Not a Chevelle but the reply's should help others as well as myself. I need to paint several doors in my house and want to do it quick so I can get back to work on my Chevelle. Anyone out there paint with HVLP and latex paint? If so, what did you use for a thinning agent and what size tip did you use. I have heard of Thin-x but looking for something I can get at the local hardware store if possible.

latex as in water based? if it's water based then just a little bit of straight up water to thin but the coverage might not be very good with a brush or roller but with a gun i don't see why not. that's the way my uncle does it, he's a commercial painter.

I know you can use water to a certain point but after that you need to use a real thinner. I'm hoping someone here has firsthand knowledge and tip size used. I'm thinking I will need to use a 1.7 or 1.9 tip.

Tim,love your comment about getting it done quick so you can get back to the Chevelle.:thumbsup:

Tim,love your comment about getting it done quick so you can get back to the Chevelle.:thumbsup:

I was really hoping to mess with everyone and say Lacquer was to high end for my car and I was going latex paint...

Water is the thinner in latex paint. Use as large a tip as you can find and thin with water until it sprays well.

Tom

An air-less paint spayer has a 5.7 tip..........have fun :D

www.howardsbackyardautobody.com :beers:

If you had an HVLP with the external pressure pot that's the best for latex without thinning with water, and a fine tip. But the gravity fed HVLP will work but I never had to much luck getting the finish I wanted because I had to thin with water so much, and turn the air preasure up so much that it was'nt worth it. Oil paint works good in that gun but man thats nasty.
You can rent a small airless at a hardware store or rental company pretty cheep for a few hour.

If you had an HVLP with the external pressure pot that's the best for latex without thinning with water, and a fine tip. But the gravity fed HVLP will work but I never had to much luck getting the finish I wanted because I had to thin with water so much, and turn the air preasure up so much that it was'nt worth it. Oil paint works good in that gun but man thats nasty.
You can rent a small airless at a hardware store or rental company pretty cheep for a few hour.


Thanks for the input. Tomorrow I am going to the in laws for Easter (Happy Easter Everyone) and I think he has an airless sprayer. If I do it with the HVLP I will let everyone know the results.

I have sprayed latex with a conventional spray gun. I used the stuff they sell in the house paint section called latex additive or something like that to thin it. I only had a 1.5 tip so it kept clogging up. I would hold my finger over the tip and hit the air for a second and that would clear it out for a couple of minutes. The stuff I was painting came out pretty good.

Maybe the additive your thinking of is Flotrol, it make the paint slick and makes it flow better. Ya I can see that good idea.

I am successfully doing this right now on a 93 Astro! I know I know not a Chevelle but still a Chevy ;c) also this should help someone out I am sure. This van had the normal paint chips out if it everywhere like you would see on most older Astro Vans driving around!
I had got the ideal of using water based latex when I realized that urethane was horrible for the environment, myself - neighbors and anything else within a block radius of what I was painting like pets.

I Am using an HVLP gun well three to be exact ;c). I will say you are not going to get the shine you would normally with urethane and until you hit it with a few coats of poly (using minwax myself) it will have a bit of a wax look. DO NOT get the latex paint wet - dry or not - until you have at least 1 good coat of oil based poly over it!! You will hate yourself for a long time or until you get everything redone whichever happens first. Even if you do not notice a color change at first once you finish the job the parts that where wet will end up discolored.

Things I have noticed that can or cannot work for you.

