There comes a time when changing the look of your car is a good idea. For instance, if you want to sell your aging vehicle, spray painting helps retain its value. Even if you maintain the same colour, a fresh coat can significantly transform your car's appearance. First, however, you must know how to use a spray painting gun to achieve excellent results. While using a spray painting gun is not rocket science, you can easily make mistakes, leaving you with less than desired results. This article highlights common mistakes to avoid when using a spray painting gun to paint your vehicle.

Excessively Tilting a Spray Gun — Holding a spray gun is arguably the first thing one should learn before embarking on automotive spray painting. Notably, the way you hold s spray gun influences paint atomisation. For instance, if you tilt a spray gun far down or up, you end up with inconsistent atomisation, causing paint spattering. To ensure consistent atomisation, hold a spray gun straight and perpendicular to a car's surface. As a result, it prevents the paint from settling at the bottom of the reservoir and produces a uniform coat.

Failure to Prime the Hose — Another grave mistake car owners make when spray painting is failure to prime the hose before beginning work. The reason is that spray gun hoses can suck in air when in storage. Therefore, if you fail to prime the hose, the chances are high that air bubbles inside the pipe will cause the paint to spatter once you turn on the pressure. In addition, it can mess your spray painting project because you have to scrape the paint off and start afresh. Thus, always flush a spray gun's hose before filling the reservoir with paint. Besides, ensure there is no moisture inside the hose.

Failure to Check a Spray Gun's Air Pressure — It is vital to check a spray gun's air pressure before starting painting. If you do not, you will realise your mistake when it is already too late. In most cases, low air pressure results in an orange peel as the paint dries. Ideally, you must check a spray gun's gauge before starting using it. However, the amount of air pressure you need in a spray gun's air tank depends on the size of a spray painting project. For instance, if only spray painting a bumper, you do not need a lot of air pressure. However, if you are spray painting an entire side, the air pressure should be enough to get you through the project.