It's All in the Preparation

If you are seriously considering painting your car, I am sure you are aware that the finish will only be as good as the preparation you do before you touch the spray gun.

I had cleaned, sanded and cleaned again and thought I was ready to paint when the wife, god bless her, pointed out all the dirt and grime still in those hard to reach places around the lip in the corners and underside  of the boot lid.

Why don't you try the steam cleaner, she said. Wow, what a difference it made, with it I could get to all the fussy and almost impossible to reach places. Then using a scourer, sponge and toothbrush I was able to clean most of the gunk and leave a nice clean surface for the paint to adhear to.

In the picture below, you can see how clean the rear window surround is in the lower half, which has been steam cleaned, compared to the top half which has not.

These steam cleaners sell for around 30 bucks. It is well worth picking one up to help you clean those places too tight to get your fingers into. I realise there is a pun at the end of that last sentence, but seriously if you want your paint to stick you need to clean the surface and this is a great way to do it.