Painting

Has anyone ever thought about repainting their car by themselves in their garage?
I'm guessing a lot of you probably do.

I was thinking the cost difference between diy and body shop.
First time run at it would cost a lot because the equipment (huge air compressor, sanding equipment, spray gun, isolating the garage, etc) but then the paint jobs after that is just the cost of paint and labour.

Dont' have any painting experience but hoping to learn. Don't mind screwing up a few times as a learning experience. Or should I invest the money into a course at school? but then you'd have to end up buying all that stuff anyways.
Anyone think this would be a good idea?

You need someone experience there to help you.
Having experience is invaluable with doing DIY car resprays.

BTW, your "if i stuff it up, ill do it again" may sound like a good plan, but trust me, it isnt.
After prepping your car for the new paint, you'll understand.
It takes 20x longer to prep the car properly than it does to paint it.

I painted my old 2g Eclipse GST myself in my garage and it came out pretty well. It took 6 hours non stop to prep and paint, then i just let it sit in the garage over night. The next day it was nice and sunny so let it sit out in the sun all day. It's deff doable by yourself if you do the research and have the tools. I had no prior paint experience either. Towels actually painted his Celica GT himself too. :wink: Not that hard to do.

aw cripes alltracst185.
That looks like an awesome paint job.. makes me believe I can do it! lol
Thanks for the confidence.
I'm just doing my homework on it before I start buying stuff.
Do you know if i have to buy a 80gal air compressor or can I get away with a 60?
Any advice you wouldn't mind sharing?

Yowzas":34ghl49j said:

Do you know if i have to buy a 80gal air compressor or can I get away with a 60?

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Tank size doesnt really matter... CFM or continuous flow rate does.

MWP":yutbtn6b said:

Yowzas":yutbtn6b said:

Do you know if i have to buy a 80gal air compressor or can I get away with a 60?

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Tank size doesnt really matter... CFM or continuous flow rate does.

Click to expand...

Thats what I was going to say. The bigger the tank then the longer you can paint without stopping, but not needed.

May want to get a spare hood and practice on it. That way you can get cheap paint and learn.

3tcpower":269l7j8i said:

The bigger the tank then the longer you can paint without stopping, but not needed.

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If you have to stop at all to let the compressor catch up, then it is too small.
Stopping half way through doing something like a bonnet for example, will result in areas that will need to be sanded & polished due to the overspray.

You will want to spend just as much time (if not more) researching and reading up on this forum as you do prepping and painting the car.

www.autobody101.com

Bryan

MWP":1weongh3 said:

3tcpower":1weongh3 said:

The bigger the tank then the longer you can paint without stopping, but not needed.

Click to expand...

If you have to stop at all to let the compressor catch up, then it is too small.
Stopping half way through doing something like a bonnet for example, will result in areas that will need to be sanded & polished due to the overspray.

Click to expand...

I know. Thats why you don't get something with only a 1 gallon tank Mine is a 5 and with everything I have read, that is more then enough. Plus, I imagine you will have to stop at times(position to paint roof, paint the body panels not on the car, etc.) Mind you, I have not paint my car yet. Just lots of research.

Thanks for all the info guys.
I was trying to find paint projects on this page and stumbled on that autobody101 yesterday night. Has quite a bit of information on it. So I'm definately going to use it as a reference.

If you have to stop at all to let the compressor catch up, then it is too small.

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That's what I thought too because everywhere I've read that you need a 13cfm 80gal compressor or somewhere along the lines. I guess it depends too if it's a HVLP gun.

May want to get a spare hood and practice on it. That way you can get cheap paint and learn.

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I feel like such an idiot. I do have spare fenders but I never thought of practicing with cheap paint... I think I was planning on painting the fenders then swapping them out to see how they look.

I'm planning on painting the quarter panels. I heard if you want to do that you'd have to repaint the roof... and pretty much most the car. So I'd have to get a big compressor to paint that much area properly right? The rest I'll take apart and paint. Would that end up looking weird? or is it better to mask everything an spray the entire car to get an even coat?

Any tips on painting the roof? Cause if you pretty much paint the roof from one side, finish the quarter panel side your working on, then run to the other side wouldn't the paint of flashed so trying to connect the new paint with the roof paint might end up looking bad?

