If your car is starting to look a little dull or if you're itching for a new color, you can expect a full paint job to cost you about $2,000. With that being said, you might want to attempt the job yourself to save some money. If you don't have any experience with painting vehicles, there's a good chance that you might run into some problems along the way regardless of how high in quality the auto paint you purchased may be. Here are 3 common problems that are commonly observed in do-it-yourself auto paint jobs and how you can prevent them from happening.
Preventing Air Entrapment or Bubbles
After painting your car and letting it sit for a while, you might start to notice that your paint job was not smooth throughout. In fact, you might notice that air was trapped in some areas and formed air bubbles. This type of blemish may even look like a small crater.
If this is the case, there was probably insufficient atomization during the paint job. This happens when the spray gun was setup improperly or has low air pressure. It may also be due to the fact that the spray gun was not far enough from the car's surface when you were painting. To prevent this from happening, make sure that you always maintain correct distance when painting with a spray gun. The spray gun should be ideally 6 inches away from the car's surface; however, you can even try staying 8 to 10 inches away.
Avoiding Bleeding or Discoloration
If you notice that the topcoat color of your vehicle is bleeding or discolored, it means that the dyes in the topcoat and the original underlying color are reacting with one another. In particular, the colors from the dyes underneath have dissolved into the topcoat.
To prevent this from happening, you should ideally purchase a two-stage paint. Make sure you paint both components separately and give each layer ample time to dry. If you are using a single-stage paint, you will need to make sure that the paint has fully cured before applying a topcoat overtop. This ensures that the auto paint color will remain radiant for years to come.
Shying Away from Blushing
If a cloudy gray blemish appears in the paint when it is being applied, then it means that you are dealing with a phenomenon known as blushing. This happens when air moisture condenses in the paint due to temporal differences between the car's surface and the auto paint being applied. The cloudy appearance will remain on the vehicle or be worsened if an inappropriate or poor quality reducer or thinner has been added to the auto paint.
To prevent blushing from happening, make sure you only use high quality paints and solvents. In addition, make sure that you use the right amount of thinners and reducers in the paint. You should also apply heat to the car's surface after you have painted it to let excess moisture evaporate. If you don't have any equipment to do so, make sure to paint the vehicle on a hot day and to give the paint ample time to cure and dry.
Conclusion
While painting your vehicle by yourself can be a lot less expensive than getting an auto paint shop to do the job, you need to be very careful when painting to avoid these common problems that would affect the quality of the finish. In addition, make sure you splurge on high quality auto paint from an auto paint shop like Space Age Auto Paint Store, as you will definitely be able to see a big difference if you don't.
