Automotive Paint

If you want to paint, your car one of the best ways to save money on the paint job is to prepare the car yourself. Even if you are not going to paint, it yourself preparing it yourself can save money on the cost of the paint job because the auto body shop will have less work to do. The first thing involved with preparing a car to be painted is to fill in any dents of the car.

This can be done in two different ways you can pop out the dent or you can fill it with special filler used for car dents. To pop out the dent you can tap lightly on the backside of the dent, knock the dent back out. If you cannot pop the dent out you are going to have to use filler. The type of filler that you use will depend on how big the dent is. For large dents, you will want to use fiberglass filler, apply it one layer at a time until the dent is filled. In between each layer, you will want to sand the filler with the finest sandpaper you can buy. If you spot pinholes, apply another layer of filler and sand when dry.

Rust holes must also be sanded down to the bare metal. Once you have gotten down to the bare metal fill any rust holes with fiberglass filler. You will need to sand the areas numerous times, using finer sand paper each time you start another round of sanding until the area is completely smooth. To sand the car use long strokes, but you also want to do it on an angle so not to put grooves in the car. The only time you will want to sand the entire car is if your paint is chipping or looks like it is about to chip.

If you are hiring somebody to do the paint job they can take care of this step or you can do it yourself to save money.