Is it worth the money to paint a car yourself. Hell I know its time consuming I'm just talking money wise. I want to start painting my car and have the money to do so and was going to do it myself but alot of talk around has made me think the cost of doing it yourself isn't worth it. Also if I were to paint my car myself which is what I originally planned what all would I need to get. I was going to go with PPG and a black with a little metallica flake to it. What all items and amounts would I need to get?

 

I definately think it is worth it. Last year I went and got prices on what it was going to cost for me to get my cowl hood painted on my car. After checking with at least 20 different shops, I got prices ranging from $200 to $450. That was just for the hood! So I painted it my self. It cost me $50 in products. That included:

Paint (enamel)
Hardener
sandpaper
2 cans of primer
mixing bucket
thinner
cleaning cloth(tacky cheese cloth)
and some other little things but I cannot remember.

In all it was easy to do and looks great. As long as you spend the time to do the prep work and do it right, it will look good. Not sure what amounts you will need but there are a few guys on here that have painted their cars before, they should know. Hope that helps and good luck.

 

Thanks your on the right track. I'm kinda interested to see someones car that they've painted black and the code and brand of paint, clear etc that they used. I'm sitting on the money to order the paint for my convertable and its almost ready to be primered and painted.

 

as far as tools you'll need a good compressor, dual action sander, paintgun. You'll want a way to keep crap off it when your painting, garage, a car tent or something. I'm in the process of half a$$ repainting my car with spray paint because I can't afford a compressor or any of the right tools and I would like to slow/stop the rusting on my car's body. Takes a lot of time, a lot of work, and a lot of patience from what I've experianced so far and that's just 2 rust spots and the front bumper.

 

If you can, find someone (a friend or relative) who already has paint guns, compressors, DA sanders, etc. See if you can borrow these items as it will save you quite a bit of cost.

Also, it helps to have someone with experience painting cars to help you along. Luckily, my dad had painted a few cars and he helped me paint mine.

 

Just painted my Grand National (black of course). I haven't painted in about 10 years, so it's not like I have much experience. Depends on what you want. If you just want it to look better than it does now, most folks can do it pretty easily, but don't expect professional quality without a lot of research and practice. Autobodystore.com has a great message board. This one has been pretty helpful to me as well. Read a ton before you start so you know what you are getting into. If your car is really straight now and if the current paint isn't too beaten up, that makes it a lot easier. Fix the dings, scuff it and shoot it will get pretty decent results. Read, read and read some more before buying products because they can be pretty expensive (if you want quality). Practice and if you have a buddy with some experience that helps greatly. Having said that, I would encourage people to not be intimidated by paint. You can get good results if you put the time in. Most folks who get crappy results were in over their heads and didn't know what they were doing. BTW, my car looks killer. I'd post some pics if I know how.

 

I would definately say do it yourself I got my deck painted as well as the fron gfx and grill on my car not too long ago. I did ALL the prep and the shop charged me almost $400 for just mixing and spraying and it came out like crap, theres a couple fish eyes on the deck and the gun spit some paint on the gfx and grill in a couple spots.. he used some ****ty deltron paint too but I moved the weekend after I got it painted so I havent had a chance to drive the 2 hours to go bitch at the guy

 

JeffW did an AMAZING job restoring his vehicle. It took him a while, but he did it the right way, and didnt cut any corners. 80% of it is body work.

If you dont plan on doing any body work and just stripping the paint off and re-painting it, you'll probably end up not spending more than a month of down time (assuming you'll only be able to work on it on the weekends)

do a search for "Project Ressurection", this is JeffW's write up on what he did to paint his car, very interesting and detailed read!

 

I painted my car in my garage and I'll never pay anybody else to do it again.If you don't already have a compressor that alone would be worth buying.You can use it for anything. It took me about 2-3 weeks of work.I was lazy most of the time or it would have been faster.

 

I have all the tools compressor, DA sander, and my friend who is helping me has a choice of 3 paint guns that his dad used to paint there 68 maro. Basically I need a walk down of the steps to take prep wise. Then the actual primer type, sealer etc. to get. I've done paint work with cans and sanding and polishing alot and am good at that so I don't think painting should be much harder just alot of prep. BTW this car is a 89 Convertable so that leaves out a whole top to paint and 90% of the car is dissambled so pretty much the only parts still on the car need painted is the qtr panels. I'll try to get some pics so you guys can tell me what to start with.

