Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

I'm debating if I should tackle the paint job. I've been asking questions on hwo to get the body prepped for painting for a shop to do.

but if i can buy like a 300 dollar paint gun and practice on a fender or something. Just see if i got what it takes. I want a ncie paint job but my budget isn't great.

Any suggestions from thsoe who have painted at home? and how long should it take 1-3months?

Todds1987iroc

IF its your first paint job I would shoot a solid color. Stay away from metalics until you practice a lot. Try getting and old hood and start there. Get a book on how to paint you car. Read it a few times. Go to a few automotive paints stores and ask them a fews questions about the equipment and paint that they carry. Some will treat you like crap and others will help. If you have friends that paints cars, try to take some lessons from them. You can get a fairly good gun for $300. In additon to a good gun, you will also need a compressor that is a least 30 gallon. A 30 will work for you if you only plan to do 1 or 2 paint jobs. If this is something you would like to do as a hobby for the years to come, then I would get a 60 gal compressor. What ever you shoot, just try to be as safe as you can. Some of the chemicals in the paint are deadly. Get a cheap paint suit and a good mask. Any good paint book will tell you this yet most back yard painters never really think about this.

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

honestly if i can find someone who will do the job i want for 2-3 thousdand i'll have them paint it. but i want 2 coats of primer, 2-3 jet black or gun metal gray (depending what i deside as the color) and 2-3 coats of clear. i want all these coats because if i do this myself i'll be wet sanding and buffing. buffing wil easily take a layer or two out of the clear i hear. but i could be wrong and jsut over doing it. its a project car that is just for fun to make it my own and a hell of a lot better then it is now and theres no need to spend a total fortune if i can help it. so 2-3 thousand is all i want to spend if i get the body already prepped.
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if by some odd luck i do a good enough job i'll be thrilled. mostly because i want to be able to say it runs good because of what i did, it looks good because of what i did.

not because i paid someone to make it look and run like that. but if the price is right i'll back down and let someone paint it right. since its my first time and i don't really have the facilities or tools besides the compressor

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

what about helping the paint dry? just a few heater plugged in around the car? or what about using lights as heat?

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I was a first time painted over the summer

Time and time again the main part of the paintjob is your prep

Painting is the fun last 5% of the job

I did it in my garage, 26 gallon portable tank
Be sure to use the inline dryers and whatnot for your air

You need a CLEAN space that is dust free and you have lots of room to move around the car. Be sure to mop the walls and floor before you even think of spraying. Let the water dry and the humidity leave the area or youll get a slightly diff color when your done. An exhaust fan is a big plus and greatly speeds the drying time, but be careful not to disturb too much dust or youll litter your wet paint with it

When you tape the car off and finally get to spray the primer, be sure to put more tape/plastic back over the old with primer on it or it will flake off when your spraying the next coat

Spray your hard to get to places first

When spraying clearcoat never stop mid panel or you will have a very definate overspray

Read you mixing instructions carefully. Paint shelflife is very important. This also includes time in the gun resevior, so dont go make a sammich when your letting the mist clear. Buying a new gun mid paintjob sucks and youll feel like an even bigger idiot

If your not going to do alot of painting then I wouldnt go with the higher end guns. I used the $50 kit from Lowes. Its not perfect but for what i was after, it was a good bang for my buck
The air dryers and filters etc were around $80
$400ish in paint/supplies
Around $100 in sand paper

I did 3 coats primer, 2 color, 2 clear

Higher contact areas like nose hood and wing got 4 coats of clear

Went thru almost 1 gallon of primer, 5 quarts of code 45 med green metalic @ $90 per gallon 2 gallons of clear, bout 1 1/2 clear hardener, and 3 gallons of thinner

Be sure to wear your mask even when your wet sanding. I thought the water would catch all the dust... I sneezed shiney green boogers for the next 2 weeks so beware

Everything i can think of i encountered that I didnt read in any tech article while doin my research

Best of luck to you because your really gonna need it for this

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

Ok wow thanks for all the help guys. If you can post some pictures here on your green car i'm curious to see how it came out.

tommy z-28

iTrader: (1)

I did a body and paint job myself as well this past summer. Never had even been exposed to trying it before or watching someone do body work. If your car needs little body work Id say do it, body work and prep is the most painful part. You can sand your car for months it seems.

