NEW:   PAINT IN THE WINTER or COOL WEATHER

As fall and winter weather approaches in most of the USA (and whenever or wherever else) the question arises:

Can I paint when it's cold outside?

Of course.

In fact, the demonstration video was made while it was RAINING and it was 45 degrees outside.

Here are the things to remember for cold weather...

1) Make sure the temperature where you are painting is at least 55 degrees. 

If it is colder than that, the paint will not set quickly enough, and will have much more tendency to run and drip. Even though urethane paint is catalyzed and hardens from chemical interaction, and will dry in almost the coldest temperatures, the RATE at which it dries is effected by ambient temperature.  If it "dries" to slowly, it will run.

Although 55 degrees is on the cool side, and warmer temperatures will allow faster setting and drying, it is possible to successfully paint at this temperature.

If the OUTSIDE temperature is cooler than 55 degrees-- keep reading....

2) Paint inside a paint booth, or inside a garage.

In such an environment you can easily control the temperature with heaters and heat lamps.

Be aware, PAINT IS FLAMMABLE--- well DUH.

Don't have a flame going where you are painting. DUH.

3) Outside, you can, as I did, paint inside a covered car port.

Hang up plastic sheeting, and warm the place up with halogen lamps, and monitor the temperature.

4) Avoid days of high humidity.

Moisture cures urethane paint, so any increased humidity in the air is NOT good. However-- if you have heated the area you are painting in, and moisture is not coming in, you will be okay.

PAINTING HISTORY LESSON

I learned how to paint a car is because I simply could not afford the several thousand dollars it would have cost me to have someone else paint a rare collector car that I owned.

I was fortunate enough to belong to my local Lotus car club and met several boni-fide restoration experts, among them Mr. Vic Cooper in Denver. He regularly repairs and repaints the most expensive, the most exotic passenger and race cars, from Lotuses to Lambos to hot rods, and people call on him from all over the country to repair valuable vehicles. Over a long period of time he taught me how to do the highest level of body repair and car painting. Since I am a writer and film maker (and he and other experts I knew are not), I translated everything I learned from him into a form that people could easily learn from right off the web. Over the years as I continued to refine my painting knowledge and technique, I further recieved help from an exceptionally good paint shop in Denver that specializes in automotive refinishing.

Initially I spent months learning what works and what doesn't work. When I was done I had done my first car, my white Lotus on the book cover. It turned out perfectly. The method I used can be applied to any vehicle, fancy or plain, big or small, boat or car, truck, bike, or motorcycle.

Since this first project, I've continued to this day learning more about painting that I pass on to my readers and friends, and the feedback that you can read on this site is testimony that this is good advice.

There are many painting books available that look good on the surface, but in practical use are overly-complicated and have irrelevant information for most people and most situations. I am the author of five books, and my goal here is to make material available that WORKS as advertised, and teaches you how to paint in the same manner as I have learned myself from my own teachers, themselves respected masters of automotive painting for decades.

You may find yourself considering painting your vehicle- either a utilitarian commuter car, or a show car, but without having done this previously, or have done it making many mistakes and not having things turn out so good. You may not know anyone who knows how to do this, or has the time to show you.

I will show you, because it is my business teaching people- and I've been a teacher for 35 years.

To paint a car properly  you will need a spray gun, a compressor, the paint, some miscellaneous small tools, sandpaper, and a certain amount of patience. Do it in a car port, garage, paint booth, or even in your driveway- Decide what is best for you.

You can borrow or rent the gun and compressor and save money that way, and pay about $100 for the paint and sandpaper, and if you read the instructions you can come up with a decent paint job on most cars. You will also need odds and ends which you may or may not have, light solvents, gloves, an air respirator, and other small items necessary for painting.

Or, you can spend about $250 on the gun and compressor, own it permanently and do lots of things with it for the rest of your life- like paint your house, air clean stuff, run other tools with it, etc.

If you have a special car or a collector car, plan on spending extra time sanding and re-sanding, and fine sanding, and polishing, and correcting your mistakes, and doing body work.

If you just want to quickly re-spray your car, and don't have many body repairs to do, this can be accomplished in a single day at little expense, and you can end up with a very very nice looking car in the end.

If you don't have an extra $3000 sitting around, this may be your only choice- AND you can do it, and come up with an absolutely gorgeous job. I will show you how, and my methods come from THE BEST EXPERTS possible.

If you just have an old car and would rather do it yourself than spend $300 or $400 at the budget shops for a mediocre job that they will do, you can do it quickly and end up with a finish as good if not better than such shops, and spend a minimum amount of time doing it- although you will still need the materials and equipment you don't already own, and a place to do it.

You can get the download or DVD (it is dirt cheap), or just read through the basics on this page  and get a good idea of what you will need to do.

Okay....you decide. No bull here. The best painting adventure to you!

On forward to The Heart Of Painting Step By Step