How much do yall think it will cost? I know that a gallon of the Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000 that is on the car right now is around $600, but should it take more than one can to paint the car? Then there is clear coat and hardener, probably another $600. Materials probably $1200 alone! I'm afraid to attempt to paint the car myself and experiment a first time with such expensive products!
What's the alternatives I have here that are cheaper and more affordable? I want it to look nice and be durable. I was thinking possibly taking it to Macco after stripping the chrome trim off and removing the bumpers and rock reflectors, maybe have them cut out and fix the lower quarter panels while they are at it.
I want the exterior of my beloved 78 to reflect the beauty and luxary of it's interior!
Right now the roof and fenders are having clear coat delamination and it looks HORRIBLE.
Dave,
You won't need anywhere close to a gallon of paint! I'll guarantee you could buy a half-gallon and still end up with paint left over. Unless you're doing a color change, a quart should be enough to paint a Pinto, but I really don't like running myself that short. You might want to explore other paint brands also, unless there is some particular reason you're sold on Sherwin Williams. The color you specify will be custom-mixed in whatever brand you select and my experience has been that there's little difference in brands. I bought a half-gallon of paint when I painted my 1979 Continental Mark V and did not use quite all of it. I sprayed three coats.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of Maaco, but their shops vary a lot and some of them are quite good. Ask around. If you can find a small, local shop, they might be more willing to work with you on price than a chain. Don't count out talented DIY's either... some of them can turn out a mean paint job for far less than a shop. Often the guys who work in the shops will do side work at home... doesn't hurt to ask!
Good luck!
Dwayne :smile:
600 is WAY too much for paint in my eyes. i use nason paint which is duponts lower brand. works fine for me. my average pint is around $20 and a gallon of reducer is around $50 i think...its been a while since ive bought reducer. a gallon of nason clear with the activator is $120 ish.
bob
Well the Ultra7000 is what my brother repainted the car with back in HighSchool. For nostagia reasons, I wanted to keep that kind of paint on the car. But anything that is the same color and will last a long time will be good enough for me if the paint turns out to expensive.
Just a word of warning. The guys who do this "on the side" or "will do it in between other jobs for less money" tend to have your car for months, or worse.
Maaco isn't horrible if you do all the prep work. I don't think I would want them doing the repair you mentioned though.
Unfortunately, to a large extent paint jobs are one of those where you really do get what you pay for. Cheap just usually doesn't work out.
Russ
That's what I was thinking, you get what you pay for!
One reason why I wanted to use the same materials and paint my brother used. The paint is of high quality, I would have to pay to have pearl added to it like my brother did though, to get the same results.
I think the biggest reason the clear coat is delaminating, is that the car was repainted four months before it sat for three years, fully exposed to the elements and never maintained. Shortly after I took ownership (legally) I started to wash and wax it on a regular basis, even had to polish the entire car to get it's true shine back. I'm thinking the paint took shock from all of it and just started to deteriorate after being exposed to new chemicals it had never seen.
If I do the job myself, I was considering doing something not so fancy as the metallic canyon blue w/pearl that is on the car now. Perhaps cherry red or something close to ferrari red. Maybe even the bright yellow it was before. Something I wouldn't be as afraid to play with and get a hand for painting. I'm not afraid to do the body work myself, I would be happy to cut out and weld in a new section on the quarter panels, bondo/fiberglass it flat and then do a paint job.
Other touching up that would need to be done to the car before paint is fixing the cowl vent (hood came up on my dad while on the freeway, back in the 80s), and reforming the body lines on the doors where door dings have taken their toll.
Whichever coarse I decide to go, I need to get the wagon up and going, nice and strong, before I take the 78 out of commission for an extended period of time.
Dave, your family is fed before you even consider painting the blue car, right? I thought that was why you were selling Brownie- to feed you and your family.
Oh yes. I'm more playing with the idea right now. The wagon has been up for sale for more than a month now but we are making things work right now. Tax season will come around again and we should be settled.
