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 an 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 really <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 would go 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 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

 

Nice DIY work!

CRX Forum

 

good job..

 

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

 

looks good

 

 

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

CRX Forum</TD></TR></TABLE>

i didn't paint it myself in the end, just did the body/prep work. thanks tho

d


Modified by daver at 9:33 PM 10/19/2005

 

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

 

lower it next.

 

not bad

 

nice job..should be doing mine pretty soon.

 

looks nice

and nice DA in the back, its my cars twin

 

 

LOL, are people actually reading. He didnt paint it himself. A good lesson learned though. I was thinking of doing the same but probably won't lol. Good results at the end though :D

 

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

and nice DA in the back, its my cars twin </TD></TR></TABLE>

when the integra isn't in quite as good shape as it looks from afar. I use it mainly for winter driving and i plan to unload it next spring. I'll miss the b20 engine in it forsure.

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bakuryu06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">LOL, are people actually reading. He didnt paint it himself. A good lesson learned though. I was thinking of doing the same but probably won't lol. Good results at the end though :D </TD></TR></TABLE>

you know how it is, read the title, look at the pictures and then ruuun up that post count .

d

 

 

one question, do this pics show up clearly for everyone? they look like blurry crap here and i'm wondering if its a photobucket thing.

d

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">one question, do this pics show up clearly for everyone? they look like blurry crap here and i'm wondering if its a photobucket thing.

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


i see them fine

 

man that is some GREAT work. i would be VERY interested in him doing my car too (i live right outside rochester NY, so im only a few hours away) i just painted by bitch all flat black though, so i would probably have to take her down to bare metal for him to do it for cheap, plus i have a TON of bondo in my car. but maybe if i just gave him like 1000 US he would do all the work for me. that would be sweet. pm can u talk to the guy and see what he says??? i would love to get my car all re-sprayed and looking good.


Brett

 

Great job for a diy

 

Finally some one listens to the guys that do this for a living.

Keep it up.

I spray cars for people all the time. Kind of like sleeping just a natural thing.

 

no one reads these days. anyway, nice experience.

 

looks damn good

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by I Have an STD &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">man that is some GREAT work. i would be VERY interested in him doing my car too (i live right outside rochester NY, so im only a few hours away
Brett</TD></TR></TABLE>

surely you have some "backyard body men" in your area who won't be busy until the snow flies. I can't imagine you driving all the way up here for this. I know of several guys in this area alone who would likely do this sort of thing.

I remember one "backyard bodyman's" quote for a paint job was 800$ plus body work (cdn), a few years ago, and thats what turned me off getting a pro to do it. Now i know that <U>half</U> was for prep sanding and masking, unless this guy just priced high. Just make sure the guy is willing to spray over your body work. If you don't prep right for him, as in having, wax and crud sanded into the paint, then you could make a miserable paint job for him.

d