Getting ready to paint my 68 Cutlass, should the fenders be on the car or painted separately. I see on one of my other cars with original paint that the sides of the firewall are painted with the color, and that would be behind the fender when installed. Right?

 

Your detail will be much finer if you remove ...

I believe this is the factory method also ...

If you want to be **** you can copy the factory overspray pattern ...

Switch out the heater core while you are at it ...

 

I think the fenders were originally painted off the car, usually with a complete paint job they are done seperately. Mine has factory overspray on the wiper arms, so I don't know the exact procedure? They should be done at the same time as the rest of the car and in the position they will be on the car, especially with metallics, or you can get some color or reflective differences. I'm having them do all those hard to get to areas and then I'm rehanging them, then the whole car will be shot. I can't afford the labor for them to do it, and I'm way more critical of gaps and levels.

Allan

 

The problem with painting the fenders/hood/trunk off the car is that it is very difficult to get metallic paints to match at the joint if the parts are separate. Most high-end auto painters will disassemble the car, tape off the outside surfaces, paint the door jambs, inside of the trunk, and other hidden edges, then reassemble the car, again tape off the painted inner parts, and spray the whole exterior. 3M sells a "masking rope" product which is a soft foam product that does a good job of masking joints in body panels from the inside. Note that new BC/CC paint systems do not allow base coat to be sprayed over the clear coat - the base will lift. This is why you must carefully mask as described above.

Also, the wiper arms were not installed when the factory painted the car, so it is unlikely that the overspray on wiper arms is "factory".

 

I've been around the block a few times and my car was never repainted, all original down to the tires when I got it? maybe they had to respray the hood after final inspection? The nozzles, the retainer, and the lines had a lot of old paint on them too. I'm going over to ROP and ask the guy that worked at the plant, maybe he could tell me I'm full of sh*t or explain it. I've heard good things about that masking on autobody 101 and the Paintucation forums, they will let you know in brutal detail how to do that masking and the correct procedures over there.

Allan

 

When and if I ever paint my car I believe I will do it with the fenders and doors off to get better detail and coverage. Of course, I plan on doing my car in two tone matte blue.

 

I think I'm full of it, have had a few A bodies and never have seen painted wipers before. I scrapped the hood a couple of weeks ago, never did strip it so I can't say if it did or didn't have work done for sure, so I have to think it did if the overspray got there. It must have been done a long time ago because the whole car and hood was sunburned and a lot of the paint was gone. My astro van has missed spots all over it inside the fenders and door edges, at least Olds covered everything, I would rather have runs than nothing..


Allan

 

My guess would be that there was a scratch or other damage during shipment that was touched up by the dealer before delivery.

Having toured the old Framingham, MA assembly line, I can tell you firsthand that the body was painted prior to any assembly. The glass wasn't even installed, much less the wipers.

 

There is alot of overspray on the pot metal and stainless on my car. I thought they would spray the car before installing these pieces. I guess Macco doesn't do that though.