Path for Painting a Complete Car!!

[solidecho]

2H912463-1sm.jpg 1329168654_266544362_4-2002-Honda-Civic-DX-Vehicles.jpg

I see a lot of people painting complete cars and taking different paths around the car while they paint it. I'm thinking of what I think the perfect path to take when spraying clear coat on a generic car like the 2001-2005 4 door Honda Civic. With everything still attached (bumpers, lights, mirrors and door handles).
Please let me know if there's a better way of going around the car.

-put dry coats on areas I think I'll miss (some less dry than others)
-top edge of hood
-wheel wells
-under mirror
-door handles
-top of rear license plate area
-the fisher area between the roof panel and the quarter panel
-the bottom edge of the hood
-the fins underneith that, surrounding the Honda logo
-all around the the mouth in the centre of the bumper
-the very bottom of the car, all around the car
-spray passenger's mirror
-spray driver's mirror
-spray centre of roof to quarter panel ending at the end of the front of the panel (by mirror) and ending at the end of the window on the other side of the quarter panel
-go to passenger side and repeat
-spray hood from passenger fender to centre
-spray hood from centre to driver's fender
-spray fender
-spray driver's side of from bumper
-spray passenger's side of from bumper
-spray mouth in centre of bumper
-spray area around Honda logo in front of bumper
-spray the rest of the bumper
-spray driver's door (always top to bottom)
-spray door behind it
-spray the rest of the driver's quarter panel, going down to the rear bumper and wrapping around the corner
-spray trunk lid from the nose of the car to the back and down the back of the trunk, right to the bottom of the bumper
-spray what remains of the passenger's quarter panel, going down to what remains of the rear bumper, wrapping around the corner
-spray rear passenger door
-spray passenger door
-spray passenger fender
-done

[tomsteve]

that sure seems rather complicated. i take the path others have taught me and it seems to work pretty good. start on drivers side and shoot the roof and pillars. jump to passenger side and shoot the other half of the roof and pillars. go to right rear quarter and work down the right side of the car, across the hood( including bumper), along the left side and finish with the trunk. second coat do the same thing except start on passenger side. switch it up for any additional coats. havent had any problems missing any areas yet.

[Len]

that sure seems rather complicated. i take the path others have taught me and it seems to work pretty good. start on drivers side and shoot the roof and pillars. jump to passenger side and shoot the other half of the roof and pillars. go to right rear quarter and work down the right side of the car, across the hood( including bumper), along the left side and finish with the trunk. second coat do the same thing except start on passenger side. switch it up for any additional coats. havent had any problems missing any areas yet.

I've been spraying that way for about 40 years, the only thing different is that I follow the exact same procedure for every coat.

[solidecho]

So once the roof and pillars are done you would go quarter, back door, front door, fender, hood, other fender, bumper, other front door, other rear door, other quarter panel, top of trunk down to the bottom of the rear bumper.

That actually sounds a little better, doing the roof then the hood right after might be too exhausting.

How would you guys work the front bumper into it?

[Len]

So once the roof and pillars are done you would go quarter, back door, front door, fender, hood, other fender, bumper, other front door, other rear door, other quarter panel, top of trunk down to the bottom of the rear bumper.

That actually sounds a little better, doing the roof then the hood right after might be too exhausting.

How would you guys work the front bumper into it?

Except for the bumpers that's how we do the spraying. We normally mix flex additive with the bumper paint and spray it separately from the body.

[Jayson M]

It also depends where you are spraying it,you will have a different procedure if you are spraying in a cross flow vs downdraft.I do it different than Len, not saying his way is wrong either.I start at the edge of the roof then pick up in the middle of the roof and spray to the edge,then do the trunk and tail panel area if need be,then do right quarter and door,left quarter and door,pickup at the bottom of the right fender and up and over to the middle of the hood,start in the middle of the hood and down over the left fender.For me I find it easier to keep the wet edge and it keeps over spray from falling on the trunk that might not melt in.

[another2centsworth]

What is your different procedure for the other booth? Not sure which you described here.

[Jayson M]

In a cross flow booth I would start where the air is entering the booth and finish where it exhausts.