Exploring Auto Body Paint Application Procedures

Save Money On Your Auto Paint Job

Are you looking for ways that you can save money on your auto paint job? Does your car have some small paint and rock chips that you need to take care of? Often, you can greatly reduce the overall cost of an auto body paint job if you do some of the basic bodywork yourself. That is, if your car has some small blemishes and nothing major needs body filler, you can fix them yourself before taking the car to the painter. This way, you can request that the painter doesn't do any additional bodywork besides buffing and priming the surface, helping you to save a significant amount of cash on the project.

Is This Project Possible for Your Car?

First of all, you need to decide if you would be able to do this project. If your car has serious holes and things that need to be repaired with body filler, it probably isn't worth doing it yourself. If you have no experience with auto body filler, you don't want to be experimenting on your car. But if your car just has a few small paint chips that are a little rusty, you can easily repair them before you take the car in to be painted by a professional. In general, any paint chips smaller than a dime can be easily fixed with over-the-counter supplies.

Sanding and Priming the Chip

The most important thing is to sand and prime your damaged area. Auto body sandpaper is pretty similar to wood sandpaper, but it is very smooth, and it usually has a rubber (instead of wood) backing. You usually use just use a small corner of the sandpaper to actually rub down the area that is chipped. You want to do a very minimal amount of sanding, because you don't want to remove the paint or the topcoat.

The goal is to simply make the chipped area a little smoother so that the touch-up primer can go on and dry evenly. Now you can apply the primer. The primer can be applied into even the smallest chip using a toothpick, nail brush, or cotton swab. You want to fill in the hole completely with the primer so that it barely sticks out. Once the primer is dry, you can get the sandpaper out again. You will need to delicately buff out the primed spot to blend it in.

At this point, with your paint chips sanded and primed, you can take your car in to be professionally painted. For auto painting services, contact a company like Dependable Auto Body.


Share