Painting my car

[badabing33a]

Whats the best, cheapest, and easiest way to paint my car? I want to paint my red to white, and redo the black on top.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Do it yourself, i did, its a learning process. Have fun with it.

 

[badabing33a]

Aproxiamtly, what is the cost to do it by myself? How much paint will i need? etc. I wanted to do it by myself anyway.

 

[SnprSlick]

Look for the thread $50 dollar paint job.

 

[badabing33a]

So this paint roller thing really works? How hard is it?

 

[vanilla gorilla]

You get what you pay for when it comes to this type of thing. Painting a car isnt easy, I know, I've done it. But if you really want to do it yourself, do some research on it, and get out there and start working on it. Your first one is probably going to suck.....your first 10 are probably going to suck. Just get it over with. If you put some real time and effort into it, it should turn out decent.

 

[MichaelSuch]

Go to your local autobody shop, I just used about a half a gallon of primer (I did the whole car), a gallon of sprayable paint (by sprayable I mean they added the thinners to it and all I did was mix the hardener in it before I put it in my gun), and however much clearcoat you want, the more layers of clear coat the better so if you mess up you can wet sand it and buff it plenty of times, I only clearcoated mine with about 2 layers and I wetsanded a spot and now primer is showing since there wasn't enough clearcoat. It cost me around $400 to do. Clearcoat was around $220/gal at the time from my autobody shop. They let me borrow their nice gun as well but just a simple $100 HVLP gun from harbour freight will do the job just as good. The biggest thing about painting is your prep work. If you don't prep it very well no matter how good of a painter you are it won't turn out good.

If you have any questions just ask, I painted my 1ga this last summer and it turned out well I thought.

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[EPA nightmare]

I've been helping a friend of mine do the prep work so he could paint his Talon. We got the car in the paint booth this weekend so he could start painting it. (works as a painter for a colision repair shop) He used a highend three stage PPG paint and the cost was over $800 for just the base, pearl and clear, but you get what you pay for..

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[badabing33a]

Wow. Expensive. Im a little iffy on the $50 paint job thing. But with this economy, who can afford a real paint job. Ill do some research, get some quotes on paint, etc. and see how it goes.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Painting can be costly, i bought a gun, a compressor, then the materials, the first time was ok, the 2nd better the third great. It just takes time materials under 300, its a small car, compressor, around 400, but i bought things bit by bit.

 

[91DSMdragin]

a little piece of advice.... go get a couple of gallons of cheap industrial paint to start with. make a couple of practice passes to get use to the way paint lays down.not to mention this will help you find all those pescy little flaws in the body work. personaly i used the old fashioned compressor method. but i have seen a few guys in my area use airless sprayers(wagner house painting equipment) and they didnt turn out bad at all. if you are going to be painting indoors( closed garage or paint booth) rainy days are best because the dust and pollen levels are cut way down and the paint dries a little slower. the slower your paint dries, the higher the shine. make sure to get medium to slow evaporating reducers to help keep your dry time up. if it dries too fast you end up with a haisy paint job that has no kind of shine. i hope this helps out..... happy painting!

and kudo's for wanting to do your own work. paying for your paintjob doesnt make it any better than doing it yourself. you will appreciate the work more and most likely take better care of it. not to mention, it feals great when you tell people you did it yourself.

 

[badabing33a]

Wow. Great advice. I will be painting it in my garage so ill try to catch it on a rainy day when im ready. And yea, i love doing my own work. Then i can look at it and tell myself i did it.

 

[fastasseclips95]

a little piece of advice.... go get a couple of gallons of cheap industrial paint to start with. make a couple of practice passes to get use to the way paint lays down.not to mention this will help you find all those pescy little flaws in the body work. personaly i used the old fashioned compressor method. but i have seen a few guys in my area use airless sprayers(wagner house painting equipment) and they didnt turn out bad at all. if you are going to be painting indoors( closed garage or paint booth) rainy days are best because the dust and pollen levels are cut way down and the paint dries a little slower. the slower your paint dries, the higher the shine. make sure to get medium to slow evaporating reducers to help keep your dry time up. if it dries too fast you end up with a haisy paint job that has no kind of shine. i hope this helps out..... happy painting!

and kudo's for wanting to do your own work. paying for your paintjob doesnt make it any better than doing it yourself. you will appreciate the work more and most likely take better care of it. not to mention, it feals great when you tell people you did it yourself.

