Okay guys,

Now that you have put my mind at ease regarding the engine I have a paint question.

The vette has an older paint job from a previous ower with the fibers showing and dirt in the paint but the paint is sticking to the car real well other than the normal chips and stuff.

It has very few stress cracks and no cracks anywhere near a bonding strip. Everyone that does paint on vettes states that the body should be stripped before painting. I think that proper prep on the existing finish is fine and would help seal up the fibers nicely. Then we would use a premim sealer and epoxy primer before block sanding in preparation for the base coat/clearcoat application. There is only one layer of paint on 90% of the body and there are two layers on some parts. There is almost no indication that the paint is blistering or lettin go in any way.

Should I strip or not. If I did not strip the cost is 4k and 8-12k if I do strip.

Please lend me your thoughts and experiances.

 

Bill 

To me.  Any time you repaint on any vehicle.  You should strip down to bare.   This way the primer(2 coats if you want) and base/clearcoat(3 coats if you want) will last longer.   Sometimes just repainting looks really bad at some angles on the vehicle. 

Unless it's becomes a money issue then repaint.  Just make sure the painter goes slow and takes his/her time.   You want the best look on your paint job for any costs.

Good luck with your paint and hope to see some before and after shots. 

Well I have had my 64 72 76 & the 79 repainted ..
all were stripped...and in ALL cases I had some  "surprise" areas...

To be honest unless you strip the car your really have no clue what is
under the current paint..

Just my opinion...BUT It is NOT my money ...the ball is back in your court
..

Bob

I have tried it both ways on a lot of cars. I am not abodyman,however over the years I have taught myself to paint. I can now do what I consider a pretty good 4 foot job. Some folks think it is better but I do not. At any rate I am still trying to improve. What I have found works well for me is to scruff the car good and then get a good high-build primer so I can block it. Blocking is the key to good paint. Block it good. Use a premium sealer and then paint. I personally use RM paint and products. When I do this I do not! mix brands.Whatever you use stick with the components. The trick to a good paint job is taking time for prep, block sanding is the key. Any way, I had to teach myself as I could not afford the custom painters and did not want to throw $ away on the shade tree jobs. I do not consider myself a painter, but I can do enough to almost satisfy myself

[QUOTE=swallace]I have tried it both ways on a lot of cars. I am not abodyman,however over the years I have taught myself to paint. I can now do what I consider a pretty good 4 foot job. Some folks think it is better but I do not. At any rate I am still trying to improve. What I have found works well for me is to scruff the car good and then get a good high-build primer so I can block it. Blocking is the key to good paint. Block it good. Use a premium sealer and then paint. I personally use RM paint and products. When I do this I do not! mix brands.Whatever you use stick with the components. The trick to a good paint job is taking time for prep, block sanding is the key. Any way, I had to teach myself as I could not afford the custom painters and did not want to throw $ away on the shade tree jobs. I do not consider myself a painter, but I can do enough to almost satisfy myself[/QUOTE]

Well I decided to experiment to see if I could bring out the shine and knock off some of the rough spots from the paint.

I found that using a 1000 grit paper and lightly wet sanding, lightly compounding and polishing with my buffer that I can clean up better than 90 percent of the paint defects with a great shine to boot! Appears that whatever paint is on the car is pretty thick.

The remaining defects are from dirt in the paint and chips from normal use.

Would enamel allow this type of result if baked on or mixed with a hardening agent? If the enamel is baked on can I use lacquer touch up since it is easier to blend  and sand where there are these minor defects? How can I, or can I tell for sure what kind of paint is on the car? I have purposely put some lacquer on the paint, rubbed and nothing came of on the rag nor did the paint lift. I also used a spray bomp of lacquer on an inconspicuous area and the paint did not lift.

Maybe I can avoid a paint job!

 

Bill