Advice on respraying / wrapping Gen 3 Jimny

Hi Everyone 

I am looking to completely change the colour of the red Jimmy I purchased .
It maybe advisable to get it resprayed by a body shop but I don't have a extra 1k to spare for this to happen.
Maybe wrapping  would be cheaper ?

In the spirit of doing things myself i would like some advise on the processes of respraying/ wrapping and what i need to do to prep my vehicle .

If there is anyone out there who has done this to their vehicle that would be a great help or if there is anyone who would like to help me that would be greatly appreciated. 

I am located in Birmingjam .

Do you have access to a building in which you can spray and the equipment?
Not saying you can't spray outdoors, but it makes the job a lot harder if you need to deal with the elements. 
What are your expectations, show room perfect or its a just different colour?
Have you considered a roller application, I did my series land-rover this way, looks like a cheap respray.  Easy to do in limited space and you don't waste much paint so about as cheap as it gets. 

wrote:

Hi Everyone 

I am looking to completely change the colour of the red Jimmy I purchased .
It maybe advisable to get it resprayed by a body shop but I don't have a extra 1k to spare for this to happen.
Maybe wrapping  would be cheaper ?

In the spirit of doing things myself i would like some advise on the processes of respraying/ wrapping and what i need to do to prep my vehicle .

If there is anyone out there who has done this to their vehicle that would be a great help or if there is anyone who would like to help me that would be greatly appreciated. 

I am located in Birmingjam .

Wrapping is usually expensive. Maybe £5k.... cheap jobs always look dreadful with bubble, lifting edges and just a bit crap really. At least any I've seen. I'd also suggest a wrap is best on a car used infrequently and probably garaged. Off roading might well lead to other issues with a wrap.

Its a nice idea conceptually, but its only real benefit is being a temporary colour change you can revert or do again in a different colour.

I'm sire there are people with wrapped cars that will claim no issues. But I'm willing to bet they are either an exception or it cost a lot.

As for paintwork, well it is a dark art and the majority of work is in the prep. So it really depends on what sort of finish you are after. You'll also find a big variance in prices, which may not reflect overall quality of work either. Big companies doing lots of insurance work will generally be very expensive and often poor quality. A bloke in a shed might well do a cash deal for far less with much better finish. But it really depends.

You could paint yourself, but in reality getting anywhere close to a showroom finish is likely impossible. Doesn't mean you can't get an acceptable 10 foot finish (i.e. standing 10 feet away it looks perfectly fine). But again a lot will depend on this.

Rattle cans, brush, roller are all options at home. Or a proper spray gun. Lots of different types of paint too.

Hi

Thank you both for getting back to me so promptly .
Currently i do not have immediate access to a garage space.

I am not looking for a showroom finish but just turning my red jimny to preferably to tiffany blue.
I haven't considered a roller application but it seems rattle to be more feasible as i have had some experience with these ( but i would need a garage for this for sure)

( i have just watched this guy using combicolour)


Would i need to prime the paint after sanding ?

I have just done a bit of spraying on my other vehicle and sprayed a panel on my Jimny last year. I used to use rattle cans, then had a proper spray gun for a while and now use a small compressor and spray pencil which is what I have used for the last few years.

I don't have enough space to get a vehicle inside, it's very hit and miss spraying outside, even a small area needs a real good day, not to mention preparation. After spraying I cut back and polish the finish before applying lacquer, it takes forever, like several days.

Personally I wouldn't attempt a whole car, it would take me too long masking off and buffing later and changing from one strong colour to another (red to blue) is going to take several coats.

One of my pals used a roller with a 2-part epoxy varnish on a boat, the end result was stunning, like it was sprayed, but he has been a boat builder for years and his brush work is also superb.

I haven't tried wrapping a car, I have used vinyl wraps with some success but only on small areas and I did it inside in a clean dry environment.

Hope it works out for you, I am not sure any of these finishes are as easy to do as they look in the Youtube vids.

