Painting the car – repairing scratches and repainting by yourself?

Car painting – the vehicle skin as a protective canvas

Car sanding and painting – do it yourself even with instructions no child’s play.

The skin is the largest and one of the most important organs of a human being – it is supposed to protect him from cold, heat and other environmental influences and damages. Similar functions have the repainting of our vehicles: it keeps moisture away from the car body and thus prevents corrosion damage, but also has extensive protective effect for the car.

Even a small scratch can have serious consequences: while injuries to human skin are almost immediately closed by blood platelets and can heal, the invention of a vehicle paint that does something similar is still a long way off. This way you can damaged and unprotected areas dirt and moisture penetrate and cause rust damage to the vehicle. For this reason, at least deep paint scratches should not be treated too late.

But the car paint is not only protection, but also an ornament and expression of individuality of the vehicle owner. If the proud owner wants to deviate from the usual car paint, he usually has to have the car repainted. Or can he do it himself?

Learn more in the following workshop guide, which paint jobs you can do yourself, when it might be better to let professionals do it and much more.

FAQ: car painting

yes, the repainting must be reported to the registration authority.

Depending on the size of the vehicle, you will need 2 to 4 liters each of primer, color and clear coat. In the sum they come with it on 6 to 12 liters of paint.

Depending on the vehicle and the amount of work involved, repainting can cost between 3,000 and 8,000 euros in a workshop.

Scratches in the paint – aesthetic flaws in the protective armor

A little bump and you have a scratch in your paint job. Can you paint the car yourself?

Rolling grit on the roads can lead not only to unpleasant stone chip damage in the windshield. The swirled up stones can also cause unsightly marks on the vehicle paint leave behind. But it’s not just rolling gravel that regularly causes minor and major paint damage to vehicles. Also one or the other accident in the parking lot or careless cyclists and passers-by can leave your marks on the paint of your beloved "four-wheeler.

not every vehicle owner is bothered by such paint damage. And in fact, particularly fine scratches are often only small blemish. But just Deep paint damage are much more than that: they open the door to harmful moisture and contamination and can drive corrosion of the bodywork hidden beneath the paint. Soon the problem is no longer just an aesthetic one, but can become a problem for the cause serious damage, their repair comes along with far higher costs than a car painting.

But even if you want to sell your car, it is always a good idea to have the vehicle repainted beautiful to restore and remove even the smallest scratch. In this way you can even end up with a achieve a better price.

At small area car paint it is not always necessary to go to a repair shop. If you are a skilled craftsman and have some artistic talent, you can paint the small area in the same way also paint yourself.

Instructions: repairing scratches – painting a small area on a car

Even a small area car painting is associated with a lot of work.

In the following you will find a instruction, how you can paint deeper scratches on the car yourself. It is important, especially in the case of larger damages, that a simple repainting is not enough. The surface also usually has to be treated, filled and smoothed. So if you want to do such extensive work yourself, plan a little more time a.

To protect your skin and clothing, wear a protective protective gloves and full body suits, as you can z. B. Available for renovation are.

1. Cover all surfaces, that should not come into contact with vehicle paint, but are in the immediate vicinity of the scratch (headlights, bumper, joints, etc.).).
2. Take dry sandpaper to hand (grit between P60 to P120 recommended). Sand the scratched surface and level the scratches a little – until the original primer appears. Work with a somewhat larger surface area to avoid unsightly paint edges.
3. Now you need fine putty and hardener paste. Mix the two together, the correct ratio is usually specified by the manufacturer.
4. Apply the putty apply with the help of a spatula over the just sanded area to fill up any uneven areas and to seal the scratch completely. let the putty dry (about half an hour).
5. Now comes the sandpaper into play (preferably P120 grit): after drying, sand the putty smooth until no more edges are noticeable. then fine sand the entire surface you have worked on (with a fine sanding pad).

Up to this point you have surface prepared. Only afterwards can you start to actually paint the car. The varnish also consists of several layers of.

Before you paint the car: you must first mask off all components that should not be painted.

1. Apply two coats primer filler Apply the following to the sanded surface. the primer causes the paint to adhere properly to the car and not flake off. let the filler dry for about 20 minutes.
2. Afterwards sand the surface again, this time wet with water sandpaper (grit P500 or finer).
3. Clean then thoroughly clean the surface. Impurities and dust residues can lead to unsightly inclusions when you subsequently paint the car. after the first wet cleaning, work with silicone remover and rub the surface dry.
4. Spray the first color coating thinly on (adhesive layer). Let them dry briefly (2 to 3 minutes). The required color tone can be taken from the vehicle documents. Then apply the second coat to cover the scratch – again, allow to dry briefly. This is followed by a third covering coat of paint.

How many coats it actually needs, so that you can paint the component on the car opaque, but is also dependent on the selected paint. Some paints are supposed to be fully covered the first time.

1. Finally you need clear lacquerapply three coats, one thin and two thick (let dry briefly in between). Now the car paint just has to dry thoroughly, otherwise you might be able to feel what women feel when they suddenly have to start all over again after painting their nails because a fingerprint, scratch or similar is visible in the paint.

The complete procedure of the work you can see in the following video follow the instructions again (please activate the subtitle for the comments):

It shows already with the Ausbesserung of scratches, how extensively these works are actual at the end. Particularly problematic for most tinkerers will be the fact that they will be working in a if possible dust-free environment work should be done to avoid unpleasant paint inclusions to prevent when you paint the car little by little.

In addition, you will need the following color and additional clear coat nor numerous further materials and equipment: filler and putty, sanding pads in different fine grits, respiratory protection mask, fine atomizer (paint gun), masking tape and paper to mask it off.

