DougFL

Anyone have any experiencing in Do It Yourself painting? How difficult is it to do? My experience lies in the more technical side and the mechanics of the car rather than athsthetics but Im at the point where I got a new wing and ground effects kit and the body shop estimated well over $300 just to paint the wing!! Guess I'm in the wrong business. lol

Anyway, I thought of looking into DIY, but Im not sure of two things:

1.) Would it even be cost effective to pick up the required gear for a one time paint job (of the wing and ground effects)?

2.) Is it even easy enough to do myself where I wouldn't screw it up?

I haven't even gotten an estimate for the cost of the ground effects paint job as the price for the wing alone had me a bit shocked. May I would be better off just ponying up the cash to the body shop to do it (mindful it is a Ford Dealership shop). Any thoughts. Again I have ZERO experience painitng or doing any kind of body work. Thanks!!

darkshadow03gt

$300 sounds steep for just a wing. Shop around and get a few prices. Painting is not easy and can be a huge pain. It can be done but I would really look into getting a few more prices first.

thor'svr4

I painted a few of my own cars just outside in my driveway for under $700. Its not too hard, just really time consuming. Your not really paying for the cost of the paint at the shop, your paying for how many hrs of labor its going to take. It honestly takes me a sold week to prep my car. I don’t do it for a living or anything but my cars come out good enough that everyone always makes a comment about how nice I take care of my cars (there all 92’s) and when I tell them I painted the cars myself they always have a hard time believing it.

Heres a pic that shows my amateur work. This was done outside in my driveway in the summer after work. Far from a professional setting.




You can see a few flaws in the paint if you know what your looking for but since most people are just looking for something uniform and shinny they normally wont pick up on flaws. those pics are of my VR4 which was the second car i had ever painted. im still a noob when it comes to painting so i hope someone who does it for a living will comment on this thread and let you know what they think you should do.

As far as weather or not its worth it for you… that’s your choice. $300 to do just a wing is a bit steep BUT it saves you a lot of time and hassle. If your like me and take pride in doing everything on your car yourself than the money spent on a good paint gun and supplies is well worth it. I think I picked up my Devlibus gun for $100 brand new on eBay and the supplies to paint a wing wont cost much. You do need a really good air compressor with a water trap though. Those little 5 gal home depot things wont cut it lol.

edit: the top of the flip up is the same color as the lower part. the light/camera is what makes the green flake in the black paint on the top of the flip up look like specs of dirt/dust in the paint.

edit #2)
they do sell real auto paint in a spray can at most auto paint supply stores. you just give them your paint code and they will mix up a single stage paint that you can just spray on and it will match your cars color and be real auto paint (not just spray paint). ive never used it personally but its cheep enough you could always pick up a can and test it out on a piece of scrap metal...

GreyStang

Nice work thor. You do your painting outside though?? How do you control dust & grit?
Doug if you've never painted before be prepared for a HUGE reality check. The pro's make it look soooo easy yet the end result is hard to do.
If you really want to tackle a self-paint, why don't you try painting something like a trash can first.. do as good a job as you can & see if you like the result. Don't "practice" on your car first.. lol

DougFL

Thanks for the replies all. After reading, I am re-assured that I would be best served by paying the pros to do it. lol