Online store? Local automotive paint supply store? I'm nearing the part of my project where it's time to buy all three coats and I'm a little overwhelmed by the options online. It would also be nice to get a recommendation from people with experiences buying and laying down the coats (What do you prefer, what do you avoid).

Thanks!

 

In terms of affordability the eastwood paint, as well as summit racing's house brand are both solid options. I don't have any more information.

 

I bought for my cars from automotive touchup. I can just enter the paint code in the doorsill, and get both regular paint and some in an aerosol can for later times to fix up the car. But I'm not doing anything fancy, repairs of scratches and clear that was fading.

 

Summit racing clear is garbage, it lasts a couple years top.

 

I always go to local automotive paint suppliers, that would be your best bet.

 

Do you think their single stage is good?

 

i go to a paint shop to buy my base coat and i have them match my gas door. as far as clear i will likely buy it there if i cant find it cheaper online. also it depends if your using a gun or just doing a spray can. ive had amazing results with a spray can but its still pricey. if you do use a spray can i recommend spray max 2k clear. it has a hardener built into the bottom of the can, lays nice and is super glossy.

this is after spraying all with cans, about 5min after laying clear. my only recommendation is try to do it in an area where you wont have bugs flying around, and also make sure while youre spraying to keep cleaning the tip of the nozzle so that it doesnt build up and splater.

 

I buy my basecoat at the chain store called Wesco. I use ppg omni, their economy line, works fine. first rule: NEVER LISTEN TO PAINT STORE OWNERS, OMG PLEASE NEVER LISTEN TO THEM. buy clear coat from tamco paint. their 2 hour air dry clear is like $140. smooth as glass. also NEVER, EVER buy any products from proline (yellow label on cans) their parent company is Upol so stay clear away from them too. I spent months redoing a hood and wasted like $2,000 because the wesco store lady kept insisting it was because I was a newbie. turns out the proline clear coat and actually their entire line has chemicals in it that act similiar to paint stripper. I verified this by using their primer to strip paint off of my hood and sprayed their reducer directly to dried basecoat and it caused cracking immediately, PPG mr186 reducer and another brand did not do this. FOR THE LOVE OF , PLEASE NEVER LISTEN TO PAINT SHOP OWNERS, USE YOUR OWN COMMON SENSE.

I've been learning how to paint for like 2 years, if you need tips on how to lay clear coat down like glass or why your metallic basecoat lays down like rough sand paper I can help just ask. also I have advice on how to prepare primer. sanding is key to a good paint job. sanding is literally the majority of the paint work. sanding must be done correctly and witht the correct grits in sequence, there are VERY FEW shortcuts in painting cars

 

spray max is the only one I've heard of thats 2K. it's cheaper to just buy a gallon and mix it yourself unless you just do small projects and dont have a good gun and compressor

 

also gun choice does affect the final outcome. some people say they work on high end luxury cars and use the $8 purple gun from HF (crazy people). personally I have the devilbiss tekna prolite, it comes with 2 or 3 tips to do whatever you need and 2 caps, one for small compressors and another one with more airflow. it's $500 though. this is not an advertisement but the Gunman on youtube is the best source of how to learn and he recommends spraygunsdirect, from the UK. it's actually cheaper than buying in the US. the FLG-5 sprays almost as good as the tekna but is $160, the finish is not as nice though. for a regulator there is one at HF for like $10 that works really good, there's also one at about the same price that is really unreliable. the good one has a **** thats the same size as the gauge face,