Technical Car/Motor Issues > Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Skoda Replies: 12
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New Wed 30 Jun 10 22:26 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Skoda
I fancy having a go at respraying the bonnet, front wings, bumper and roof on the Golf. An insane number of stone chips on it's nose.

Am i just setting myself up for a fall even thinking an amateur can tackle this with respectable results?

I have access to a compressor and a gun (both older than me probably!), and a garage big enough to comfortably work in. I have access to a bigger ~2 year old compressor too if that's likely to make a difference.

Should i worry about water in the air supply? (would mean buying some kind of filter and the attraction of this is i can do it for no cost, except paint...).

As far as i can tell the general technique should be something like:

* Thoroughly clean surfaces, followed by IPA wipedown to remove any waxes / sealants etc.
* Wet sand with 1200 grit to remove all shine / topcoat from the panels
* Dust on high build primer x2 dustings over the stone chips
* Flat back with 1200 grit
* Repeat 3 & 4 until stone chips are sorted
* Wet scotch pad over the full area to key the surface
* IPA wipedown then tack cloth to get it spotless
* Spray basecoat left to right and back again, ~7 inches from the surface, moving at medium pace with no dwelling, half overlap each "row" to keep the overlaps wet paint on wet paint

First basecoat is a dust coat (which just means hold slightly further away for less application i think?). 2nd and 3rd are "normal" coats. Flatting back with 2000 grit between coats once dry. 2 coats of clear, again flatting back between.
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New Wed 30 Jun 10 22:58 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - bathtub tom
On a twelve-year-old car?

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New Wed 30 Jun 10 23:23 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Skoda
>> On a twelve-year-old car?

On a pet project
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 09:44 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Dog
You seem to have the right idea comrade, and you've certainly got all the requisites,
Go for it, I'd say ... sure you'll make a few mistakes at first, but nothing a bit of wet & dry won't sort out,
This Yankee site may be informative ~ www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 10:09 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Zero
Give it a crack, you seem to have got an idea of whats involved. Send us a piccy of the result.
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 15:15 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Skoda
That site fair took the wind out of my sails Dog! Glad i read it, made me think about the boring bits e.g. making provisions for cleaning the gun properly.

I might just have a bash at filling the chips and see how that turns out: www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=20127 then decide.
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 16:44 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Victorbox
Spookily I was going to link to this very article when reading your first post as spot filling, sanding and polishing will be a lot easier than a whole respray possibly with rattle cans.
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 20:12 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Bellboy
depending how many stone chips are present makes the job a doddle or one not worth starting
consider a cash job front end respray from a small local independent sprayer,reckon on less than £300 all in tops
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 22:39 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Dave_
>> consider a cash job front end respray from a small local independent sprayer,reckon on less than £300 all in tops

I worked for a "small local independent sprayer" for a couple of years in my early 20s (strip & refit, mix paint, rub down primer, make tea) - they would be far and away your best bet. Let someone who does it day in day out sort it out, they will get it right first time and have the experience to overcome any problems which may crop up.

My only addition to the OP's breakdown of tasks would be to fill the stonechips with stopper rather than build up/rub down coats of filler primer. The paintshop I worked at did this on all their "tidy up" jobs - mostly under-3-year-old forecourt stock for the local Vx/Ford dealers.
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New Thu 1 Jul 10 23:49 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Skoda
Cheers for that BB & Dave. I agree it's definitely the most sensible option and there's a really well respected place not that far away, even pretty sure i'd get it done cheaper than i can source all the kit to do it myself.

Feels like cheating though ;-)

EDIT: ordered the bits and bobs i was missing, will have a bash at it. Can always take it to someone who knows what they're doing if i make a mess of it. Failing that, bonnet, wings and bumpers bolt on from the scrappies if i really fluff it.
Last edited by: CraigP on Thu 1 Jul 10 at 23:50
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New Mon 5 Jul 10 09:12 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - DP
>> Failing that, bonnet, wings and bumpers bolt on from the scrappies if
>> i really fluff it.

You've probably considered it already, but that might be a surprisingly cost effective starting point.
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New Sat 3 Jul 10 15:21 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Iffy
...would be to fill the stonechips with stopper rather than build up/rub down coats of filler primer...

In my limited experience, filling stonechips with primer is very hard work.

As Dave says, fine filler is the way to go.

Rub down with wet and dry paper, we used a bar of soap in the water for the final finish.

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New Mon 12 Jul 10 21:49 
 Volkswagen Golf IV - 98 1.6 DIY Spray Painting - Shiny
Make sure you have a filter on the compressor outlet or you may get oil mist and will almost certainly get water droplets in the air to the gun.
When the compressor is running for a long time, it is surprising how much water you get in the pipes.
You can get these at machine mart.
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