I'm going to strip off all the body panels from an 87 GT as part of an auto shop class. We will need to get it painted (stock silver most likely). Is it best to paint all the panels off the car? or shot them on the body? Pros? cons? how about if a color change is made? THanks Mike

Well, for the average vehicle, you haven't got much of a choice unless you're stripping the vehicle down to the frame or unibody to perform a complete restoration. For the usual repaint, you'd be painting the vehicle with all panels in place.

The Fiero is a little unique...you can strip every body panel off the car to do a repaint. Now, this is a bit of wasted labour if you're just painting the car...however, I'd strip off all the panels to paint them because it gives you the added benefit to inspect the "space frame" underneath. At this point you can perform any rust-related repairs, and then paint the space frame, too.

I guess it all amounts to personal preference when it comes to repainting the entire car. However, if you're just repaiting a panel or two, you'd definitely want to leave all the panels in place so you can blend the new paint into the old to make it look right.

You'll very likely get completely different thoughts from some of the professional painters around here, but that's my thought on the matter...

The guy who painted mine said when you do a color change its best to take off things like lower moldings and side moldings and the whole gas lid section so you ca get behind the those pieces but I dont know if you stay the same if you would have to, I think your paint will last longer, my buddy didnt take his off and the paint is peeling right at where the top of the lower moldings hit the door on the door it self and around the gas door section. I would take them off so that it can be prepped right, just my 2 cents though.

Im painting my car next monday and some of the panels are def. coming off like the rear hood and ofcourse spoiler and gas cover..to me it would just be easier but as far as 1/4 panels and such..leave em on...pop the front hood open too.

If you are doing a color change, I would pull off all the trim and pannels you can. You'll want to be able to paint the edges on the back of things like the door skins.

Even if you don't pull pannels get the trim off. Other wise you'll likely get lines of the old color along the trim. Keep in mind some trim isn't real tight and some has slightly diferent thermanl expansion rate.

Plus there is usually allot of crap under trim that invariably blows out while you are painting. The only sure way to prevent that is get the trim off. Even if you are shooting the same color.

Don't bother removing the roof pannel (Unless you are doing a sunroof install. The roof breaks easy.) and the rear clip. (It's just too much work.)

The little quarters between the doors and rear wheel shouldn't be hard to mask off. I would take trim off them if you can but not remove the quarter.

If you are spraying metal flake paints you want to have the pannels lined up like they will be on the car. It affects how the flakes lay up when they dry. For example, You would not want a fender vertical and a door skin laying flat. They won't look right.

If you don't want to pull pannels... put the car on a lift or jack stands. It makes the low work much easier.

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Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. Guess I'll just go eat worms.

When I got mine painted about 4 months ago I asked the body shop if it would be easier to paint the panels individually as I was having to replace several broken panels at the time and rather than reattaching the new panels I wanted to know if they would rather be bring the body in pieces. The guy I spoke to quickly cut me off and said "NO!" and proceeded to explain to me that it's much more difficult for them to paint individual panels than to just mask everything off (this was a maaco type place so they're set up more to just mask and paint than to remove). He also made a point that I tend to agree with and that is, since the paint generally takes 1-2 months to fully cure you will run a greater risk of chipping or scratching the new paint when transporting the panels after painting as well as reinstalling them. I ended up just removing all the trip that I possibly could and about all they needed to mask off was the windows.

If I leave the panels on, what about:
1) how much trim can be removed?
2) rear clip diagnol is cracked...can it be repaired in place?
3) any special prep in painting the mouldings to match the body color?
4) whats the general fix for a slightly loose rear bumpercover?
Mike

Answer to #2 and #4:
DUCTAPE!!!

Always have ALL THE PANELS RIGHT WHERE THEY SHOULD BE -> on the car!

There are a thousand things that can go wrong when repainting. When the spray is being applied it is with smooth motions. You can't get that effect if you paint just the front fender, run out of paint, mix new paint, and then spray the door. No matter how much you mix the paint or for how long, it will not be the same color.

It takes the tinyiest (sp?) difference to make what could be a great job to look like the car was in an accident because the panels don't match.

I read here about some guy who took off all the panels he could and sprayed the car BLACK of all colors!

That's the most difficult color.

Plus, you risk scratching or damaging the panels while putting them back on.

And unless you let them cure for a month or three, when you tighten down a screw, the paint just peels anyhoo.

Better to go over those screws with the tools a model-builder uses.

Yeah, it's all in the detail work.

As for painting around the gas-tank.

If you're really after a good paint job, dismantle, clean an tape off those sections yourself.

