do it your self car painting

anyone konw of an online guide of instuructions to get the best results when painting or detailing your car yourself?

ive seen cars painted at home...it turns out really bad...painting isnt as easy as one might assume.

It's not the painting that's hard, its the prep work and attention to detail that people often neglect.

I'd strip the paint, strip the interior, take off the panels (trunk and bonnet) and if possible take out the engine and gearbox or mask it up, mask the rest of the car and take it to the spray painters then. This should save you a pretty penny if your budget is tight and you need a respray. Just be sure to take it to a reputable paint shop. My last car was wrecked because of a bad spray painter doing a bad job on my car. The paint cracked and i had to get a full bare metal respray done which cost me 3 times as much as the original respray in the first place. So, I stress the point, be careful where you take it.

I agree on the prep part as well as having a totally dust free enviroment. Maybe a small section but a whole car seems like quite a undertaking

I'll try to make a quick list in order of importance and some tips for the home painter to be sucessful.


#1 Find a local paint supplier that you can talk to get advice etc.., They local PPG supplier here actually came by my house and spent an hour with me showing the basics and giving some quick tips. Also after I would paint something I would bring it in have him check it tell me what was wrong, why it happened and how to prevent it.

#2 Painting is a skill, you can read all the books, get all the advice, watch all the right people. But you need to do it and practice, practice, practice. There is no way around this as told to me by many guys in the industry. Fuck-ups are always gonna happen, thats the only way you learn. Good automotive paint is expensive so this can be costly lesson's then the time involved also.

#3 It really has to do with the equipment. No you don't have to buy the ultimate best gun on the market or things like that. But I will tell you your really need a quality gun, large compresseor, can-am filter, ultra- ultra clean work area. A good Devilbliss or Sata HVLP will run you near $300. You also need a large compressor costing around $350-400 at Home Depot and you really need a bigger compressor. Also paint cost $$$$.

If you read this much and followed me this far here might be the conclusion you come to. It might be cheaper just to pay to have the car painted. The truth is to do it right but not just doing the best will run you about $1000 to set-up and get paint/clearcoat etc.., But if this is your first time you will mess up, you will need to by more paint cause of it, and painting a full car with no real booth is the toughest thing to do. If you really want to learn how and this doesn't scare you off then go for it but I just giving you a realistic picture. I got into for the reasons thinking it was cheaper and found out real quickly it isn't the first time or second etc..,. I stuck with it and keep doing it cause I found I do have a natural gift for it and do enjoy doing it.

$1000 seems like an awfully conseravative estimate to me, especially considering that it's an entire car. just the paint alone including primer and topcoat will prolly cost about that, might be able to get the gun too. gotta have a ton of sandpaper and a method for colorsanding and buffing. usually those procedures call for electric and air tools as well.

if it were me (and it will be soon), i would get a trusted friend who is a professional in the industry. as with all car things, good friends will often do this stuff for a reasonable charge or a favor (or beer :naughty: )

This is a funny story of something a friend of mine did to his Chevette back in high-school one summer. He noticed his car was a rusty dark blue so he decided to use Red industrial Rust Oleum from a paint bucket and a paint roller! YES a paint roller! he sanded the whole car masked it up and rolled away. The car looked really glossy throughout the fall winter and spring but by the Summer he could just peel the paint like a big sheet right off! :evillol:

I am getting ready to paint my mustang. I have bought the sprayer and the the paint online. I am going to be changing the color totally so I have a real challenge ahead of me. I will post pitcures before/after when I get it done.

I am getting ready to paint my mustang. I have bought the sprayer and the the paint online. I am going to be changing the color totally so I have a real challenge ahead of me. I will post pitcures before/after when I get it done.


Good luck and I'm sure we would all enjoy before and after pictures. But this thread is very old and if you look in the guidelines we don't like resurrecting old threads. IF you want to talk about your project start a new thread cause I'm closing this one.