Does anyone know how hard it is to paint a car? Im thinking about buying a paint gun and trying it. I know I should just save up money and get a decent paint job but I want to spend money on performance things right know and not a paint job. So I just wanted to know if I could do it myself and it would look decent?

 

ya my friend does it. you basicaly need a REALLY clean area. because of dust and so forth. other then that. a paint gun is prety easy to use and its prety easy to do your self.

the problem is having a clean enough place to paint. you can't just do it outside. good luck on that one. maybe a spare garage you don't care about could work.

 

First of all, buying the gun, the equipment, and the paint with cost you (retail prices you opay for automotive paint are very high), you won't save that much doing one job. Also, while it is not hard the shoot paint, its not easy either, and you are likely to mess up the first time. Nearly everyone shots too much, too close, and gets runs or orange peel.

What you can do to save money and improve things is preparation. This is really what separates good from cheap paint jobs anyway. Find a shop to paint your car, and negotiate that they will do just the final scuff sanding, clean off, and major masking (windoes, etc.), and then paint.

First, You go over your car with a really heavy duty wax and oil remover (they should do this again at the shop, but get it all off anyway) and get it all off. If you have rust or any corrosion, remove it completely and do the fiberglass/bondo (if you're cheap) or welding/brazing/lead fill (if you're going first class tranditional way) yourself, then fill, prime, sand, sand, fill prime, sand etc. Then go over the car meticulously looking for scratches, dings, rock marks, etc., and fill all thosee little nicks and dings with filler or primer, sand them really smooth (use a flashlight at an angle to check, etc.), progressively sand down down to #400 or 600 paper. Any flaw you don't want to see for the next XX years under your new paint, remove yourself. Then go over the car again to remove any remaining dust, wax, etc.

Then, remove all the tiny crap trim that you can -- stuff that cheap paint jobs just paint over and expensive ones charge a lot for masking or removing. Mask over with blue masking tape all the remaining small trim pieces you can't remove, doing the masking very well, getting the edges perfect. Lightly sand the paint right up along the trim with about 320-400 paper: this is where cheap paint jobs tend to cut corners and wear the new paint start flaking a year down the line.

This will make a tremendous difference when you get the car back.

 

if you go to paintforcars.com you can buy paint for cheap

 

But it will still cost him ba lot by the time he buys the equiment and the paint. And first timers always make a few mistakes. Best not to learn on your favorite ride.

 

i know alotta people who painted there cars, but you better re primer yours depended how long its been primered..just practice on wood or something to get even strokes, use a couple coats of clear and a clean work area and your set to go.