Truck Painting in NY is one of the most time-consuming and costly projects to undertake on your vehicle. By the end of this article you’ll know if you can paint it yourself or you should have it painted by a professional. Paint and bodywork have long been seen as an art more than a mechanical undertaking.
A good truck painting in NY job is surely the result of many hours spent welding, sanding, and preparing the body for paint. Rather than the popular misconception that a paint job is a single step process, painting a vehicle is a process that involves various steps that lead to the real painting of the truck. Being a good painter needs a lot of patience and some amount of perfectionism because that new, glossy paint job will show the slightest blemish underneath.
When it comes to truck painting in NY, any automotive professional will tell you the same thing: it all goes down to the preparation. Whether you’re repairing a chip or re-spraying the entire truck, preparing the paintwork is just as important as applying the paint, and plays an important part in the quality of the final result.
To help you prepare like a professional, we’ll guide you through some vital ideas on cutting, sanding, priming, and picking the right paint for your truck, with insider ideas to give your truck a truly professional finish.
4 Truck Painting in NY Tips That Will Ease the Process
Step 1: Remove the rust
The first thing to do to get a great looking paint job that will last for a long time is to have a solid, rust-free foundation to work from. Rust is a popular term for the process of steel oxidizing and is usually caused by unprotected metal being exposed to liquid or liquid-vapor. Adding salt to the process, as in salty roads in the beach or winter driving in the summer, only extends the process and can quickly turn sheet metal into an ugly, flaking, rusty mess.
The worst problem of rust is that once the oxidation process has begun it is very difficult to stop. Even taking away the source of the moisture won’t stop the metal from rusting in a self-destructive way, so, the only decision is to completely get rid of the rust or to stop the process of oxidation chemically. Either way, the rust has to be completely removed or treated or it will return under the paint, leading to unsightly bubbling.
The best method to make sure that rust won’t return is to get rid of it from the truck. This can be accomplished by removing the metal just in the rusty area and welding in areas, but extreme cases may need you to replace the whole panel. While doors and fenders are easily replaced by bolting on the new parts, quarter panels and door skins are harder and need special tools like a welder, clamps, spot weld cutter, grinder, and cut-off wheels.
Whether getting rid of the metal because of a collision or due to rust, the methods are the same. Cut out the destroyed part, fabricate or buy a patch panel, fit the panel, and weld it in together.
The welding process can be a trick in itself because the heat made in thin, sheet metal panels can result in distortion, causing more time spent to straighten the welded-in panels. Coating the panel with a heat-absorbing compound and stitch welding (welding short segments gradually) the panel are two ways to keep the panel from warping while being welded together.
More concern about welding is that moisture can be trapped inside any area of porosity, causing more rust issues. Priming the metal in a weld-through primer and sandblasting the area after being welded are two ways to making sure the area won’t rust in the future.
Most places of light surface rust don’t need metal replacement and can be chemically treated with a liquid rust inhibitor. Rust inhibitors are found in gel form, such as naval jelly. No matter the brand, all rust inhibitors function in the same manner. Their main ingredient is phosphoric acid, which converts iron oxide (active rust) into iron phosphate, chemically preventing the oxidation process. Parts can be dipped in rust inhibitor, but the more common method is to spray liquid inhibitor on the part from a spray bottle.
Depending on the severity of the rust, it can take from two to twelve hours for the phosphoric acid to convert the rust to iron phosphate, which is black. Have it in mind that this process is only effective in areas of surface rust that are not flaking or rusted through. Those areas should be cut out and replaced.
It is not until all the rust of the car has either been cleaned and replaced with new metal or treated with a rust inhibitor, that we can call the first step in the painting process complete. Now we have a solid foundation to build on, we can start straightening and filling warped panels and correcting other imperfections.
Step 2: Straighten the panels
Getting the panels straight is probably the most time-consuming process of automotive bodywork. Most cars have all new metal with no filler, which is why it’s so straight. But nearly all panels need some filler to be made straight. Although some panels may be straightened with a hammer and dolly, others need filler to be perfect. It takes many hours of spreading body filler, sanding, and repeating the process to make sure a panel’s straightness, and, again, some specialty products and tools are needed.
First, it is necessary to make use of quality body filler. Cheap body filler may fill the voids and imperfections of the panels of the car, but it will not last as long as quality fillers. Another advantage of quality filler is that it is normally easier to sand than its cheaper counterpart, needing less time to carry out the truck painting in NY job.
Step 3: Get primed
After completing the rust removal, metalwork, and get the body straight with filler and many hours of sanding, we’re ready for paint. You cannot just roll it into the booth and start shooting; first, you have to ensure you have the right equipment and make some decisions about the type of paint, not to mention primer, which will be used to cover the truck. You need to understand the main function of paint is to protect the underlying metal and looking pretty is secondary. Before applying the paint, the truck has to be primed with a quality primer and blocked once again. This step of priming is to cover the truck and its bodywork from the paint above, ensuring that the paint will have a smooth, consistent surface to join to and the different colors of filler, primer, and metal won’t cause any color variations when the paint is applied.
Step 4: Select the type of paint
Paints are into two main categories: single-stage and base/clear. The single-stage paint system, like its name, is a process in which the color is applied in one step. All the ultraviolet protection, pigment, and additives of the paint are mixed in one can and applied to the car. This method works well and is still extensively used. The latest advances in paint technology have led to a two-part process that first applies the color to the car, which is followed by a clear, protective second coat of paint (clear coat).
All new cars are painted in base/clear as it offers unique benefits, like protecting the pigment by adding ultraviolet blockers in the clear coat. The biggest benefit of a base/clear paint job is the luster. By doing that over the color, the paint job appears thicker and has a shinier appearance than most single stage paints. Additionally, the rock chips and door dings are usually less apparent in base/clear paint jobs as the colored base coat is usually left intact.
For more on truck painting in NY, please contact us today for a quote.