litterbox

Ok,

Besides not having a temperature controlled drying process, what is wrong with painting your car in your super clean garage? I've seen some very clean looking cars that were just air dryed around my area.

I have an air compressor and can get a spray gun, paint, primer all that. I'll learn to do body work and fix my rust. I sorta know how to weld now and will be able to replace my rusted quarter panels.

What else is involved? Am I overlooking something major here?

JDMlyfestyle

Experience

Not a easy task in doing your own painjob. thought about it a few times and learned that its not very easy. but they do have little books out on how to paint your car over the weekend

Crasian

How To Paint Your Car- by dennis W. Parks and David H. Jacobs, Jr.

bought it at Chapters book store for $29.95 CAN

litterbox

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMlyfestyle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Experience </TD></TR></TABLE>You don't need that crap.

I'm sure I'll figure it out after a bunch of research.

If anything I could do the body work and just have it sprayed at Maaco or Earls right? I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible.

94hatchling

actually due to contrary belief, you can get a good paint job from maaco. the problem with seeing bad paint jobs is b/c they dont prep... they wipe down the car and then paint.

if you do all your body work, primer and wetsand and get it completely ready to paint, then it will be fine. i know, i've seen it. and make sure you get whatever painit job with everything clear, etc, etc. my neighbor painted my classic stang half in his garage, half in his driveway and you wouldnt ever know. but IMO, maaco and you do the prep work is your best bet.

JDM_DC4_Fanatic

I have painted 3 cars within my garage.

The first thing you need is to make sure that the garage is spotless after all the bodywork has been dont.

Second - pay a small visit to home depot, and purchas some plastic vapor barrior. This is gonna become your spray booth.

third - Once the car has been surrounded with vaporbarrior, wet the floor so no dust will come up onto ur new paint.

Forth - before actuially paint the car, whip the entire car down with either a tack rag, or silicone/grease remover.

Fifth - before painting the car, assuming you are not stupid enough to be using spray cans, or brushes/roller, you are gonna need a compressor. And a spray gun. Make sure that the compressor has a large enough storage tank, because if the gun pressure fluxuiates, the paint will come out thicker, or thinner in some areas. The industry standerd is to use a HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) spray gun. These guns only requiere approximatly 40-80 PSI. when painting be sure that you dont allow the hose to touch the car. seems simple enought, however, I have seen quite a few cars with hose marks on them.

P.S. keep in mind, before you assume I am some punk *** kid typing cause I got nothing better to do, you should know that I am a bodyman, and have painted my fair share of cars, both in the booth, and in my garage.

litterbox

Great info Fanatic. Any insights onto the body work side of this ordeal?

rasinhell

fanatic is pretty on point. but instead of using tack rag OR silicone grease remover use both... first get a bunch of new terry clothes... a bunch.. grab one, and WET a portion of the car. while it's still wet, whipe it over with a new cloth. What the wax/grease remover does is lift the waxes and grease from the paint.. so just whiping it until it dries w/ the same cloth defeats the whole purpose... Use 1 clean rag to wet it, and another clean rag to whipe it while its still wet. A lot of people are misinformed on proper usage of the stuff..

Next, how big of a compressor do you have? Make sure it's got a decent amount of horsepower cuz if ur spraying and the compressor is compressing the entire time, your gun will start to get wet and you'll have water dripping onto your surface. And if you already made a pass over the car, it would not be smart to whipe it.. So just make sure u got a good compressor w/ enuff horsepower to do wut ur tryin to do.

go to autobody101.com there are a ton of dudes that know what theyre doing. That site is a lot about doing diy paintjobs and they turn out... despite what you thinka bout having a temp controlled booth, it's not necessary. I know a lot of bodyshops that paint in an open wearhouse w/ no temp control.


Here are some tips for starters... If you're painting over a car that already has paint on it, don't bother primering it... Just go over the surface w/ DX270 (wax grease remover), and then wet sand w/ 500 grit and spray over that.

here is a link to one of my threads... I haven't painted it yet cuz i dont have money, but i primered it in my garage so far... I'm going to be taking it to a booth though because my garage is not good for @ home painting.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1295680


btw the best thing you can do if you have no experience is go to http://www.autobody101.com like i said and do some major research.

litterbox

Thanks plugged

Consistent1

your prep work will make or break your paint job. It does not matter how well someone can paint if the surface is not prepped well the paint job will suck. I recently had a car painted at maaco, no one can believe it is maaco, the body had about 40-50 hours of work into it the paint job actually in full of flaws but b/c the body is straight as an arrow and was prepped to a T it looks almost show quality.

SkoundrelUSA

Krylon Isle #4

supaman111

Thats the ****, learn to do it yourself, pros had to start somewhere!!!!!!

