Gas, tires, oil.

I decided to repaint the green stripe on our camper and I think it will serve as a nice example of how to do a “scuff and shoot” paint job. Now, many people have their own way (and order) of paint preparation and I will certainly not represent mine as the correct way. But I will try to provide the reason for each step, so you can make your own decision. First I wiped off the spider webs and dirt with an old towel. Some people like to wash with soap and water, which is fine for a long term project, but I was going to be painting later that same day. Then I wiped it down with a paper towel (Bounty) soaked in enamel reducer.

This removes wax, oil, grease, tar and other road dirt that would clog up the sand paper and later cause “fish eyes” in the paint. Now, if you were planning on stripping something down to bare metal, you don’t need this step. On a nice paint job, the vehicle would be wiped down again, right before painting to remove grease from fingerprints that happened during sanding and taping. But, in general, don’t touch the surface with your hands (at least not casually). I wasn’t doing any body work or sanding, but I did need to scuff up the surface so the paint would stick. I used a maroon scotch-brite pad.

The large areas just need a general scuffing, it’s the edges that need special attention. This is where paint will peel and lift, so you need to get right to the edge.
Next I used a blow nozzle on my air hose to blow the dust off and blow out any dirt trapped in the seams. This is extremly important. When you use a paint gun you are blowing on the vehicle with high pressure air. Sand and dirt (and possibly leaves and dead bugs and water…) can blow out from its hiding place and then stick to the fresh paint. You have to make sure nothing is going to break loose during the painting, so, before painting you blow on all the seams and cracks with a much more intense blast of air. Everything needs to be done, the inside of bumpers, inside of wheel wells, door jambs. Chrome and emblems that are going to be taped off instead removed need to be done. I put the blow nozzle right up to the edge and go all the way around it. And when you do this, you need to be using filtered air, so your not spraying oil (from the compressor) and water (condensed out of the air if it’s humid) on the the surface.
Next time: taping (masking) and painting.