How to paint our cars?

[marvelrunner]

Hey everyone. I have a 96 white Camaro and was thinking about painting it a new color scheme myself. I was thinking about painting it a blue or dark blue with white stripes. And my question is how do i go about doing it. Is it worht it doing myself or should I take it to get painted? Anyone know where i could buy good quality paint? My dad already has a spray gun for paint and was thinking about using that. So if anyone knows any good web sites or knows what to do please tell me. Later

[Cobalt camaro]

Re: How to paint our cars?

That's a huge question to try to explain on here, could you paint a car, i'm sure, most anyone can paint a car, you just have to take your time, and be a perfectionist. To get tips on how to paint, i would suggest going to a bookstore and look into what painting books are available. It's not just painting. If your going to do a color change, you need to completely dissasembe your doors, take the hood off, under the trunk lid, sand and paint all the jambs, and maybe even remove the engine to get the engine bay painted nice. It's not really hard work but very time consuming and tasking. Plus if you have any dents your probally gonna want to fix those too. If you think you can do it i say go for it, just make sure you sand everything to the max, and remove all your seals and trim before you start sanding. Well hope this helped, don't be over welmed with the job, just take it a step at a time and make sure all your work is complete and well done. Good luck man.

[Niko97RS]

Re: How to paint our cars?

ur trying to change the color...thats a huge deal if ur gunna do it right and change everything like the door jams and firewall and stuff...if u really want a dark blue car, buy one.

if u must have YOUR car painted...its gunna cost like $4000 for a good job.

if u dont care about the jams and underside and stuff...and dont mind little imperfections, go for it

[HokieBird]

Re: How to paint our cars?

If your paint is in good shape now then I wouldn't do it.

A quality paint job is all in the prep work. I'm sure you could paint a car, but chances are it isn't going to look half as good as the factory paint.

[acwolfpack07]

Re: How to paint our cars?

yeah i agree it is a really involved job that most should leave to the profesionals cause thats the first thing people see about your car and unless you have hundreds of free hours on your hands you arent commited to do it.

[marvelrunner]

Re: How to paint our cars?

Well I am thinking about doing this during the summer. I am only going to be working untill 6:30. So i plan to work on it at night. I have been doing some research online and it is a big project. But I think that with a little patience and hard work I can get through it. So if anyone has anymore advice or pointers please feel free to tell me. Thanks and later.

[RedRocketbird]

Re: How to paint our cars?

My dad and I painted an old S-10 Blazer I had one time years back. It wasn't very hard, but like someone said above, it's all in the prep work, and I would say the equipment too. I'm assuming you have another ride, cause yours will be immobile for at least a week (if you really know what you're doin. Mine was a week and my dad use to paint hot-rods for a living). Another thing to keep in mind is what are you using for your "paint booth"? You need a room with absolutly as little dust and dirt as possible and ventilated, as well as not having anything in there that you don't want overspray on. If you do a color change, you might as well plan on removing the engine too, cause having a white engine bay with some other color isn't gonna be too hot. Get lots of tape and brown paper in order to mask off everything. Take your time is the biggest thing, and be sure you know how to use the paint gun...or else you're gonna have fish eyes and runs. Hope this helps a bit, those are my best tips.

[hockeyman]

Re: How to paint our cars?

If you have never painted before, I seriously suggest that you DON'T start with your car! As said, you're going to need a somewhat large enclosed facility that is dust & dirt free, and has proper ventillation, a good air compressor, and plenty of knowledge of how to prep the body then mix and lay the paint. You don't just buy a can of paint, pour it into a spraygun and spray it on. It's much more involved!

[Archer]

Re: How to paint our cars?

thats not true about the enclosure.

I paint motorcycles (sportbikes) and I use my garage, the main concern is having a DUST FREE enviroment.

