DIY quality paint job

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xempirex

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How good a paint job can I really do in my garage? Clearly not professional but can I expect any kind of decent results?
 
Research Rustoleum. Enough Said.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPJTTRWttQ"]YouTube - How to paint your car with Rustoleum. The right way.[/ame]
 
My dad and I painted my 71 Corvette in our garage. It didn't turn out too bad, the big issue was that it was a single stage paint. This made it hard to buff out since you got into the color real quick. The other main issue is keeping the dust down to minimize overspray. Throwing some good sheeting down would probably help. The overspray came off pretty easy with a simple soft buffer and some time, made it look a lot better than I thought it would, not show quality by any means, but looked a lot better than all the touch up splotches it had before. A lot of it really just boils down to your equipment and dedication. There's a place near me that actually rents out paint booths for sanding or painting, you might see if you have one nearby. The one around me seemed reasonably priced, something like $200 a day I think with different rates for long term or short term.

I know the pictures aren't too close so you can't see any real detail, but it's a good parking lot paint job and holds up okay under scrutiny. We had big issues with water in our compressor, needed a much better dryer to keep the gun from dripping in a few places.
 

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I've seen some pretty decent paint jobs come out of home garages
 
I painted my 65 in my garage , it turned out pretty nice. I used acrylic enamel single stage. Dust is a issue, the best advice I can give is to plastic off the area used for painting and wet the floor down. Hope this helps.
 
dust is a big issue and so is air flow if you don't have air movement the paint will smother itself and forget the single stage go base coat clear coat the base (the color) will go on like laquer and flash quickly this way between coats you can tac off the dust before the next coat two to three coats of base a final tac on the last coat, and then three coats of clear.then wet sand the clear after twelve hours and buff. no color on the buffing pad no burn marks in the paint. durable in yhe sun light. and clear coat is definetly a must over metallic
wetting down the floor is a good idea. so is plastic just keep in mind the over spray collected on the plastic is not permanent if the plastic is disturbed that overspray dust will fall into the paint. and you have to be clean also. shower and clean clothes before you paint. most dirt in paint jobs come off of painter
 
im going to try the duplicolor paint system, its all pre mixed. a little more pricey than my original plan of just buying a gallon of acrylic enamel. just remember the preperation is the most important part of a quality paint job.
 
That Vette looks good!!

Thanks for all the tips on this.

What is the difference between the enamel and the lacquer?
 
res1vw21 said:
wow what a joke 4days to do one panel and in the end will peel quickly.... I could have an entire car painted sanded and buffed in less time with much better results...
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I'd expect this twist of detail out of a naysayer, and it's 4 days for an entire car. Last time I checked you gotta let each coat dry anyway right? Peel Quickly? Are you high? Have you ever used this product on a properly prepped surface? I don't think a first timer is going to set any land speed record anyway. Check your ego and negative vibes my man.
 
with the base clear system you can expext a quality paint job but it takes experience in painting ,wetanding and buffing and using the proper compounds for finishing it up,these were done in the backyard garage
 

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My son is a painter..mostly motorcycle and BMX bikes but he has done bigger stuff.
And he did them outside.
There was a little bit of dirt in the paint but he sanded it out and spotted it in before he laid on the clear.
He is really good and takes his time.

My Shaker Hood

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His Girlfriend's Camaro

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mattb1977 said:
I painted my 65 in my garage , it turned out pretty nice. I used acrylic enamel single stage. Dust is a issue, the best advice I can give is to plastic off the area used for painting and wet the floor down. Hope this helps.
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I would advise against wetting the floor down...because if the water starts to evaporate you might as well give up....I may be young but Ive painted every car Ive ever owned (21 cars one for every year ive been alive. and one of them like 12 different times) and i only wet down the floor one time and the paint bubbled around the rocker panels because of the evap.
 
Lot's of good looking "homemade" paint jobs. Looks like I can give this a shot!!
 
I have done several.
My opinion: Yes it can be done.

I recommend a base coat clear coat system, with several layers of clear.

Why?
Invariably despite your best efforts, you will get dust, dirt, and bugs in the paint. Several coats of clear allow you to wet sand it smooth, and get a near professional finish when it is all said and done.

Are you changing colors?
 
yes, I will be changing colors. It's a brownish color now. I originally wanted to go black but I am not sure how that will turn out so I think I will go with a dark gray color.
 
Backtobasics said:
I have done several.
My opinion: Yes it can be done.

I recommend a base coat clear coat system, with several layers of clear.

Why?
Invariably despite your best efforts, you will get dust, dirt, and bugs in the paint. Several coats of clear allow you to wet sand it smooth, and get a near professional finish when it is all said and done.

Are you changing colors?
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Dead on. A good friend of mine and previous roommate is a professional paint and body guy. Due to the fact that he was nowhere near as good in his personal life as he was a paint and body we did many a paid job out of the garage. 2 big issues to contend with in a garage, (1) matching your thinner to the varying temps of a garage. This just takes experience to figure out, but spraying all at once is even more crucial. (2) Backtobasics is completely right. Inevitably the clear wont be smooth, pock marks, and debris. Generally sprayed 3-4 coats giving plenty of clear to work with while wet sanding.
 
spraying all at once, as in the whole car at once vs. one section at a time?
 
xempirex said:
spraying all at once, as in the whole car at once vs. one section at a time?
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Yes, because of the difficulty of changing the thinner in relation to the changed weather of other days and because frankly paint is great about getting airborn and sticking to particles in the air dropping them back to earth, after about about 20min of spraying your garage is nearly particle free lol, and atleast this way the inevitable particles stay hidden under several coats of color
 
I would certainly agree with the base coat clear coat approach, gives you a lot more opportunity to fix problems before you get to the final product. The single stage stuff I used on the Vette is nice for a quick job since it's mostly spray it and forget it, but if you want to fix anything you pretty much have to start back at square one on that section. And, like just mentioned, matching it can be a pain since we had to mix hardener and thinner and such. I was really thinking about redoing my Dart one of these days with the Duplicolor system. I'm not at all a body man, so the pour and spray idea is welcomed for me.
 
check out
http://www.autobodystore.com

The guy who runs the site is Len. There is a ton of good information on there and if you need any tools/supplies he has them there too. There is also a forum with a good sized community of people that know what they are doing.
I plan to start the body work on my dart very soon i just need to get a stud welder.
Hope this helps
 
Also I forgot to mention. You can probably find someone that rents paint booths in your area. I found one near me i plan on using check craigslist they seem to be on there often
 
Randy(old roommate) taught me just enough to hang myself lol. He's getting the barracuda to do...

Replaced Bio Hazard(89 Legend that some of you saw in posts, hate rice) picking up a 90 Cherokee as soon as the owner gets it idling without it dying, that i'll probably flat black single stage. Single stage is definitely the cheapest way to go as well as the easiest to spray.

I can't put it better than what Randy told me once a long time ago. "spraying clear coat is a controlled run"
 
i have done many good garage paint jobs and for the most part you could literally throw dirt on the car as long as you use high solids clear because the finish is all in the wet-sand and buff.
 
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