Is it hard to prep a car for paint?

[xx_civic_si_xx]

Hey guys I was wondering how difficult is it to prep a car for paint (1-10). I have absolute no experience with body work but im not tryna break the bank at the body shop. I got a few dents and scratches and i wanted to know is it how hard is it to use bondo. Thanks

[whatsvtec]

It takes practice and time. If you read up how-to's, watch videos, look up proper techniques etc. etc. you certainly should be able to get it done pretty well if you've got a good eye for detail and good consistent techniques. The materials are going to be the hardest for you to make affordable since having many hand sanding blocks and other power sanding tools make the job much easier. With enough time, patience, good lighting and attention to detail you can get the whole car done.

Don't approach this in the slightest if you aren't confident in yourself in following direction and learning fairly quickly. You can cause a lot more damage if you don't do it correctly.

[AttarixEp]

I say it's a 9 to do. Paint quality relies first on the prep. Obviously takes good paint and painter, but if you don't prep right, then it will turn out like garbage. First decide if you are going to paint over what you have, or take it down to metal and spray from there. You will end up using 4-5 different grit sand papers, not by hand because it will turn out uneven. Scratches will come out with sanding.

Bondo is a chemical reaction when you mix and use it. The car must be down to bare metal and cleaned with metal prep right before application. Any contamination will cause it to not penetrate the metal and leave a spot to start rust. Once mixed, you have a couple min to apply fully before it hardens beyond the point you'd want to use it.

A car our size will take a solid 10+ hours to prep if doing a full respray primer up. And prep is not where you want to cut corners,

[Euro-Yellow-Ep3]

Prep is the most important part of any paint job, id say 8/10 in dificulty. Only because if u dont know what ur doing the paint job wont be great.

[xx_civic_si_xx]

thanks alot guys really appreciate the info but i think ima stick with the shop for now lol

[AKEP]

yeah, its not hard but its very tedious. it helps having someone who knows what they're doing there to help you. but yeah, as a first timeer, i wouldn't waste time on it by myself (i did go to school for it, not a way i choose to make my living though)

[ep3colin]

extremely time consuming, its easy to spend numerous hours just prepping a car if you want to do it right, but i did it in just about a week

[skoolnu]

all in the prep... Ive been around a body shop my whole life, and have worked as a painter for some time. If you have never done it before, might want to leave it to the pros this time around. auto body supplies are not cheap, and to fix dents, prime, seal, and repaint, wetsand and buff... your talking a lot of hours. I did a full color change on my car, all the body work, few rounds of primer and block sanding, paint, clear, blocked, cleared again, blocked and buffed. I had a few hundred hours in... but the result speaks for itself. I think Whatsvtec can vouch for that.

[Kis4KEN]

yeah, its not hard but its very tedious. it helps having someone who knows what they're doing there to help you. but yeah, as a first timeer, i wouldn't waste time on it by myself (i did go to school for it, not a way i choose to make my living though)
+1. It's not hard, but if you don't know what you're doing you're going to spend a lot more money than you're actually trying to save.

An old co-worker (when he first started at the shop I was working at the time), asked me about prepping. I assumed that he knew what he was doing. When he asked me how I prepped cars for paint. I told him in a nutshell. He sanded his whole car with 80grit. lolololololol

[ep3hatchvcp]

some good advice i thought it would be cake to strip paint and have it preped good advice thanks