I have looked everywhere on here for help on how to paint the body of the car... simple steps from A-Z please... please specify what grit sandpapers to use too, any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

you wont find one here. painting is not something you read about and just do! alot of it is trial and error and you fixing the error and trying again.

for a quick run thru. paint needs to be scuffed completly basicaly no shiny left! with body work/bondo ruffer sandpaper typically 80grit or lighter just on the bondo. then finer sandpaper. the ruffer the sand paper the deeper the cuts into the paint/bondo/metal. and even a tiny scratch that you cannt see to much will magnify 100fold after you paint the area!

well not to be a di** but in short if you dont have the tools or time to trial and error just pay to have it painted.... try macoo cheap paint jobs but decent job for the cheap money....
theres are reason why paint and body work cost so much! there is alot of time and a good eye and feel to the panels to get the body work and a steady hand to lay paint properly. and even after the paint and clear your not done... then you fix any runs or dirt or hairs that got stuck in the paint and thens and the whole car down again with really fine sandpaper and buff the car back to a shine.

not that easy....

 

I understand its not easy, I appreciate the info... I was really just curious to see if it was something that could be done on my own. I just had so many people telling me it was easy and I didnt believe them thats why I asked. Well I guess my next question then would be... I just need to paint the hood or at least prime it... it is rusted horribly due to not being painted and it was one of those prime then paint jobs... any ideas for that?

 

well if your hood is rusty then you need to wire brush off the majority of the rust and then use a RUST CONVERTER on the rusted areas. and sand the whole hood with at least 600grit sandpaper if not finer.... 2000grit is pretty fine. the finer sandpaper the less scratches youll make.

after sanding clean the hood really good and then primer it and again sand the hood after the primer is good and dry and check for any dips or deep scratches and fill them and prime again if needed and then paint.

its really not a hard job to do BUT it is very VERY time consuming! and with a paint job the fine touches are what makes or breaks the looks. most people will rush thru the body work and paint it quickly and then end up with a bad paint job. now if you take your time put alot of detail work into the job it could turn out good, but dont expect yoru first paint job to be good.... its posible but highly unlikely!
even adjusting the paint gun can be tricky as well as spacing the gun from the body panels being painted. if to close there will be to much paint on the panel and really easy for the paint to run and look bad. and to far away and you have to much overspray which never look sgood. theres also orange peel that makes the paint look just like it sounds a orange peel all ruff, then fish eyes if you dont clean it good enough.



so again if your only doing a few panels just pay to have it painted by a pro. well worth the extra money and hassle free. painting a car takes alot of work and tools also. with painting you need a good air compressor, good filters, regulators, drier, spray gun. so unless you plan on painting a few vehicles its not worth it to the common person!
plus not to mention cleaning the painting area, fans to suck the fumes out, filters to filter incoming air, heaters depending on your outside temp. so many things to consider.

but if you dont care about a great looking paint job then go ahead and do it yourself with your friends because just because its easy to them doesnt mean its good. a hair in the paint or runs or dust, bugs in the paint can really mess up a nice paint job. been there done that. something about fresh wet paint that bugs LOVE to die in!!!!!!!