Never painted a car before but iv painted.

I was wondering how much paint its gonna take to paint a EG hatch? 1 gallon?
and also whats a pretty cheap paint that wont be total ****.. i'm no pro and i'm not looking to spend alot of money when its not gonna be perfect anyway. just trying to do a decent job(the best i can)

i also see that harbor freight is selling paint guns pretty cheap whats a good gun for a beginner ?

cars getting painted captive blue pearl btw

once i start it i intend on taking alot of pics for beginners


Modified by mattyv at 5:06 AM 11/9/2008

 

bump! this is the SAME thing i wanna know. in for some answers

 

part one how much paint.
One quart of Rustolem Paint has lasted me to paint my entire 92 2 Door Accord.
Part two, I got a gun recently at Menards Home Improvement store that came with 2.0 and 1.6 tips that seems to work fine once you get the proper paint reduction worked out.

 

being a painter i would use 1 gal. so if its scratched u can fix it. plus use at least 2-3 coats of color. blue covers pretty well for the most part. but make sure that ur prep work is good. prep=quality. if its not done right it will look like azz. i use a 1.4-1.8 tip better spray pattern. (just me) take ur time, rushing=do over.

 

I recently painted an '01 Eclipse with just over a half gallon with 2 coats of base. A gallon should cover it for sure with some left over.

Look into the Omni line from PPG

 

thanks for the replies. i hear PPG is really expensive though. how much does a gallo go for and wheres the best place to buy paint online. i don't think i have a paint store near me according to google

EDIT: and how about the harbor freight gun for 50$ gravity feed. looks nice haha but i don't know anything about them and it has same info as the one they sell for 29$.. whats the catch?

 

Omni is like the economy line from PPG, made for collision repair places and stuff like that. The quality is pretty good for what you pay though, a gallon of metallic that I used was about $100. Whether that is cheap or expensive is up to you

What do you want to paint? I wouldn't try to do a car with a Harbor Freight gun...

 

im curious why he shouldnt use a harbor frieght gun. im not saying your wrong i just see it this way: for a noob painter trying to do this cheap, spending more money on a sata or devilbiss wouldnt help the paint job enough to be worth it. i was taught that the painter makes the paint job not the gun. i just want to know why you said that.

 

If he wants to do an entire car the Harbor Freight gun probably won't cut it. I'm sure primer would be fine, base might come out OK depending on skill level and whatever kinds of tips those things have, but if he wants to do a clear and have it come out good I can't imagine the HF gun doing that. I don't know about the details of how those guns are constructed, but a Sata or Iwata for example is going to have much better airflow paths and the paint will get atomized a lot better and there won't be near as much overspray.

I shot a complete car with a DeVilbiss Finishline 3 (relatively cheap) recently and it came out OK, but the atomization with the clear wasn't great. Of course there are lots of factors like products, gun adjustment and skill level, but you're going to get better results with a better gun more likely than not.

If he is just wanting to paint parts and stuff here and there I'm sure the HF gun would be fine.

 

The gun does impact the work quite a bit. Understandably you can achieve a good paint job with a HF gun. I've done quite a few (I use it on my race bike). If you follow through with the prep work, and keep everything clean. You will achieve a relatively good paint job, but you will work a ton more for it.

What I think Hawkze is trying to say is the end result could be on par with what you would get with a more expensive gun. The coats won't be laid down nearly as clean. The clear will have much more orange peel, and you will need to wet sand and cut a lot more to achieve an outcome that is satisfactory. In my opinion It is totally worth it to go out and purchase a decent gun. You are new to this and starting out on a tilt isn't a good way to start. HF guns are in my opinion only good for primers and sealers. If your going to use decent paint. Why not spray it with a decent gun.

You have to take into consideration a few things when you are choosing a gun. Budget, commitment, and how large your air compressor is. The HF guns are good for a few uses like 3- 5. Sata guns provide awesome coverage and spray pattern, but man they need a huge compressor they eat air like no other. I've never used a devilbiss so I don't know anything about them. Iawata is what I use now. They use a lot less air, and work just as good as the sata guns.

For the amount of paint your using. Are you painting the inside and engine bay also? If so you will need a gal. Just the exterior you will only need 2 quarts.

When I painted my eg hatch I only used a quart of omni base. I believe it was mbc base. It could be sprayed on as a single stage or mixed with any 2k reducer. I mixed it with 2k reducer (makes 2 quarts) and then cleared over it. I still had a little bit left over after 2 coats. With sealer, base, reducer, and clear it ran me around 500.