Paint Help!!!!!

I have never had a car painted before. The original color was Matador Red and now it is blue. I want to have it painted red again, however I do not want it Matador red. I would prefer a Candy Apple type red. It appears that that some of the body panels could use some realignment with the trunk and the hood. It has a vinyl top I would want them to remove. It has two small size of a dime rust spots below the rear window.This will be used as a driver for about 5000 miles per year and will alway be garaged. Never driven in the rain.

Questions

1) Do I need to have them take it down to bare metal.

2) I have been told to do a clear-coat type paint job. True?

3) I want to add a rear spoiler. Should I try this myself or have them do it. I am very mechanically inclined but have never done body work before.

4) I do I find a good paint shop? I do not need a show quality paint job, but I do want it to look nice for a long time.

5) Any ideas on what this should cost(2000.00, 3000.00,5000.00) I am just looking for a ballpark figure.

6) I can remove most of the parts and trailer to the shop or just let them remove the pieces?

Thanks for all the help in advance. Any info you can give me of questions that I need to ask will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob

I have never had a car painted before. The original color was Matador Red and now it is blue. I want to have it painted red again, however I do not want it Matador red. I would prefer a Candy Apple type red. It appears that that some of the body panels could use some realignment with the trunk and the hood. It has a vinyl top I would want them to remove. It has two small size of a dime rust spots below the rear window.This will be used as a driver for about 5000 miles per year and will alway be garaged. Never driven in the rain.

Questions

1) Do I need to have them take it down to bare metal.

2) I have been told to do a clear-coat type paint job. True?

3) I want to add a rear spoiler. Should I try this myself or have them do it. I am very mechanically inclined but have never done body work before.

4) I do I find a good paint shop? I do not need a show quality paint job, but I do want it to look nice for a long time.

5) Any ideas on what this should cost(2000.00, 3000.00,5000.00) I am just looking for a ballpark figure.

6) I can remove most of the parts and trailer to the shop or just let them remove the pieces?

Thanks for all the help in advance. Any info you can give me of questions that I need to ask will be appreciated.

Thanks
Bob

I used to work at an autobody shop. I think I might be able to help.

1. When we had a car in that had more than one coat of paint on it we always took it down to bare metal. Accually we usually always took it down to bare metal.

2. A urathane two stage clear-coat is the way to go, the paint will look nice with minamial maintaince. Also it is tough as hell. It will probabally cost a little more but worth the extra money IMO.

3. Adding stuff like that is usually just a case of measure twice cut once. So depending on how comfortable you are drilling on your trunk..... thats your call

4. What makes a good paint job is good prep. Beleve it or not Macco has some of the latest and greatest equipment/supplies. There problem is that the prep sux!! The two biggest costs for accually painting a car is time and supplies. If you want anything to last go to an autobody shop that has a good rep. That and macco painters sux when it comes to shooting candies or other similar types of paint.

5. Depends on the paint you choose. but I'm guessing for a Really nice paint job with out custom paint will be in the 2,000-3,500 dollar range. (I know that is a wide range but I don't know how much work your car needs.)

6. Don't Pull your car apart and paint pannels seperatly. Paint in bolt threads suck when you are trying to put it together. Plus You don't want to ding and bump a fresh paint job during assembly. That and it takes paint awhile to cure and reach full hardness.

Also talk to the body shop that you are doing this with. Some times they will let you sand your car down to bare metal. Sometimes they won't, there worried about the type of sainding job that would be done. Which I can see since they have to warrenty an expensive job. If they will let you sand it, go get a DA sander and a roll of 80 grit sticky pads and go to work. Just be careful not to gouge the metal. Be nice and even.

later
Andy

Ignoring all your other questions I'll start with the biggest cost to you is the word "Candy" paint job. A true "candy" paint job is the hardest one to pull off correctly. A lot of good reputable paint places won't even touch a candy job cause it's much more difficult than a regular sweet paint job. So any place that will do one and is reputable for doing one I have not seen charge less than 4g's but I would expect more. Please don't just go with the lowest bidder on a Candy paint job cause if it's not done 100% perfect it will look horrible.

Cheapest way to get a car painted:
-Buy the paint yourself
-Do the sanding your self
-Take the mirrors, door handles off

One of the kids in my auto class, his dad has a body shop. I went to him and told him I'd buy the paint, sand it and stuff. I asked him how much it'd coast to have it done and a few dents repaired he told me about 300.

So if your getting a regular solid color, it shouldnt coast that much, also depends on where you take it. But like that guy said...Candy anything is gonna be a money killer. And if its not its probaly not gonna look good.