Was your backyard paintjob worth it?

i did a test paint job on my jeep using rustoleum $10 and mineral spirits it came out great up until i got the bright idea of letting it dry in the sun at first my neighbors came across the street and complimented how nice it came out i went inside to watch tv my wife came home from shopping 15 mins later and asked why the jeep is out in the rain isn't going to mess up the paint
stupid sun shower was gone before i hit the door paint was trashed i resanded pissed off but didn't wet sand smooth completely just resprayed and called it a day i have owned it a long time so i do it later again

 

Just for comparision, a local shop gets betwee $12K and $16K for a show-quality color change (jambs, etc) and while their stuff looks good, they have their share of come-backs. I did this in my garage for about $2,500 in materials and it's every bit the equal in quality and it's three years old. It's tough to see here, but it's glass smooth and extremely durable. If you are ready to put in the hours and willing to learn, I say go for it.

 

I did this car in five days, fiberglass up right before the March meet. I did it in one stall of Nasty's garage over a post lift. He flew me out and helped. I don't even know what color it was, picked it out of a pile of chips in a paint store. BC/CC .

 

Very nice, isn't that the car that pitched it's body?

 

In my opinion, I'd try to do everything on your own as much as possible, the only way you can perfect a skill is to just saw F it and try it out. A year or two down the line, you can always try it again (different color) if you have the desire. When it comes to hot rods, I'd rather have a semi ok diy paint job and know I did my best instead of paying someone else to build your vision.

With the internet, any ?'s you may need a answer to is just a forum or google search away...

 

Yes, it went lean and banged the blower, burst panel popped, but the body came unlatched and went into orbit. I now hold the altitude record for a paint job for a F/C. LOL.

 

I used to asst. manage a blow-n-go paint shop here in So. Cal. called Carcoa. Or Car-Blow- a. For the money if you just prep. it yourself and have them just spray it it will turn out nice. We had some Body Shops in the area do that and bring us good paint ( because we used Synthetic Enamel). We would load the paint on as thick as we could without running it so they could wet sand it when we get done.
I like it, I'll do it again. If you have any further questions you can PM me.

Maaco, One day, Earl Shieb, they're all the same.

 

Thanks for the input!

I guess I should clarify, when I say $700 or $800 I add it up the Car Craft way, including sanding blocks/boards/paper/guns/respirator etc

I figure I'll have about $350 in prep materials and about $350 in paint(add 10% to the total for the unexpected so I'm at about $800 -gotta build a booth outtta something!) using Kirker urethane 2 stage. It's $220 + S&H for the stuf you get below, I figure I'll need an extra gallon of paint because I'm doing jams and under hood/trunk and better to have too much.

I think Nason single stage was $160 or $130 locally per gallon, before you add primer and everything else.

Will I do as good a job as somebody that shoots paint for a living? Nah. But I work cheaper, and with a little luck, I'll be able to buff out a few problems along the way.

If I totally blow the paint job itself, well, I should have extra sandpaper and as long as my body work comes out decent it won't be too hard to get it ready for Earl Scheib or the like!

for comparison, a 2 stage deal at 1 day paint and body is $1,000 w/o bodywork, and almost $1700 incl. tax if you want it wetsanded and buffed, which I intend to do. Cuz I'm like that

Their best single stage urethane job is on sale for a little under $600 including tax(no body work)


http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/

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Sorry to hear that, but if it's any consolation, you did a beautiful job on that car. Was the thing saveable?

 

P.M. Zoo. Better get this off this thread!

 

Do you have a community college near you with an autobody program? I am doing this on my 66 F100. I am taking a weekend course on paint & bodywork. I am getting use of down draft booths, a discount program worked out with Sherwin Williams, free use of specialized tools, and experienced people to help when I get stuck.

I'm learning how to beat out dents and use filler, minor frame repair, make patches. I am making mistakes and learning from it. Plus, I get to decide what is good enough and what needs redone, not someone else.

I'm seeing that with patience I can get a decent job in both my paint and bodywork. Granted, this is a bit above a backyard job, but my tuition is helping learn me stuff I can reuse and my learning curve is several times faster than if I was teaching myself on my own. If something like this is available to you, I'd recommend looking into.

 

My son got a Gal of Color for $ 10 it did not match the chip and a shop returned it. I got 20 callon cans of Ford tractor paint of various colors of dented or leaking cans free. It costs big bucks for them to dispose it properly when going to a landfil. . we painted cars ,trailers and tractors and it has held up well. My nephew painted a car with metalic and got a lot of clouding. I didn't see which gun and compressor he used.. solid colors are better for your first job.

 

Same here 2nd car iv painted the paint is hot hues warp speed blue. For the paint and clear it was around 900.00 have to learn some how.

 

uuumm, sorry, but maybe you havent been told yet and all yer' fiends are snickerin or somethin'.... thats not a JEEP my friend. I'm sorry to be the one to be having to tell you. damn! its always me....

