Repainting your Vespa and doing it correctly can be one the most rewarding of projects you will ever do. I am no expert but I will try to give you the information needed to at the very least get you started. The secret to achieving a successful result is in the preparation. I can not stress the importance of good preparation. Sure it is
tedious and it is easy to cut corners but belive me (becuase I have tried) just throwing some paint will only make the job harder - howvere if you take the time to prepare properly you will be rewarded with a good result.
Paint Types
The first thing to do is to decide on which type of paint you are going to use for your re spray. The most commonly used paints today are 2 Pack and Acrylic Lacquer. Acrylic is by far the easiest and safest for the home handyman to use. The following are the pro's and cons for each;
Acrylic Lacquer Pro's
- Relatively easy to apply.
- Dries in minutes.
- Easily sanded back and touched up when you strike trouble
- Used with a clear-coat over the top and then buffed and polished can produce an awesome finish.
- Lends itself well to being lightly sanded between coats.
- Is not as harmful on your health, although precautions still need to be taken.
- Over-spray is easily removed
- Cheaper to buy, although you need more of it.
Acrylic Lacquer Con's
- Has to be ‘buffed' and polished to achieve a good shine.
- Is not as chip and scratch resistant as 2 Pack.
2 Pack Pro's
- Has a shine straight off the gun, great for areas that are hard to polish such as engine bays and door jambs.
- Is very hard and scratch/chip resistant once set.
2 Pack Con's
- Can only be used in a controlled environment such as a spray booth and must be used with a fresh air breathing apparatus.
- In my opinion is harder to achieve a nice flat finish with, could just be me though!
- Used in ambient temperatures can take hours to dry and the car needs to be kept dust and insect-free during this time.
- Over-spray is hard to remove, particularly from your garage-come-spray booth floor, not to mention the washing machine, dryer, laundry sink, you get the picture! She is still not over that one.
- Is difficult to ‘touch up' and usually requires the affected panel to be completely re sprayed.
- Once set is a bi*ch to sand out any runs or blemishes.
- More expensive as a hardner, thinner and of course the paint itself needs to be bought.
You will agree that when you wiegh it up it seems that Acrylic is really the only choice for the home handyman. The main reason is that the 2 pack paints will need a spray booth and safty gear. However if you have access to a spray booth then the finish of a 2 pack paint is far superior.
In this series of How To Giudes we will provide cover the following
Part 1 Getting Started and Safety
Part 2 Paint Stripping
Part 3 Preparation
Part 4 Spray Painting. |
