Do your own custom car and motorcycle paint job

Someone once said: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever". Not so, with an automobile paint job. A car paint job begins to deteriorate as soon as it is completed and eventually expires due to the to the elements and physical damage. 

There is no way to protect a auto paint job from getting scratches and general wear and tear other than an isolated climate controlled enclosure of some kind…and I’m not sure that would keep it perfect forever.

Small paint scratches can often be repaired but, once the paint has begun to crack or peel it is past the point of no return, the paint should be replaced. No amount of polishing, waxing, buffing or other methods will revitalize the dead paint. Once the paint film has been compromised, the steel in the car body itself will begin to be attacked by the elements, which results in an ugly rusty car.

In the beginning, the basic function of paint on an automobile is protection of the car body from the elements…. but, we could do that with a monthly coat of cheap axle grease… not too pretty, but functional.

It is of my opinion that a automobile paint job should make a statement and is no place for second-class work. Many times, I have been to a car show and observed a great looking custom car paint job only to be disappointed on closer inspection by  disappointing paint job preparation. However, I can understand, because a truly great car or motorcycle paint job is very expensive in time, labor and money.

Henry Ford chose black, hand brushed nitro-cellulose lacquer for his model “T” cars, as did others of that day. I suppose it took a lot of skill to hand brush a lacquer paint on and make it look good. Thank goodness, those days are gone and modern technology has once again saved us from tedious labor…or has it?

I say that because a truly classy AAA paint job done somewhere other than a car factory with millions of dollars worth of painting equipment, is still tedious labor…requiring hours of work and the patience of Job.

That being said...it is still possible to do a very nice show quality AAA paint job yourself, using some of that modern technology stuff. That is, if you know how to do it. Now, I’m not talking about a concours type paint job that requires years of skill to match the finish, texture and grain using materials popular when the car was built. What I’m talking about is a paint job like you might find on some of the higher quality European cars or better custom cars and maybe even a little better.

I’ve done many of these paint jobs over thirty years using enamels and lacquers…some of the paint jobs took a year or more to do. Only since the advent of the basecoat/clearcoat system and urethane clears did it get easier…still a lot of work but easier nevertheless. I think the paint jobs look better too…clear urethane develops a wonderful deep shine and is easily workable.

I have used these techniques for many years to create wonderful custom auto paint jobs and if you are not afraid of hardwork...I think you can too.