clear coat. The paint looks surprisingly good in person with only a slight orange peal which was to be expected. The spray looks many times better than the paint applied to the Miata (though, I have yet to see the Tracer in direct sun light). Said orange peal will be corrected with a good buffing and compound.
The most difficult portion of the spraying is complete; that being the chassis. I still have the doors, trunk lid, hood, fenders, and side skirts to paint. I'll complete that within the next few days as I'll be able to clear the booth of the chassis. I can't wait to start reassembling the bits and pieces. It feels as though a huge page has turned in the build of the car.
I have 3 full weeks left to complete this thing as I will be away for the better part of a week for the SoloII Nationals.