 

A guy at the Salt Lake City Autorama today had an EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLAR paint job on his 36 Ford 3 window coupe. He wouldn't let a youngster within 5 feet of the roped off area his car was in. Who wants that kind of stress? I say do it yourself and save $79,000.00!

 

what's an 80k dollar paint job look like? i say go for it your self...what's the worst that can happen????

 

I spray waterbourne all day at work,it needs to be sprayed in a booth with lots of airflow,or it won't dry,not ideal for backyard jobs.The story about the hose sounds fishy,it'd have to be scrubbed with a rag along with water,it won't just wash off.

 

It's not hard, dirty work. Painting is easy. It's the prep and bodywork that's hard. It does however take time and intense focus. You can't stop working once you start, till you're done.

When it's time to paint, do it early in the morning. Bugs aren't out yet, and the wind is usually down considerably.

You don't want to necessarily mask the night before, as the tape will lift a bit, and bleed, but you may not have a choice. Be sure and press all the tape down again before you start. In the morning you'll need about an hour getting your gear set up, plus a couple hours to mask. If you're not done by 10:00 in the morning, you're gonna have lots of dust and bugs to sand out.

 

Two things...

1: If you belong to a club (or not), ask your friends who have done their own cars to pitch in one Saturday and help with the final bondo skim, sanding, blocking etc...Me and a dozen other fellers once pitched in this way to help a fellow friend and it's amazing how much progress you can make in one day with a dozen folks all pitching in....you just need friends, food, drinks, supplies and a thankful attitude.

2: You'll be amazed how great even the most amateur paint job can look if you're willing to do a lot of wet sanding, compounding etc...

 

Are you building a show car? If not, do it yourself.
I did the paintjob on my 55 chevy and it turned out OK, not show quality but OK!
I´m happy every time I see my car and know that I did the paintjob!!





The most important thing when you´re going to spray is light!
Borrow every lamp you can, because if you can´t see how the paint is applying, the paintjob will be crap!
And one more thing, don´t hurry, take your time and let the paint dry a bit between the layers!!

/Johan

 

The main thing is estimate the time you think you are going to spend on prep then double it. Prep takes a LOT of unexpected time but is worth it in the end. You may find the best way for your first job is to do all the prep yourself then make a deal with a bodyshop for just spraying the color. Do the wet sanding and buffing yourself. Doing it this way is almost as cheap as DIY but the chances of it coming out better are greatly improved and you don't have nosy neighbors coming over asking you to paint their cars.

 

How much is your time worth (what does your work pay you to work weekends?) Do you want the result or the experience? Do you live in a dusty area or can you get some shed space? Do you have a , spray gun etc.

If you are a fussy guy with a roughish car. you are up for some seriously long days (stripping,panel beating and rustcutting, prep and spraying)

My friends and I have started to take note of the man hours we put into home body resto jobs we do. No Joke they take up to 100 hours start to finish on a very very rusty holden (thats four guys going hard six hours a weekend over a month plus a lil during the week.

We earn decent overtime penalty rates on the weekends in our jobs so therefore if we just worked for a hundred hours on the weekend we'd have $5000 Australian ($3500 U.S) which would give you a half decent paint job here if you could do some bargaining

Just a different veiwpoint.

 

Just keep on calling it a Jeep, or whatever you want to joel torres. Some tell me I can't carry COWS in mine so I shouldn't call it a truck. Some tell me that Chivvy didin't make a '29 king cab pickup so I can't call it that.

...........and, friends don't snicker at friends vehicles.

 

Well ya gota start sometime,cause if you have the erge to paint one you will. And then next thing youll do somthing else,maybe youll end up doin some for friends or make a little coin.Just take the proper care for your health! And most of all have a blast doing it, it can be very rewarding. Lowlidx50

 

Hot Rod magazine did a article a couple years ago on painting your car for $98.00. They did it with quarts of rustoleum and a roller for gods sake. It was alot of work in color sanding and took along time to complete but it looked pretty good. My point is you can do it, but like everyone else has said, PREP PREP PREP. thats the key to a good result.

 

Boy this is a fantastic recipie that stems from the roots of hotrodding. Friends with different talents sharing skills and information and having fun. Kinda sounds like the HAMB.

These are some of my contributions. Use the search function for lots more great info.

Garage painting 101: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14597&showall=1

Painting tips: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=225633&showall=1


overspray

 

So has anyone on here used the Kirker paint yet?

 

Overspray thanks for the links to your bitchin' tech pieces! I see I've missed some posts that could definitely help!

 

Nothing beats doing your own body prep and final paintwork, but it does takes years of practice to get the skills. If you can find a shop to do things that you are happy with fine. Living in a city vs. out in the country are two different things. Read the lables, buy the safety equipment.

 

I painted this in a garage in 1994. I plan to paint my Essex at home one of these years as well. I'm too freakin' cheap to pay someone else to do it.