ok im starting this up to awnser some questions that some people might have hope fully the other body shop guys will help me out.
this will be a basic and advanced course on how to paint a car. first i will run you though what basic tools you will need and then some of the tools you whould need to have for major things like dents deeper than 1/8 inch rust repair ect.

Tools

BASIC (Recogmended to have all)
4 inch block
6 inch block
12 inch block
Air compessor with water/oil trap
D/A sander
Paint gun
Plastic speaders (assortment)
Basic tools wrenches screew divers torx bits sockets metric and us ect.

ADVANCED (Recogmended marked with *)
Air file
Small body hammer *
Medium body hammer*
Slide hammer
Nail gun
Die grinder with cut off wheel or cut off tool*
Low heat range welder wire feed*
Dolly assortment*
5 inch hand grinder with flex disk not a grinding stone*
Flangeing tool

SUPPLYS
80 grit sticky back DA paper (3m gold is a must have you pay more for it but it last a lot longer and peals off the roll easyer and if your stripping alot of paint you will use this the most)
120 grit sticky back DA paper
320 grit sticky back DA paper
36 grit sticky back block strips
80 grit sticky back block strips
120 grit sticky back roll
400 grit wet paper
1200 grit wet paper
2000 grit wet paper
Rags good cleen lint free like scots shop towls in a box something that will hold up to chemicals and abuse.
5 gal Laquer thinner (its like 15 bucks and comes in handy when cleening tools)
Tack rag
Zip lock bags all sizes
Sharpee permanant marker
1/2 inch masking tape
3 inch masking tape
3 foot roll of paper
red scotch bright

PAINTING AND BODY WORK SUPPLYS
Body filler
Glazing putty
High build primmer
Sealer
Paint and all needed activators hardners clear ect.

STARTING OUT
Ok now is the time you need to find a place that your car can be in and apart for a wile its takes time this isnt and over the weekend thing if you want it to look good.... ok with that said now is an important decistion to make you have 2 choices here.

#1 just refinish the car and take out small dents and scratches
#2 Remove all paint and start over (good idea if you have rust or if your car has been painted once befor allso good choice if your chaning colors and or if the paint on your car is more than 15 years old)

ok we will start with option #1
take your 5 inch grinder with a 80 grit disk on it and walk around your car and mark all the dents you can find with it.

ok with that done you can get serious go around and with the same grinder take on remove all the paint form the affected area and 2 inches around it if big dent go 3 inch.

ok now if the dent is small just mix up some body filler and mud it in (remeber if the dent is dine sized to make it look right you will have a spot of mud the size of a silver dollor or 50 cent piece)
allso basic info on metal if the metal is "low" the edges around the dent are "high" think of it like droping a baseball into a sand box the ball makes it low but the edges are now pushed up. same thing different level.

ok onto sanding the body filler.

start with some 36 on a block of your choice (remember the quicker you can cut something down the straghter it will be and the longer the block the flater the area but becarefull the block doent lie it will **** you off cuze it will show you waves that you would have never seen.

ok now with the 36 on the block just shape the area leave it intentionally high remember you still have to take out the 36 grit scratch marks and trust me they are deep and you dont want to under cut the mud or you will have to remud the area again.

ok now switch over to some 80 grit on a block and finalize the area liaving it just a little high.

ok then take the 120 on a block and creatively sand all the edges (feather them out so that there allmost translucent you can adjust the pressusers on the block like if you put force on the front of it teh block will cut down the back eadge and center of the mud if you use force on the back of it you will feather the front eadge it will take some time so experament whats teh worse that could happen you end up putting more mud on!! allso dont be stingy with the mud you have to put some on to grind off.)

ok with that all done lets talk about bigger dents.

ok with a bigger dent same thing grind all the paint out and then start metal work. use your hammer and dolly of you can reach into the area if not use a nail gun (nail gin its a type of spot wealder that attaches a nail onto the body pannel and alows you use of a slide hammer to pull that area out (i picked up my nail gun brand new for 100 dollors with nails and trim tabs))
if no nail gun is avalible and you cant reach the area with a hammer you can drill a hole and make a screw attachment on your slide hammer to screw into the hole and pull it out (remember to wed up the whole when done)
then after you get it pulled out as far as you can (remember pull it out but dont pull it to far to far being higher than the body panel)

ok now we have dents taken care of next RUST REPAIR

if you have a big area look for new body pannels like door shells (you can replace the skin easy enough but the shell will cost you over 300 to buy new as with the door pannel can be had for 20 to 30 dollors)

when you splice a pannel mark off the area with masking take 1/2 works good it will act as a guide for your cut off wheel make your cut 1/2 inch lower than where it needs to be on the pannel. if you are replacing a quarter pannel you will need to drill out the factory spot welds and serperate it form inner structure.

ok with the pannel cut off test fit the new pannel you need to make it so that yoru cut on the body is 1/2 inch onto the new pannel

ok with your flanging tool flange the 1/2 in you left extra then fit the new pannel on and take your time with the welder and spot tack it in place move 4 inches and spot over and over when you run out of room let the pannel cool down so you can touch it without being burnt and start putting tacks right after the first one then move then tack then move then tack ect. the less heat you put into the pannel the less it will warp.

ok with it all welded in grind off the weld so its flat with the pannel (if you are working in an area that you cant flange then you can make it a but weld but i recogmend making a v cut as it will inprove strenght and make for less warpage.
ok time to mud the welded area and sand. follow dent procidure and you will be find if it is a cuved area use the paper rapped around something like a phone book ect.


ok well its 6 am here im gonna go to bed i will edit this and post more later on today.