Painting your car.

[Chlngrcrzy]

I am just curious to how many of you have learned to paint on your own car? My brother in law(an auto-body man) says that any one can paint, if they have the patience and proper equipment. Any one tackle painting their own car, how was it, and would you recomend others doing it?

[HemiDog]

I have done mine and learned how on my own.  After getting to where I am at, I have learned that patience and prep are probably the most important key concepts and issues.  Prep is kind of a huge area in that it is not only doing a detailed and careful job on body work, but also covers cleaning the surface and prepping for paint.
Before starting I had read through a couple books and watched the Paint-U-Cation videos to learn techniques and steps.  When buying paint and materials, I just talked to a several local paint shops and did a little online research.
Another thing is that I have used cheap guns (HVLP), and a couple expensive ones and they are night and day.   The expensive are well worth shelling the money out for as it saves tons of work after the fact in wet sanding and buffing, much easier to avoid runs, and way easier to clean.   I started out with a cheap set of guns that was under a $100 for both.  It was quickly evident that they weren't going to work well and  I ended happy with a Cobalt gun for primer that was in the $150 range and a Iwata for color and clear that was around $350. 

[AMXguy]

Anyone can paint, just not very well.

 I'm a fair painter , I've  done our ranch trucks and pick ups for years and learned a lot along the way. but that said I'd never do one of my nice cars myself , even if I was good enough if you don't have a good paint booth you're going to get dust and junk in the paint. I guess what I'm saying is most people could do a so so driver paint job but if you're after a high quality look  you better leave it to a pro. I don't mean to imply there's nobody on this board who couldn't pull it off I'm just saying most of us wouldn't be happy with our end result, in my opinion.

[matt63]

I can do a very good job on small parts with a $75 Harbor Freight HVLP gun (valences, mirrors) and some wet sanding afterwards but it would take a serious amount of time and space and prep to do a whole car.  There is also some real risk that you will have to redo some of it.  I've always wondered what some of these cheap auto paint shops would charge.  They do use inexpensive paint.

[LAA66]

 I repainted my car using lacquer once. It was really fun however, I paid for my inexperience in wet sanding time. I hear today's paint and clears are much better and would like to learn more about them. Also looking to buy a new finish gun.
 
 I agree that a lot of prep time is required. If you think your just about ready go to to paint, spend another day or so picking up what you missed. Where I blew it was under the hood, trunk, and front door jambs. The hard to reach areas you know. Guess I just got lazy.

[HemiDog]

I completely  with everyone's comments.
When I set out do to mine, I went with the intension that this was going to be a driver and not a show car.   The job I did is not anywhere near what a pro can do.

[Chlngrcrzy]

Mine will be a driver, unless i can come up with $5000. or $6000, for a professional paint shop to do it. What i was thinking about doing, was to paint everything i can, like inside, trunck, engine compartment, under the hood, under the trunck lid, fenders inside and out. Then re-assemble and get everything lined back up, then haul it down to a paint shop do get a good exterior paint job. When you paint the interior, do you use a base coat / clear coat combination or could you use something else? Exterior will be a base/clear combination.

[HemiDog]

I ended up using a polyurethane for the chassis, door jams, trunk and interior.   It is easy to spray and very durable.

[LAA66]

 HemiDog did you disassembled many components prior to painting you car?

 I painted mine mostly together except the engine, trim, windows, & bumpers. Basically tried not to mask off too much as the tape lines sometimes look bad. Might not have pulled the motor but it was toast anyways so that timed out well.

 Also is the polyurethane finish a one step process?

