How Difficult Is It to Respray Your Car?

Posted on: 24 January 2023

When you love your set of wheels and cannot imagine trading the car in for something else, you may have to make some compromises. For example, you know that you have to spend more time (and potentially cash) on repairs or maintenance. Also, you may need to freshen up the bodywork as all those kilometres take their toll. So, what's involved if you've reached that point and now need an all-over respray? Crucially, how many layers of paint should you consider?

Decide Whether to Renovate or Repaint 

Even though you may have been careful in looking after your vehicle, dings, dents and other imperfections are inevitable. Some of these may be simply surface scratches, while others could be deep, and you may also see some flaws associated with water etching and corrosion. You might be able to get rid of some of these through machine polishing but you will need to be careful if you want to do this yourself. Due to the age of the vehicle and the nature of the current paint, you may end up causing more damage.

Down to the Metal

In situations like this, it's often a good idea to start from scratch and get rid of as much of the current paintwork as possible. This will make it much easier to achieve a good, all-over finish without trying to match any recent addition to much older paint.

Primer First

When you have taken the vehicle down to its bare metal panels, the first layer of paint will be the primer. This is a much thinner type of paint and its primary purpose is to ensure that subsequent paint layers can be more evenly applied.

Add to the Base Colour Coat

Once the primer has been applied and allowed to set, you will need to introduce the base colour coat. This will be a semigloss layer, and you will need to add any special ingredients at this stage if you want to make the final outcome pearlescent.

Introduce the Clear Coat

Once that layer has been set, you can apply the final, clear coat. This is essentially a protective coating and a clear layer composed of lacquer. This layer may be somewhat thicker than the preceding ones, which will help protect the vehicle from any UV degradation or oxidation.

What to Do Next

As you can see, there's quite a process involved here. Unfortunately, most car owners do not have the equipment, expertise, or facility to do this work effectively. Consequently, it's best to bring in a spray-painting expert who will be very familiar with the procedure and can achieve the best result.

Contact spray painting services to learn more. 

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