04-18-2008, 07:36 PM
I used to work in a body shop, we also did some "garage" painting as well.
First, its alot harder then you think. You will need more then just paint, you need Primer, Base Coat, Clear Coat.. 2 guns usually works best, 1 for primer 1 for base/clear coat. You'll need some gas masks (unless you wanna be to high you can't finish half way through it). There are little things like filters and activators and hardeners, anti-fish eye solution and a few other things im sure i'm forgetting.
The primer and color isn't the hard part (assuming you can do decent body work). The clear is the part that takes the longest to perfect. To do it right, you need about 2-3 coats of clear, the hard part is spraying just enough to where it doesn't run, but if you don't put enough it will fish eye and look like orange peel when your done.
If you do Base coat/clear coat expect to spend 1 day wet sanding and buffing once its painted.
Your other option is a Enamel (sp?) based paint, which is a 1 stage paint job, you shoot the car 1 time and its colored and shiny. The down fall to these types of paints is they last 3-5 years tops if you wax them and keep the car indoors. 1-2 years if the car sits outside and you don't wax it. They also lack, the "metallic" look that most cars have. This type of paint job is what you get for the Macco 400 dollar special.
Some people can naturally paint, and some people need tons of practice and some people can never paint decent no matter how hard you try. I'm terrible at painting, so I did the body work. So unless we have a natural painter among us, expect the first couple of cars to look pretty crappy, or expect to spend alot of time wet sanding to take out the imperfections.
My car needs painting too, so i'll be happy to help anyway i can. I need like 2 weeks worth of body work to get all the dings out
First, its alot harder then you think. You will need more then just paint, you need Primer, Base Coat, Clear Coat.. 2 guns usually works best, 1 for primer 1 for base/clear coat. You'll need some gas masks (unless you wanna be to high you can't finish half way through it). There are little things like filters and activators and hardeners, anti-fish eye solution and a few other things im sure i'm forgetting.
The primer and color isn't the hard part (assuming you can do decent body work). The clear is the part that takes the longest to perfect. To do it right, you need about 2-3 coats of clear, the hard part is spraying just enough to where it doesn't run, but if you don't put enough it will fish eye and look like orange peel when your done.
If you do Base coat/clear coat expect to spend 1 day wet sanding and buffing once its painted.
Your other option is a Enamel (sp?) based paint, which is a 1 stage paint job, you shoot the car 1 time and its colored and shiny. The down fall to these types of paints is they last 3-5 years tops if you wax them and keep the car indoors. 1-2 years if the car sits outside and you don't wax it. They also lack, the "metallic" look that most cars have. This type of paint job is what you get for the Macco 400 dollar special.
Some people can naturally paint, and some people need tons of practice and some people can never paint decent no matter how hard you try. I'm terrible at painting, so I did the body work. So unless we have a natural painter among us, expect the first couple of cars to look pretty crappy, or expect to spend alot of time wet sanding to take out the imperfections.
My car needs painting too, so i'll be happy to help anyway i can. I need like 2 weeks worth of body work to get all the dings out