Robin

Look at what you have available and factoring in cost I would use a roller.
It has the advantage you can easily do a panel at a time with minimal masking, no over spray to contend with.
Very little waste and no cleaning up, throw the cheap rollers away rather than trying to clean up etc.
Light sand to key the surface then throw on the top coat, 1k poly is very forgiving if it's applied to old paint. Any metal / rust will need priming etc.
Apply on cool days with little wind, the trick is you don't want it to dry quickly, this allows time for it it level out. 
If you go this route talk to your paint supplier and tell them you are going to apply with a brush / roller, they will mix the paint for this application and extend its drying time.
Here is the finish, please keep in mind there's no attempt to cover up the 60 years of dents and bumps, just to turn it green.
 
I'll add it took about 3/4 ltr of paint to do this inside and out.

My advice is to get used to the red. You can get used to anything after a while

I was forced into having a blue gen 4 (forced as in- "Do you want this one, or not have one at all?"- I really didn't want fluorescent yellow, Suzuki weren't importing green so I thought it would do), so I looked into wrapping (covering with fablon basically for us old boys ) and the lifespan is so short (3-5 years maximum if kept outside) that it would be a total waste of money, plus there is so much bare metal showing on a gen 4 that it would look stupid from in the driving seat to be sat inside a blue car painted/wrapped in jungle green.

Changing the colour with a respray means stripping the whole car out to paint everything visible in the new colour, door shuts, round the windows, under the back seats, round the edges of the seatbelt attachments and console.

Luckily with a gen 3, Suzuki didn't cheap out on the internal trim like the gen 4, and most of the interior is covered, but it is still a big job.

If you must go ahead, maybe brush painting would be best,  as you can do the interior parts a little at a time to avoid having to strip out all the interior and keep it somewhere away from the paint overspray.

Tekaloid used to be the standard brush paint for cars, it is still available, but it takes hours and hours to touch dry, so you can't do it outside, unless you like a furry finish covered in dead flies (they are attracted to the colour and solvent in the paint and will dance all over it), flower petals, dust & grit etc.

i wish i could get use to the red but upon further exception of my vehicle the paint work is already flaking off due to age ( 04 reg).
So parts are vibrate red and others are not as the top coat that gives it that sheen has already come off.

Went to a local paint job . Guy at the counter advised me that enamel paint would do the job and that he can mix any variety i wanted .
But he advised i sand the car down and apply a primer if i want to achieve a more smoother look.
Quoted me 120 for both 2.5l of paint and primer.

He also said that i should use 800 grit paper to lightly remove the paint work but you guys are right it is a big job .
I may start with 1200 grit and sand down the hard areas by hand and see then use a DA sander if i can find someone who has one .

There will be plenty of youtube videos on painting a car.
You rub the paint down with wet wet 'n dry paper, as the man said 600 grit will do (bigger number is finer) to remove any flaking areas and give the paint a key, then wipe with super clean cloth (you can buy a roll of a fabric cloth for this) to remove the dried residue and daub your paint on.

You can wipe with pre-paint (degreaser/cleaner) immediately before you start painting if you want, I've never bothered tbh, but it will remove the last of the sanding dust too.


Don't work on a windy or spectacularly hot day- you don't want the paint to dry too quickly as you want the brushmarks to level out.

Don't put it on too thick either- it will run and look awful.

The correct primer will help it stick, and make the colour even, as some colours are a bit transparent so the underneath shows and changes the colour slightly.

Buy some decent brushes, not the 99p each or £5 a set ones, the hairs just fall out and stick in the paint!

wrote:

i wish i could get use to the red but upon further exception of my vehicle the paint work is already flaking off due to age ( 04 reg).
So parts are vibrate red and others are not as the top coat that gives it that sheen has already come off.

Are you sure it is really flaking off? 2004 is not really very old for a vehicle tbh.

Some paint and colours will go white with age when they haven't been looked after. Red is often one of these, a good cut and mop and it'd likely come up looking like new.

I bet you could paint it with upol raptor for that sort of money 
Take a look on here
www.buzzweld.co.uk/
Craig owner is very helpful 
Tell him how you want to paint it on roller or brush 

You could look into plastic dip, if it's still a thing.
Spray on, peel off.
loads if vids on yourube.