If you have a garage, clean it. TOTALLY. build a frame that will give you aprox 4-6 ft on each side, wrap it in plastic. Get 2 industrial fans. 1 for intake and another for exhaust. you really only need an exhaust fan. but you'll also need filters. you can get them cheap from a home depot or lowes. even cheaper at Menards if you have one. have the filters in front of the exhaust fan. instant paint booth. it works and has the same effect as a pro booth excluding the down drafts.

you need a good gun, use a gravity fed only. if your going to do a GREAT job. you'll want to use it. you can use the siphen (cant spell) feed for primer because your going to sand anyways.

you'll want to spray a guide coat on the car to find the imperfections. fill those in. first prime coat. sand, guide coat, fix imperfections. prime again, if everything is great, then seal ur prime. after the seal is done, you can lay ur base. pending on what you want, single stage, 2 stage, 3 -4 stage paint. follow the directions on the instructs to the 'T' its there for a reason. pending on paint you choose metallic or normal color, you can or can not color sand. lay a coule layers of clear, and color sand. this is a light sand. then lay a couple more and sand. pending on the SHOW AND SHINE.. will depend on how many layers you lay. but remember. too many layers.. it'll flake.

Also another key to remember. masking, prep, mixture ratio, heat, vent., tools, good paint (not cheap), time, and materials.. are your most important asset. dont skimp on paint. get more than you need, you'll also need a flex agent for everything thats NOT metal... which is what 98% of the car? lol thats normally a 10% additive. if this is ur first paint job, I recommend fish eye remover.

BUt before you paint the car, you NEED TO APPLY AND WHIPE OFF WAX AND GREASE REMOVER.. fingerprints suck so WEAR LATEX GLOVES (find great ones at paint stores)
PPG is a great autpmotive paint, pricey but cheaper than HOK.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me or IM me when Im on YIM.

engine bay.. DEGREASE everything. get a great automotive degreaser. you may want to do this on the WHOLE care. wash with car wash NOT dish soap. once you get the clear on and ready to buff, you'll have to wait atleast 24 hours to cure just enough for it to harden, but not be too hard.. give me a holler and i'll walk ya through it, only thing you REALLY have to worry about is burn in. or Burn through.

The painting process is CAKE. its the time in prep work and the way you paint that kills paint jobs. you have a smooth surface to lay paint on, the paint will lay. if you use a metallic, dont worry about orange peel, you cant do anything about it, smooth color, you can guide coat and sand her smooth.

Let me know if you need anything else, Im on here everyday reading. and dont worry, IM not a PRO painter.. I learned on my own, but im going to tackle my camaro this summer too.


OH! and the one thing that pisses me off after a paint job is when I have a customer wax his damn paint within the first 30-60 days. that'll ruin a job faster than anything. I dont use curing lamps to cure the paint, so afterwords, dont wax her. hell I wouldnt drive her for atleast a weekd or 2. wash it lightly with car wash, after a couple weeks in the sun, it'll bake and be heard enough.. then you can wax. but that depends on ur sun intake! lol after a good paint job you can go to ur local paint shop and ask them to bake the car for a couple hours.. it wouldnt be much, alot cheaper than having someone else paint it.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE before you tackle ur car. go to auto body places and ask them for old paint that they are goign to get rid of.. it coost them money to get rid of it, they would be more than happy to GIVE it to you. just remember you'll need the hardner, the flex, the reducer and so forth. THis is alot of info, but read, research and practice!

you'll be fine.
I charge anywhere from $500- $6000 for a paint job. and people come to me... I only messed up my first job. and i had a crap gun set I got from ebay for like $80. Now I own a SATA. lol

Archer

[Niko97RS]

Re: How to paint our cars?

just get a roller and a gallon from home depot

picasso that BlTCH

[phoenix_rising]

Re: How to paint our cars?

Don't do it if you haven't done it before! I did that and used almost $1000 in supplies just to take it in for a pro repaint. Also if you must, use nothing less than PPG brand. I used Sherwin Williams custom mixed auto paint supplies and they suck! Lots of orange peel, color wasn't right, and I've even got some spiderwebbing and cracking. Even using professional tools and being supervised by a professional paint and body man. Plus if you don't have a facility to bake the paint you should not drive it for 6 months or more. 2 months after my car was painted a hailstorm came through and literally ripped the paint right off the car. Shop around and find a shop that will paint it for about $4000. That is actually a bargain with all the work involved in a color change.

[Byrd14]

Re: How to paint our cars?

haven't you noticed why Body Shops charge so much? the reasons are all of the above...