I wanted to paint a few panels on my hatch myself to save some bucks, but i found it wasn't the most cost effective route. (The plan - paint hood, front bumper, 1 fender, eg6 wing)

I bought a quart of nason single stage urathane milano red, plus materials for 120$ cdn from a auto supply store on their recommendation. plus "build-your -own-paint-booth" materials for another 45$, a used 125$ paint gun for 75$. Did my own body work and proceeded to waste that 240$ i just spent.

needless to say, i couldn't get that paint to go through that gun nicely for anything. Runs, orange peal, overspray, mega dust (the urathane takes forever to dry). I couldn't get enough lights in there to see 3 feet in front of me for all the overspray. And i inhaled way too many chemicals, even with a 300$ mask (that i managed to borrow).

My recommendation: unless you <U>want</U> to do it yourself, do this for a low cost pain job. <U>Do all your body work and primer work yourself</U>. Thats where all the money goes i think. Find a backyard body shop man who isn't too busy and get him to spray it with his own 2 stage paint (base clear or nothing - single stage is for farm equipment ).

For a mere $300 (canadian) he sprayed base/clear milano red (dye lot matched) on my hood, front bumper (new bumper), 2 fenders and my wing. He did a blend into the doors and the window pillars, and cleared the rest of the doors. He even said he would have sprayed the whole car for an extra 100$ . Also, this 300$ included a couple hours of him masking. would be cheaper if i did that in his lot first.

He got a bit of dust in it, of course, because he did it in a regular bay (with fan), but he showed me how a nice buff job takes care of most of it, and you really don't even notice it anyway. In fact he does most of his painting right where he works on the car. for extra money, tho, he'll take it down the road to a paint booth. he just said you have to know what your doing with painting to get away with it. 40 years of experience behind him, he does ok.

I waxed the back half of the car and it looks brand new (almost), i'm just kicking myself for not taking it there first, and getting the whole thing painted for not much more than i spent trying to do 3 panels myself.

few notes of advice from him:

-for bondo, use a polyester filler/glazing compound combo. Don't need to sand down to the metal first (sticks to scuffed paint), he's been using a product called "Halftime" for 15 years, with no lifting.
-400 grit wetsand is plenty for a pre-paint sand
-use a two stage epoxy primer
-hvlp and never go back (i saw the paint can and he used about 1/4 of a quart)

d



Modified by daver at 6:50 PM 10/19/2005

 

cool

 

hmm interesting

 

i should have taken a pic of the hood after i sprayed that Nason urathane on it, it looked orange. milano orange

d

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1408192 ...for some pics

d

 

what materials did u use to make your own paint booth

 

Runs, Happens because you put to much paint on in one application
orange peal, That just happens sometimes and has to be sanded out
overspray, Your just not that familier with the gun yet,
mega dust, Part of the buisness, unless you have a nice paint booth you'll never be ride of dust and even then your still going to get dust.

And i inhaled way too many chemicals, even with a 300$ mask (that i managed to borrow). Did you have a good seal on your face? I have a generic cheapo one that works good, proplem is tho cause I dont shave it dosent seal the best on my face all the time.

 

Milano Red is 3 stage paint

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nocturnaldragon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Runs, Happens because you put to much paint on in one application
orange peal, That just happens sometimes and has to be sanded out
overspray, Your just not that familier with the gun yet,
mega dust, Part of the buisness, unless you have a nice paint booth you'll never be ride of dust and even then your still going to get dust.

And i inhaled way too many chemicals, even with a 300$ mask (that i managed to borrow). Did you have a good seal on your face? I have a generic cheapo one that works good, proplem is tho cause I dont shave it dosent seal the best on my face all the time.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

i think there was actually somthing wrong with the gun. I worked at a body shop long enough to watch some paint jobs and i could not set this gun up to spray a nice wide band of paint, too much air. I sprayed a bunch of thinners through, but somthing else must have been gummed...??

I was told some guys use vasaline around the mask seal, but i didn't.

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Caveman74 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Milano Red is 3 stage paint</TD></TR></TABLE>

you mean they spray 3 coats from the factory? or you mean they use paint, activator and reducer? or do you mean the use base, clear, and some thing else none of us have ever heard of?

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AMECustom &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what materials did u use to make your own paint booth</TD></TR></TABLE>

a roll of heavy vapour barrier, rolls of clear tape, and a big 20"x40" filter with stick goop on one side. Oh, plus a regular house fan for the other side, which is now red.

I strung this all up in my garage. The packing tape sticks to the vb ok, but not to much else. And seriously, light is a huge issue, incandescent bulbs did little, need flourescent, and lots of it. If i ever painted again, it would be outside in daylight...or.... naaah...get sombody who knows what they are doing like i did in the end.

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

you mean they spray 3 coats from the factory? or you mean they use paint, activator and reducer? or do you mean the use base, clear, and some thing else none of us have ever heard of?

d</TD></TR></TABLE>

There is a coat of Base Red and a Candy Pearl Flake , then sprayed with Clear. Which makes it 3 stage. I have had my car painted twice

 

So, the real question is...did you spend that extra $100 for the whole car?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Caveman74 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

There is a coat of Base Red and a Candy Pearl Flake , then sprayed with Clear. Which makes it 3 stage. I have had my car painted twice </TD></TR></TABLE>

i didn't think that milano red had a pearl in it; don't they just add that to the clear tho?

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by litterbox &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So, the real question is...did you spend that extra $100 for the whole car? </TD></TR></TABLE>

no, i would have had to take out a bunch more dents and i was out of time and over budget. next time

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

i didn't think that milano red had a pearl in it; don't they just add that to the clear tho?

d</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's technically Base Coat, Red Tint Clear Coat, Then Cleat coat. It's not a pearl, but gives a simlar effect. The 3 stages reflects each application, but they do make a 2 stage r-81 (milano red).

When I had my car painted, I got in a dispute with the painted. He said it was 2, and I said It was 3. When he took it to the paint company they confirmed I had a 3. I think the lower model eg's have a 2 stage.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vero &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

It's technically Base Coat, Red Tint Clear Coat, Then Cleat coat.</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, red tint clear coat over red paint. geez, i'll never know the difference.

d

 

That very well could be, sometimes those guns can be touchy, and Ive heard of the vasoline trick too but Im not going to do that, I dont want that greasy **** all over my face. The only time I use that is when I go diving and put some on my mask to get a nice seal but thats about it.