I've been reading threads and guides about re-painting cars recently, they are always stressing the quality usually comes from prep work, lots of sanding etc. rather than the actual act of spraying the paint.

So I was wondering, given how great the paint on most modern new cars is, how do they do it, straight from the production line?

I assume they don't have hoards of workers buffing and rubbing the cars between coats, so...

...as I actually have very little idea of how its actually done, can someone either link me to an explanation of how new cars get painted and achieve the quality, or can someone explain the process.

Thanks,
R

I have no insight on this except that I have had the opportunity to tour a lot of auto plants....I would attribute it to having a perfectly clean and true piece to begin with, robotics that apply paint exactly the same way every time, and a tightly controled atmosphere temp and humidity.

Also, you might be suprised how many pieces of the body ARE pulled off the line to get hand buffed and cleaned up.

Perfect conditions, perfect panels, robots...

The big part is that the panels are perfect to begin with, so the factory can just assemble a chassis/body and prime then paint. No body work required.

some manufacturers end up with a lot of orange peel in their paint too.

That's the UAW workers throwing the damn peels in the trunk during break time.

If you want to see what it takes to paint a car, go to the Classic Forum look under "PPG vrs Omni Paint"

Later, Don

Totally, I was next to one of the new Hummer2-inspired Jeeps (you look at one you just know), it was black and it orange peeled like crazy, over the whole body. We all know to expect orange peel on factory finishes, unless you're buying a Rolls-Royce or similar (and even then), but man this was just terrible and extremely noticeable.

Look up the side of a new f150, they're so orange peely it's unbelieveable.
The new cars that look perfect, Porsche, Mercedes, Lexus are polished. It's not possible to get a glass like finish with new low VOC paints without polishing, and it wasn't very common with older paints anyway.

The biggest advantage I see is their ability to bake the paint after painting the unassembled body. We can't do that without melting plastic. That is why repainted panels always chip easier than factory.

10 million dollar paint booths and systems are the prime reason. And they just do a lot of them. Practice makes perfect, unless it's a ford!