 

Me and my dad painted mine....looks great. Used Acrylic Enamel, Wetsanded and Buffed...have about $300-$400 in paint and materials

I've had dozens of people want me to paint there cars...and mostly EVERYONE thinks this is a base/clear job...but it's not...just have to know what your doing

 

someone call my name?

here is a pic in progress. defitabnly look up my thread prject resurection that will answer alot. i have to turn it into a tech article still.

basicly if your paint is in good shape only one coat factory you can sand with a mild paper. 180 to 220 and 320 then primer with a 2k primer sandable. then guide coat with something like sem spray guide coat and block sand with 400 g wet and that will show any low spots the need putty. use a good poly putty like evercoat they also have a nice spotting putty that i used over the first coarser putty. Must be 2k putty or a putty that requires a hardener. don;t use the red stuff in a tube that is reday to go. it will mess your paint job. after all is wet sanded you are ready to paint unless you did putty work then you need more coats of 2k primer.

is your car black now? will you need to jamb the car. what the gfx looks like same color you may want to do them off the car.
Jeff

Thanks for the kind words on my job wait for the finished pic

 

Yeah my paint is good on the doors back. However the front nose and the left fender are both spray painted and real grainy. I'm assuming these will have to be sanded down to metal/plastic. I have all the tools except the actual paint materials and a buffer. I could use a drill with a buffing pad correct??? But lemme get this straight the first step is to sand to a 320 grit. Step up from lower obviously but correct? Then use a 2k primer and primer the whole car. Then use a guide coat which is like what? A actual paint or some sorta putty? Then you block sand with 400 grit wet. Whats the difference between regular sanding and block sanding?

I understand what you mean by lowspots. They'll just look like low spots and you use the putty to get as smooth a surface as you can. That part I understand. Then if you used putty primer and block sand 400 grit wet again. If you didn't use the putty then you start with the actual base coat? What about doing a metallica type of black is that any additional steps?

No the car is not currently black its the regular red stock color. The front is horrible as well as the hood so I want to just repaint the entire thing. The vert top is off the car as well as most of the frnot end. I'm going to try to paint most of the stuff off the car for ease of having to do it on the car.

What about the misc black pieces like the louvers grill door handles. Would you use just a flat black on that or the base coat paint?

 

84customz28; You did a awsome job painting your car, as the pic you posted shows. The pic is your sig doesn't do it justice.

 

Definitely worth it if you love the car. Although, I wouldn't let anyone mislead you into thinking it is easy..., that's why it's a specialized field. There are too many factors, leading to a great paint job, to list. It will, however be a very rewarding experience, you'll be able to brag to your friends, (and us!)!! It will also probably be a defining moment. (Choosing whether or not you'll ever do another one!!!)
Used to be, the ONLY way to do a custom "show" quality job was multiple coats of single stage, wet sanding in between coats to get that depth.
(that car looks great, by the way...)

 

color change from red to black will not be an easy task. you will need to jamb the car the best way to do that is remove the panels, fenders doors hood nose bupers rear window all molding gfx door handels locks ect to expose all the jamb areas to paint em. unless you like red inside of everything with a black outside.

look for sem guide coat for wet sanding, and 3m dry guide coat for putty leveling. do a search on guide coating i have some pics herte somewhere. the body has to be perfect for black cause every wave will show up.

oh no flat paint, you can get a deading agaent i think its called hok has one it is sprayed on over clear to dull te shine to get a satin look like the original door handles and light pockets. (house of kolor = HOK)

Jeff

 

Ok got a couple pictures so you can see what I'm working with. Sorry for the lighting all I had to work with. Also took some shots of the taillights polished and cleaned up. Any suggestions on the paint process would be helpful. The 3rd and the 3rd from last picture are the bad spray painted portions of the paint. The rest are the good paint. Also notice my other 89 Z in the pictures. The last picture shows the only dent on the car but its pretty nasty its on the outside part of the windshield.

http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-086F.JPG
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http://members.hmcltd.net/joe/MVC-096F.JPG

 

Any opinions?

 

bump very old thread

 

i kinda did a half what your looking for....i did the body work and all the removal and preping then took it to an autobody shop and had them prime, guide coat,, sand,, re prime then paint then i took the car back and did all the assembleing. It was my firebird...go to the site and look at page 2.

Thing is with black its not a good color to do your 1st job on thats why i got a pro to do it. I am going to try doing my winter car compleatly myself tho. Ill proably shot it the cheapest color i can buy. Black shows runs and body improfections 100 times more then say white.

Oh a guide coat you can buy in a can and dab it on i think and you sand over it and you see where it doesnt come off thats your low spots...or you prime with 2 colors one ontop of another then when your sanding again you will easyly see your high and low spots soo bacily you try to get all the spots low i thing only by focusing on sanding the high spots. Im no expert but thats the basics i understand.

Another good way to do it is ppl use a high build primer (more $$ tho) to help cover small imperfections in the body work and same with useing a single stage paint (instead of base clear)...with black youll never get an old car perfect tho.
I sanded my whole car with 320 then did the small spot filling and resanded and then did the pin holes or tinny stuff with putty..... i found the best is the hookit 3m disks buy a box of em and thats all i used. And yes i took like a day just to remove door panels,, lights, moldings, kick panels, rear plastic, wing, marker lights.. all that stuff and tape up other stuff.
---a tip i like is use satin black on the grills & vents and stuff, flat looks too junky and gloss sometimes stands out too much and shows up plastic ripples and dirt too much