Custom Auto Painting Parts

In a world where modern cars are criticized for looking alike, painting your vehicle can be a great way to bring your personality onto the highway. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a simple task, though. A huge variety of equipment and products are necessary to keep your automobile looking sharp, and you'll definitely need more than the old paint and brush.

Sanders

Unless you're just dealing in touch-up paint or an extra topcoat, no thorough painting job is going to get done without sanding the old paint job off of your vehicle, or at least its finish. Sanding is a delicate process, and is often done by hand. Sandpaper is sold in dozens of different grits, from the bulky 80 grit sheets to the superfine 1000 grit samples, and is used with a variety of sanding blocks or mechanical sanders. There are also abrasive pads and pastes that can be used for detailing work and getting rid of scratches in your finish, while sandblasters can do heavy, to-the-chrome strip work.

Paints

Automotive paint comes in several different types, some suited for metal and others suited for plastic. Body paint often comes in liquid form and is applied through slender applicators like toothpicks, matchsticks, or specialist tools to fill in scratches. Brushes are used for blemishes, while much wide-area body paint is intended for the spray can. Plastic paints come in as many forms, but are specially designed to adhere to the plastic components of automobiles.

Supporting Agents

Because of the nature of auto paint, a number of extra products exist to protect the paint-job once it's finished, and to get the job finished in the first place. Epoxy-based primers cling to the scratches in chrome and give body paint something to cling to, plastic components need to be treated with degreasing agents, and all paint requires a clear, protective topcoat to protect it from the elements. Waxes and polishes can also be useful in keeping your handiwork safe and even.