i want to paint my car myself. i was wondering what type of gun it would take to get a real shiny finish before color sanding if it is needed. how shiny would it be with a decent gun(looking to spend around 400-500on a gun). i would be using basecoat/ clearcoat.

how long does it usualy take to get good with a paint gun? i'm pretty good with stuff like that and think i can do a good job with some practice.

i have a hood i can practice on, what is a good type of paint to practice with that isn't too expensive?
thx.

 

now i am no expert and somebody correct me if i am wrong, there is alot more to painting than you might imagine, you need to have filters on your compressor lines to catch all of the moisture, and an area to paint that has close to consistent temperatures and humidity levels. if you still want to do it, i think that a gravity feed gun is the best. as far as cheap paint goes, on my budget there is no cheap paint. it was all to expensive for me to justify wasting. also dont forget you will need paint thinner and i think there is a special kind of thinner or comparable chemical to clean your gunn out with. hope i was of some sort of help.

david

 

there is more to having the deep shine that you are looking for than having a good gun. yes a good gun is one. the shine gets nicer with the coats of clear. the more clear you have the shinier it will be.

i also recommend a gravity feed gun.

as for cheap paint, yes there is cheap paint, but is isn't as great of quality(doesn't mean it won't look nice). i painted a 87 nova in my garage with Acrylic Emanel. this paint is a single stage paint (dries up shiny. you don't need clear). the paint was under $100 and this is what i got:

1 gal of Acrylic Enamel paint
medium dry reducer
hardener
fish eye reducer

i also painted the engine bay of my camaro with this type of paint.

 

I just got through with my second paint job and I learned that if you take your time doing all the body work and painting you can actually do a really good paint job. I bought a nikota 1.4 gravity feed paint gun for around $150. I bought UTech paint the single stage polyurethane was around 135, and the basecoat clearcoat was 215. Try to go to a body shop in town a rent a paintbooth, i rented one fr $100. Basecoat clearcoat is alot easier to paint because if you have any runs you can pretty much sand them out or orange peel. When you go to paint try to not paint back and forth real fast like you would with an aersol can but make real long strokes and try not to paint just one body part at a time. Ex. on the door and fender don't paint and stop at the gap but follow through it onto the door. Where ever you go to buy paints and the gun just explain to them it is your first paint job and they will more than likely go out of their ways to help you. And if you know any painters always ask them for tips or if you can go inside a booth with them, thats how i was taught. Email me if you have any questions I'll try to help out.

 

For best trial paint I would say try a one stage urethane..We have done many many cars with that and everyone has come out really nice...Its also easy to learn on because it sprays thicker then base/clear combo. We got our gun a long time ago, its not gravity fed but it works really good. We have the inline moisture thing. We also pull our cars onto a huge rubber mat on a non-windy sunny day and spray them...We have some nice jobs out there...

 

I was watching this tape on how to paint your car. Tips and crap like that. they said that the non gravity feed guns are fine but the gravity fed ones are better for doing the tops of the car. They also said that if you are painting in your shop or garage that you can take a metal stake, put it in the ground and run a wire from that to your frame and that will help keep the dust off of the wet paint.

Brian

 

Use a HVLP gun, and for $400-500 you should be able to get a pretty nice gun. Painting isn't too hard, just find something to practice on and find what you like. Some people paint really fast, others paint slow, it just depends on what you are good at and what you are comfortable with. It all depends on how much air/fluid you have coming out of the gun and how close you are to the car. Use base/clear if you want a nice paint job that will last a long time. An important part in getting a good paint job is prep work, make sure the car is prepped right and the booth(hopefully) that your paint in is prepped good.