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How hard would it be????

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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 04:50 PM
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Default How hard would it be????

If I get a good paint gun (as in a professional quality gun, with the gravity tank on top of the gun and all) how hard is it to do your own paint, including primer, clearcoat, the whole nine yards? Is it even possible to do outside of a paint booth? I wouldn't just go into it without any idea of what I'm doing. I'm going to do a ton of research on it, but I'm wondering if its possible. I want to buy a worn out f-body and redo EVERYTHING. So I thought it would be awesome if I could do it almost all myself, including the paint. But I want it to be high quality. I want it to look immaculate. So just wondering if its possible???
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 04:52 PM
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requires skill, perfect prep work, and a very clean enviroment aka paint booth.
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 10:36 PM
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you can do it, there have been several paint jobs done, a lot of guys do it, painting isnt hard at all, you just have to make sure you do it right, mostly a good paint job is the prep work, having the right amount of pressure and not getting any dust/dirt in your car, you can paint it in your driveway, but spray your driveway floor with water and it will trap 99% of the dirt/dust on the ground. Do a few searched on the net and youll find some good info. Its not going to be perfectly immaculate but you can do a pretty damn good job if you take your time, mostly its practice. Alot of places will let you rent their paint booth also.
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 10:37 PM
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the paint work is only as good as the prep for it.
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 10:41 PM
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I can't believe what I'm reading.

True, paint work is only as good as the prep. That is, if you can do killer paint work to begin with. Paint work can easily be crappier than all the prep you put into it. I hate how some people think it's as simple as going online, reading a few sites, books, and maybe even watch a video (aka TONS of research, but ZERO experience). Truth is, without experience, you can get a decent paint job. Immaculate? Nope.

That's why people pay thousands of dollars for paint jobs. It's no over-night trade; you need YEARS of experience to pull it off right, and to pull it off right EVERY time.
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 10:48 PM
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dont do it outside of paint booth youll have kinds of junk mixed in with paint, bugs, ect.....and you need a steady hand other wise youll have runs all over the place.... DONT DO IT.....
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 11:35 PM
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You CAN do a good job painting yourself, there are several factors that can make your paint come out back but if you practice you can elminate a lot of them, what i would do is go get your gun, get some cheap paint at a store that has been returned, there will be several cans of it on display. Then go to a salvage yard and pick up an old fender, get your prep work down and spray it a bunch to get your stream right and you will be good to go, a guy posted a thread about a week ago where a guy painted his bumper in the back yard and it looked damn good.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 12:05 AM
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Lucas, I still have that Firebird hatch that Zach gave me, we could pull the glass and prep it and practice spraying some NBM on it, kinda wanna see what a NBM Firebird hatch would look like anyway. Its got some decent curves to it so it would be good practice.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 01:20 AM
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I have thought about dooing it. I paint apartments with a sprayer, but i think the prep, sanding, and clean enviroment would be difficult.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 01:50 PM
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Originally Posted by NightWindDriftr
I can't believe what I'm reading.

True, paint work is only as good as the prep. That is, if you can do killer paint work to begin with. Paint work can easily be crappier than all the prep you put into it. I hate how some people think it's as simple as going online, reading a few sites, books, and maybe even watch a video (aka TONS of research, but ZERO experience). Truth is, without experience, you can get a decent paint job. Immaculate? Nope.

That's why people pay thousands of dollars for paint jobs. It's no over-night trade; you need YEARS of experience to pull it off right, and to pull it off right EVERY time.
Dude, you don't have have to treat me like I'm an idiot. It's not like I wasn't going to be practicing on stuff. I don't expect to read a book and know how to fly a plane. I wasn't just gonna jump in and start painting a car. IF I do this I plan on practicing a LOT, and most likely renting a paint booth. Every painter had to start somewhere.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 01:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Trust
Lucas, I still have that Firebird hatch that Zach gave me, we could pull the glass and prep it and practice spraying some NBM on it, kinda wanna see what a NBM Firebird hatch would look like anyway. Its got some decent curves to it so it would be good practice.
Yeah we should do that. It would be good practice.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 01:54 PM
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Originally Posted by transambandit
you can do it, there have been several paint jobs done, a lot of guys do it, painting isnt hard at all, you just have to make sure you do it right, mostly a good paint job is the prep work, having the right amount of pressure and not getting any dust/dirt in your car, you can paint it in your driveway, but spray your driveway floor with water and it will trap 99% of the dirt/dust on the ground. Do a few searched on the net and youll find some good info. Its not going to be perfectly immaculate but you can do a pretty damn good job if you take your time, mostly its practice. Alot of places will let you rent their paint booth also.
Yeah I had heard about the water trapping the dust/dirt. I plan on doing a lot of practice if I even do this at all. It was just an idea I thought would be cool to do. I had thought about renting a paint booth too. Any idea what places usually charge for this?
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 06:13 PM
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My dad and I have painted several vehicles in his barn. It's no paint booth but it works fine. We've had a few small bugs wind up in the paint. If you're lucky you can sand them out. People seem to think that painting is some kind of black magic. Super trick custom kandies and graphics are hard to do and do take years of experience to master. Simple single color paint jobs are not that hard, especially if it's a non metallic paint. Like has been said above, grab an old panel and practice on it. You can get really good results and the satisfaction of doing it yourself. My dad and I painted my Sonoma a couple years ago and did a two tone. It looks good and everyone is amazed how well it turned out. Don't let the naysayers discourage you. Read, practice, and practice some more and you'll be good to go. Oh..and sanding is the key to a good paint job. Everything needs to be sanded perfect and then sanded some more after primer, and color sand the paint if it's not as smooth as you'd like and then sanding the clear before buffing. I've seen a TON of crap paint jobs because people didn't take the time to properly sand between layers or sand the clear and buff it out.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 07:06 PM
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Painting is not as easy as some think but it is not rocket science. You need to have a decent place to paint to start off. Renting a booth can be a few hundred dollars for the day. A garage with heat and a wet floor can turn out quite a few nice paint jobs, trust me. You do need experiance and even after you have been doing it a while you are always learning something. Like others said, do a lot of practice before you shoot something you really care about.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted by SSON20S
Painting is not as easy as some think but it is not rocket science. You need to have a decent place to paint to start off. Renting a booth can be a few hundred dollars for the day. A garage with heat and a wet floor can turn out quite a few nice paint jobs, trust me. You do need experiance and even after you have been doing it a while you are always learning something. Like others said, do a lot of practice before you shoot something you really care about.
Well thats the thing...if I do this its going to be on a car that has been trashed. I'm thinking about buying an f-body that hasn't been taken care of, and wanted to repaint it myself if its possible. And I think I can do it. I'm going to practice a lot before I try it on the car.
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Old Oct 28, 2006 | 09:35 PM
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Originally Posted by GETGONE
My dad and I have painted several vehicles in his barn. It's no paint booth but it works fine. We've had a few small bugs wind up in the paint. If you're lucky you can sand them out. People seem to think that painting is some kind of black magic. Super trick custom kandies and graphics are hard to do and do take years of experience to master. Simple single color paint jobs are not that hard, especially if it's a non metallic paint. Like has been said above, grab an old panel and practice on it. You can get really good results and the satisfaction of doing it yourself. My dad and I painted my Sonoma a couple years ago and did a two tone. It looks good and everyone is amazed how well it turned out. Don't let the naysayers discourage you. Read, practice, and practice some more and you'll be good to go. Oh..and sanding is the key to a good paint job. Everything needs to be sanded perfect and then sanded some more after primer, and color sand the paint if it's not as smooth as you'd like and then sanding the clear before buffing. I've seen a TON of crap paint jobs because people didn't take the time to properly sand between layers or sand the clear and buff it out.
Thanks for the encouragement. I was thinking it might not be possible, but I believe I can take the time to do really good prep work, sanding, and the works. So I'd like to try it. I just knew it would be a lot more rewarding for me to build a nice car including the paint and stuff.
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