painting a car

I am going to be painting a ford probe, and I have never painted a car before. the only thing ive painted is my center caps, and I painted my dash with flames... I can handle the basics... sanding, spraying primer and then color coats.. but one thing Ive never figured out, is clearcoat. Does anyone have any experience with clearcoat? Everytime I use it, it makes the paint foggy, and it scratches just as easily as regular paint. Is there a technique that Im not aware of? was I just using crappy clear? What are any good brands of clear, and how much are they, and about how much paint would I need to paint a 93 GT Probe? If anyone can answer any of those questions i'd appreciate it. I also plan on asking some professionals, but I have a feeling they will all recommend that I have them do it for me, and then recommend the most expensive stuff because I dont know anything. thats why I am asking all you guys. Thanks a million... Rick

I have never painted a car either so if you don't get the answers you are looking for here or still want professional advise, go to your local paint supply house. Most guys working in there have painted cars for a living at one time or another.

I did all the prep work on my car (sand/primer/mask/etc.) So, how are you gonna paint this probe? Rattle can, paint gun?

A good rattle can brand is Dupli Color.

well, id kinda be afraid to use rattle cans to paint the whole car. I'd do the primer with rattlers, but I might invest in a spray gun just for this project. I plan on selling it, so I want it to look really good. I might go ahead and make a design to paint too. For that im gonna have to look around for good tape to make a design with. It'll be a while before I do this, I might even wait until early next year because most people dont wanna buy a fwd sports car during the winter season, plus the moisture would make it hard to paint, so Ive got plenty of time to listen to suggestions, and do some research. I'll appreciate any input anybodys got for me.

Some car paint does not require a base coat clear coat. Some are just glass anywys, so you might want to look into that.

Rattle can paint jobs can look awesome if you use a lot of elbow grease to blend and polish.

wait, what exactly is a base coat clear coat? does that mean using a clear coat before painting, or does it mean using both a base coat and a clear coat? And if I did use a glossy paint, wouldnt I want to clear coat it anyways to protect it? Or do you not clear coat gloss paint? all the paints I have ever used scratch easy. I thought all paint does that and thats why you use clear. am I wrong? I just wanna know my stuff before I do something like this.

Me and my dad painted his Chevy on our own. Tere are two kinds of car paint. The kind that is 2 part, a base coat, which is a flat color which goes on first then a clear coat which makes it glossy, then there is just straight up gloss paint... with 4 or 5 coats it shoudl be more than ok... nothing is going to scratch it anymore than a base coat/clear coat paint job.

what kind of paint did you use? did you use rattle cans? and did you need to wet sand between each coat? and if I did a flat and then clear, would I want to wet sand my last layer of flat before I clear it?

No we used an HVLP gun. We didn't wet sand between coats either. and I don't think you would wetsand the base coat before you clear coat it. Doesn't make sense to, just wait a 3 months then buff out any imperfections. I'm not sure what kind of paint we used exactly, if you goto a body shop of even A paint distributor they will tell you