DIY Paint Jobs

[challengergary]

I have always wondered about the duplicolor paintshop paints. They don't sound like they would set you back to much but I have never seen a car painted with those paints. One interesting thing I saw at the local auto parts store is the colors are solid but they have a metallic clearcoat. So instead of having to spray a metallic you spray the clear and it makes it look like a metallic.

I saw that stuff the other day and was wondering about it too. The paint looks like it is a laquer based paint which I thought the EPA was trying to eliminate. Not sure, I may be wrong. The metallic clear looked kind of neat.

Like everyone hear has said, prep is the key. I've painted several cars myself and my results have been mixed. I've had ones that people thought were professionally done (because I took my time with the body work) and I've had ones that are clearly "amatuer." The best part about any of it is standing back and saying "I did that." Have fun

 

[yellowdartdave]

Here are some examples of my son's work. No paintbooth!!

Honda VFR- Before

After

R6

Wonder where he got the paint? ...left over from when he did the Shaker on the Dakota.

His girlfriend's Camaro

Can't Forget My Kawasaki

 

[MikeyBoy]

thanks guys for the pictures.

im lookin forward to tryin my hand at it, first the maverick, then my brothers dart, then mine, then if i get good enough, my dads 48 special deluxe

 

[73dart360]

Last Week I Painted For The First Time Ever And My Body Guy Said It Came Out Good ,everything Is In The Prep,i Only Painted The Trunk And Bottom Side Of Trunk Lid So If I Screwed Up No Big Deal ,i Asked The Paint Store A Ton Of Questions ,i Thought It Was Fairly Easy,i Would Not Try My Own Body Work ,just Do It It Will Save You A Fortune,if It Doesnt Come Out Great ,wait A Year And Repaint It Again.

 

[stimpy29]

I had quite the experience so far painting the engine bay of my 69 Barracuda. I've never done anything outside of rattle can painting before. I read a lot, spoke to the paint supplier a million times and got a lot of good advice from the folks here. After sandblasting and prep, I did a coat of self-etching primer. That stuff is evil. Make sure you are wearing a mask and nuclear/chemical/biological protective clothing when spraying that stuff.

That coat came out well and next was the primer. The first coat was good, then I left the project for a couple of weeks as work got busy. I scuffed that coat and proceeded to spray another coat of the primer. Me beinga dumb ***, I forgot to sweep, clean and wet down the garage and this coat was full of dust, insects and other fun stuff. So it was sanding time once again.

Once that was taken care of and everything was smooth once again, I proceeded with the base coat (the most stressful period of time). Everything was going relatively well, but I quickly realized that I did not buy enough paint. At first I was just going to paint the engine bay, but then I added the wheel wells among other parts and I scrambled to get another quart of paint. The first coat covered quite well. I proceeded with the second coat about an hour later and progress was being made. Quickly I cleaned the gun, and prepped the clear coat. I managed to get two clear coats done and then that's when I started to notice a problem. The coverage was good, but the orange peel was really bad. I also noticed that I was a little thin in the hard to reach places.

So here I am now, next step is to sand off the clear coat and try again with the top coat, this time making sure I've got the coverage figured out. By now, I'm pretty sure I could have paid someone to do the project, but learning is half the fun...right?

The moral of the story I guess is no matter how much you read, no matter how much advice you get, you're still not going to know until you give it a try. I hope to have some time in the next couple of weeks to finish it up. BTW, I've posted some pictures of the project here: http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=39452

 

[intergalactica]

Here is a link to my first paint job. Roadrunner project

I couldn't afford to have my car painted professionally. I bought a harbor freight purple gun and a 60 gallon air compressor. Read all I could on how to paint a car. As mentioned above it is 90% prep.

The final results

Harbor Freight's purple gun (I assume you mean #43430) is a great gun to start with. I have a friend that's used it several times and he is turning out "award-winning" paint jobs. Of course, like everyone has said, its all in the prep work - 90% prep + 10% paint.

 

[intergalactica]

Spend a few weeks hanging around these two sites - read alot - ask questions ...............

http://autobody101.com/

http://www.autobodystore.com/

There are DVD's available as well AND do a search on Youtube for short videos on paint and body. A good paint job is a huge undertaking for the home hobbyist - prep is everything and takes many, many hours.

Here's perhaps the BEST site of all:

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/body-exterior/

These guys know paint as well as we know our A-bodies. :notworth: