Painting 101

[NeilSmith]

This isn't really a " how - to ", I just thought you guys would find this interesting. We have a '07 Grand Cherokee at the shop that I painted today. I took some pics to try to show you fellas the process. We replaced the left fender, front bumper cover, and repaired the left front door.

https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/03/0115-1.jpg

The insurance company, instead of writing it to replace the door skin, wrote it to repair the door. They allowed 7 hours labor for the repair on the door. As you can see, the door was disassembled. We remove everything, door handle, belt molding, lower side molding, window channel, emblem, and side mirror. This makes for a much nicer job and I don't have to worry about sanding around everything and trying to tape up everything.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/03/0104-1.jpg

I sprayed 4 coats of primer surfacer on the repair. The primer acts as a final top to the body filler. The filler is very porous and the primer fills the sand scratches and caps off the repaired area.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/03/0094-1.jpg

The primer takes about 1 1/2 hours to dry and is then sanded with a D.A. sander with 500 grit paper. The rest of the panel is sanded with 800 grit paper. The surrounding area is then masked off and it is ready for the booth.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/03/0084-1.jpg

The replacement parts are attached to parts racks and the bumper is scuffed with a red Scotch Brite pad and the fender is sanded with 500 grit paper. All replacement parts are painted this way. Some shops still " trim - in " parts and then bolt them on the vehicle, then paint the parts while on the vehicle. Doing it my way makes for a much nicer, cleaner job and takes way less time to do.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/03/0074-1.jpg

[NeilSmith]

So, time for the paint. First, the new parts are sprayed with a primer sealer. The sealer fills the 500 grit scratches and adds adhesion. Since I had extra sealer in the gun, I sealed the primer spot on the door . I don't have to seal the primer, I just did so to help my color coats cover a bit faster.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/03/0066-1.jpg

Now the basecoat. Three to four coats, depending on the coverage of the color. You can see how a blend is achieved on the door. Look how much color is on the front of the door and it fades as you go to the rear. At the rear, there is just a little color, not eenough to affect the colormatch to the adjacent panel.
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Now the clearcoat. Two coats of a " high solids " urethane clear and you're all done. Bake it for 15 minutes, untape it, and you're ready for the next job.
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I work on " flat rate " or commision as some call it. This job had 9.8 hours of paint labor. I had only 2.5 hours in the job yet I get paid for 9.8 hours. Nice, huh ?

[Sal-XK]

Thats pretty sweat, don't for get to document your next bed liner job :) or is it about the same minus the clear coat.

[NeilSmith]

I'm hoping to never do another bedliner job. LOL !!