OK, so here's the deal. The black paint on my 92 RS is getting pretty dull. The car looks fantastic clean at dawn, dusk and far away but up close there is about a million-plus scratches, which means it's time to make her shine again.

Now, I don't want to dump 1,000+ for a shop to do all the bodywork, and I don't want to just take her up to Maaco for a 300 dollar horrible paintjob either. Can I do all the bodywork(taking old paint off, primer, etc.) myself? Anyone done the work themselves here? I was thinking doing the work myself, and then after all the prep work is done, just take her up to Maaco for the final shoot.

Are there any books, websites or advice you can give regarding amateur prep work? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have absolutely no prep work experience.

BTW, I would like to put 91-92 hood blisters on the car as well, anyone know if they just screw in and how much of a hassle it is to put them on?

Thanks,

 

This will prolly get better responses in the body and interior section....

 

Here is my suggstion, i am painting my car right now and if you don't have many repaint on the car already, i would say yeah, first you need to fix all the dents and then if there is not alot of old paint on there i would say get some 320 grit sandpaper and go over the whole car, that will scuff up the paint and then find some EPOXY....EPOXY primer to spray on first b/c it is water proof unlike other primers and then give it to the body shop. all they would have to do is spray the High build primer and wet sand that smooth, spray the color and the clear....MAKE SURE YOU GET A BASECOAT CLEAR COAT system...aka 2 stage paint. It will outshine and outlast you basic single stage paint. If you have questios just PM and i will answer them to the best of my abilities...such as what primer, how to perform a certain task...i am just assuming that you have no auto body background just to be on the safe side b/c alot of people here don't have much experiance in this area.