Simply use a spray can painting the car will probably not lead to the desired success. if you want to do it right, you need time, patience and some skill.

Alternative paint pen for fine scratches

Alternatively, you can also varnish pencils get what you need to cover minor paint damage. While in spray cans can be purchased paint for a car in pink, mustard yellow, fir green or other special colors, paint sticks are mostly limited to the standard colors limited.

Bringing more color into your life and repainting your car completely?

Painting a car: before the paint comes, you need to clean the car thoroughly.

You have found your dream car, but you are not completely satisfied with the paint color? no problem, pretty much any car can be customized. there is hardly any limit to the design wishes you can have when painting your car: single-color, multi-color, with a motif on the roof or hood – you name it! nothing is impossible. However, the layman himself should be careful, because to paint a car properly, you need not only a plan, but also cans.

Even if you want to avoid the extensive work: to paint your car easily by using a paint can in the hardware store around the corner buy, will hardly bring the result you might have imagined.

How much varnish you need if you want to paint the car?

For the complete repainting of a car you need between 2 and 4 liters of paint, depending on vehicle size – per type of paint. This means: if you need primer as well as color and clear coat, the whole thing adds up to 6 to 12 liters – for a complete paint job.

The following table you can read the required quantities. However, these are always approximations. In individual cases, the quantities may vary. The same applies to the quantities indicated if you only want to paint individual car parts. In addition, the type of paint itself of importance. There are already paints that only need to be applied in one coat and are still intended to be opaque. it is best to ask a professional. If in doubt, order a little too much car paint rather than too little.

quantity for a small car (z. B. VW polo) in liter quantity for a middle class car (z. B. Audi A4) in liter quantity for a large capacity sedan (z. B. 5 series BMW) in liter

complete repainting of a car	2,7	3,3	3,8
partial painting
per bumper	0,4	0,5	0,6
tailgate	0,5	0,6	0,7
per door	0,6	0,7	0,7
hood	0,6	0,7	0,8
fender (front and rear)	1	1,2	1,4

Completely new car paint – instructions to do it yourself

But how to paint the car completely? Basically we have the procedure above already shown in the small. For this reason, we would like to briefly show you how you can paint your entire car yourself. The instructions are based only on the most important points and list them in detail not again en detail from.

first of all: to repaint the complete vehicle, you will need one or two things. Below you will find a list of items you need, if you want to paint your car yourself

• A large room: the car must be very free, which is not possible in most common garages. To apply the paint evenly, however, you need sufficient spacing to prevent paint nosing. In addition, the room must be largely clean, dust-free and dry – but still well ventilated so that not too many toxic vapors collect. The best is still a professional paint booth.

It is usually easier and more advisable to have the car painted by professionals.

• safety clothing
• safety gloves
• Breathing mask
• safety goggles
• Sanding blocks with different fineness of grain
• Spray gun or. Corresponding attachment for spray cans
• Filler and hardener
• putty
• primer
• Sponge, water, silicone cleaner, towel to rub dry
• car paint in your desired color
• clear varnish
• masking tape and paper to cover the car

Once you have everything you need to paint your car, the first thing to do is preparation.

1. tape off headlights, windows and other surfaces that should not be painted.
2. Sand the old car paint: either down to the primer, if you don’t want to apply a new one, or down to the metal.
3. repairing bumps and dents, z. B. With putty. Make sure that these areas also have to be treated and sanded smooth separately.
4. Wear if necessary. Apply the new primer – in two coats and sand it after drying with water sandpaper.
5. Clean the surface thoroughly.

Once the preparations are complete, you can finally start painting start car painting.

You can also paint plastic – am& in the car.

1. Apply the first layer of paint thinly (adhesive layer). After this, apply the second and third opaque coat of paint.
2. If you want to paint your car in two colors, the effort is even greater, since you then have to cover the part of the car that you do not want to paint in the second color.
3. Then apply the clearcoat accordingly and allow everything to dry thoroughly.

With car the complete painting on your own to want to make, goes therefore with extensive work one. Since such a professional also once well and gladly between 3.000 and 8.000 euro costs may vary – depending on the effort and model – the question remains whether the effort is really worth it in the end. Especially since even small mistakes can only make things worse – or you can start all over again from scratch.

In case of doubt, it remains the cheapest option, let professionals repaint your car right away. This way you can be sure that you will be completely satisfied with the final result and will enjoy your new car paint job for years to come.

How to paint plastic parts correctly on the car

Not all car parts are made of metal. First of all bumpers and interior components are mostly made of resistant plastics manufactured. But how can you proceed if you also want to paint the inside of your car or paint the bumpers as well?? Basically it is also possible to paint plastic.

However, there are some differences in the painting process compared to painting metal components.

For simplicity’s sake, you can paint the part to be first remove the component. Plastic parts can usually be dismantled relatively easily. Afterwards, wash the component thoroughly to remove any dirt.

Then use special plastic cleaner, also remove release agents from the surface, these can otherwise reduce paint adhesion. If it is painted plastic, it should also be additionally coated with silicone remover be cleaned.

A cheaper alternative to a new car paint job: having the car foiled.

If the part of the car that you want to paint has already been painted once, you must apply the sand plastic, so that the primer can adhere optimally. Is it a matter of "naked" plastic (as usual at the factory), sanding is generally not necessary.

apply suitable plastic primer and let them dry. After this wipe dry and you can start with the painting. This process again depends on the type of paint used.

Cheaper alternative: carwrapping

However, you do not always have to have the car actually repainted if you want to give it a new look. In the meantime you can also find robust automotive films, which can simply be applied to the lacquer and even protect it. The advantages of car wrapping are obvious: