Do You Have To Remove Old Paint Before Repainting A Car

When you're starting a paint project you once again have a few options. If this is the case, you can usually sand down the paint on the car, smoothly and evenly, and paint over it using most of today's modern paints. Don't forget that some new cars get damaged and spot-painted—sometimes even body-worked—at the dealer before being sold. Hopefully such work has been done properly, with good catalyzed paints, primers, and sealers. If so, it can be painted over like the rest of the car.

If not, you probably won't know it until it wrinkles or lifts while you're painting the car. So some painters suggest not stripping the vehicle to bare metal (especially inside-and-out, as in immersion stripping), so that you don't remove these tough factory undercoats. Whether you're touching up a couple scratches or looking at a whole new paint job, there are a few important steps to take before you can begin painting a car.

Start by building up majorly-damaged spots with a body filler putty and sanding them smooth. Then, scuff the entire painting surface with a sanding block or orbital sander to remove the old paint and prepare it to accept a fresh coat. Once you've stripped your vehicle, spray on 2-3 coats of a suitable automotive primer, which will help your new paint stick and show it off in all its glory. It pertains to older vehicles, or ones that you know have been damaged and bodyworked.

If the surface is shiny and fresh, and you want to repaint it, I can only assume you just bought the car and paid for a paint job you didn't want. Don't compound the issue by immediately stripping this paint off only to find what you consider to be an excessive amount of filler underneath. Lots of good paint jobs, even by big-name builders, have filler under them. It's the most expedient way to get a super-straight show-winning body and paint job. But the majority of these cars are stripped to bare metal to begin with, metal-worked pretty close, and then the filler and other undercoats are added properly. If you strip all this off, you're just erasing several man-hours of work that have to be repeated, either by you or someone you'll have to pay big bucks by the hour.

If somebody has already spent a lot of time bodyworking, priming, and sanding the car, you'd be nuts to strip all that out and do it over again, right? Now, if there's rust under there, or the filler's an inch thick, it's a different story. The body needs stripping to start, and more work after that. To prepare your car for paint, you'll need to sand away the old finish and add a few coats of primer. If you're only touching up a small patch, use a sanding block, but if you're painting the whole car, you'll want to use an electric sander.

Buff the surface in small circles until you can't see any shiny patches or lines. Then, wipe away the debris left over from sanding with a clean, wet rag. Once the car's clean, cover the areas you don't want to get paint on with masking tape. After you've protected those areas, apply a base coat of automotive primer using a paint sprayer to help the paint adhere. Wait minutes for it to dry, then apply another 1 or 2 coats. The second—and usually better—option is to thoroughly sand whatever paint is on the car, then cover it with a good sealer followed by a modern catalyzed primer.

However, most cars needing a paint job also have dings, door dents, scrapes, or other surface problems that won't simply sand out. If the paint on the car is multilayer, old, or otherwise edgy, give yourself extra insurance and add a coat of sealer before the primer. Then you can use some catalyzed spot putty where necessary over the primer and start block sanding, as we detail in following chapters.

Most of my early paint problems, when painting over existing finishes without stripping, occurred because I was using lacquer primer and lacquer paint. We talk more about this later, but lacquer solvents are extremely aggressive, and lift or wrinkle all kinds of underlying paints, especially older non-catalyzed ones, including old lacquer. For both of these reasons, modern paints really are better, especially if you're spraying it over existing paint. Before applying new paint to your car, you'll need to remove the old paint first. If your car only has 1 layer of paint, you can remove it with sandpaper. Before sanding your car, make sure to use goggles, a dust mask, and long clothes since electric sanding throws a lot of dust and debris into the air.

You can either use a dual-action sander or sand your car by hand. Wipe your car down between sanding sessions and move to finer-grit paper as you slowly remove the paint and any rust or imperfections. When you're done sanding, wash your car with water and soap to remove any dust and debris.

If you're planning on painting your car, apply a primer as soon as it's dry to avoid any rusting. Removing old paint from your car is a crucial step before you apply a fresh coat of paint. The new paint will stick better and last longer if there's no old paint beneath it. Having old paint professionally removed can be expensive, so you can save costs by stripping the paint yourself. If you bought your car new and know it only has 1 layer of paint, sandpaper should remove it all.

Do several rounds of sanding with increasingly fine grits until you reach bare metal. For multiple paint layers or if you aren't sure if the car has been painted before, use a chemical stripper. In most cases, you should get down to bare metal, like when you're working with body filler, for instance.

Sanding your repaired area to bare metal ensures that you'll have a reliable repair that will last much longer than the parking lot job that just slapped a patch over the damage. Some coats of a good primer will make it even stronger. But this option we're discussing pertains to vehicles that you know or suspect have had some bodywork done, and you assume it has been done properly because nothing indicates otherwise. In such cases I suggest not stripping the car because most types of stripping either remove existing filler, or "infect" it with chemicals so it must be removed. Opinions differ on this issue, but I think it's smarter to be an optimist.

Given that you've checked carefully for any real gremlins, and the body looks good the way it is, sand it down and repaint it. Even if it's a little wavy, do your block sanding on what's already there, if it's a stable surface. But consider yourself lucky you didn't have to go through the major job of stripping and a bunch of arduous bodywork. If you've gutted the car, you don't have to worry much about masking things. A big plus of this stripper is that, though it can run a bit, it basically goes where you brush it.

It won't leave dust or other residue, and it won't get into places you can't see to wash it out. It does not attack rubber or chrome, just as it does not attack the metal you're cleaning. Then, if you're going to paint the doorjambs and so on, remove rubber weatherstrip and hand-sand those areas. If you want to do the best-quality repaint, however, remove all glass, handles, and so on, so you can remove all paint under them and their seals. To keep stripper from running inside the body, tape any holes from the inside with masking tape.

What you want is a "media" blaster who specifically does automotive paint removal. This can refer to most anything which, when propelled in pressurized air, is abrasive and erodes softer surfaces off of harder ones . Plastic media is the most common, but "plastic" is a very nebulous word that can refer to several types of chemically derived substances. But a good "plastic media blasting" paint stripper I inter-viewed said he used various substances including urea-formaldehyde , melamine, and even wheat starch. I've heard of cars being blasted with such things as talcum powder, baking soda, or anything resembling house-hold scouring powder like Bon Ami.

As opposed to softening or dissolving the paint with chemicals, media blasting is the same thing as sanding the paint off, except you have the sand blown on with pressurized air. It worked fine for taking off the paint, and even existing filler, but I wouldn't recommend it. First, such organic substances can have oils in them that they can deposit on the surface.

In this case the car obviously has been repainted, probably fairly recently. However, both the top layer and one or more underlying layers are split and peeling up. We don't know exactly why, but something was not done properly during some stage of the preparation for this paint job, and that stage—filler, primer, whatever—is not adhering.

I would strip this car to bare metal, by any method, before repainting it. There are a few thought processes at play here, depending on what your goal is and how extensive your bodywork was. You may just use a scuff pad to scuff up the existing good paint and clear coat that was not disturbed by bodywork. You may also sand down below the good paint to the original primer, or you may even decide to get all the way down to the bare metal using paint removers and extensive sanding. The bottom line is that you want the finish to be in a position to accept a high-build primer applied over a smooth surface.

If a car already has a number of coats of paint on it, you probably want to sand down below the paint to the primer. If this is the first paint job, scuffing will only usually suffice. If you are creating a show car and really want to start from scratch, go to bare metal.

A large part of a successful paint job is directly related to proper preparation. Painting a vehicle is a time consuming process that involves a lot of prep. If you do not properly prepare the vehicle for paint, you'll see defects in the finish, and there may also be adhesion issues. In terms of preparation, we're referring to rust repair, damage repair, bodywork, block sanding, using the correct products, keeping the surface clean, proper sanding, etc.

If you're willing to put in the time and work, the end results can make it worth all your effort. No matter where you start, proper prep is essential, read all about it on this recent blog post. At Precision Restorations, one of the most common questions we get asked is if a car's existing finish can be painted over, or if it needs to be stripped down to bare metal. For cars with extensive rust damage that require sheetmetal repair, the obvious answer is to start from bare metal. However, on cars that already have a presentable paint job, the answer isn't as clear cut. Fortunately, knowing exactly what to look for makes it easy to determine whether or not your project car's paint finish needs to be stripped.

An 80-grit piece of sandpaper could come in most useful on cars with more than one prior paintjob, as well as vehicles with light corrosion around the edges. For example, a car that has a five-year-old paintjob over an earlier, initial coat of paint might be difficult to sand with higher-grit sandpaper. On the other hand, 80-grit could more easily work through the layers of paint and primer to reveal the metal surface. In any case, rust is cancerous to metal surfaces and must be stopped the moment it begins forming on the panel of a vehicle. If it's not stopped, rust can eat holes through panels of the vehicle's body, and ultimately require a costlier set of repairs.

Do you have to remove old paint before repainting a car Having your car professionally repainted can be very expensive. However, a fresh paint job or even simple maintenance to cover and prevent rust doesn't have to be delegated to the nearest auto body shop. Repainting your own vehicle can sound like a daunting task but is one that lies well within your grasp. It's not as simple as using spray paint, masking tape, and a can of Rustoleum. Missing or rushing any of those steps can prove disastrous for your vehicle. Sand the paint either to the bare metal, the original primer, or at least sufficiently for the new paint to adhere.

Dry sand using 180-grit sandpaper to remove rust or surface damage before moving on to a 320-grit paper to remove your previous 180-grit scratches. Whichever method that you decide, follow it up using 400- to 600-grit sandpaper to sand the paint to prep the existing paint surface for the new coatings to be applied. As far as color sanding and buffing is concerned, sanding discs in the 1500 to 4000 range are your ideal options. That way, you won't experience any major setbacks if minor challenges occur, such as the discovery that dirt or hairs have been stuck to the surface under the paint. At this point along the wet sandpaper grit chart, the options are ideal for smooth buffering as well as the removal of thick paint.

With a 320-grit piece of sandpaper, paint should come off the vehicle with evenly applied strokes of a disc. By the time you work a 320-grit through the paint, the shiny, silvery luster of the metal should come glaring to the surface. Thanks to the strength of 320-grit sandpaper, it's a good option for cars or vans that have been treated with enamel or other hard coats. On cars that have a smooth, single layer of paint, 150-grit sandpaper can do an adequate job of stripping the paint to reveal the metal surface. In some cases, there might be little, if any, need for smoothing out rough grains with sandpaper of an even lower intensity.

On panels that only need touching up in a certain spot, 150-grit will often be the perfect choice for smoothing out the edges of the crack or chip in an otherwise good coat of paint. When the time comes to repaint a car, the task isn't nearly as simple as applying a coat above the older paint job. In most cases, it's best toremove the paint that's currently on the vehicle and start from square one. If your car has rock chips, scratches or other flaws, you can't just paint over it and expect it to go away. In fact, they usually show up even worse than before.

Paint will show down to about 220-grit sanding scratches, which is why most paint jobs are taken to 320 or 500-grit before the base color is sprayed. If the old paint is peeling or checked , then you need to strip it completely. Bad paint under new paint will always show though and eventually those same issues will come back with a vengeance. When painting over an existing finish, the finish must be in good shape.

Faded finishes are okay, but should not be peeling, cracked, or otherwise damaged. If the vehicle has been repainted, we recommend you strip the vehicle down and start from bare metal. If you do decide to paint over the existing finish, wash the vehicle and then use a high-quality wax and grease remover like PRE Painting Prep on the surface. This will remove any wax that could cause adhesion problems. Either of these reasons are good motivation for removing the existing finish.

The job shown below was stripped because the vehicle was repaired several years ago and repainted using lacquer primer and lacquer top coats that didn't hold up well. When you've got all the paint off, continue with the Scotchbrite pad with a hose dribbling water, which not only washes off all remaining liquid stripper, but also neutralizes it. Dry or air-blow the car down before it surface rusts, and you're done.

Carefully roll up and dispose of the plastic or card-board you put down to catch the scraped paint and drippings. Thoroughly spray the work area with water from a hose to wash off and neutralize any stripper that may remain on the ground. If any small spots of paint were missed, they should easily hand-sand off. And if you didn't strip areas such as the doorjambs, hand-sand them, being sure to feather any edges to bare, stripped metal.