The quality, or lack of quality, in any paint job lies more in the preparation of the surface and the skill of the painter than in the paint itself. Even the least expensive of automotive finishes should give you a decent shine and good durability if applied correctly over a properly prepared surface. My Ford F-150 was painted six years ago at a material cost of about $300 and looks just fine today. My Mark V cost approximately the same three years later. One important note if you decide to go red: red paint is more expensive for whatever reason.
Dwayne :smile:
Dwayne could not be more correct. To wit: ever seen a car that had poor prep and was painted BLACK? Or ANY dark color? You get the idea. The quality of the final coat is only as good as the prep. In fact, I thought my prep was outstanding in my engine compartment - until I put the color coat down. Yup, color reveals ALL the flaws. Glad it was just an engine compartment.
Like SO many other things where labor is involved - the cost of LABOR is the killer - not the materials. And being that car refinishing requires excellent labor - you pay for it.
PS - red paint is expensive ONLY because of its popularity. Supply and demand.
Chris
Dave, I'm so glad things are getting better! See, good JuJu works! lol.
I agree with Dwayne and Chris...good preparation is key- you want no rust, no oils, no moisture under your paint or you'll understand the word undermine real quick. With Wildfire I have to sand her paint down to bare metal before I have her repainted due to her paint crackling.
Not only is good prep key...so is a good environment free-from-dust to paint your car at. Once you get air flowing in the area, it will not ever piece of loose dust in the vicinity right on top of you tacky paint and will cause a ruined finish.
Also consider that changing the color of a car requires you to cut in the door jambs, engine compartment, trunk, and other areas to make it look right...which is usually very labor intensive. Also, as your car is a repaint, be sure to sand the car thoroughly enough so the new paint will be able to stick as old paint that is too thick will not mix well with the new and cause runs and orange peel.
Once these additional things are considered plus the forementioned...its a lot cheaper to attempt to paint yourself but there are so many things to go wrong that you have to make sure you can afford putting your labor and money into a paint job that might not turn out as well as you have hoped.
Good luck with whichever route you go with!
-beegle55
Good info Beegle! What's the best type of gun to use when painting a car? Air or electric?
Air! An i wouldnt use anything but gravity feed guns. I dont think i have ever even seen Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000 but then again about the only paints i have ever dealt with are Nason,Dupont and House of Kolor.
I think if i paint my bobcat im gunna use a House of Kolor Orion Silver and Use Ice Green pearl over that.
Quote from: popbumper on August 02, 2010, 11:18:50 AM
PS - red paint is expensive ONLY because of its popularity. Supply and demand.
im pretty sure its the pigment that makes it expensive. black or white are more popular yet they are the cheapest. dupont has been doing studies every year for a while now.
http://www2.dupont.com/Automotive/en_US/news_events/article20091201.html (http://www2.dupont.com/Automotive/en_US/news_events/article20091201.html)
bob
Here is a link to the Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000 products:
http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/products/list_products.cfm?subdepartment=2515 (http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/products/list_products.cfm?subdepartment=2515)
From their website:
ULTRA 7000® Basecoat is an easy-to-apply, fast-drying basecoat that uses unique state of the art resin technology. ULTRA 7000® Basecoat offers exceptional clear coat gloss hold out and distinction of image, while providing excellent clearcoat to basecoat adhesion. Ultra 7000® Basecoat provides excellent color match to OEM Basecoat/Clearcoat colors, as well as OEM Underhood Colors. The ULTRA 7000® mixing bank can also be used as a high quality single stage system.
That is their own opinion though. Although it sounds great, it's ultimately up to the car owner or painter as to how good it truly is. I believe the facts that it is fast-drying and that its bond is "excellent" to clear coat are what my brother was sold on when he purchased the paint. He didn't have long to paint the car since he did it in auto body class and wanted it to last awhile.
Quote from: dave1987 on August 03, 2010, 12:58:57 AM
Here is a link to the Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000 products:
http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/products/list_products.cfm?subdepartment=2515 (http://www.sherwin-automotive.com/products/list_products.cfm?subdepartment=2515)
From their website:
ULTRA 7000® Basecoat is an easy-to-apply, fast-drying basecoat that uses unique state of the art resin technology. ULTRA 7000® Basecoat offers exceptional clear coat gloss hold out and distinction of image, while providing excellent clearcoat to basecoat adhesion. Ultra 7000® Basecoat provides excellent color match to OEM Basecoat/Clearcoat colors, as well as OEM Underhood Colors. The ULTRA 7000® mixing bank can also be used as a high quality single stage system.
That is their own opinion though. Although it sounds great, it's ultimately up to the car owner or painter as to how good it truly is. I believe the facts that it is fast-drying and that its bond is "excellent" to clear coat are what my brother was sold on when he purchased the paint. He didn't have long to paint the car since he did it in auto body class and wanted it to last awhile.
Dave,
Other than perhaps the "resin technology" part (not sure about that), that pretty much describes every automotive finish I've ever used. If you get the right paint/reducer ratio, it will dry very quickly, and that's what you want it to do. I'd suggest you go to an automotive paint supply store and talk to the staff there... they are generally VERY helpful and they DO know their products. Talk to a few of the better body shops in your area too and see what they are using.
Dwayne :smile:
Agree with big Tim... We've always seen very good results with a gravity fed air supplied gun. It is imperative to have a high quality in line water separator and is also important to have the gun correctly adjusted to the right spray before painting or else you can really destroy hours and hours of prep within minutes of spraying. Good ventilation is also important to clear out the over spray. And please consider many spray guns before you settle with one...as you get what you pay for. I saw an ad in a Harbor Freight magazine showing a $50 paint gun. I definitely wanna buy $300 worth of paint to shoot on my laborious prep work through a $50 gun....not. Harbor Freight is good for some stuff as not everything needs to be high quality or expensive to do what it is supposed to do.
Agree with Dwayne. That description is based on what thinner and hardener you use that mixes with the paint. That stuff may be good but I've had good luck with the regular DuPont/PPG stuff my auto parts store mixes and sells when you follow the directions for the mixing of reducer and hardener. And I would NEVER recommend a single-stage system unless you are a seasoned veteran or a straight up professional because it is very hard to work with...especially if you aren't spraying in a booth...and the sh!t I shot just didn't look like it had any gloss in it at all...much easier/better results with a base/clear setup...
-beegle55
My brother painted the car in highschool as his auto body final project/presentation. He spent $300 on the gallon of paint (The canyon blue Shermin Williams Ultra 7000 that now costs $600/gal), and used one of those $50 gravity air guns from Harbor Freight. It came out wonderful, he just didn't prep the right and the paint cracked around the headlight bezels. He also didn't remove anything and did a bad job masking, so over spray on a few areas and not quite covering everything around the bumpers.
The Paint on the car still looks great, just the roof is horrible with the clear coat separating and peeling away. The patches get larger every time it rains or there is cool enough weather to create condensation on the clear coat surface.
I agree that if you want good results you have to pay the right amount to get it. You get what you pay for, unfortunately I'm a cheapskate and will go the cheapest but most durable route. I really am eager to do this myself, I would LOVE to learn a new trade (painting and autobody).
Thanks for the input everyone, and keep it coming. lots of good info, tips, and pointers being shared here!
i use hvlp gravity fed now. its a matco $175 unit with a 1.4 tip. it works fine, although id like to get a 1.2 tip. i grew up using siphon guns and i actually prefer them. in fact my primer and back up guns are old binks and devilbis siphons. its all in whats comfortable to you. i had to repaint many a mirror when i switched to a gravity feed. i actually have a $19.95 gravity fed hvlp from harbor freight that i use. its great for sealers. i dont think id be afraid to use it for paint.
im assuming you have next to no experience with painting aside from a rattle can. first thing id do is go to harbor freight and hold gravity and siphon guns. gravity fed and conventional guns do the exact same thing, atomize paint. gravity will do it with less air pressure which means less overspray. remember that with paint in them, the cans are heavier. i would then buy said comfortable $20 gun and head to the nearest parts store with cheap paint. buy whatever is cheap with reducer/thinner. go home and practice. hopefully you have extra crap or scrap cars...makes it easier. or you can practice on your neighbors car without permission if you want to be fed for free by the county jail. your gun should have 2 nobs, fan and feed. learn fan patterns, paint feed, distances...etc. when you get comfortable with the adjustments, practice spraying longer strokes. use whats comfortable for your reach. practice keeping the gun at the same distance throughout the whole stroke. practice keeping the nosil of the gun perpendicular with the surface your painting. your gun will have 2 "notches" when you pull the trigger. first notch is just air and the second ads the paint. practice using this option. practice continuing the air after you release the paint notch and the same with starting while your hands still moving. dont get in the habit of stopping your stroke while spraying paint. this leads to metallic build ups, sags, runs...etc. practice keeping your hand moving. be patient between coats, rushing equals a lot of sanding in the end.
once you learn the gun, get a pint or so of whatever paint youd like to paint your car. learn how it flows, how fast it flashes and how fast it drys. remember that the hotter it is, the faster it flashes and drys. if your not happy/confident with the finish with the cheapo gun, try a better gun. borrow, ask to watch in a body shop, whatever you can do. just remember, a $3000 set of golf clubs doesnt turn a golfer with 6 months experiance a pro.
as said earlier, water separator is a must. water and auto paint dont mix...unless they are of water base. and if your clear is peeling and you want to keep the car, sand ALL the clear off. you may regret not doing that in the future. also as said earlier, the paint is only going to be as good as whats below it. for the cracking around the headlights, im assuming you mean the rubber extentions. paint those and any other rubbery parts seperate with a flex additive.
rememeber, this is body work, not rocket science. practice enough and youll get used to it. you will always learn and dont expect to be a pro in a week. dont waist your money on $1000 worth of stuff youll never use if you dont like it or cant keep the motivation to do. start small...end big. prolong the painting of your car a year if you have to. if you want your car to be a show car, your not going to do it yourself with the first car you spray. if you want a 10 or 20 footer, youll be happy. youll see the flaws, but only close. not to mention, none body shop/painter guys will notice most of the flaws. painting is only 1/3 of a good finish too. dont forget wetsanding, rubbing and polishing. prep work has been discussed already. body work is the most time consuming. getting them panels straight and scratch free is time consuming.
beegle, what single stages were you using? lacquer, enamel, urethane? i felt single stages were pretty easy to work with. enamel isnt really that glossy but will buff pretty decent. although if you want that "period correct" look, youll look deeper into acrylic lacquer for older cars. the tail gate on my work truck infact is a single stage urethane that i used lacquer thinner as the activator. 5 years later it still looks great...well...other than the dents, scratches and the fact that its been washed maybe 4 times since i put it on. lol, that truck is a mix of base/clear coat, urethane single stage and acrylic enamel. whatever is free or left over, gotta love black.
bob
Very good write up turbo. I used a enamel single stage if I recall correctly. I guess I'm not giving it enough credit as I really don't have enough experience to make a fair judgment. Both vehicles I used it on I didn't buff because 1.) Had so many runs and so much dust in it that we just re-prepped the car because my buddy didn't good a fair job on the prep and it lead to sooo many runs...2.) the other was a Dodge 1500 that as long as it had paint, we didn't care how it came out. So with that said I did no finishing with the single stage and guess I passed judgment too quickly...but it seems like even if you just quickly sand, prime, paint, and clear something it comes out looking decent compared to the mishaps I had with the single stage. But I didn't attempt to correct the mistakes made so perhaps it was just my bad...they wouldn't sell it if some didn't like it.
Also my bad on passing judgment on the Harbor Freight equipment. I have a media blaster from there that I love and it was relatively inexpensive and works well so I could see how one of their guns would also work well. And as far as gravity vs. siphon turbo is exactly right. It is your choice via personal perferance and my grandpa (who taught me a lot and worked at a body shop for many years) swears by his Binks siphon gun and had a lot of success with it before one of our painters didn't clean the gun right and screwed it up...but he wants to buy a rebuild kit for it. And I've also heard great things about DeVilbiss equipment.
Also good call on the flex additive/clear coat topics as I overlooked that and its very important.
