How difficult is painting a car?

[bradartigue]

So I guess painting it with the shop doors open on a rainy day "to keep the dust low" isn't the way to go? This is how one of the local guys used to paint FIATs. They'd rust pretty quickly

[azruss]

shoot it after the rain stops for 8 hours. ground is still damp. 90% of the dust that gets in the paint will come from the walls, ceiling , and floor of the shop.

[SoFlaFiat]

Brad,
Don't put lipstick on the pig, just take it out to the woods and run it! Way more fun than painting!
Oh, and obviously, yes, lost mind, welcome to the club...

[quanta2]

I painted mine myself with good quality urethane and clear. Not a show finish, but looks real good from 10'. Was a good education and I'm glad I did it. I would do a better job next time.

[bradartigue]

Brad,
Don't put lipstick on the pig, just take it out to the woods and run it! Way more fun than painting!
Oh, and obviously, yes, lost mind, welcome to the club...

I may paint it with a mop. I saw that online recently.

This is really just a big excuse to get a giant air compressor.

[SoFlaFiat]

I painted a Saab with a roller years ago! Looked amazing til I ran out of beer watching it dry and headed in town. Rained on the way and provided a perfect alligator skin finish. Drove it like that for years.
How's the new compressor working out?

[bradartigue]

I painted a Saab with a roller years ago! Looked amazing til I ran out of beer watching it dry and headed in town. Rained on the way and provided a perfect alligator skin finish. Drove it like that for years.
How's the new compressor working out?

Have yet to buy it.

[BrianS]

with the amount of time and work it takes to get a car ready for paint . I personally do not want to mess that all up trying to paint it my self. You may be able to do what i have done. Ask a body shop to just spray it for you, you do all the prep work,masking, wipe down , and cleaning right before they paint it. most body shops have a paint system they will charge you for only the paint and supply used. ( I believe it only took two quarts to spray the spider) the paint, shop use, and supplies cost me around 400.00 and then i paid the painter 500.00 so a total of 900.00. we did it over the weekend so it did not disrupt the body shops regular work week.

the waterbased paint the EPA now makes them use is a little more difficult to spray according to the painter. and takes a lot longer to dry.

another option for you is high schools, most have paint booths and you may beable to rent or even pay them to paint it for you.

[DieselSpider]

The school I went to did that however on occasion the kids did act up and have paint fights one of which involved one kid trying to escape the bully by jumping inside the car. The bully just went in after him and the car then had to be reupholstered along with requiring the dash to be replaced. The school has you sign a waiver of liability so the owner had to pay for the cleanup.

Be cautious about the school and check out what they will be responsible for and if they will cover fixing damages/vandalism done by the students.

[AriK]

I get leery leaving any of my cars with some of the mechanics out there, let alone high school students.

[baltobernie]

... you do all the prep work, masking, wipe down, and cleaning right before they paint it.

This is the route that I took as well, and am very pleased with the results. In my case, the shop had me buy all of the materials. My bill was also $900, but that included a large dent repair in addition to masking and spraying. He even gave me a brief lesson on color sanding and polishing (on my car ) afterward.

[80spiddy]

The Spider was my third car painting (second with basecoat/clearcoat). I had it all apart and painted everything (finished last week). I used 3/4 gallon of paint non mixed. As said, bodywork takes time and shows. I bought all my products from TCP Global. I use a Craftsman 25 gallon compressor and it worked fine. Plugged into 110 outlet. I had better luck spraying with the old suction feed gun than the new hvlp gravity feed gun due to metallic wanting to settle in cup and give some light silver looking blotches. Straight color would work better. I also painted much of the car in my open garage with fans blowing out. My materials cost about $700. Do it and good luck.

[DieselSpider]

These new paint prices are giving me a heart attack. It used to be about $35 for a gallon of straight enamel, $8 for the thinner and $15 for the surfacer to fill any imperfections from the welding/solder/filler/flapwheels.

The price of the "World Class" PPG paint for my Aprilia is $150 a pint not including the Clear Coat for a fairly simple silver color.

If the old school paints are still available wouldn't they be truest to the original intent of these cars and cost substantially less?

[bradartigue]

I've prepped plenty of cars and had others paint them, I'm interested in the painting part myself.