Goin to shoot my car myself I believe.
Likely doin the good ole tractor paint (straight gloss black). I am only doing this as a 3 or 4 year paint job until I have space and time to strip it to metal and do it over. I'm basically just stopping a couple rust spots and going over my faded/swirly paint (previous owner wasn't a car guy and really butchered the paint in a few places)
I have a decent 60 gallon compressor, 12.5 CFM @40psi.

Looking for a good base/clear gun for $150 or less.
So far, I'm really considering the sharpe finex 3000.

Any suggestions from you guys?

I have a cheap 1.8 gun for primer.

 

I like the devilbliss finishline flg4, uses very low pressure, sprays great. Can usually buy them online for $159

 

If you're just interested in a one-time job harbor freight has some guns for less than $50 that come highly recommended by the reviews.

 

did you know that if you add urethane reducer to implement paint you don't need hardener. I started painting cars with cheap implement paint and was just playing chemistry and mixed some up and shot it and it dried just like it had hardener in it. I did a couple of paint jobs that way and they still look good 8 years later

 

Looks like I'll end up with a finish line 3 or 4. For not too much more money than the sharpe, it seems to be a way better gun.

Of course, I'm nervous going for the implement paint but so many people seem to have had great results with it.
I might lay down 2 coats of it, and then finish it with one or two coats of it mixed half with a universal clear, as supposedly it will make it look deeper. And then I'll be able to buff it down, depending on if it needs it or not.
I'll talk to the guy at the paint shop and see what else he suggests.

The last paint job was very smooth, literally glass, it's just too bad it wasn't looked after properly.

There is a guy interested in getting his car painted. If my car comes out right, and if he understands there are no guarantees, I may be able to do a job that will pay off the gun.

 

you can get a decent paint job out of about any gun if you do a test panel first. you can also clear over the implement paint if you let it gas off for 4 months and then sand it down with 600

but on the gun tip I went to school where they had us shoot with satas and now I have a hvlp 3000 and a rp 4000 and I will never use a cheep gun for topcoat again. I would use the finishline for primer. I tried out my buddies and it did not atomize the 2k primer very well so I had to boost the pressure.

you could start with worse like that harbor freight gun the guy suggested. it last like 3-4 paint jobs