Okay kids, wer're going to play a game, and after that we'll have snack and nap time.
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Post your how-to instructions. Make sure they're comprehensive and easy to follow. Pictures are awesome. If you know of something that someone else forgot to explain or you can clarify it or whatever, post accordingly. From time to time I'll clean it up and make everything easy to read.
I was wondering if anyone can post some how to do body kit work and patch up holes and whats involved in installing a body kit, like the products used (i.e. screws,Fiberglass resin, primer, putty, painting, sanding) and in what order to do everything in....i wanna do my own custom work...thanks
1. remove all pieces you want to paint (this is a given =P)
2. Wash, wash and wash those pieces until they are clean as f*ck. This step is extremely important.
3. For a professional finish, sanding is everything, start with a rough grit (300-400) and work yourself into a higher and higher grit, you want to remove that fake leather grain stamped into the plastic when you do this. You should have no traces of that fake leather grain left when youre done. Finish the sanding process with ultra fine grit. When youre done sanding it will look almost as if you had never sanded it at all. it will just be grainless and a lighter shade from being scuffed up.
4. Once everything is sanded and ready to go, wash, wash, wash and wash it again to get rid of all the dust from the sanding, there will be tons of it.
5. Once the parts have dried completely, lay out a newspaper, rest the parts on them, and have the following materials ready:
Plasti-Kote Sandable Primer (get the gray primer for light colors, and the black primer for dark colors).
Plasti-Kote color spray paint of your choice. I went with Candy Apple Blue, which has medium sized metallic flakes in the paint, its also enamel based.
Plasti-Kote clear coat of your choice. Because I went with Candy Apple Blue paint, I bought their Candy Apple Clear Coat as well, which has transparent flakes in it to enahnce the sparkling effect.
Have some extra sandpaper laying around (wet sanding grit, super fine/Utra fine works just fine).
6. Now with all your materials ready start dusting the piece you paint with the primer. it will take several passes to dust it properly, any gaps, gouges, and scratches in the piece should be filled with a heavy coat of primer, then sanded smooth later.
After about 3 full coats of primer, lightly sand it down smooth, and wipe it down thoroughly with a clean dry rag. Once you have established a good coat of primer, and filled in imperfections, you are ready to move to the paint itself. Make sure your primer has thoroughly dried before you attempt to sand it or move to the next step, or it will glob up on the sand paper and ruin all your work, or it will bleed into your color paint.
7. Next, again using the dusting method, lay down about 3-4 fully covered coatings of your color. make sure you spray from an even distance if you use a metallic flake paint, or your flakes will not distribute across the surface evenly. avoid runs at all costs. If a run develops, wait for the color coating to dry completely, then sand it out and respray the area with another coat. You should give at least 30 minutes for drying time between each coat, depending on the weather, more time for cold/windy/humid weather, less time for hot/arid weather.
Once you've finished with the color spray, evaluate the product and make sure there are no imperfections, even small ones will look worse ocne the clearcoat is applied. if you find them, fix them.
8. Now for the final step, using the same steps used above to paint your color, apply your clear, and allow for more drying time. You should put at least 4 coats of clear on to protect the piece from scratches and chips, interior trim pieces tend to take a beating.
9. Once your clear is finished, dried and glossy, evaluate your work again, any runs in the clear can be sanded out with ultra fine grit paper and then you can reclear over it. Once you are satisfied with the outcome, reinstall the pieces and enjoy.
THE FOLLOWING STEPS ARE OPTIONAL:
If you want a professional looking finish, youll need to wait about a month for the clear coat on the interior pieces to cure completely. You probably noticed the orange peel on the final products, this is the way to get rid of that and make it ultra smooth and highly glossy.
The orange peel you should notice (if you followed my instructions), will be in the clear coat, and will be mainly visible when light reflects off of it showing redges in the shiny spots.
To rectify this unavoidable event, you go to your local autoparts store, but some fine grit cutting compound, and rent a buffer with a fine cloth pad.
Take some wet sanding grade sandpaper (1600 grit+), wet the piece down and sand lightly at it until youve removed the larger bumps in the clear. Once youve worn them down a good bit, you take the cutting compound, add it to a rag, and start sanding away with that. When youre finished you should notice a completely flat area, with no bumps or orangepeel whatsoever, however your clear coat will have fogged up and made the job look shitty. Have no fear this is where the buffer comes in handy. Take your buffer and begin to buff away at the clear coat, be careful not to overbuff or you will burn through the clear into your paint, just take your time, eventually your clear coat will shine back up like new, but without that pesky orange peel.
Ill shoot some pics of my interior when i get the chance, you can see what the result should look like, althought i did mine is less than perfect conditions (dusty/windy weather) it still came out looking almost professional. When midsummer hits ill be repainting everything so it comes out looking completely professional.
Good first attempt Sethwas, spraypainting is not as easy as it sounds, and it takes some balls to ripout your trim and risk making it completely ugly to try and improve the looks of your car. Hopefully my guide helps you achieve a more professional finish.
Heres how to get out of california emissions laws, and it works.
Heres how I solved ALL of my California smog law problems:
I bought my sentra while i was stationed in texas, obviously non california cars are not equipped with california smog devices. So therefore when i moved back to california, I would instantly fail a california smog test. Heres the catch though. My car is plated and tagged for texas. If you register your car in another state, and have the plates changed over, the smog laws for that state apply to you, and not the state you test in. So, my car only has to pass a federal emissions smog test to clear for registration. Anyone can do this semi-legally if they have a relative who lives out of state. All you do is notify the DMV when your next registration date comes up, that you now spend 51% of your time or more in the state you are planning to register under. Dont tell them you spend TOO much time in that state or they will force you to smog there as well. You will have to provide them with a mailing address in that state, and possibly some sort of mail sent to you at that address to verify you are indeed at that residence. I made a lot of friends while I was in texas, I have my registration mailed to a friends house there, he forwards the paperwork to me in california, I fill it out, and mail it back to him, and he then sends it out to the DMV for me. The DMV then mails my tags to him, and he remails them out to me in california, and everything is hunkey dorey. Make sure you do this with someone you trust implicitly however. You dont want to be mailing private vehicle information to someone youre on sketchy terms with.
With my texas plates and tags in place, when i go to smog all i have to pass is texas emissions standards which are only federal. If a cop pulls you over for having out of state registration and plates all you have to do is tell him you travel on business between the two states frequently, and they cant force you to change your tags and plates to california. It's worked so far, cops dont even question it, it would take a shitload of paperwork and possibly even multiple state surveillance to prove you are lying, and they have better things to do with state funds.
I do the above^^^^, but for insurance and car payment reasons, and I live in MD but have PA tags, its cheaper...I use my parents address. It's been working for almost 3 years now. Been pulled over numerous times and no problems. Plus i dont have to take smog/emmisions tests in the county where my car is registered. If I was in MD I would though.
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