I could not agree more. Industrial paint is way more forgiving then automotive paint. I just did my car this summer in my garage with industrial paint and it cost my a total of $150 and thats with a gallon of primer, red, and black. Keep in mind that sand paper and other supplies add up very quick.

 

[dannyd97gst]

Like most have said, you get what you put in$. I would start/practice on a part of your car that you could easily re-do like the hood. The first most important step is preparation as this takes the most time, I haven't met anyone who could not paint but have met and seen plenty that can't prep.

I would highly recommend ppg brand paint, it paints easy, lays good, sands good, and is very forgiving. Also don't cut corners on the clear coat that will be protecting all of your hard work.

 

[TurboATM]

...i JUST bought a porter cable framer kit for work (280 for a framing gun, duel chamber 125 psi compressor, hose, and bag...GREAT deal, the gun alone is a 150 dollar gun) and then got 2 paint sprayers for 40 bucks on sale as an option for the kit...


the work truck will be the test as a 1st ever paint job...any tips?

 

[liquidloot]

I'd say goodluck with the gun, theres a possibilty of it working out. But i think it was stated in this thread, a good cheap gun can be found at harbor freight for like 100$ or so, a 40$ home depot gun is kinda iffy.

 

[EnvyMyGsx]

Man I wish I had the *** to do this to my own car. I'm looking to have my car painted and wanted to do it myself but the more and more I read, a pro will make it look better then I could ever do it.

 

[92AWDHX40]

true but its fun learning i was going to pay someone next time but i could spedn that money or building my ultimate street track car. It can be a decent job, unless your wanting a all out show car, in that case pay someone.

 

[EnvyMyGsx]

What is your guys opionion on buying the aerosol spray cans with the same color code I'm painting my car with, to paint the engine bay. Id buy the primer, spray and clear coat as well as sand everything down. My questions is will it last if its done right, has anyone done this before? I figured if I could get the engine bay done now, then I could just have a shop spray the rest of the car down since the outside is what matters the most.

Jim

 

[SuperDave007]

It's not a good idea to paint while it's raining.

Rain, water in the air lines, wet booth floor, and wet filters, can add to the humidity.

You can still do it, but there is always that risk. If you can wait, I would.

Just check the humidity for day and continue your research.

I'm DLing some DVDs on how to paint your car as we speak.

 

[PIMking]

Keep it red because you wont have to repaint the engine bay and the door jams.

 

[fastasseclips95]

It is very time consuming to paint door jams and the bay. When I did my car that part took me twice as long as it did to spray the whole car and I two toned it.

 

[cds1320]

if you want to get good tools search for a store where they buy the items that people return to other stores and cant sell i got 2 guns and a compressor from a place called name brand deals for around 200. and ive never had a problem with them

 

[gorf]

if you decide to spray, be careful with that 2 part or polyurethane paint. Make sure you use a VENTED respirator, one with a hose that brings in fresh air, filtering is not good enough.

Safety and Health Topics: Isocyanates

Price of paint is dependent on the color. I was talking to the guys at NAPA and the cost of black paint was $200/gallon the cost of red paint was $800 - for the same paint.

If you want to go real professional, you can make a spray booth in your garage. Frame in the area where you will be painting. Frame in some furnace filters and then frame in an exhaust fan. Cover the whole shooting match with plastic. The object is that when the fan is turned on, it draws the air through the furnace filters and evacuates the fumes from the booth.
spray the floor with water before starting and you have a booth that will keep bugs, dirt or whatever off of your new paint job.

 

[91DSMdragin]

they make filters to keep the water from your air system from making it inot your paint. go to any place that sells air equipment and they will have several kinds. also, i had forgotten to say something about humidity levels. the cooler the day, the better...NOT COLD BUT COOL! this does make a big difference in the way your paint dries. and remember not to put it down too thick, if you do you will have horrable drying results! several thin dry layers will turn out much nicer and have a better build up.