Is Windows 11 Free Reddit

Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 on October 5 and the users have started to report bugs in the new operating system. According to a Reddit thread, the update is suffering from memory leak issues as caused by a bug in File Explorer. When the computer is allocating too much RAM for a program and then doesn't release the unused cache memory, it is referred to as memory leak.

The bug was first spotted by Reddit user Gyrohan269 two months ago on a beta version of Windows 11. Now that post is getting attention slowly as other users who are facing similar issues after installing the new operating system are sharing their experiences. While a lot of users got their hands on the beta version of Windows 11, Microsoft has officially launched the Windows 11 operating system for users around the world. Systems that are running on a licensed version of Windows 10 and meet the minimal hardware requirements can upgrade to the new operating system by Microsoft for free. However, some users who have downloaded and installed the Windows 11 update are reporting a bug. If the Microsoft Surface family of products isn't your style though, other brands like Dell, Asus and HP have all released pages online that specify what devices are Windows 11 ready.

Note that many won't come with the new operating system installed, but as they all meet the minimum system requirements, you can simply buy the laptop or 2-in-1 as normal and then update it yourself. New operating systems generally make claims of better performance, but bugs and other issues tend to undercut them, at least at the start. Such is the case for at least some users who've upgraded to Windows 11. In addition to some introductory problems on AMD Ryzen CPUs , reports of dramatically slower write speeds on some NVMe SSD drives are trickling in. Since these M.2-sized drives are coveted for their high speeds, it's understandably frustrating for early adopters.

Shame it has to be downloaded from the Microsoft crAppstore. I can't wait for Microsoft to finally come to terms that nobody uses their store and just completely remove it from Windows in the near future. They have been trying so hard to shove it down people's throats and have them use it, but nobody cares about it.

What's more, everything can be better achieved with Win32 programs instead – they are more powerful, allow for more options and customization and work faster. The new operating system is not a critical download, with Microsoft planning to slowly offer the update to all devices by mid-2022, according to its website. Windows 11 is now available as a free upgrade for computers already running Windows 10 that meet the minimum system requirements, and it is also available pre-installed on many branded devices. However, the rollout will be phased and controlled to provide a good upgrade experience, which means that it'll take months before the new version reaches every device.

Insiders have noticed a few show-stopping bugs with Windows 11, which is now officially available for all eligible PCs. Users have noticed that virtualization-based security, which will be enabled by default in all OEM PCs, can have a drastic impact on frame rates in games. Also being observed is a File Explorer memory leak bug in which closing the Explorer windows does not release back the allocated memory.

Windows 11 ISO file download 64/32 Bit Full version Google drive Files available on 24th June 2021. Windows 11 officially will release on 24th June 2021 at 11 AM ET. After release the Windows 11 ISO File 64 Bit Full version for Laptop/PC will be downloaded from microsoft.com. Here's Check the Windows 11 release date, features, system requirements & other updates .

Microsoft has released the newest version - Windows 11. But you don't receive the upgrade notification on your computer. How can you fix Windows 11 not showing up on your PC or laptop? Relax, this post provides you with effective solutions to get Windows 11 upgrade for free. Besides, if you lose data during the process, run EaseUS data recovery software to get them back.

Last December after 7 years I got a new PC and it let me switch from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 so I'm enjoying the new OS so far . I don't know if I should wait to update till 2025 when Windows 10 end of life happens or just go on ahead to Windows 11 after a while to get all the bugs ceaned out. Unless there's is a significant performance boost without any older programs from Windows 10 and previous not working from lack of updates and development then I might upgrade early. Also I don't know how Windows 11 will react to cracked games/software so I also have to consider that. It's just a waiting game right now to see how everything rolls out.

If it fits my needs then I'll upgrade and if not I'll stick with what I got. If you have a computer with unsupported hardware, you should not try to upgrade to Windows 11. Although there are workarounds to bypass the TPM 2.0 and other checks, if you manage to install version 21H2, the device will state in an unsupported state.

