painting jams

[lt1chevelle]

i will be painting my jams this week and wanted to know the best way to do it. i have seen ppl not tap any thing and spray the jams and then they have some over spray on the outter part of the pice they were painting then i have seen ppl tape off the jams but then u get that hard line.so i was woundering if someone can give me some pointers.i was thinking of wet sanding the primer only on the part i will be spraying and then after i shoot it with color and clear i will wet sand the rest of the panle to get off all over over spray?
well ill be waiting for some pointers

[astroracer]

If you don't want to see the overspray when cutting in the jambs the easiest way to get around it is called "back taping". Use a piece of 1 1/2" wide tape and outline your door opening, laying the tape so an inch or so is hanging into the opening. Once you get the tape in place grab the sticky side and roll it back over the taped edge. This will give you an edge to stick some paper too and, depending on how hard you roll it over, will leave a soft edge that feathers easily with a little wet sanding before you top coat the outer panels.

[fletcherscustoms]

it has always been my practice when doing jambs to not tape!! I prefer to spray the jambs then overspray about 6 inches or so into the quarters. Then go back and sand the quarters before spraying the outside. Does away with tape lines. I go against most painters and spray my car complete with doors on. And have never had problems with over spray or tape lines using my method. But others will tell you I am way off.

[astroracer]

You can do it either way. I have done it either way many times. The real issue is what type of paint are you spraying. If you are shooting an opaque (can't see through it) topcoat leaving the overspray isn't a bad thing. The problem comes into play when a translucent paint is being sprayed and any changes to the base coat, such as the double coverage you will get when cutting in jambs, will cause dark spots and noticable transitions where the first "coat" stops and the new topcoat picks up. This is impossible to control by free spraying the jambs. I will always use the back taping method to shoot the jambs first and THEN back tape the jambs when shooting the rest of the car. It is easier to transition the paint on a hard edge then in the middle of a panel.
Of course it is easier to color match everything by spraying the jambs with the rest of it and only cutting in the front jambs which are much less noticable the the rears.

[fletcherscustoms]

I have also done it both ways. And Astro hit right on the head. Its a dependant on the paint your spraying.

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

I'm almost at this stage in my project now. But I have the "luxury" of having the doors and fenders currently off the car. I plan to shoot the jams, firewall, and dash with the doors and windshield off. Then shoot the entire car with completely reassembled. I may change my mind and paint it with the fenders off. Is one paint better suited towards painting a car assembled vs disassembled ?? IE base/clear vs single stage urethane ?? Color will be 1994 GM Dark Cloisenne Blue.