But don't leave masking tape on you ride in the sun: you will never get it off!

quote Originally posted by Roger That: Always have ALL THE PANELS RIGHT WHERE THEY SHOULD BE -> on the car! There are a thousand things that can go wrong when repainting. When the spray is being applied it is with smooth motions. You can't get that effect if you paint just the front fender, run out of paint, mix new paint, and then spray the door. No matter how much you mix the paint or for how long, it will not be the same color. It takes the tinyiest (sp?) difference to make what could be a great job to look like the car was in an accident because the panels don't match. I read here about some guy who took off all the panels he could and sprayed the car BLACK of all colors! That's the most difficult color. Plus, you risk scratching or damaging the panels while putting them back on. And unless you let them cure for a month or three, when you tighten down a screw, the paint just peels anyhoo. Better to go over those screws with the tools a model-builder uses. Yeah, it's all in the detail work. As for painting around the gas-tank. If you're really after a good paint job, dismantle, clean an tape off those sections yourself. But don't leave masking tape on you ride in the sun: you will never get it off!

Are you drunk? By your reply, you have never painted any part of a Fiero with decent paint.

There are 2 schools of thought on painting the Fiero.

First, if you are doing a color change, pull the panels. There are a lot of areas that you need to get at that are covered by closed panels....under the deck lid, door jambs, headlight doors, etc. As mentioned earlier, if you are spraying a metallic paint, you really should have the panels painted at the same time and lined up as they would be on the car so the paint lays the same. If you are spraying a solid color, paint them any which way you want....just make sure that the paint mixture is the same. As for curing, an enamel paint job will take a while to fully cure....about a month. Urethane will fully cure a lot sooner, but I have never had any paint crack off when replacing panels, and I usually have them replaced in a day or two.

Second, if you aren't doing a color change, you need to do a good job with the masking tape so you won't see the tape edges. Those tape edges give away a paint job, and a good tape job can usually be somewhat hidden. Use a good masking tape (3M) and take your time. Painting the same color is a lot easier, of course, but again, take your time with the prep job.

Patience will certainly pay off. A rushed paint job will come back to bite you, so don't push it. Prep work is 90% of any paint job. Use quality products. You get what you pay for, especially in paint!

Any Fiero I paint gets disassembled. The roof panel and the rear clip stay on, but everything else is removed. You want quality? That's show quality. Take your time, be careful, and do it right. Yes, things can go wrong and you can have a panel damaged when you reassemble. But I can certainly trash a paint job while I'm buffing, too. There are pros and cons to either argument, and it all depends on what you want out of the work. I pull panels, but I also expect my work to be perfect...and I charge for it, too. I also guarantee my work for my customers. If I screw up, I fix it. If my customer isn't happy, I'm not happy (I'm really picky, too).

So, that's my point of view. I buy good paint. I use PPG, but there are certainly other brands that are excellent quality, too. I use 3M tape (the new green stuff) and wouldn't use anything else. (Anyone ever try that Shur tape?) I use masking paper...not newspaper. I have my compressor in the basement so I don't have to listen to it run and I never have water problems (yes, filters in place). I have a nice fan system to clear out the paint fog. I spray in a 2 car garage that's clean. I take care of my customer cars like I take care of my own.

Decide what you want out of your paint job and go from there. One other thing to consider....if you remove the panels and screw up something on one of them, you don't have to respray the whole car.

Mark the paint guy (wondering where Roger is......)

By the way....black is one of the easiest colors to spray....white is the hardest.

Edited cuz I can't spell.

[This message has been edited by Firefox (edited 06-24-2003).]

I am not an expert so this is only my opinion. On my 88GT I will change the color so the pannels come off(not the roof or rear clip) but first prep all the pannels on the car. The front side will be painted with the back edges to cover all the old paint. Put on all the pannels, color sand, one or two more coats of paint and then clear so the last two steps are done on the car. All of the pannels will (A)line up, (B) all be the same color and (C) all look uniform. I want a micro metalic paint so the last step is critical.

Hi,
I just had a color change from white to black.
I was told to remove all the trim I could to avoid tape lines and to clean out the "crud" under the trim. I removed all locks, the wheel skirts, botom rocker panel (long piece between the wheels), mirrors, headlight doors and the sail panels. (it's a coupe)

The trim behind the lock on the doors required I pull the door skin to remove, it's held on with a screw.

I delivered the car to the paint shop along with the door skins, mirrors and headlight doors.

The body shop removed every other panel and the front and rear facia. the only thing left on the car were the rear clip and the roof.

They preped everything off the car, painted them with 3 coats of black urethane (no clear coat) and re-assembled the panels.

The buffing was done with the panels on the car. It took 5 weeks from start to finish.

I replaced the dew strips, re-installed the mirrors and locks. I can't find anywhere that is not black. I could not be happier.
Here is a group of pictures I took during the process http://www.informx.com/fiero

Hope this helps, Steve

[This message has been edited by Tweaker (edited 06-25-2003).]