Is it worth it to prep my body panel myself for painting

[RGdsmNewb]

I got in a fender bender a while ago and finally i have recieved my 2gb bumper, halo projectors, and a red fender off another dsm..... Anyways im going to be taking everything to the body shop on monday to have it assembled and painted, but i'm just wondering if i will save money by prepping the red panel myself ( my car is black ). The thing is that i don't know anything about prepping or sanding ..... so would i be better off just paying the shop? thanks

 

[RSTurboFWD90]

I wouldn't prep it myself, especially since you admit not knowing the ropes. Also, if for any reason you are not satisfied with the results, they can't blame your prep work.

 

[blackGSX2g]

It isn't too difficult. I got a temporary front bumper (other one was destroyed due to a tow truck) and wet-sanded over it with 1000 grit sandpaper, then again with 1500 grit. Sprayed down a $3 dupli-color aresol primer, and a $3 dupli-color aresol base black, followed by a $4 dupli-color clear coat. All in all, for about $15 I painted the bumper myself with rattle cans and it came out just fine as a temporary fix...it was the bumper in the current pics in my gallery and I thought it was worth it until I got a real re-spray.

That being said, doing the prep work yourself might save you money in the short term, but I highly doubt any body shop will warrenty their paint work if they don't have control over all the steps. So though you may save $150 in prep labor, the $350 you spend on paint and painting labor might be wasted if you get less than optimal results.