Your Paint Job Has 8 Questions. These Free Tools Answer Them

Eight questions, eight free tools What colour is it? What grit? How much hardener? How much paint? What tip, what pressure? When can I tape it? What went wrong? And what does the data sheet say? Every paint job asks those eight questions, in a body shop and in your driveway. AutofxMart built a free tool for each one. Here's the whole job, step by step, both ways. All eight are free, no account needed, at autofxmart.com, Pro Tools. The link is below.

1 · Match: the paint code finder Step one: match the colour. The Paint Finder looks your colour up by the paint code on the door-jamb sticker, by your VIN, or by year, make and model. Type the code, tap Find color, and there it is: the colour, and the paint mixed to your code, fresh, from a spray can up to a

2 · Prep: the grit selector gallon. Step two: prep. The Grit Selector asks two things: the job, and the surface. Feather-edging body filler, blending the repair's edge into the paint around it: P80 to shape it, then 150, 180 and 240 before primer, and don't leave the filler bare overnight. Scuffing a plastic bumper so the new paint can grip: a red scuff pad, never coarse paper, then plastic prep and adhesion promoter.

3 · Mix: the mixing calculator Step three: mix. The Mixing Calculator starts from the ratio on the can. Four to one to one means four parts paint, one part hardener and one part reducer, the solvent that thins it. So a quart of paint takes a quarter quart of each: a quart and a half in the cup. Four to one with eight ounces of paint: two ounces of hardener. It works in quarts, ounces, millilitres or grams, and prints a recipe card with a QR code for the bench.

4 · Plan: the coverage calculator Step four: plan. How much paint? The Coverage Calculator takes the panel, the coating, the coats and your gun. A bumper in 2K clear, two coats, with an HVLP gun: about 27 fluid ounces ready to spray, so a quart. The whole car: about one and a quarter gallons ready to spray. It's an estimate: the product's sheet and your gun decide the rest.

5 · Spray: the spray setup advisor Step five: spray. The Spray Setup Advisor gives a starting point for each coating. A 2K clear: a 1.3 to 1.5 millimetre tip, 26 to 29 psi at the gun's inlet, where the air hose connects, six to eight inches from the panel, two coats, five to ten minutes between them. Then confirm it against your gun maker's chart and the product's sheet.

6 · Cure: the cure and bake schedule Step six: cure. When can you tape it, sand it, buff it? A 2K clear left to air-dry: tape after about sixteen hours, cut and buff after twenty-four, full cure in about seven days. Under an infrared curing lamp: twelve to twenty minutes, then tape and buff once it cools. Starting points again: the product's sheet has the final word.

7 · Fix: the defect troubleshooter Step seven: fix. Something went wrong? Tap what you see. Fisheye: little craters where the paint pulls away from contamination. The likely causes: silicone, wax or oil left on the surface, or oil and water in the air line. Then how to fix it now, how to stop it next time, and what to reach for.

8 · Reference: the technical library And step eight: look it up. And when you want the source: the Technical Library holds nearly eight thousand documents, safety data sheets, technical data sheets and application guides. Search a product, like a clear coat, or its number, and open its data sheet or its safety sheet as a PDF.

All eight, free Match, prep, mix, plan, spray, cure, fix, look it up. Eight steps, eight free tools, for the booth and for the driveway. Two jobs, two bays, one set of answers.

Which tool next? Which tool should get its own video first? Tell us in the comments. Next on this channel: the Paint Finder, in its own video. Subscribe so you don't miss it.