Evening all

I have been asked at work to spray our works van if i feel upto the challenge now i have done spraying before but only on panels never a whole vehicle, using rattle cans and have had some good results.
Were not looking for a factory finish just really to change the colour from red to silver possibly metallic and eventually when the paints hardend it will be sign written and most parts will be covered anyway.
Were mainly doing this as the van mechanically is sound but the red just doesnt suit, if we can tidy it up we'll have a tidy trustworthy van.

My questions are any tips etc that might be worth me knowing before i start i have a big enclosed work area a 150ltr compressor need to buy another spray gun any recomendations?
What are metallic paints like to spray are they any harder to get a good finish or would it be worth going for just a silver, also what type/ colour primer should i use for going over the red to then spray silver? and does anyone know of any good paint suppliers either online or local to Winchester/ Hampshire
Im sure ill have more questions later on but if anyone can help it would be much appriciated Greg

vinyl wrap it like a sky van?

[Edited on 9/4/10 by stevebubs]

Grey primer will be good for spraying silver over, i sprayed a heavy metallic years ago on a TR7 i owned, the guy in the paint mixing shop advised splitting the big tin of paint down into smaller batches when i got it home because the flake will sink.
If you shake it very well then decant into small sealed jars, you end up with an even amount of flake in each jar, ready for shaking up and diluting with thinners. I still have one of the jars in my garage and its got a 1" thick lump of shiny silver in the bottom with 3" of dark grey paint above it !
Worked a treat for me and i even got people asking where i had it sprayed because they thought it looked professional.
I worked on the 'lots of light coats' way with some fine rubbing down inbetween.

quote:

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Originally posted by Andybarbet
Grey primer will be good for spraying silver over, i sprayed a heavy metallic years ago on a TR7 i owned, the guy in the paint mixing shop advised splitting the big tin of paint down into smaller batches when i got it home because the flake will sink.
If you shake it very well then decant into small sealed jars, you end up with an even amount of flake in each jar, ready for shaking up and diluting with thinners. I still have one of the jars in my garage and its got a 1" thick lump of shiny silver in the bottom with 3" of dark grey paint above it !
Worked a treat for me and i even got people asking where i had it sprayed because they thought it looked professional.
I worked on the 'lots of light coats' way with some fine rubbing down inbetween.

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Are you playing with 2pack or celly? I like celly as it doen't make you all dead but the 2pack is ok if you have an air fed mask (because it wants to kill you). I have sprayed 2 pack without a mask and I'm not dead but that was when I was young and daft. You can get celly from Halfords or online.

I buy my paint from Autopaint international, not sure if you have one in your area. " pack gives a shine out of the tin, celly needs a little more work to achieve the same shine.
Celly is safer and more forgiving though and generally more expensive

Some good tips so far i think my next question has been answered i was going to ask about cellulose or 2 pack as i dont want to end up dead think i will use cellulose

my order of doingthis would be

- totally clean the van top to bottom and jet wash uderneath
- remove mirrors lights and nything thats easily removed off
- rub back paint using p80 grit around dents and fill
- rub back filler going throgh the grits course to fine p1200 and prime
- scotch pad the entire van to key the surface
- blow dust off and mask up
- hoover the floor area and hose down
- mask up the van and wipe down using pre-paint
- spray the primer unsure of how many coats at this stage probably 2 coats with a light sand inbetween

now im unsure as to rub down again with wet wet and dry or apply the silver metallic top coat and should i be rubbing down between coats, also how many thin coats of lacquer should i apply? if i have missed anything please point it out and point me in the right direction ,Thanks again

For what its going to cost (are you getting paid for your time?) might it not be easier and cheaper to sell the red one and buy a silver one???

That is pretty much correct, i would

1, Steam clean the van, under arches, seams , gutters etc
2, Strip out everything that will come off in less than an hour of trying, degrease with spirit wipe
3, DA the entire surface to be painted in 320
4, Repair and fill everything you want to - remember it is a van not a bloody roller
5, 3 heavy coats of filler primer
6, DA with 400
7, mask, hit with 2 full coats of colour and a drop coat
8, 2 full coats of clearcoat
9, denib and machine polish

The above is only a rough guide, get a data sheet with the paint system and follow it, get all the material from the same manufacturer, use an air fed mask with an inline filter (piston compressors get a lot of piston slap and you will be breathing in the oil droplets). you will also need a small scaffold tower to do the roof!

Good point, actually when i say my work asked me im actually a partner of the company and between the 3 of us we have decided whilst work is quiet lets do the things that tidy up our image. Although just buying a silver van would be easier we run the risk with the amount we have to spend of getting rid of a mechanically sound but ugly van and buying a pretty but possibly a troublesome van so being as though i have the skills but lack the detailed knowledge i thought if i can get some advice if i feel confident then spraying the van is an option. We had thought of wrapping the van but we had quotes from 1500 to 2 grand which is probably the value of the van
We are locost builders after all!

[Edited on 9/4/10 by corrado vr6]

To be honest if it was mine I would do the bit of the roof you cannot see with a roller!

I reckon you will get a good finish doing it the way you have listed.
My TR7 was sprayed with a 2nd hand gun from an auto jumble, using a very small pump plumbed into 2 fire extinguishers as air tanks ! We had to do a few passes and then wait for pressure to build up again. First time me or my dad had even picked up a spraygun too.
Here's my old car at Alexandra Palace though, a year after our sprayjob - on the TR register stand
Rescued attachment My TR7.jpg