 

[dougs bs23]

Challengercraz, you can use an acrylic urethane to paint everything and as an added layer of protection apply a clear over all your exterior.  Use a good quality brand and it will keep your costs down (somewhat) and give you a nice finish
Heres a vendor to look into, and they also have an ebay site and even offer some non traditional pre packaged colors with there name on the labels.  Not sure but i think all or most of the products are HOK
http://www.tcpglobal.com/autocolorlibrary/

[70challengerrt]

I paint a few each year and by no means am a pro at painting. With that said anyone can paint like mentioned prep is the key. Buy your self the best gun you can get I use devliss finish lines. I will only use PPG to me they are the easiest to work with and lay the flattest. I know its expensive but the time it will save you will be worth it. Most important in terms of saving your self work is wet sand and buff the clear in the 22-24 hrs window it will buff out butter but be carfull on the corners and edges. If you can I find a prject to paint first with a cheaper paint it will help get you technique down, Mine was my buddys chevette(I know its a chevette but it was good pratice). I didn't do any body work to it at all, we wet sanded and sprayed. Its going to run you about 350 for a gun, 600-800 paint and clear and primer remeber reds oranges yellows are higher in price than other colors. About 100-150 fillers and buffing compound, sand paper. You will also need a buffer and good compressor, and plastic to make a paint booth and a couple of good box fans for venting I will cut the plastic on the floor for them and a couple of holes about head level and duct tape a couple of furnace filters for fresh air to come in. I also lay plastic on the floor to help in clean up and keeps dust down. Just remeber as you spray to follow the contures of the car. Im sure im forgeting something because this off the top of my head. My best advice is to go for it! At worst it looks like crap and you have to sand it back down and try again. Once you get a system its easy and you save tons on future projects and can even make spare money on other guys cars.

[RUSTY Cuda]

I'm trying it myself also, using PPG products , my color is burnished red metallic ,deltron DBC line i think,so I know about the price, was real tough sanding off 500 dollar a gallon paint, made a lot of mistakes but am learning, this time car will be assembled & shot all at once, i had no problems with the base/color coat, I think one or 2 runs on the whole job, the clear killed me, breeeze came up just as I was shooting & got a lot of crap in it. I had some light spots, some real nice areas & a lot of drips on the low curved panels, thats gonna take some practice.
Gonna close up my "tent" this time & use a couple a fans with filters, hopefully that will cure the dirt problems.
It will be a driver, but I hope a pretty decent one, I really want to do it myself, have done 95% of this (My first) resto alone & intend to do the 74(a B5blue car) the same way, in my yard, that one will include my first motor rebuild, but for me it's the doing & learning,gonnea drive the heck out of it, if it stays together!  Rich.

[Chlngrcrzy]

Sounds like we are the same peas in a pod. This is my first at everything, but i want to learn it all. This disasembly really sucks I had no idea it would take this long and i still am going. I am trying to mark, and bag bolts, and write down things as i take a part and so it really makes it slow. I think by the time i finish disasembly and media blasting and some rust repair, it will be to cold around here to try and do it in my unheated garage. But there is always next spring and summer. i want to treat all the bare metal, especially tight areas, cracks and crevases with Por 15 or the Eastwood product. I read an article saying the eastwood product worked all lot better. Anybody use either one of these? If the bare metal is treated with one of these, will it be okay to sit in a garage all winter(our winters are mainly cold, with a little bit of moisture in the air) untill i can get to it in the spring?

[RUSTY Cuda]

I have my car outside, it was a rustbucket so I coated just about everything with por 15, I like it but did have a few issues with it, but when it sticks it sticks!
I've heard the eastwood product is easier to use but never used it(maybe next car)
some of the parts are done for 3 or 4 years now & no sign of rust(it's tarped up & on dirt outside) any scratch or untreated nut or bolt has rust so I'm pretty sure the por is doing it's job.
I think you'll be fine in a garage, epoxy primer would probably be just fine as a sealer on bare metal, I'd keep the por 15 or eastwood stuff on the bottom & in the unseen areas, even with there tie coat I'm finding the paint chips off it pretty easy.

[LAA66]

 Great advice going on here. 

 It sounds strange but running water on the floor (while your spraying) helps remove the over-spray and any dust from rising. Just don't skip around or whip the hose and splash it on your project.