Hey so i'm gonna be painting my 87 trans am here in a month or two after the prep work is done, its gonna be done in Candy Apple Red, and I'm just wondering how much paint to use for the whole thing? in paint-able quarts... just in general, how much would you use? I'm having a friend paint it who is a professional painter, and he'll probably know how much to get, I'm just trying to get an idea so I know how much it's gonna cost for materials haha

 

It depends on the color and the brand. I've sprayed Dupont's waterborne paint line which covers in one coat then a light mist coat immediately after. PPG's waterborne ususally covers in 2 coats and a mist coat. I sprayed my brother's saturn with Omni and that took 3 coats. When I painted my Alero with Shopline paint it took 4 coats... So its hard to say. If your painter friend is a professional he should be able to give you a rough idea

 

Candy Apple Red sounds nice. I cant wait to see it .

 

Hey thanks for the input guys, I've heard from another thread that they used about 2 or 3 quarts for each layer (primer, base, clear) is that somewhat accurate?? they were all using different brands soooo... ???

 

If you think it'll take 3qts, buy 4 qts. Its better to have more than you need, than try to get more mixed and have it match. The 2nd batch hardy ever matches the first batch. It's better to spend the extra 60-90 bucks than repaint the whole car, if you run out of the first batch and the 2nd not match.

 

Thankfully I had some paint left over because it was a custom mix.
A shop crushed one of the ground effects because they did not know where to put the arm of the 2 post lift.
The body shop used some of the paint I have and you can't tell it was ever wrecked.
Definitely have some paint left over.

 

Both cars

 

Both cars I've painted need 5 or 6 quarts. We aren't professional painters but that it what we went through.

 

I painted my engine bay with a quart, and used every last drop. That is two coats with decent coverage. I used PPG Envirobase.