Paint.

[UnWoRtHy]

In crusing around this forum for a while now, and looking through the gallery, and some peoples' signature pictures, I realized that my paintjob is in pretty sad shape in comparison. Living in New England, it's kind of hard to keep a paintjob mint with all the sand and salt on the roads, brushing off snow and ice...things like that. I've also got several tiny, shallow dings on various parts of my car that I'd like to fix.

I'd like to pull/fill those dents...whatever's easier. Touch up some scratches, fix a couple rust spots early before they get bad, and polish out the entire paintjob to get it gleaming again. The paint is still VERY glossy, but if you get up close you can see all sorts of nasty stuff. Makes me sad. Is this something that I can tackle in my driveway with little or no experience? Or should I just go all out, take it to Maako and have them strip the car down to bare metal, fix the dents, then prime and paint it all over?

 

[psychlow]

If you're going to go all out, take it to a reputable paint facility. Maaco or similar "econo paint shops" are crap compared to real shops. Maaco skips steps and uses poor quality paint to save money. You'll pay less at Maaco, but also get much less. In a year, you'll need new paint.

If you're going to attempt it yourself, you'll want to have a garage, end of story. Painting outside and getting any sort of quality results is almost impossible. Wind will blow flecks of dust onto your wet paint.

Even when you're in a garage, you have to get as much dust as you can out before you start, and then wet the floor down with water to keep it all under control.

Things you'll need to paint your own car:
- HVLP Painting System ($150-$400)
- Good paint system (PPG is usually good quality stuff) ($300-$2000, depending on type)
- Body filler (Bondo) (Price depends on how much you need)
- You'll want a couple power sanders. One, an orbital sander for big jobs, and a regular sander for small ones ($100-$300 for both)
- Lots of sandpaper of differring grits for both sanders ($50?)
- Masking tools. A painter is only as good as his masking job. If you get paint overspray on to surfaces that shouldn't be painted, your job will look like crap. ($50 should cut it)
- A good polishing system ($100+). A shitty paint job can be made better by good polishing. Likewise, a good paint job can be made shitty by poor polishing. You'll also need a buffing pad for your orbital sander.
- Some sort of air respiration system. You can go cheap and use just a mask with filters if you use enamel, but if you use urethane paint (which contain isocyanates), you'll need a positive-pressure breathing apparatus. Isocyanates are highly toxic substances that irritate the lungs and are cancer-causing. They are not blocked by conventional filter-type masks.

I know I'm leaving out a lot. This is just to give you an idea on what you'll need. Keep in mind that if you have more than one car, you can reuse many of the above items you buy.

Bottom line, if this is going to be the only car you ever paint, TAKE IT SOMEWHERE. You will waste a LOT of money otherwise.

 

[unfamous k]

Well if its that bad you will need to get it repainted, i suggest finding a local shop, i find the smaller the business the better the work and see if maybe you can do the prep work yourself to cut costs down. Maybe they will let you do the sanding yourself. If the paint isnt bad detail it yourself, or if you dont have any detailing expierence pay a professional to do it. YOu can mess up your car fairly easy with a buffer if you don't know what your doing if you have any questions about detailing PM me