Expert: William Forster - 8/19/2007

Question
I have a 1995 Buick regal 3.8 that has the paint delaminating.  The roof has all come off and the primer has started to rust but still it is still in tack.  What would be the steps to paint it myself.

Answer
Hello! Take a safety razor blade knife, the type that uses a single edge safety razor blade, and carefully scrape the remaining paint off of the car. Hold the knife nearly parallel to the surface, and don't force the blade much. Where it stops peeling is where it stops. Be sure to do the doors, fenders, and quarters, The bumper's shouldn't be peeling, and the car probably won't peel off below the car's body side moldings. Chances are, you will have patches of paint left on the car. Sand off the remaining color coat with 150 grit on a DA sander, and try to leave as much primer coat as possible on the car. Only sand off the primer coat where there are rust spots. Now, final sand the bare factory primer with 320 DA paper. Be sure to sand out any razor gouges or paint chips, but again, leave the primer. Resand the areas you stripped color coat off of with 320, also. Now is also the time to repair any dents or rusty spots. Once all sanding and body repairs are done, primer the entire car with a good quality 2 part primer surfacer. If you have any large bare metal spots, they must be treated with a metal etching primer. Some primer surfacers are metal etching surfacers, just ask the people you get the primer from it it has metal etching capability. If not, Duplicolor has metal etch primer in a rattle can for small spots. It's nice stuff, and dries fast. Apply primer surfacer over the etch primer, if applicable, and wait far at least three hours. Spray a dust coat of black paint over the entire car, then either dry sand the car with a DA and 400 grit paper, or wet sand with 600 wet or dry paper. Go around moldings and lid edges with a grey scotch brite by hand. Wash all sanding scuzz and dust off the car, blow dry, tape up, and shoot the color of your choice. Bill