Another thing, Can you just order the paint through toyota? I just want to paint it the original onyx black

Thanks for all the help guys

You can get the factory colors at most automotive paint stores. Just find one in your area. The one near me has a book with all the colors for all years, makes and models.

Someone on celica tech paint there car with a 1 gallon tank, if I recall correctly. His biggest complaint was that he had to stop frequently.

My main point is, you don't NEED a hug compressor and tank to paint a car. If you were doing it for business then I would suggest a big tank. Good luck and just keep researhing

If you are just doing a solid black, you don't need a compressor at all. Or spray equipment for that matter. If you are willing to do some color sanding and buffing, it doesn't really matter that much how the paint gets on the car. Brush, roller, spray bottle, etc... Sure it's more work and will take longer, but it's a lot cheaper. If you are not planning to do a lot of painting I don't think it makes sense to buy a lot of equipment for just one job.

Of course, if you are looking for an excuse to buy the equipment then that's a different matter.

Check out this guy's site for an example of what can be done with a foam brush and a lot of patience:
http://www.stylusscustoms.com/poormanspaintjob.html

I've seen that car in person and you would never guess, just by looking it over, that it was done with a foam brush and cheap paint.

If you are just doing a solid black, you don't need a compressor at all. Or spray equipment for that matter. If you are willing to do some color sanding and buffing, it doesn't really matter that much how the paint gets on the car. Brush, roller, spray bottle, etc... Sure it's more work and will take longer, but it's a lot cheaper. If you are not planning to do a lot of painting I don't think it makes sense to buy a lot of equipment for just one job.

Of course, if you are looking for an excuse to buy the equipment then that's a different matter.

Check out this guy's site for an example of what can be done with a foam brush and a lot of patience:
http://www.stylusscustoms.com/poormanspaintjob.html

I've seen that car in person and you would never guess, just by looking it over, that it was done with a foam brush and cheap paint.

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Wow that is a pretty amazing job using a foam brush.
I was planning on getting all the equipment so I can do the paint job on other cars too.
I work downtown and people there are retarded.. no courtesy on opening their car door so It doesn't hit the car next to them. *sigh* had my mazda3 for like 4 months and have acquired over 4 door dings, a scraped bumper, and soo soo many scratches. It isn't much but then again I have almost the same deal with my celica.
Hopefully if i learn how to do this i won't be as pissed off finding new dents in my car.

hmm... just drove by a shietty truck. 500$ cash.. made me want to just buy it and strip it down to experiment lol

Having to stop to have the compressor catch up is not so much the issue, if you can't avoid it. 80 gallon 13scfm compressors are NOT cheap, the initial investment in that with the other equipment to paint your car, combined with your own labor...you won't be saving or offsetting much than to take it to a shop that can do it with experience for a little more.

However, if you go with decently priced equipment that is affordable (because the key thing here is you are trying to save money, i assume, which is why you're painting this car yourself)...it is important to know when to stop painting in anticipating the compressor (watch it carefull...practice, get a feel for how much air you are using when spraying). You will always want to start spraying before you even touch/hit the panel, and let go AFTER you've cleared the body/panel.

You will also lean things like sweeping, walking, holding this and that still, adjusting pressure and distance to maximize flow and reduce orange peel, etc.

What's important is technique, obviously somewhat adaquate equipment, practice on spare panels, and be sure to have good filters, and do NOT cheap out on the paint (the brand) and prep work.

Bryan

Having to stop to have the compressor catch up is not so much the issue, if you can't avoid it. 80 gallon 13scfm compressors are NOT cheap, the initial investment in that with the other equipment to paint your car, combined with your own labor...you won't be saving or offsetting much than to take it to a shop that can do it with experience for a little more.

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That's a good point. I thought 80gal tanks are about a grand. and the rest probably shouldn't hit more than 2500 right? I'm just goign with toyota onyx black. Thanks for the tip on the compressor. Up till now I just thought you had to finish it as soon as you can. If you stopped half way on a panel it would dry and you'd get blochie paint. But technique is more important and anything else.

Again, main reason i want to learn is cause I'm tired of the devastation of getting to my car and seeing another door ding on it. At least if i know how to repair them I can brush it off and say I'll fix it later lol.

You will also lean things like sweeping, walking, holding this and that still, adjusting pressure and distance to maximize flow and reduce orange peel, etc.

What's important is technique, obviously somewhat adaquate equipment, practice on spare panels, and be sure to have good filters, and do NOT cheap out on the paint (the brand) and prep work.

