Well it's been a long time coming and you're finally there. Just the thought of it is probably giving you goose bumps and pee shivers. I am not going to explain how to turn your garage into a paint booth since the stuff you're about to use is extremely dangerous and it does not belong in a residential area.

Ok, I'm off the soap box. You are going to need an ambient temperature of at least 75 degrees to get the finish you want.

Let's kick off with the sealer. The sealer should be a three part urethane sealer primer. You do not want it to spray dry but this is not you're final application so don't try to force the finish to flow out to a glass-like texture or it will take forever to dry. You can skip the sealer as we discussed in part 4. You can also let the sealer cure completely and wet-sand it up to 1000 grit. If you want to wet-sand the sealer be warned that you'll have to repeat the final prep steps from part 4. You will be fine if you do not wet-sand it, just allow it to have the recommended flash time that the paint maker has stated. Usually this will be about 15 minutes. If you are unsure after the time has elapsed you can press a finger into the sealer on your masking paper to see if it is still wet to the touch. You should only leave an impression but it shouldn't stick to your finger. This is crucial for every layer that we put down or else you will trap solvent and it will come back to haunt you in the finish.

Alright, now it's time to get colorful. I'll break this in half for those of you who might opt to use a single stage paint. Hopefully you have chosen an acrylic urethane for any single stage application. If you didn't, then you're on your own since I feel that all other single stages are out dated and bound to fail.

With single stage this step is more critical since it will be your finish as well as the color. You will have to take great care that the color lays down evenly. If it is a metallic or pearl you must be a masochist because this is gonna be a bitch. You'll need to take your time and you'll want to do three coats to ensure even coverage. You'll want to have a decent texture with little or no orange peel on the first and second coat. Again, follow the instructions for the recommended flash time and do the finger test, but this time you'll want to only let it get stringy in between coats otherwise the paint will develop surface tension and begin to trap solvent. Remember that with single stage any runs or sags will distort the color and the appearance of the metallic and or pearl. Most pros will slightly over reduce the final coat by an extra 10% of reducer to thin it out and help it to achieve the smoothest finish possible. BE WARNED: OVER REDUCING INCREASES THE LIKELY HOOD OF RUNNING THE PAINT. Just take your time and pay very close attention to what you are doing; even the slightest lapse in attention can ruin a paint job.

Now for those of you going with a two stage or base coat / clear coat finish. The base coat is easier to spray since it can be slightly dry. You do not want to lay down the base like you are applying a finish coat. It should not have a glass like finish. Depending on the brand you are using you may need more or less coats of color. The specific color you choose can also make this vary. Any paint systems that are an enamel base coat will require more coats to achieve coverage and fill in the sand scratches. Generally the first coat should not go on too heavily. You just want to see the sealer slightly through the base. The second coat should almost completely cover the sealer. The third coat should have it wrapped up and covered. When you feel confident that you have sufficient coverage, go one more coat, this is mostly to cover your ass since you'll have no way to help cover the sealer after you start clearing. THAT WILL BE A COSTLY MISTAKE. If you are using a spray sensitive color such as pearls and high metallics you will want to scrutinize the uniformity of the color after the second and third coats. With these colors especially you will want to use thin coats to avoid tiger striping or mottling the finish. After the second and third coats it would be a good idea to pull back from the usual 10-12 inch distance to more like 18-20 and cross coat the horizontal surfaces just to help even the color out. You should also move at 1 1/2 to 2 times the normal speed of your gun passes since you're basically just dusting across the surface. Just be sure to avoid excessive dryness.

Side note: For any of you daredevils who have opted to spray a three stage finish, your base coat (or ground coat) will be applied like the base coat above. Your pearl coat (or mid/tint coat) will be even more spray sensitive. Also there are other methods besides the coat cross coat method. You can spray pearl in a figure 8 pattern but I feel this make it harder to achieve uniformity. With these paints every coat is crucial and must be laid down evenly. FAILURE TO DO THIS WILL RESULT IN BLOCHY , MOTTLED LOOKING PEARL IN THE SUNLIGHT AND IT WILL PISS YOU OFF AND EAT AT YOUR SOUL TILL YOU GO INSANE AND EITHER KILL YOURSELF OR RESPRAY THE ENTIRE CAR!!!!!!!

Now before you clear there is one more option. Most paint makers have a color blender or inter coat clear. PPG's version is dbc500 and these will need to be reduced. Once you're base coat has flashed you are ready to spray this. This will smooth out any dryness in the base coat and allow the clear to lay down much smoother.

Oh man now it's time for the main event. You may want to double your flash time or at least allow a little extra since this is the point of no return. Anything can be a simple fix before you lay down clear but after you've started you have to go all the way.

As you begin laying down the clear you must take great care to avoid running or sagging the first coat since it will be harder to smooth out of the finished product. The first coat should be as free of texture as possible without being laid down excessively heavy. You must consult the manufacturers instructions for the first coat some do recommend making the first coat an appearance coat others do not. The second coat will be applied after the flash time has elapsed and it should be laid down as smooth as possible. If you do not intend to wet-sand this will be your final coat. If you are going to wet-sand you've got one more to go. The third coat is the last shot to get this sucker smooth.

If you want that concours finish than you'll want to let the finish setup like you did with the primer and then wet-sand thoroughly with 1000, 1500, 2000 and finish with 2500. Then you can slam down another 2 or 3 coats of clear and rewet-sand for a finish that you could fall into. I DO NOT SUGGEST DOING THIS UNLESS THE CAR WILL BE GARAGE KEPT SINCE THIS WILL MAKE THE PAINT MORE LIKELY TO FAIL.

There you have it all you need to know to make you think twice about doing it your self. HAHAHA no but seriously there is a lot more to the process than most people think and I would suggest reading this at least twice if you are serious about doing it since the time you'll spend reading is a drop in the bucket compared to the time you will spending redoing a mistake.