Remember wet and dry grit paper is you best friend, if you overspray dont panic, let it dry and the get the paper on it to flatten it and then go again. Patience is important. Do not rush. When finished let the paint dry for at least 4 weeks before cutting back for that mint shine.

Useful link

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1329234

i sprayed my car with the help from this link and it came up good, just in the 4 week period at mo before i will completely wet and dry car to get all blemishes out and then will cut it and buff it.

Luserkid

Remember the most important thing. The paint will only come out as good as the body work. If everythingn is comely 100% it will show through the paint. Espeically if its blk, Black shows everything.

I would suggest getting some dry wall from home depot and a bunch of rattle cans (or a spay gun if you can) and practice hand control. Thats all it is hand control. You could go through the whole car without having to wet sand and do again.

Listen to what Fantastic said about the prepping. Prepping is the most important thing. Also for heat, get a couple 1000 watt lights and place them around your car while your painting. Also make sure that you have a well ventalated area. And just take your time

rasinhell

oh yeah, another important thing i forgot to mention... if you are going to paint the jams (suggested), paint the jams like a couple days prior to painting the rest of the car... And if you are going to paint a metallic color, I have been told by a guy w/ 25+ years in body work, to paint with everything assembled. i.e. dont take the doors and all the body panels off and paint them seperately. Reason for this is supposedly because all the body panels will have a slightly different shade, because of the way the metallic will set.

50% overlap when you spray, make sure you're consistant with the way you spray so you dont end up with runs, and oh yeah.. practice on scrap metal or like ^ suggested, use some drywall

hatchish

lets see some pics of amature paint jobs!

nighttrain33

Litterbox, I know you can swap, but paint,

You know my dad just did my last week in our garage, and it came out really nicely, but he has been painting for close to 25 years. It took us two months of part time work on it to get it just how we wanted it. Granted, you know we did a ton of body work to it though too.

I would definitely practice on something else before you do yours. Other than that, I would get that book (or a few) to read up, since there has been some contradicting info in this thread. There has been a lot of good info, but you need to listen to how they come out looking (depending how it was painted), and then try to decide which way you like best. Good luck and if I feel like it maybe I'll post the car once I get up off my lazy butt.

-Shane

BoOstedEM1

I seen and been around many people that do paint there own or other peoples cars..outside..and in garages..but they had practice. So practice on a fender you find at a junkyard..or something..

litterbox

When I start, I'll make a progress thread or something. This will be in a month or two.

rasinhell

litterbox, right now the best thing you can do for yourself is start posting q's and reading through autobody101.com . truuuuuust me, there are a lot of smart guys on there

litterbox

Will do.

LvN

Here's another thing you can do, take a autobody class @ your city college and learn how to do your bodywork and paint your car yourself in a paint booth. Cost me just the price of the paint, primer and clear. Everything else was provided by my instructor, ie. sandpaper, body filler and materials. Learned how to do it in less than 2 weeks of class. Best thing about it is that I didn't have to pay for my class because of my fee waiver under financial aid. IMO this is the best and cheapest way to paint your car. My car turned out really nice and I learned how to do it. I'll post pics when I get home later. The best DIY I've ever done.

litterbox

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blkcivicpn0i &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Here's another thing you can do, take a autobody class @ your city college and learn how to do your bodywork and paint your car yourself in a paint booth. Cost me just the price of the paint, primer and clear. Everything else was provided by my instructor, ie. sandpaper, body filler and materials. Learned how to do it in less than 2 weeks of class. Best thing about it is that I didn't have to pay for my class because of my fee waiver under financial aid. IMO this is the best and cheapest way to paint your car. My car turned out really nice and I learned how to do it. I'll post pics when I get home later. The best DIY I've ever done.</TD></TR></TABLE>Ya, that's a great idea, but there's no way I can fit it into my schedule.

Have any pics of your finished project yet?

LvN

Yea. I'll post some pics when I get home. I took the class as my summer class and worked out real well. The sad thing about it is that 2 days after I finished painting the car something hit my car while driving on the fwy. My driver side fender, side mirror, hood, and bumper got messed up. So the following week I sanded those parts, bondo'd the dented parts and painted em altogether which took the rest of whatever paint and clearcoat I had left. Now if anything happens to my car I can go back to the college and ask them if I can work on my car to fix whatever. G-luck on what you decide to do.

HondaFanatic708

The painters plastic as a "booth-at-home" is a great idea. I actually thought about it while lookin at a whole roll of the **** and an empty 2 car garage. My suggestion is to get a good respirator, otherwise you will be really really high on paint, unless you like stuff like that.. Good luck, DIY is always the way to go. At least if you **** it up you learned something. I didn't learn to ride a bike without first busting my **** like 50 times, probably more.. Go litterbox!!!

JDMoMo

good info guys