NassyVette

I have to align them, and replace the hinges so they will basically be off, but should I paint the car with them on or off?

Thanks,
Adam

GaryS

Adam, I have very limited experience painting cars but I have painted a 66 and a 73. Both were stripped down to the body with the doors, hood, convertible deck lid, etc all off. When it came time to paint them they were painted separately. I hung the doors in the garage and then moved around it with the paint gun. No surprises or missing paint that way and the door dried while hanging. I will continue to do it this way. The 66 door hinges were easier to work with but the 73 wasn't that bad.
Gary

sb69coupe

It depends on the color you'll be painting it. Metallics lay a little differently depending on gun orientation, etc. My advice would be to shoot the jambs and the inner sides of the door with the doors off the car, then hang and align the doors and shoot the whole car at one time. You'll have the best chance of the paint looking uniform. It's a little more work, but worth it in my opinion.

Shannon

woodworkr

I agree with sb69coupe. I painted my door jambs and the sides of the doors while they were off. I reinstalled the doors and painted the body as a unit. That way I didn't have to worry about damaging the paint on the outside of the door.
Just my .02
JoeB

ED DINAPOLI

The best way to paint everything evenly is to paint with the doors off. You can usually tell a good paint job form a great one by looking in the jams and areas that require detail to paint.
Ed

Chris@VetteFinders

Yep, do it off.

SteveA

If you have them off, paint them off. If your shooting metallic, spray the jams(body & door) with the doors off, then re-install and shoot them on the car. Only thing to be concerned about really (depending on the color..ex: red) is a color mismatch. If you use the same batch of paint, this should not be a problem. Mix real well & consistantly. Spray all pieces in the same conditions (temp,humidity etc).This goes for all the pieces (front & rear facia, spoilers, etc). Buy plenty of paint so you have enough to finish all pieces out of the same can. I know your problem. When you paint in your garage, space is limited. Sometimes you have to do all pieces seperately so you can concentrate on one thing at a time & get them right. Good Luck.

BTW...I've found I get better results by shooting the doors facing down on a workmate or stand made of sawhorses or something. The paint flows out real nice on a horizontal surface...like spraying the hood.

NassyVette

Thanks alot for all the replies!

Adam

vettedan

Paint your vette with the doors on. You will increase your chances of scratching the paint putting them on afterwards. The door on a C3 are heavy and sort of a pain to align. I always align fenders, hood and doors, etc. before painting.
Dan