#1 make sure you have room, especially if you are doing bumpers off the car. I did the hood off, and bumpers off and gfx all off the car. I did a complete color change and had to do jams and all. Make SURE you have good access to spray all parts evenly and smoothly. I wish I would have, because I have some slightly dry clear on my front bumper where it was near a wall and I couldnt reach it to well. Also make sure theres room to drag the air hose around without bumping.

#2 Dont cut any corners, no matter how long and painful the RIGHT way may seem.

#3 Your garage will have overspray on everything, tape everything off with plastic. And if you have a family, send them away when you paint because this stuff stinks up the whole house and theyll think your giving them cancer.

I sprayed mine sunset orange metallic. Metallic laid down fine. I heard black is difficult because your prep must be perfect. I bought a devilbiss gun for like just under 200. Thing was great. Id really try and get one for sealer, color and clear with a 1.3mm tip and one for high build primer (which is amazing). Strip and sand, then epoxy seal, then 2 coats of high build and block and scratches and nicks dissappear.

Goodluck and make sure you are dedicated before you start. You will always go over budget, so prepare!

Todds1987iroc

If you are going to paint your car black or any other dark color, you have to make sure it is laser straight. Dark colors show every dent and wave like you would not believe. You are going to be sanding for days. You will need to get a heavy build primer (2K) and spray two to three coats. Then very lightly spray some flat black from a rattle can over the car. Use a large/long sanding block and sand in a chris cross pattern. Anywere you still see the black is a low spot and will need more primer. This is something you should be able to do even if you have someone else paint the car. It you save you a lot. A gallon of primer and hardern should cost $100 to $150. As for the paint, it can run you from $300 to $1000 depending on how good it is. On my "69 Camaro, I spent over $900 for the primer, paint, & clear and the car is white. I used Dupont chroma base with Dupont 7600 clear.

Painting your car is not something you do over a weekend. It takes weeks to months of prep work to spend 2 to 4 hours of painting. Good luck with your project.

bigmaciroc

, you better know how to work that filler on dark cars, any little thing IS GOING TO SHOW!!!!!! but as a painter for a living, i would advise you to get help from someone that has done this alot! or you can just practice, ALOT, painting isnt something you can just pick up in a few sprays. and painting a single body part is a WHOLE lot easier than a whole car. PLEASE, for the sake of all third genners, TAKE YOUR CARS TO THE BODY SHOP'S!!!!!!! we need to come together and stop peoples first paint jobs be on their 3rd gens. please practice first.

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

hey bigmaciroc i feel ya. i hear ya. fair enough. i just can't afford the best paint job i the world. but everyone seems to be all for the prepping part.

thanks evryone for your tips and suggestions and right ways and wrong ways.

anyone else please put your two cents in, this is all helpful and good stuff

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

$300 for a gun is silly. You can get a decent HVLP gun for $50 half the time they even come with adjustable regulators filters yada yada.

If you use sealer there is no need to buy high dollar primer. If you use high dollar primer like epoxy primer do not use a sealer and you cant sand it anyways. You can use urethane primer and not use anything else and can sand it. Research this before you try taking the advice of random people.
Buy a book, I would stray from internet articles since half are not correct. I have a decent write up about which paints and primers are best. But you need to choose.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...highlight=pros

bigmaciroc

TRUE, you can find guns all day for 50 bucks, but when it come to Paint guns, the more you spend, the better it lays out. this is come from a painter.

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

That is rubbish. $300 will not make a novice painter a good painter. Save your money and buy a reputable HVLP gun. This is coming from a painter.

Catch a trend? Everyone just happens to be an expert, everyone has an opinion but no one has a fact.