A suggestion I would make is read read read. Go to your local bookstore and search for an automotive section. There are some great DIY books that are very informative and can learn you a lot combined with some practice. Way better than dropping major money in a body shop...at least to me because I never really want to own a car I'm afraid of driving. So a 20 footer or at least a 8/10 job does good for meee. :) I'm more about speed anyways...turbo 302 or nitrous injection shortly? I think so.. :2fast4u:
-beegle55
Turbo74, your input makes me want to try painting my car!!! Something, like rebuilding my engine and transmission, I'm deathly afraid to attempt, as I'm liable to screw it up. Thank you for the info! ;D
Alrighty! Great info there bob! I have a wagon tailgate in storage I can practice on. It's got flat surfaces, curves, pinches around the corners and sharp edges. Should be able to play around well with it!
I found the paint I want. I can go with the Nason color, Red. For 3/4 gallon it's $115.90, with reducer and the hardener it's $152.60. After clear coat is added to the bill with it's hardener, it's up to $275.44 for the entire paint job, but that doesn't include the tack rags and sand paper to remove the old clear coat. Not as worried about that though right now.
If I want to go with the original Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000 that my brother used, along with all the other additives and stuff, including clear coat, it's up to $650.68. $182.90 for the 3/4 gallon of paint and $238.75 :hypno: for the clear coat.
The red is sounding really nice since it's affordable, and I've always wanted a hot and flashy fun to drive red car! :D
I'm getting really excited about painting the car now! :D
Dave, what color is the interior? If it's blue, will that bother you?
Red is not a good choice. as someone mentioned previously the pigments make it expensive. They also tend to make it very translucent which translates to a lot of paint plus a color change will eat up way more than a mixed gallon. If you do go red, depending on the shade it may be more cost and coverage effective to give the car a coat of white silver or black first. especially if any panels have repair work and dont match the current color of the car (assuming you where going to block off the clear and leave the current base color and not re prime the whole vehicle.)as reds will tend to reveal variations in the underlying color. Solid light colors are the best at hiding imperfections when it comes to beginner painting.
beegle While surface prep will determine how good the final product looks and lasts and the topcoat will always reveal poor prep it does not result in runs or orange peel. you are either over reduced. spraying to close or just to heavy on runs. orange peel is reducer selection in most cases as the paint needs time to rest and self level before it flashes off. thats the trick. to mix up and spray a coat of paint that stays wet long enough to flow out level yet not sag or run it. that fine line between the porridge being to hot to cold or just right.
OhSix'
Becky, the 78 has black interior.
OhSix', thanks for that info. I've heard that silver can be a pain in the neck to do right. Would silver be a bad choice? I was thinking of doing a Stallion color scheme as well.
Quote from: dave1987 on August 05, 2010, 03:33:37 AM
Becky, the 78 has black interior.
OhSix', thanks for that info. I've heard that silver can be a pain in the neck to do right. Would silver be a bad choice? I was thinking of doing a Stallion color scheme as well.
Personally, I would avoid metallic paint for a first effort. Pastels or white are the most "forgiving" for the novice painter. Also, for whatever it's worth, I am a big believer in priming the entire car. It doesn't cost that much more and it assures more even color.
Dwayne :smile:
Quote from: blupinto on August 05, 2010, 12:02:41 AM
Turbo74, your input makes me want to try painting my car!!! Something, like rebuilding my engine and transmission, I'm deathly afraid to attempt, as I'm liable to screw it up. Thank you for the info! ;D
youll never know until you try!!
beegle, i agree that harbor frieght stuff isnt much to write home about. i would not used much there commercially, just out of my preferance. but i feel for a beginner or someone that will use the tools every now and then its fine. id just hate to see him waist the money if he doesnt enjoy it in the long run.
bob
Ahh, been awhile since I checked and posted in this thread...
Well I am contemplating painting the car again. The clear coat delamination is just getting worse. Now the trunk is starting to peel! The quarter panels by the rear glass is peeling as is the tops of the fenders. It's beginning to look like a beater even though it's very well taken care of. I'm still cut between the Red like Jeff's car was, or the blue it is now. Been thinking.....
If I stay with the blue the car is now, but leave out the pearl....If I sand off the clear coat down to the paint....I shouldn't need AS MUCH paint right? I need to repair some deep scratches that go through to the original yellow paint, repair the quarter panels and the cowl, and strip the stone deflectors and headlight buckets so they can be painted over again with flex additive paint.
