Painting truck at home in Garage? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Winkworth]

Hi guys

Pretty much since I got my truck there were a few rough spots on the body that I wanted to fix up, as 8 years went by, I touched up the bad spots with various products (mostly from rattle cans) and kept the truck well coated with oil, which did a great job slowing rust. Now, I will have some time this summer, and the truck deserves a fresh body job and paint! I have a few questions, I am new to painting, I actually have never held a paint gun, yet. All of my knowledge has either been from online via research, and/or information from a few guys that have been painting for decades...

I plan to get the truck blasted, have a local guy come and do a wet dustless blasting right at my house.

I had an online cart full of everything I needed from Eastwood, around 2000$ worth. A nice filter setup for ait, HPLV guns, sander, 2 part paint, 2 part clear coat, epoxy primer, fillers and a various other supplies. Before putting my money on the line, I decided I needed to better understand what I was doing. I quickly found out that I would absolutely need an air fed mask, and even then urethane paint systems are very toxic. My garage is attached to the house. Frankly I don't want anyone's health compromised. After a ton of reading, I was left thinking maybe I can do everything, but spray the truck. get it totally ready, flat bed it to a shop and have them spray it...

After talking with an older guy I work with, he mentioned lacquer paint, that he has painted many vehicles with it, with great results. It would be safe to spray with a respirator, dry quickly. For a beginner painter, it would lay nice and flat, can be easily touched up and with a polish can look downright amazing... Needless to say it's old tech, the internet isn't exactly in love with old lacquer auto paint. It just doesn't have the durability that these new urethane's have. But if I want to paint the truck in my garage, is it really the best way to go?

Thanks for any comments or advice guys!

 

[Eric Winkworth]

Here's a pic of her when she still looked pretty sexy.

 

[MrMoMo]

Hey, I'm days away from going down the same road here, almost finished all the prep, I was masking off stuff tonight. I'll be posting up everything in my saving the silver 70 thread (linked below) and I am also a total rookie, this will be my first spray job, though I have been through the process of painting a car before, I have never been the guy pulling the trigger. I don't think you need $2000 of stuff from Eastwood, though they do make nice stuff, my spray gun is a $59 princess auto special. My "booth" is $50 of 2x3 and poly from Lowes. Check my thread next week for results!

 

[tweek99]

You don't have to have an air fed respirator you just need to make sure it has filters for organic chemicals. I can't smell anything with mine.

Have a good vent fan to keep the air moving so your fumes don't get into the house. You need the circulation to pull the over spray out. A fog is not good for anything, including the finish.

The type of paint you spray is up to you but a base/clear looks good and lasts. VOCs are what cause health problems and all non waterborne paints have them.