According to Microsoft, devices are likely to experience more crashes, you won't get the support of any kind, and updates are not guaranteed. Now along with a fresh install of Windows 10 and Windows 11, we've also included a configuration based on a Windows 10 fresh install that was then upgraded to Windows 11. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro has a reputation as one of the best data recovery software programs on the market. It comes with a selection of advanced features, including partition recovery, formatted drive restoration, and corrupted file repair. The Reddit user was a member of the Windows 11 Insider program and spotted the issue while the operating system was in beta testing.

As the user reported the issue, other users have been able to replicate the same. The Reddit thread has received thousands of upvotes and comments from other Windows 11 users as well. In a recurring loop of memory allocation, File Explorer keeps will keep on occupying memory until the system starts to lag. In some cases, the computer might even hang and become unresponsive.

However, every major operating system launch comes with its fair share of issues, as we've mentioned above, so getting the very best experience might require letting other people do the early testing for you. Microsoft will be working hard to identify and fix problems as they occur, which is why it's a good idea to hold fire for a few days or weeks. Let other people encounter those problems first, then in a few weeks, download Windows 11 safe in the knowledge that most problems will be fixed. For those not in the know, VBS uses hardware virtualization capabilities to isolate certain security features in memory. This secure enclave prevents any vulnerabilities in the main OS from affecting these functions. For instance, kernel mode code integrity uses a VBS feature called Hypervisor-enforced Code Integrity to check if all kernel mode drivers are properly signed or not before loading into memory.

For the most part there is little to no difference between Windows 11 and Windows 10 using Intel 10th and 11th-gen Core series processors across gaming, application, and storage performance. If you've experienced a notable drop in performance since upgrading, it's well worth checking to see if VBS is enabled and do something about that as we explained in the intro. Don't worry even if you have lost data when you upgrade to Windows 11.

EaseUS hard drive data recovery software can restore data from an SD card, SSD, USB flash drive, memory card, camcorder after updating, deleting, and formatting. Neowin chronicles reports from users on Microsoft's official forum and Reddit threads, with some showing random write speeds at less than half of their performance on the same hardware running Windows 10. The issue isn't universal, and at least some drives seem to be performing at their full speed with the adoption of newer drivers.

Less drastic reductions, in the 10 to 25 percent range, were also reported on some drives. There's a clear takeaway here, and put simply, it's that we didn't see much performance difference between the two operating systems. There is not a ton of nuance or complexity to these tests or this laptop (for example, no software-based special high-performance modes, like you see with some gaming laptops or mobile workstations). The benchmark tests are straightforward and have been run on well-nigh 100 laptops in our labs this year, so we know them well. Our usual laptop-review testing explainer will tell you in depth which benchmark tests we run and how they stress a laptop, but a quick rundown should be helpful. PCMark 10, Geekbench, Cinebench, and our Photoshop plugin from workstation maker Puget Systems are tests that replicate real workloads and produce a proprietary score.

PCMark 10 simulates a host of real-world office and productivity actions and programs , while Geekbench and Cinebench are CPU-crunching trials, with the latter simulating a CPU-based image render in Maxon's software. The PugetBench plug-in runs Adobe Photoshop CC through a series of typical Photoshop actions . No new operating system will have a completely flawless launch, so despite being in beta through the Windows Insider Program, a few issues have already popped up.

Thankfully the ones discovered so far are nothing serious and some of them are only appearing for a few users so if you wanted to start downloading the OS on launch day, don't let this stop you. For a start, you'll get a much better performing PC, and if you were encountering any issues with Windows 10, a clean install can help fix some of these. Over the years your PC's hard drive may become filled with unwanted apps and files, so a clean install can get rid of all of that. I'd say it's worth upgrading, and I've had no issues on the current Beta Channel release. It performs well, and I haven't run into any crashes yet. My only complaint is the battery life appears to have taken a hit, but I can't confirm because I haven't tested it.

I ran the leaked version on a VM, and it was very slow, but it's fast when you install it on a proper machine. I would double-check if your specs are supported, but I think it's worth it. It's not perfect because they still need to iron out some of the inconsistencies, but it's better than Windows 10. Maybe install it on an external drive to see if you get BSOD's or not... That way you can see how it runs before you use it on your main machine.