I have some cash coming my way from my vacation payout at work, so I'm thinking of getting the paint now and painting it next summer. It's still around 90 degree weather, but have other things that still need done before winter sets in.
Also, the car was originally painted with a harbor freight gravity feed gun. We actually still have the gun it was sprayed with, still works well to, I painted the front valance with it a year or two ago. My dad has a water seperater for the air compressor, and I could up the minimum pressure on the tank so I don't loose to much air pressure during painting.
Quote from: dga57 on August 05, 2010, 04:02:31 AM
Personally, I would avoid metallic paint for a first effort. Pastels or white are the most "forgiving" for the novice painter. Also, for whatever it's worth, I am a big believer in priming the entire car. It doesn't cost that much more and it assures more even color.
Dwayne :smile:
Quote from: turbo74pinto on August 05, 2010, 02:47:00 PM
youll never know until you try!!
beegle, i agree that harbor frieght stuff isnt much to write home about. i would not used much there commercially, just out of my preferance. but i feel for a beginner or someone that will use the tools every now and then its fine. id just hate to see him waist the money if he doesnt enjoy it in the long run.
bob
Dwayne: I am in the beginning of paint prep, and my original finish is oxidized but mostly solid. Guy at the paint shop told me that it is not necessary to prime the whole car, for my case, since I am going with stock color over original paint, all I need to do is scuff/repair the dings, do what body work is required, and then spray the car with SEALER to ensure there is no bleed-through of pigment.
I tend to beleive the guy - any thoughts on sealer?
Chris
It has been my experiance that with the new urethane paints the very aggressive solvents need a sealer to avoid visable lines where any body work was done. These new paints really bite into the sub layers.
Chris, I was thinking the same as you, since I'm probably going to keep the blue it is now. Deffinitely need a sealer if doing any body work now-a-days. If you were going with an old school enamel it would be different though.
In fact I AM going with original color an paint type - acrylic enamel, with the color being 1976 Medium Chestnut brown metallic. This of course makes all the painting "easier" since color is original, and, since the car is completely apart, no worries there....I can get at everything.
To date, all I have been able to paint were the engine compartment, radiator frame and cowl, but they turned out BEAUTIFUL, albeit with some dust in them. I do not have the luxury of a dust free environment, I'm gonna have to figure out the best way to handle that. The paint I used was Deltron, with reducer and hardener, the gloss on the paint is unbelievable - like I painted with plastic!
Along those lines, can anyone tell me - DUST - IF I get dust in the finish, can enamel be compounded like lacquer? Can it be carefully sanded after drying and then "rubbed out" with the proper materials to gain the brightness back?
I recall my '79 wagon with original enamel finish - I was able to compound it without any issues.
Chris
Quote from: popbumper on September 19, 2011, 03:34:00 PM
I do not have the luxury of a dust free environment, I'm gonna have to figure out the best way to handle that.
Best way to keep dust down I have found in a dusty enviroment is to wet the floor down it actually helps alot.
A couple days prior to painting blow all the dust off the walls & ceiling then wash & squeegee the floor. About 2 hours before painting open up windows & tape furnace filters in them. Wet the floor down & put a couple box fans under the garage door & pull the door down on them. Let them pull any remaining dust out of the air.
Wet the floor again prior to paint. Dress in a disposable painter suit, wear a food prep quality hair net & blow yourself off outside to remove dust. Wipe your airhose clean as well.
Air compressors throw oil mist in the air as they run. I have mine in another room. Don't spray any WD40, tire dressings, armor all or silicone sprays in that garage for a couple weeks prior to paint,
I not a pro by any means but I use $50 spray guns for primer & sealer & my $279 (12 years ago) Sharpe HVLP for paint. Use a brand new disposable auto painters water filter at the gun for primer, sealer & paint. Stack 2 of them if it's humid the day you spray.
Use the correct reducers for temp & humidity levels & for gods sake follow the paint manufacturers directions to the letter. This goes for flash times as well as sealer to top coat intervals. If you eff up the sealer don't paint. Let it dry, fix the mistakes(runs, etc) wetsand then seal again & paint another day.
