new car auto paint.

[heyharris1]

just a general question, are new vehicles painted in peices andf then put togeather or are they all assembled in primer and then painted at the end. reason i ask if you were to change the color of a truck how do you get the paint in all the small little seams.
thank you

[HAULIN IT]

New cars/trucks, ect. are painted in various ways based on the make, model & type (uni-body, full frame, ect.)
 To answer your question. To do a quality paint job the vehicle needs to be disassembled to a fair degree, just how much depends on how "picky" you are with a little, slightly rough overspray in some places & tape lines in the door jambs, ect.
 I prefer to paint most vehicles in pieces, this requires conciderable planning, care while painting (some common sense) & care while assembling, but the results to a person who knows what to look for, are far better than edging the hard to get spots & then painting all at once.
 We can get into this as much as you like...This is my livelyhood & I've been "practicing" it everyday for the last 21 years Will be glad to help! Just ask, Lorne   

[heyharris1]

it was just more curosity than anything, someday i would like to change the color of my truck but with work barely working it an expense i just cant justify at the moment.
thank you

[DnStClr]

Before the vehicle is painted it has to get dipped in a phosphate bath and dries in a series of ovens. Then another bath- called ELPO, and back thru another series of ovens.
We paint our vehics ( Chevy Traverse Crossover) by robot and the entire vehicle without the front and rear fascias sits on a frame called a buck. The buck travels via conveyors thru a long  enclosed booth where the primer is applied. It goes thru a series of ovens and inspection booths before going back to the paint booth for the topcoat and clearcoat applications. Then thru more ovens and inspection booths. While in the paint booth, a couple of the robots open the doors so the next ones can reach into the interior to paint. I think there are a total of 22 robots that apply paint to one vehicle.
The fascias are painted separately in another booth . They get an adhesion promoter applied 1st. The vehicles are conveyed to another part of the plant where they are assembled together and the powertrains, interiors, trim, and wheels are added. 

[SUX2BU99]

^ That's very interesting. The process of painting a new car, and the build of the car itself, has always fascinated me. Can you imagine say back in the 50's or 60's how monontonous it would have been hand painting cars at the factory? I presume they were anyway. Back then they could still crank out hundreds of thousands of cars in a year. 1966 for example, they made over 1,000,000 Mustangs since it was introduced only 1.5 years before. That's amazing for the technology back then! Anyway, I digress...

[406 Q-ship]

^ That's very interesting. The process of painting a new car, and the build of the car itself, has always fascinated me. Can you imagine say back in the 50's or 60's how monontonous it would have been hand painting cars at the factory? I presume they were anyway. Back then they could still crank out hundreds of thousands of cars in a year. 1966 for example, they made over 1,000,000 Mustangs since it was introduced only 1.5 years before. That's amazing for the technology back then! Anyway, I digress...

It is unbelieveable what the people in the lines did back in the day.......they turned out like 100,000 to 120,000 1969 Chevelles and they were hand sprayed and assembled.  The line workers were the best in the world at the time, not that the people today are bad, just not in the same class.

[78 Chevyrado]

When My truck got painted,  They painted inside the fenders and behind the rear of the fenders on the cab and then put the fenders back on.  then they masked the engine bay off and painted the cab with the doors and fenders in place. they painted the hood, bed and tailgate seperate.  Had them do inside the cab too at the same time as the outside of the cab.

This is only the inner part of the fender painted