Painting your car

[Cornerbuddy28]

I am thinking of getting an old Impreza and turning it into a rally machine. One thing I'd like to do though is paint it royal blue like the suby WRC rally car. I'd like to do all the work on this car myself but I have never painted a car before? I've been reading up on how to do it but I'm wondering if anybody here has done it or knows someone who has. Is it something you can do well on your own? or will I probably screw it up? I have a sprayer that belongs to my dad, and I'd have to buy the paints, primers, clearcoat and whatnot. I'm pinched for cash so I want to don't want to pay other people to do work on my car if it is something I can do myself. Any advice, tips, tricks you have for me would be great. Also where can I find the the paints, primers and clearcoat?

Thanks
-Colin

[SabreKhan]

Painting a car is a difficult project. You have to have an absolutely clean project area if you want a good finish. No dust or pollen or anything. Like, inside a garage that has been cordoned off with giant sheets of plastic. And since you're painting indoors you'll also need an air filter of some sort to breathe. Primer coat needs a long time to set, too, so you can't drive the car for a long time (unless you don't mind bug guts in your paintjob... because you can never get them all off really). I would hazard a guess that it would cost you almost as much to do it yourself as it would cost you to have Maaco put a cheap paintjob on it.

[freakray]

The WRC car isn't royal blue.
It's WR Mica blue.

[Cornerbuddy28]

So the materials and paint would be nearly as expensive as a cheap paintjob from Maaco?
How much does paint cost? I heard from my friend that its about 300 for everything.
And how much would a full paint job cost? (roughly)

[SabreKhan]

Maaco advertizes on TV for a $200 paintjob. That's a cheap paintjob, but for a racecar that's really all you want since an expensive one is going to get just as torn up just as quickly.

[Sm00vEwRx99]

Id go for the pro job if it means you have to wait longer to save up more cash it'll be worth it, n ull get a quality job. What rims are you guna ride on, i personally think ghold colour rims suit, blue and black subarus..looks nice but so dose a nice set of chromes but thats just me, good luck with your car man

[Cornerbuddy28]

Thanks. Yeah I'm definitly going with some 5 spoke gold rims. Those look so nice with the blue
Here's a picture of what I hope to make my car look like: http://www.fastlane.com.au/News/Impreza_WRX_STi.JPG

[Prigo]

I want goldies for my 2000 RS, someone trade me

[SabreKhan]

Speakin' of wheels, anybody got any O.Z. Crono Evolutions (17x7.5, 5x100) that they want to get rid of? I'll gladly dispose of them for you by putting them on my car.