I hope some of this helps.
Just read this for the first time today. Had Macco do my 77 bob three years ago. There are 5 Macco shops in Denver area. They all have different prices. Get bids from all in your area then play them off one another to get the best deal. I got the macco with the best reputation to match the lowest price and then throw in a few extras.
Bill
I am not throwing the Macco idea out the window, but I really want to do the paint myself. I take a lot of pride in knowing that everything done to my cars is done by ME. All but an alignment and resurfacing brake components and flywheels. Other than that I do everything myself.
I will need to see how long my dad will let me borrow the garage, as they have a big meat freezer out there as well as their second refrigerator that they don't use to much.
I was thinking of blowing dust off EVERYTHING in the garage one day (with fans running under the garage door like you stated), then let it all settle and do it again a day or two later and let that settle. After that, I know my dad would make it mandatory to put up plastic sheeting over EVERYTHING in the garage, but I would do the ceiling as well, just going around the lights though. I was thinking I should cover the floor with plastic as well, to ensure I don't ruin my dad's garage floor if i spill or over spray.
A few questions:
How much does a disposable paint suit cost? I was thinking of picking up two or three since I probably won't get it all done in ONE day.
Also, how much does a good mask go for? I was thinking of getting something decent since I plan to paint my station wagon as well, down the road, and my wife and I plan to buy another Tercel Station Wagon like her first car and repaint that too.
Food prep quality hair nets arn't a problem, I work at Jack In The Box and we always have those available, it's company policy.
You will thank me for the hair net suggestion when you shower after the painting is done. Keeping hair out of the paint is important but getting enamel paint out of your hair is next to impossible.
Painters suits are less than 5 bucks. Harbor Freight has them & disposable filters cheap.
Wet the floor before each time you blow the dust down & always wash & squeegee the mess off the floor. Anything you DON'T want body color needs a NEW drop cloth taped or stapled secrely over it. If the ceiling is finished drywall plastic is a waste of time. If you have open rafters it's required. Clean the overhead shop lights well also. extra shop lights on the walls & at the front & back are a godsend. I also have 10 clamp on lights to light the whole car.
A good respirator can be had for 25 to 30 bucks. Mine was 25 & has changeable cannisters.
Plastic on the floor DOES NOT WORK!! DO NOT TRY IT!! It will stick to your feet, fling water on the car & generally ruin your paint job. Keep the floor wet to keep most paint from sticking. Just clean the floor well the next day if there is overspray on it.
Sealer & paint MUST be sprayed the same day, usually within an hour of each other.
Use expensive painters masking tape & masking paper. Trying to save $25 here will give you grief, trust me.
Chris,
I've always done all-over primer and have never used sealer. It makes sense to me that it would probably yield the same result. The main thing is to not have any bleed-through, whatever method you use. Hope it turns out great!
Dwayne :smile:
im 17 and i painted mine! looks great too! i'm willing to bet you can do it. at harbor freight they sell very cheap gravity feed paint guns that actually work pretty good if your on a tight budget. I used dimension on my car which is a sherwin williams product. I think it was $120 a gallon and hardener was 80 a gallon and mixes 2 to 1 so you only need 1/2 gallon to every gallon of paint. Its not the best product as far as coverage but sprays great and looks very good. I have been told utech is the way to go though. Still only around 200 a gallon but covers 2 to 3 times better. all of them have pretty good durability as long as the surface is prepped right. im sure they have videos on youtube for how to spray automotive paint. and keep it clean!!!! wash the car and shop wet the floor and get good airflow. Cracked door and a fan in the window
I know others have had good luck with cheap guns but if you plan to do a few paint jobs spring for a Sharpe, Binks or DeVilbiss gun. A good one can be had for $125ish & last a lifetime if you only paint occasionally. I have yet to paint an entire car with my $300 gun(painted 2 of my buggies) but I have it when I need it. I do have 4 cars to paint if I ever find the time.
So my dad pointed me to Macco. :(
Looks like I will be stripping the car of the bumpers, mirrors and door handles, sand it down and do some minor body work then send it out.
Some day I will have my own home to do this all at, it's just a matter of time....