1: Latex out of HVLP comes out narrow. Not much of a spread on the paint so it takes a bit longer as it only comes out in about 1.5" radius if that. This is with a 1.8 tip however so I am sure you can get a much wider spread with a bigger tip. This and 1.5 seem to be standard on air hvlp guns.
2: You will need your compressor working hard! I am talking to force it out (as it is much thicker than the urethane junk) you will need the PSI set at about 50 at the compressor so it will be about 45 at your gun - normally. That is if you even USE an Air gun!!
3: I do not know what kind of poly you are planning on using but sanding the eviro-friendly stuff is a bit of a pain and I really don't recommend it as you will have to just sand it all down and start over! I know from experience here. So A buffer is a good friend to have!
4. Don't even try to wet sand Latex paint!! (I don't know what I was thinking!!!) Horrible ideal. You can sand fine with a very fine grit. 12 - 2k. And it comes out ok. Seems as if latex does not like to be sanded with anything else or it takes a big chunk out of the color.
5. Water based and oil based won't hurt your plastics or rubber or any of your trim if you accidentally / intentionally spray. I know from past experience on older plastic window trims / rubber the urethane will often crack it to all hell with the latex your good to go. Really if you plan on painting the seals back over later for a new color or just a touch up you don't even need to tape/paper off your windows or whatever else you may be doing as this stuff can EASILY be scrapped off with a razor! So you can figure out what will take less time the scraping or the taping! for me on an astro it was the taping! Once I realized it would not hurt it and I was just going to touch those little parts up anyhow! It was worth the time not spent taping and cutting the paper. You will still want to for your chrome lights, mirrors etc etc...
6. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to make latex run. - I even tried on a box to the side when I noticed I had not had a single one once the van was almost completely done! The worst it did was make a blotched spot of paint kind of rippley looking on the box! Much easier to clean up than a long run for sure. And that took a lot of holding in the same spot of which would never happen while you where painting a vehicle UNLESS you are narcoleptic AND fall asleep with the thing spraying AND for some reason just hold it there? HA

I went with a smoke grey for a couple of reasons. It covered the color very well, it looks nice, the grey-ish hides a lot of the blemishes in the body *small dents etc... and it is different.

You only need 1 coat of latex since it is so thick and the color covers anything. 1 GOOD SOLID coat! Litterally if I had not of messed up wet sanding the first time around I would have only used 1 QUaRT of the latex!! NO LIE! It finished an entire astro van! PLUS in retrospect to how much it had taken to paint it all - a lot was left over! You will need about two qaurts of the poly clear coat to go over! Reason is, that you have to go VERY VERY slow when applying the clear as this stuff likes to run easily. (Turn your gun DOWN!) After about 3 applications of very thin coats of the poly clear coat you can buff it out then apply another clear coat and get almost a new car shine. Use a mask with this stuff not the greenest in the world but still better than alternative. I tried the waterbased clear at first and even after it dried once wet a couple days later it still messed up so just don't try to use it. At least your helping the environment a bit by not using the urethane. And your lungs, skin and brain cells will be very thankfull in the end. I would recommend a mask when spraying anything as the floating liquid in the air likes to get in your lungs and later you will be coughing up the colors of your car!! Doubt latex will kill or really hurt you but its not even worth the worry once you start seeing baby blue mucus ;c).


If you already own the guns and compressor, sander and what ever other tools - you can get away with this paint job for well under 50 bucks. WELL UNDER. Quart of paint usually costs anywhere from 5 to 7 and the poly clear 7-10. Time is the biggest thing spent. (at most about 27 if you don't mess it up) But litterally it is so cheap that if you mess up something you. can do it all over again with little to no extra money spent.! :beers:
Oh by the way I wouldn't recommend black in latex as on a large scale it comes out horribly its hard enough to paint it with a urethane paint let alone latex with an HVLP gun. Just not what you will want to do. Especially with the sanding being a bit of a tough job on latex.

I have heard of people using a roller to do this with but that just seemed like it would be a bad idea with all the resanding you would have to do because of the crap a roller would cause! if you have ever painted a house with one you know what I am talking about. Not to mention getting around those tight corners you have taped off that would be almost impossible.
So I decided spray all the way.

Any how guys,
Hope this helps anyone wanting to use latex as an inexpensive more earth and health friendly substitute! ;)

You are painting your car with latex paint and Minwax? I'm glad to hear you are spraying it because house paint rolled on a car would really look tacky. ;)