grounding the body 4 painting ?

[g-cuda67]

    I have been wondering what the whole deal is behind running a small current through the body panel while painting ?    Is what leaves me to think but I know some people ground out the body prior by means of a chain dangling from the leaf springs to the ground ? 
 Is there some special paint that adheres better with a current ?

[automan63]

If your worried about  the whole "grounding thing" don't. That theory came about for the discharging static while the spraying process is going on, and therefor cutting down on the "dirt attraction". It , in my opinion, doesnt work, been there, done that, got the worn out buffing pads to show for the effort. But....you can rid the car of static before painting by spraying it with a coat of isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). That actually does work because of the fast evaporation rate it discharges the static buildup from sanding, wiping and priming.This should be your last before applying paint. dont worry how it looks when you do it, just paint it. you can also wipe it on with a lint free cloth if you wish, but the way I look at it thats one more reason for static to build up through friction right before painting. PPG makes a product that also has a small percentage of destat in it called DX 103 MultiPrep. I use it on everything before painting and great results. Hope this helps and does'nt cunfuse matters even further. Jeff .

[signet]

we had a painter that had plastic bumpers catch on fire from the static discharge when he was doing the final wipe.
the bumper did not catch fire but the cloud of vapour did.

grounding may change the way the flakes lay down in metallics,my personal unproven theory.

[jamesdart]

spraying alcohol on the car? sounds kind of dangerous no?

[automan63]

No more dangerous than spraying lacquer thinner, thinned paint, or clear coat. This type of thing should'nt be done in the home garage or outdoors anymore. When you atomize (spray) flammable liquids they change from flammable liquids to explosive vapor cloud. This become dangerous when you allow the vapor to build up. The average modern spraybooth moves 14,000 CFM. Mine moves 16,500 CFM and at 3780 SQ FT I turn over my air completely every .23 seconds. Dangerous vapors can't build in my booth, but thats the idea. So, no, its not dangerous, not anymore than anything else I do, but in a home garage scenario, yea, I can see where you should be concerned about blowing up your garage or house. As far as having a fire while wiping down plastic bumpers with alcohol, well if that guy had read the directions, had grounded himself properly and  had his booth running, assuming he had one, or was even doing it in there, that never would have happened. I get these industry safety reports quarterly and they almost always point to people making huge mistakes and getting themselves hurt or killed, like the guy that mig welds with the BIC lighter in his shirt pocket and blows himself in half. Guys, don't take this the wrong way, but don't paint your car at home. Have a competent body shop do it. I never let my friends do this stuff at home, I'm forever going down to my shop on a weekend to either paint one of my friends cars or supervising them while they do it themselves in my booth. I'd rather do it for free than read about them in the paper. Do all the welding, bodywork, panel hanging, even spot/ light priming you want, but don't paint whole cars at home. Prep them and do them in a booth. Sorry if you don't like these answers but this is what I do every day all day and i've been doing it for over 30 years and these are the things that I've learned through lots of education, and alot of them the painful hard way. I've set myself on fire before when I was a stupid kid and did'nt listen to my father.  Nuf said

[HAGENBEASLEY]

ONLY HAVE A COMPETENT BODY SHOP PAINT YOUR CAR ,O PLEASE ,I HAVE PAINTED MORE CARS THEN I CAN COUNT ON MY HANDS AND FEET IN MY GARAGE OVER THE YEARS .ALL YOU HAVE TO HAVE IS GOOD AIR MOVING IN AND BAD AIR MOVING OUT.AND AS FOR THE CHAIN THING ,PLEASE AND DONT GO SWIMMING FOR 20 MINS AFTER YOU EAT OR YOU WILL GET CRAMPS AND DROWNED.

[Teeto]

Automan63 is correct. When I was still working in the booth I used dx103 also. It goes on see through and works great for static reduction. I used to paint lots of race cars that are all fiber glass and corvettes also. Fiberglass makes static like nobodys business and that stuff really cuts it down. What I always did was wax and grease remove then tack it off with a good tack rag then spray your 103 and it almost dries as your spraying. TEETO