This subreddit is for discussions related to the Windows Insider Program, and devices running on Insider builds. Discussions and issues related to the production versions of Windows should be posted in r/Windows10 or r/Windows11. I like the new looks, the huge upgrade to the settings app, and I actually kind of like the tile-free start menu. Plus the edge swipe gestures are a major downgrade for tablet users, at least for me.

I'm going to tough it out and see if MS can iron out some kinks. This community is dedicated to Windows 11, which is a personal computer operating system released by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. This community is dedicated to Windows, which is a personal computer operating system released by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. Right-click on an image or a video to save it to your computer. If a thread links to a webpage, the app will load it directly, without opening it in your external browser. The buttons near the bottom right corner let you comment to a thread, sort the comments, refresh the post.

The three dot button opens a pop-up menu with options to share the post, open it in your browser, copy the URL for the post, view the subreddit or the user profile. Once a new version releases, the computer will eventually receive a notification in the Windows Update settings letting you know if the Windows 11 is ready. If you do not get the message, you should not try to force the Windows 11 upgradebecause the chances of running into issues will be higher.

And you may come across errors, such as "This PC can't be upgraded to Windows 11," "This PC can't be upgraded to this version of Windows 11 because of a service or driver that's not ready yet," or similar errors. Furthermore, reports have been circulating on the web about a memory leak problem, which in some circumstances will cause the system to run out of memory. This issue doesn't seem to be affecting a lot of Windows 11 devices, but it's a serious problem that Microsoft has to address. And this is another example, why upgrading early is not a good idea.

Also, on the health dashboard website, Microsoft will publish any known issue that can help you to make an informed decision as to whether or not to proceed with the upgrade. For example, as of October 5, there are three known issues, including a compatibility problem with devices using the Intel-Killer networking software. VirtualBox has a compatibility problem with Windows 11 that prevents virtual machines from starting, and those who use the Coc Coc browser cannot upgrade at this time.

Microsoft is aware of this, and we have seen different issues during and after an upgrade many times before. For this and many other reasons, the company uses Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to deploy Windows 11 slowly and only to new devices known to have a good upgrade experience. And then, it'll expand to other devices based on hardware eligibility, reliability metrics, age of the computer, and other factors.

Windows 11 forces several security measures for the overall good, but they seem to negatively impact gaming performance, which was touted as one of the highlights of the OS at launch. Gaming performance deltas can vary as little as being within the margin of error to something as large as a generational gap between two GPUs. The culprit here seems to be Microsoft's implementation of Virtualization-based Security .

This was also confirmed in a press release by UL Benchmarks, makers of the popular 3DMark and PCMark suite of benchmarking tools. As mentioned in a Reddit thread, the latest Windows 11 update has a Memory Leak issue. It is being said that the issue is due to a bug in File Explorer on Windows 11, wherein the system is allocating excessive RAM to the program and does not free it upon closing the program as well.

The issue was first seen and reported by a Reddit user Gyrohan269back when Windows 11 was in its beta testing phase. Windows 11 is here, though it remains an optional upgrade for anyone on existing desktops and laptops that are eligible for it. New PCs will increasingly begin shipping with Windows 11 pre-installed, so adoption rates will gradually rise in 2022 and beyond. If you tuned into Microsoft's Surface event on September 22 then you might already have seen that Windows 11 will be pre-installed onto the Surface Pro 8, Surface Go 3, and the Surface Laptop Studio. This isn't surprising as all these products have been released on the same date that Windows 11 became available for public download so Microsoft will want to push its latest operating system. Many laptop and PC makers have also confirmed that many of their new products will come with Windows 11 preinstalled.

This includes Microsoft's new Surface Pro 8, Surface Go 3 and Surface Laptop Studio devices, which were launched to coincide with Windows 11's release date. Kind of sucks that the new OS needs additional and newer hardware to work, but Win 10 users won't be left out in the cold. Going to be quite a few years still before Win 10 loses support. I'd recommend to wait till it rolls out to your pc or atleast 1-2 months before upgrading. If initial impressions matter to you and also you want a complete stable and consistent experience, wait till 1st feature update which releases in late 2022.

They are planning big on 1st feature update and might consider feedback from users. Don't upgrade for a couple of months at least or until there is a feature you will really want like DirectStorage or android apps when they release. It's still buggy and not at all different to windows 10.