Painting temperature

I'm about ready to refinish and paint my Cavalier 72.  I was wondering if there is a minimum temperature I need to have for painting?  I plan on doing this in our garage, we live in California, so I imagine the temperature would be around 50 degrees or so in there unless I brought in some heaters.

[johnieG]

As I read my paint spec's on my Dupont Cenatri enamel, it Recommends both paint & object to be painted be at 60 degrees minimum with the proper reducer for the spraying temperature, basically you don't want the paint to set up to quickly in hot weather, or not drying/harding at lower temps, so I'd check with your paint supplier/jobber for the proper reducer for the temp. range you're dealing with. a word of caution about heaters, DON"T spray with an open flame heater such as a kerosene or propane topedo heater, they will cause a flash-fire as they ignite your paint-fumes!   use electric heaters to warm the area first, then keep them clear of the painting area, if you spray them with the gun, they too can ignite the paint! and maintain proper ventilation & lung/eye protection as well, so be safe!

Thanks for the reply.  I am using PPG for the basecoat/clearcoat and also the Primer.  I would imagine its similar.

[MoonDawg]

For what it's worth, I'm in California too. Painted an 81 yesterday with excellent results.  Test an area not too visible.

on a different note, what kind of paint gun did you guys use?  Was it an HVLP with a compressor?  I thought I could just use my Wagner paint sprayer I got at home depot a while back but now that I am doing a little more research that may not work.  It's 1800 psi which seems way too high.

MoonDawg if you weren't so far away (I'm up in SF) I might hire you. =)

[Jim]

Jeff,

I honestly can't say I've ever heard of anyone painting automotive paints with an air-less sprayer/power sprayer...

Definately do some homework prior to attempting this type of spray painting; the results may not be what you expect...

Generally, quality automotive/commercial spray equipment will atomize the paint into smaller particals for better results. You can even finely tune the system by utilizing different tip sizes for different painting systems/techniques similar to those in air-less systems. I personally have used HVLP guns and find this works best for me.

You could also do most of the body prep work and hire someone to spray the machine and related parts in their spray booth...

:'>

that's what i figured.  I may see if I can rent a gun/compressor for a day or something, otherwise having someone else do the painting might not be a bad idea.  I do have decals I want to put on between the basecoat and clearcoat so I'll want to be involved in that.  I'll do a little more homework on the painting side before commencing.

Thanks everyone for the advice.