I think I got in over my head...(paint)

[deadlyforce]

Ok, I have been looking for a decent price on a paint job lately, and I just got an amazing offer. Great place around here (prestige if anybody is from around me) told me that it would cost $750 for three coats of paint (stock red, I can't take apart my engine bay and don't want two toned) and two coats of clear. The trade off is...I would need to do all the necessary prep work [sand, body work, trim removal, and masking off] and the post work [wet sand and buff]. I tentatively agreed to this deal, however, I have no clue how to do any of this. I didn't tell them I did, but in order to get that good of a deal, I need to be able to do it. If there is anybody in this area that would be willing to help, I would greatly appreciate it. I can definitely compensate you for it, but this won't be until about August. I just can't see paying over $1200 for all that. If there is nobody that can, can somebody please point me in the right direction for a walk through (preferably with pictures).
Thank all of you in advance, I truly appreciate it.

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

you might as well just paint it if your doing all that.

When I though I could do all this as well, I used a good "Paint your own car" search and that tured me away from the idea. Goodluck man and bont be shy to ask them how to do it.

 

[aspekt9]

I was poking around this subject a few days ago and came across a great thread that may be of some interest: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237921

 

[Tsibred1]

honestly 1200 is a steal, labor alone in the prep is usually 10-20 times the amount of time painting takes, and thats not an exaggeration. It's going to take them about 5 hours to paint your car, to prep it PROPERLY you are looking close to atleast 100 hours of labor, from sanding and bodywork, to prime-ing and pulling. It's not impossible to do, but it is VERY time consuming. I'd also point out that if you are doing bodywork and its your first time using fiberglass, its about 100% garuanteed to come out wavy and looking like shit. I also doubt you have all the proper tooling to do this, and expect to have to get ATLEAST 500 dollars in equipment to do this. I will never understand why people thing 1200 is too much for a paint job.

 

[deadlyforce]

The total wasn't $1200...the $1200 was for the prep work. It would be another $450 for the post work.
Thanks for the responses.

 

[VPrime]

The paint job is all in the prep work. If you dont really know hat your doing it will affect the final result. If this is your first time doing body work, I wouldnt bother. Your money for the paint job could easily go to waste very quickly. The same goes for the wetsanding etc.