Click to expand...

THANKS! i didn't even think of that. got to figure out some sort of system if i paint my entire car where the hose hangs from the ceiling and it doesn't ever hit my car while I'm walking around painting it.

One question. If I put too much paint on one area, would the colour just be really dark? and I'd have to sand and repaint or would it just be thicker and take longer to dry then I can just sand it down?

Yowzas":19qj05kb said:

Having to stop to have the compressor catch up is not so much the issue, if you can't avoid it. 80 gallon 13scfm compressors are NOT cheap, the initial investment in that with the other equipment to paint your car, combined with your own labor...you won't be saving or offsetting much than to take it to a shop that can do it with experience for a little more.

Click to expand...

That's a good point. I thought 80gal tanks are about a grand. and the rest probably shouldn't hit more than 2500 right? I'm just goign with toyota onyx black. Thanks for the tip on the compressor. Up till now I just thought you had to finish it as soon as you can. If you stopped half way on a panel it would dry and you'd get blochie paint. But technique is more important and anything else.

Again, main reason i want to learn is cause I'm tired of the devastation of getting to my car and seeing another door ding on it. At least if i know how to repair them I can brush it off and say I'll fix it later lol.

You will also lean things like sweeping, walking, holding this and that still, adjusting pressure and distance to maximize flow and reduce orange peel, etc.

What's important is technique, obviously somewhat adaquate equipment, practice on spare panels, and be sure to have good filters, and do NOT cheap out on the paint (the brand) and prep work.

Click to expand...

THANKS! i didn't even think of that. got to figure out some sort of system if i paint my entire car where the hose hangs from the ceiling and it doesn't ever hit my car while I'm walking around painting it.

One question. If I put too much paint on one area, would the colour just be really dark? and I'd have to sand and repaint or would it just be thicker and take longer to dry then I can just sand it down?

Click to expand...

No, this only happens with candy clears/top coats (at least in powder coating anyway). Solid colors do not exhibit this effect, unless you actually put too little paint on to show the primer underneath. If you put too much on, you run the risk of runs/drips of the paint or very bad orange peel, in which you can color/wet sand down before applying clear.

Especially if you shoot with metallic color, you need to learn how to minimize "tiger striping," but you should be learning what that is and have it explained to you while going through the website. Briefly, you can avoid this by practicing your overlap and your "walk" technique by not sweeping with your wrists but walking the gun perpendicular to the body surface.

As for the hose and hanging it, not necessary. Just make sure you don't get cheap hoses that has a tendancy to bunch/coil up when you walk around the car. This usually occurs with the "plastic/vinyl hoses, I'd suggest nice rubber hoses (either way, just be careful).

Bryan

I didn't read every article so please forgive me if I'm repeating some aspects. This is heavily fragmented because I'm holding my baby in one arm so again bear with me.

First off the compressor...
As stated you don't need a high HP or large tank BUT you will NEVER hear your tools complain for air from a larger and beefier compressor that pumps out higher CFMs without hiccuping. Just remember that the compressors HP is more useful for filling the tank. Get a decent sized tank that you can afford (larger the better). Imagine that you're going to use this for more than painting. Most automotive work requires less CFM but anything painting, buffing, sanding will require much higher CFMs (just so the compressor can keep up). You'd hate to stop halfway during a spray to wait for the compressor to fill up.

I still prefer oil vs. non oiled.

There are your standard 110V and 220V outlets that you need to consider. If your garage doesn't have 220v outlet you will need to have someone put it in (I've heard people do it but honestly I've never liked electrical fixes) so that's extra money. When I asked I think it was going to cost me over $500+ (cheap if you ask me) to put two in my garage. With the extra plugs my circuit would need to be beefed up as well so I opted NOT getting the 220V compressors (but hey are SO nice) because if my wires can't handle the load they'll constantly keep tripping.

I'd run a moisture separator and oiler so your tools will last longer. The one I purchased has a water collector, oiler and separate line for painting (you don't want oil in your paint line). It's roughly another $100+ but well worth the investment. If you're painting you should also run a few catch filters at the end of the line unless you have a really nice separator.

Now the gun...
I'm in the process of purchasing a HVLP spray gun. Although I'd love to rock a SATA ($300~$500+ for one gun) my budget will probably send me towards a Devilbliss ($200 for gun and some accessories) setup. If you can borrow a decent spray gun do it because I can ONLY justify spending gobs of money on a spray gun, tips, cups, etc. because unless you're really going to be doing this often it's not worth the extra money. I'm starting out with a low/mid level gun and seeing if I like it.

ETC...
Those are the easy things. The rest of your money and time will be spent prepping and purchasing small things like paper, tape, paint, wipes, fans, plastic, car parts, panels, welder, etc. These things add up REAL fast...

If I were to price everything just to get started with a compressor it would easily cost over $1,500+ for the compressor and parts (hoses, hose reel, fittings, swivel fittings, couplings, some basic tools like impact gun, ratchet, grinder, buffer). Add at least $300 for a decent paint gun (tips, cups, paint) and goodness who knows how much for the other small stuff like tape, covers, paint, filler, sandpaper, etc (just make it a nice $500). Pray your car doesn't have rust because now I'm looking at a decent welder (add another $800+ to that).

I know people can argue about costs and what not but these are basics. It's like budgeting for children; no matter HOW much you save you never really can save enough for it. Just be reasonable and have a budget so you don't go into debt.

Sorry it's long, hope this helps...

Honestly I love it when the replies are long lol.
Gives me so much more information. And on projects likes this you can never have enough.

I had my eye on a 60gal compressor... because it had wheels lol.
I'm using my parents garage for this project but I'm planning on buying my own place soon so I'd like the versatility. I was doing research on the compressors, I found a good one from an old dude off youtube. He had a 80gal compressor and he was working on his BMW. he explained things like bolting the compressor to the ground because it rattles like crazy and having to run the air through a long distance pipe to keep the air cool. Then i think he mentioned somethign about the filters as well.

Seems like a lot of work. I'm looking at my car now and thinking how am I going to do that?? lol. but I still would like to try it. for the rear I've been thinking of just masking off the entire hatch, otherwise I'd have to remove the spoiler and stuff. Hopefully there isnt' any paint mismatch on the stock paint.

I'm also planning on building somethign around the car to keep dust out to let it dry.
think that's a waste of time?

My budget for this learning experience was about $3000. I'm starting to think about going to a prep class at a college for this and taking a 12 week course on it. Should I do that? or learn through trial and error?

Thanks for everyone input!

A makeshift paint booth is great. I was thinking of converting some Sam's/Wally World cheap tents into booths and just use painters cover to enclose it while running 2 fans (1 for the in and the other for the out).

Taking classes couldn't hurt, the more practice the better you'll get.

I just finished painting my car in my garage, its the 3rd car i've painted in this garage. I have 2 guns HPLV one for primer and 1 for paint. I only takes about 1 hour to paint a car, its quick and easy, you can use enamel with the top coat already added or you can use urathane and paint the top coat later, that takes a bit longer and more skill but is more forgiving. Anyone can paint a car but I must stress that its the prep that makes or brakes how your car will look. If you do a rush job on the prep then your car will look half assed, I took me 3 weeks to prep my trac and about 1 hour to paint. My prelude took 2 weeks to prep and about 45mins to paint, my tercel was took 5 weeks to prep (coz I was driving it daily and only did it after work) and about 3 hours to paint, this was done with urathane and top coat, it takes more to paint but you can let it dry, fix errors and then repaint, with enamel you get one shot and thats it, it you mess up you have to wait a few weeks for the paint to cure before you can spray anymore paint or it will wrinkle and you will spend hours sanding the shit down. use HPLV guns (High pressure low volume guns that are top feed and you can get away with a smaller compressor)

I dont have pics of the trac yet but heres the prelude, just cover the garage in plastic from home depot , the stuff you use on the walls then spray the floor with water before you paint to prevent dust from flying up as you spray.


This sunroof was rusted to shit! I had to rebuild it with fiberglass after cutting out all the rusty parts.


It can be done, I got a compressor for 300, paint guns for 90 each and a hose and fittings for about 40, paint will run you for 300 to 500 (including thinner, hardener and reducer and the kind of paint you choose), if you dont have body work to be done then you're lucky! you just need some sand paper to sand off the shine on your current car and some waterproof sand peper to smooth everything down. It can be done just dont rush and take your time to prep! I cant stress how important prep is!!! if you get tired sanding and say 'fuck it! noone will notice that' stop and continue tomorrow because YOU will notice it and it will stand out like a sore thumb!

Good Luck!