DBeck

iTrader: (3)

I am trying to convince my friend to get his car painted professionally, because i dont think he knows what the hell he is doing. How can I convince him not to? I need some ammo to use when telling him why he should get it done at a good shop.

So give me some past experiences and or stuff they do at shops that you cant do at home.

Thanks,
-Ry

Reject

iTrader: (24)

well first off you want to have a big area for all of he dust and spraying when it comes time, or else all the over spray is going to be everywhere in the garage

DBeck

iTrader: (3)

well he should have enough room. but I am talkin more like, special processes and stuff that he cant do with simple tools. and gettin the same product as a car coming off the production line, or paint shop

JonB

iTrader: (3)

Unless he has experince or someone with experince he's wasting his time. Which it will take alot of time there is alot of prep work that needs to be done to any car for a good paint job. If he is totally serious about doing this, tell him to go to a junk yard and just buy some hoods, doors ect... and practice preping and painting those first untill he gets it down. I would never just jump into painting a car with no experence. I really don't think he will be pleased with the end result with out practice.

luckyou03

iTrader: (8)

just let him do it, tell him to use the spray cans too

camaroextra

iTrader: (10)

Its possible to do it yourself, but if you havent learned from a professional your going to waste a lot of time and money

why do you care anyway?

terr1bleone

iTrader: (1)

tell him to keep the garage floor wet with a hose while painting, keeps the dust level down.

Ell Ess Won

let him do it. If he takes his time and has the proper tools it might turn out ok.

DBeck

iTrader: (3)

cause he will bitch at me about it, and I want to tell him "I told you so" if he does do it and it turns out like ****. Plus maybe i could prevent him from ******* up.

1SicV8

iTrader: (3)

ORANGE PEEL!

and also tell him dust will prolly settle all over it, causing small pits.

if he take time, does great prep work, uses a hvlp gun, and good paint. it might turn out semi ok. but itll still prolly look like a homemade job. its gonna be a huge project thatll take him more then a day or two to do also.

**** might as well go to maaco and have them do it for 300 bucks, itll turn out the same

camaroextra

iTrader: (10)

Coming from someone who works for a professional car painter: doing it yourself is better than a maaco job.

Fogle07

iTrader: (5)

well first off hes going to have to get the tools needed to do the job.
hes going to need a sander
paint guns
all the materials.
if he does it in his garage hes going to end up having to wetsand and buff the whole car especially if hes never painted anything before. theres alot more to painting something than just pulling the trigger on a paint gun.

Charging TA

A few tips if he decides to go through with it...

PAINT WILL NOT COVER ANYTHING, Ive had friends say "oh paint will cover that" when they are lazy and dont do enough prep work prior to painting...

ALSO, painting is the easy part, prep work is what makes a good paint-job show though.

camaroextra

iTrader: (10)

Stop trying to talk the kid out of it, i really wanna see the results

NOBR8KSS

iTrader: (12)

To do it right at home will still cost $2-3K. Unless he already has the guns, filters, paint, compressor, dessicants, paint shop, masks, sanding blocks, filler, primer, experience, etc.

I am going to attempt this in the future, but not until I ahve experience and the proper tools.

chupr0kabra

iTrader: (10)

Does he want it to be a certain color or does he want it to look good?

Assuming the car is rust free, to do it RIGHT, most places I've seen do something along the lines of the following:

1. Disassemble
2. Media blast
3. Re-assemble
4. Align body panels
5. Scuff/sand
6. Fill in lows with filler
7. Sand
8. Sand
9. Sand
10. More sanding
11. Clean surfaces with thinner/paint prep chemicals
12. Tape off areas you don't want to overspray
13. Spray hood and trunk lids
14. Spray car
15. Lay down any graphics/stripes/etc.
16. Clear

That's assuming you know what you're doing in each of those steps. I certainly don't. I don't know many people who really do. GOOD paint and body work is much more art than science. Just because they show 5 second cutaway shots of people doing the above on Overhaulin', Horsepower TV, and Musclecar, doesn't mean it's easy. Proper painting with all the prep work takes time and experience.


-Mike

chupr0kabra

iTrader: (10)

Yeah, tell him to give it the Krylon touch and then post pics of his dumbass car!


-Mike

ChevyChad

iTrader: (50)

First of all, what kind of car is it? I'll answer accordingly

EDS01SS

iTrader: (30)

This is the best answer I have seen yet.If he wants to learn to do it hisself who are you to stop him.Painting and prep work is pretty much like anything else...if you practice you can get good at it or atleast some people can. Body work is definitly an aquired skill but not a single person on this forum popped out knowing how to turn a wrench or whatever it is you do good.It took practice and trial and error.I say let him try it on some old body parts and see where it goes from there.

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

I'm about to attempt it. I've never painted a car before either.

But I've spent a lot of $$ on tools (compressor, watertraps/filters, HVLP guns). Heck, I just spent $200 on sandpaper. And I'm probably going to spend over $1000 on paint (which I lump together as surface cleaner, epoxy primer, primer-surfacer, reducer, basecoat, and clearcoat). The basecoat I'm looking at is $175+ a gallon (R-M Diamont metallic). And I'll need at least 3 (2 Navy Blue, 1 black).

But I have 5 cars that need paint, and am in no hurry. I'll start with the parts cars out back for practice, move up to the $400 car (Fiero - tripling its value with a paint job! LOL), and then start painting my Camaros.