Ever paint your own car?

[dlminehart]

My daughter's 1987 Corolla could use a new paint job. Maaco quoted about $400-500 for doing it. I googled around and found this web site: http://www.easypaintyourcar.com/ . The guy sells a $10 instruction kit on how to do it yourself for under $100, using auto-quality urethane and an HVLP spray gun. Anyone used his method? How'd it go? Would you recommend it as a father/daughter weekend project?

I might note that, if I can't sell her on this method, I think she'll opt for her preferred solution, which is to get some friends to join her in spray painting it weirdly . . . ideas floated so far have included a flaming skull vomiting rainbows, Van Gogh's Starry Night, fire engine lime green, Jackson Pollack drips, Seurat stippling, etc.

I'm hoping that the alternative I've mentioned can work!

[bmyers]

I haven't yet but I plan to soon. My ole' T-Bird got sandblasted clean of paint in AZ the easy way, I drove it. Now that I'm in NY all that bare metal is starting to get surface rust on it. I've sprayed some primer on there to slow it down.

I was hoping my little air compressor and a gun from HF would do the trick. Let me know what you find out.

thanks,
Bill

[Tom Slick]

The painting part isn't difficult, it's the "paint booth". dust in the paint doesn't look too good. you also need a BIG compressor, good respirators, good ventilation, and no sources of ignition.

I'd look around and see if the local community college, adult school, or high school paints cars. They probably wouldn't do any worse of a job as you out in your driveway.

I hate the prep work of painting. the actual painting part is fun.

[paintandbodtman]

I think you should buy the 10.00 instructions then that leaves you 90.00 left for the materials.You know what PT Barnum said "there's a sucker born every minute."

[shoottx]

If you want wild paint jobs here are a couple places to look

http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/gallery/PPA/PP2008.jsp

http://www.killerpaint.com/

Here is a reference for the process of painting

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...8&iSubCat=1436

[Richard in Smithville]

This thread reminds me of an old neighbour when I was a kid. Glen was the foreman of a paint factory and everytime new colours came about he would try them out on his old 1970 Lautentian. He had the most interesting car on the street.

[frumper64]

An alternative

The biggest problem with painting your own car is that a lot of the newer automotive paint is really nasty stuff and requires a lot of protective gear. Take a look at the paint job this guy did on his Corvair with foam rollers - it is pretty amazing to me

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

[DLyon]

The biggest problem with painting your own car is that a lot of the newer automotive paint is really nasty stuff and requires a lot of protective gear. Take a look at the paint job this guy did on his Corvair with foam rollers - it is pretty amazing to me

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

Now that's the way to paint on a budget. Might have to give that a try on my '86 Jeep Wagoneer.

Spraying outdoors is a big no-no with the chemicals used in paints today. Not to mention the damage it'll do to your lungs if you aren't properly protected.

[gsmittle]

I might note that, if I can't sell her on this method, I think she'll opt for her preferred solution, which is to get some friends to join her in spray painting it weirdly . . . ideas floated so far have included a flaming skull vomiting rainbows, Van Gogh's Starry Night, fire engine lime green, Jackson Pollack drips, Seurat stippling, etc.

Back in the '70s a bunch of us painted my friend's car with spray paint...I'm pretty sure we hit all the icons mentioned above, plus a few others. Of course, we had a...um.... creativity session before we started.

g.

[cabinetman]

In the 70's I painted a 68 Chevy pickup that I converted to a wood flatbed shop truck. Prepping the body, doing any bodywork, sanding and masking was the PITA. I used an ordinary straight enamel (Centauri). I had the back part of a bay that I draped off and set up a lot of flourescent lights (that makes it easier to see how wet it is with the glare of the lights.), and used exhaust fans. I got a few runs, as it's hard to tell how much paint is on.

I used an ordinary siphon gun (Binks 7). The vehicle has to be sprayed out of the elements with no wind. There has to be enough room for the vehicle and room to walk around the car. If I had to do it now, I would let a paint shop do the work. Actually it came out good enough off the gun to not warrant wet sanding and rubbing out.

Then I sprayed a motorcycle in lacquer and a Chevy K5 in a BASF maroon base coat clear coat. The bike I rubbed out, but the truck I left off the gun. Then in the early 90's I picked up an older BMW that was a grey market car in rough shape, needed a lot of bondo and sanding. I used it for a couple of years as an autocross car. I used a white BASF base coat clear coat and left that one off the gun also.
.

.

[atgcpaul]

The biggest problem with painting your own car is that a lot of the newer automotive paint is really nasty stuff and requires a lot of protective gear. Take a look at the paint job this guy did on his Corvair with foam rollers - it is pretty amazing to me

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

Dang! That is awesome! I'm sure my neighbors would think I was a complete
nut but the results would be phenomenal (for the price).

[shoottx]

Do these count

[Alex Franke]

The biggest problem with painting your own car is that a lot of the newer automotive paint is really nasty stuff and requires a lot of protective gear. Take a look at the paint job this guy did on his Corvair with foam rollers - it is pretty amazing to me

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

Wow -- that's unreal. Inspiring, too.

(sigh) too many things to try, too little time to try them... Maybe I'll try it before I get rid of my old RX-7.

[jgrobler]

The biggest problem with painting your own car is that a lot of the newer automotive paint is really nasty stuff and requires a lot of protective gear. Take a look at the paint job this guy did on his Corvair with foam rollers - it is pretty amazing to me

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

That looks interesting, and tempting. I browsed over to the Mopar forum he mentioned, http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...0&fpart=1&vc=1 and the guy that posted abt this had a few very good looking cars that he painted this way, (see this one http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d1...n/DSC02769.jpg )and there are 43 pages of posts, several other also tried it, and their results, and questions answered.

I have an old Celica in dire need of a paint job, that I couldn't decide whether to try set up a paint booth in my garage/woodshop, or spend $500 to $1000 for el cheapo somewhere, but with this, I'm sure going to try, heck, my car can't look any worse, so I've got maybe $50 to loose, or a lot to gain.

Thanks for the link!

[skipwill]

When I was in high school, I had a '51 Studebaker. Got some red lead primer and some black enamal and brush painted it. Looked ok from a distance...then I tried to wax it to make it shine some...wax got in the brush marks and made a real mess<g>.

Never tried it again.