I see so many people painting their cars with the hood, doors and trunk in place. How do you get the paint around all the edges? My car is apart, would I be better off just spraying it that way then assembling it after the paint is complete?

How much sprayable paint do I need to cover everything including the dash and the inside of the doors, hood, trunk? Going 2 stage.

 

If you are painting a metallic color, the car NEEDS to be painted as a single unit, solid colors you can paint together or apart so long as you use the paint from the "same can".

A good painter can get most edges and corners covered satisfactorily, but when changing colors (and lots of other times) the car will need to be "jambed" to look good. Jambed is where the door edges, hood, trunk edges, etc are painted either before, after, or (with some skillful masking and painting), at the same time as the body itself.

I usually jamb a car before painting the exterior, but each car is different.

Paint covers differently based on color, brand, primer color, etc, but "in general on average", to cover everything on a Mustang except for the bottom, if you don't waste any, you are going to need (at a MINIMUM) a gallon and a half of color and a gallon and a half of clear, (both pre-reduction and/or pre mixed) I would buy 2 gallons of color and "mix and split them" to be sure (and to have a reserve of guaranteed ***** on color for a possible partial reshoot)

There is too much work on a good "total in and out" paint job to put your faith in a "perfect mix" from the paint shop to insure the car ends up as only one hue of a particular color.

If you are doing a total in and out, get 2 gallons of base. It really sucks to worry about running out of paint before you get a car covered, it sucks much worse to end up a half a cup short..... especially on Sunday.


>>Edit>> I should have mentioned that it is ESSENTIAL to prep, and block the car in one piece so that each panel transitions into the next. It is also way smart (actually near essential) to mock a car up even if you are painting it in pieces. >>