Okay, so the paint job that I received was done poorly and I'm going to have it re-painted by a more reputable body shop. To cut costs down, I'm planning on doing the prep work myself.

I cannot trust the current paint on the car now because its chipping/peeling and I'm considering stripping the paint. There are a few options I am thinking about and hopefully you can add something that I haven't thought about.

1. Have the car media blasted. The thing that concerns me is that I've never done bodywork before and I would have to rework all the panels again to smoothen them out. The car had its 12 years worth of parking lot abuse, so there is a fair amount of work that needs to be done. I've been skimming through a few books and reading whatever I can online, but its just a bit scary going into something w/o any experience or guidance. I have the patience to do it right, I just don't have the tools. I'm weighing the cost of having to purchase the tools (compressor, d/a sander, spray gun, etc, plus the cost of blasting) versus having the body shop do the body work. I'm leaning towards DIY since I'll have the tools when I'm finished and the satisfaction of a job well done.

2. Sand off the existing base coat. If I did this, I would expose the filler used by the previous paint job. Would it be wise to apply filler/putty on top of this to further smoothen out the panels w/o knowing what the underlying filler is?

3. Sand to the metal. This would probably be the most tedious step and would probably be easier to have the car media blasted. But if I were to sand to the metal, the only thing that concerns me if warping the metal. Again, I would have to re-do any previous bodywork and wouldn't have to worry about the previous fillers, etc.

4. Have the bodyshop do the bodywork. This is probably the easiest step, but at this point, I cannot trust any body shop. I had it originally painted by Auto Body by Duie because a number of people on this board recommended them. I can't trust that anymore. I am now a firm believer in: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

Any thoughts?

 

Trust me, without experience, it is tough.

Do what im going to do. Im going to take a semester of BODYSHOP work here at a local tech center. Sure you have to pay for the class, but then you know what your doing, and you can go buy your own paint, and use their tools and paintbooth and stuff! BODYSHOP ALL THE WAY!

 

I've been looking to take a course in bodywork as well as welding. I think having some training in both subjects would increase my ability to work on cars. The only problem is that I cannot find it being offered anywhere in my area (NJ) as a class.

 

i know many schools in the somerset/brunswick area that are good schools. aim me