No one can decide for you. If you are a beginner you will make some mistakes painting. Almost all can be rubbed out (depending on what type of paint you use)

bigmaciroc

if you know half of anything, you know that you CANT get a good paint gun for $50 bucks! Sata, IWATA, FENIX, all are GREAT guns, but no where close to $50 bucks!!! atomization is the key to a good paint job. a 50 dollar gun wont atomiz near as well as a sata, the better the atomization, the base will lay out very smooth and even colored, and the clear will be glassier. all this with using less material! nelapse, do you even know what HVLP means? if your spraying with a 50 dollar gun, you must be a macco painter.

"UH OH, BETTER GET MACCO!"

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

yea true true, but i kinda like to hear all the ideas and suggerstions and kinda make up my own mind. plus i'm goign to be asking these questions at the autobody store anyway. I just like to have an idea beforehand.

I think i'm just going to prep the body as best i can and bite the bullet on a shop painting it. if theywant more then 3 grand then i'll jhsut say screw it and i'll buy the 50 dollar hvlp guns and spend under a grand on paint and do it myself. either way the car will be painted and hopefully look real good. i got auto body friends who can help jsut hard to get them around alot to do a whole car.

thanks guys
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but yea 50-200 plus a book on how to clean the gun whatever i'lll put a few extrra bucks towards a gun to keep bigmaciroc happy haha. jsut kidding i jsut like the little argument going on. but i do think a slightly mroe exspensive gun may help the quality of the spray. i'll give u that.

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

It is quite interesting, you make bold accusations but have no evidence in my nor your talent. I guess you would need a so called better quality since you do not posess the knowledge anyways to rub out a paint job (which you should do regardless of how great your paint job was)

I have enjoyed our debate, makes me feel better about myself when I come across ignorance or others, then I count my blessings to the fact that I had not turned into worse.

Seriously though, this goes for anyone. You can paint well with just about any HVLP gun. There is alot of jib jab about atomization with "higher quality" guns, but how good of quality is a can of spray paint? Soak it in hot water the temperature increases the pressure and atomizes paint better. Maybe instead of heating it up you should buy a $300 can nozzle that atomizes it for you?

Real painters use techniques that make great paint jobs. The guns they use may produce different quality then others, but a painters' job is to manipulate paint. The paint job should not end when the paint is laid. This is what seperates beginners and pros.

bigmaciroc

when you are painting high end AND SHOW cars, every day, the slicker the clear, and an even base, you dont have to sand all the orange peel out of the job, your only nibbing the trash out the time saved will soon pay off. the time you spend sand all the orange peel out you could have already been started on another car. more cars=more money. witch you proly dont know nothing about buying a 50 dollar gun. what kind of gun do you prefer? im dieing to hear this. the cheapie guns are for cheapie paintiers! actually, you know what, im threw with you, i hate arguing to idiots!


"UH OH, BETTER GET MAACO"!!!!

p.s. i like how you say that your a painter for profession, when your in aviation... yea...

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

You are right I am an aviator. I also paint aircraft, and my car. I never stated I was a painter by profession, just that I am a painter. I can tell you are losing your nerve, you must feel desperate to insult people that know what they are doing. Do you gain anything from insulting people smarter than you? Does it help you sleep at night? Perhaps, makes you feel better maybe superior so when you are trying to learn how to do things on powerblock TV you feel as if you are a professional at anything?

I feel bad for you. When you want to talk to me as an adult PM me. We may become friends. I am willing to set this aside.

dapapa

I agree with nelapse, all I use is a $69.95 Campbell Hausfeld HVLP gun. A more expensive gun may give you a bit better finish, but not a show room finish. It the elbow grease before during and after the painting and the materials used that give you a good finish. I only do one or two cars a year because it just to much work for the old man any more, I don’t have a spray booth just my work shop so I find trash in the paint but not from the gun and any paint job will have some orange peel to buff.

Kevman

I painted 2 cars, and I'm only 17, a 1993 Safari van (I know, sounds bad, but no orange peel) and a 1976 Torino (Painted 1/4 of it, dad did rest) But if there's one thing I learned is that you have to do all the prepping or it turns into a big mess. Sand the body until you have carpol tunnel, and right before painting go over the body a few times with some liquid cleaner (like Laquer thinner if you used an epoxy primer) because it makes all the difference in your finish. Most likely you'll end up wet sanding, and buffing though..