Have you ever painted your own car?

[sigp220.45]

My daughter's car is an ex-cop car 2001 Crown Vic. It runs great and has been no trouble at all, but the paint has peeled in some spots and she wants me to paint it.

I bought a house with a large workshop that is completely wasted on me. There is a huge compressor in it, and there are brass air outlets in the walls which I assume I can use to spray paint. My Dad has spray guns that plug right in, and the shop itself is plenty big enough to hold the car completely out of the weather.

So I'm all set, right? What do I need besides paint and stuff to mask off what I don't want painted?

I'd like to hear about your experiences in painting your own car (or someone else's) and what kind of pitfalls I can expect.

Thanks!

 

[venomballistics]

paint stripper, laquer thinner to clear the residue from the stripper ... zinc chromate primer, then we'll need to discuss finish systems a bit.
ya usually have a choice between acrylic, enamel and polyurethane .. each will prefer to have its own type of primer over the zinc chromate.
try to stick with one brand and type of paint system through the whole project for a solid result

 

[Duke426]

Unless this is something you've always wanted to do and can afford the time and money to acquire what "venom" has indicated and learn how to do it - pay someone else to do it professionally.

Personally I would have Maaco shoot a paint job on it and be done with it. Even their best job will be less than the cost of what you need plus your time involved and it is likely to look a whole lot better than a first timers DIY venture.

 

[Frank237]

Once painted an old Datsun pickup DESERT CAMO..... does that count?

I'd go the MAACO or Earl Scheib route, unless your reasonably handy and have a bit of an aptitude for mechanical things.

Your going to need a CLEAN and DRY air supply, a dust free environment, etc.

 

[sourdough44]

Yes I did, U.P. style. That was my 1971 Monte Carlo, black with a red racing stripe. I did it with a regular paint brush. I also had 2 coats of window tint on all windows but the front.

 

[venomballistics]

Maaco ?!?!? ... sacrilege .. thats the cheesiest shop since the kindergartners discovered your stash of spray paint.
Unlike the brake job elsewere on the forum ... paint does represent a poor entry point into the gear head arts.
if youve wanted to try it and know a thing or two about getting your hands to produce things ... go for it.
if in your research (I gave you just enough of a bread crumb trail to ask the right questions here) you determine it to be over your head ... then find a good shop by asking the questions the bread crumbs above lead you to .... you wont make it Maaco

 

[bitstream]

Had a friend with an old postal jeep once. His girlfriend painted it while it was at work one day... She used some flat white water based paint and a big 4" paint brush... Yes, it looked exactly the way you are picturing it right now. My cousin and I were laughing so hard we couldn't talk. That's when my cousin saw the paint can and realized it was water based paint. He grabbed a glass of water, juked past our friend who was trying to stop him, and splashed the water right across the hood. As the white paint was running down the hood and body, our laughter reached a new level. Then we noticed that the roof wasn't completely done; she didn't have a stool to stand on, so she only covered as far as she could reach with the brush. That pretty much completed the episode as our friend jumped in a drove off in a huff as we were now on the ground rolling.

 

[kritter]

yes I have, and don't.....
really for total cost involved, your close to MAACO price not to mention the expearance of mixing, getting the proper flow rate on the paint, proper prep, having to right "speed" in your painting to avoid runs, fisheyes, exc..
you could check with some of the vocational schools that offer bodywork & paint classes.. some offer discounts just to have something to paint on..

 

[cowboy117]

One of the nicest paint jobs i've seen was done by a cheepie company[the owner did the prep].99% is in the prep.Do the prep & let a cheap company paint it.Talk to the painter & pay him x ammount to do an extra special job.Painting a car is something for pros IMHO.

 

[venomballistics]

theres that M word ... again ....
auto paint was my profession for a while ... I got that job after a body shop owner followed me through town till he finally caught me at a gas station to feed my pony a tank of premium.
the subsequent conversation went thusly ...
"excuse me sir? where did you have this done?"
"No shop rat touches my ride"
"you mean you .... Okay .. what paint did you use?"
"Imron"
at this point he handed me his business card and asked rather politely to take a closer look ....
in his inspection he asked "What primer did you use?"
"Zinc Chromate base and Coralar"

"Stop by if you have the time"

a week later I was laying paint in his shop.

its a tangible goal if you are willing to do some gumshoe work to figure it out ... easy to do ... no .. it takes a level of finesse not common to any other aspect of automotive work .. you may or may not have this.

this will likely be passed along to a shop .... but what shop?
find yourself a local body shop ... no franchise car butcher like M word. and ask about what they use.
if youve done your research ... you'll know if they care to do it right or not

 

[Steave]

Man, I can't even imagine trying to paint a car. And lemme tell ya, if I did it, there would be so many runs, etc in the paint, someone would BEG me to take the car to Maaco!

 

[feralmerril]

I once had a friend who told me he painted his old harley with one of those old fly spray cans that you pump. Actualy he said it turned out good!

 

[JcMack]

I painted a '64 Chevy P.U. once with an electric vibrator sprayer. Painted it rustolium primer brown, and it worked out great. I tried to paint my then wifes '71 Volkswagon ragtop. I found a load of bodywork had been done on this used car. It involved a lot more work than I ever imagined, mainly because of my inexperience. When I was done, it looked like crap. Lucky for me that model was popular, and I sold it for what I originally paid for it. That was in '79. Don't paint your own car, unless it's a truck/jeep/offroad vehicle that is expected to look utilitarian.

You could choose a low cost pro job and do some prep. sanding and bodywork prior to save money. If the car is two tone pick the color the trunk and door jams are painted. If you must do it yourself. Thoroughly wet the garage floor down to hold down the dust. Make sure the air line has a water trap/filter.

 

[Duke426]

A couple things to keep in mind here:

We are talking about a 10 year old Crown Vic. Not a collector car even with the interceptor package.

Also, is your daughter a car enthusiast or does she just want something that looks clean and she's not embarrased to be seen in.

If it isn't a car she's in love with and going to keep forever, I wouldn't spend a ton of money on paint and body work for something that is just basic transportation.

JMHO

 

[m1gunner]

The better the prep work, the better the final results.

Fresh paint always looks better than weather beaten, faded paint.

Acrylic enamel with hardener and the proper speed reducer, and it should look OK. Try painting a trash can or something of size first to get the feel of the spray gun. There are some low cost HVLP gravity spray guns that work fine for what you want to do.

Anything you do should last at least 2 years, so go for it if you want.

As to cost: quality materials can easily hit $500 for what you want to do.

 

[venomballistics]

I'll still maintain my stance ...
we are collecting quite a few nay sayers in this thread ... their council has been adhered to quite long enough ... now, everything is made in China.
Do the footwork into the process.
you may opt out of a DIY at any time, but finish that footwork ... cause that knowledge WILL eliminate MAACO as an option, as well as weed out the rest of the hacks.
and dont opt out just because they, I or anyone else said so ... proceed, outsource, or abandon this one based on your own assessment of your own skills and willingness.
it is NOT impossible to roll out a work of art on the first try, but man you have to want it.
body prep is 70% of the battle ... and it can be akin to honing cylinders with your tongue depending on the tools on hand.

 

[medxam]

YES!, My friends and I painted several Ford Model A's back in the early 1950's. Just used paint brushes and some black gloss or what ever color we wanted. They looked pretty good!

 

[DeathGrip]

To even think of doing a good job is going to take you a lot of time.You are also gonna need some tools you don't mention.The cost of sand paper alone is through the roof and your gonna need a lot of it.I'm not going to give you a complete tutorial here,There's so much more.
I've painted auto collision and custom but every day was to much for me.But if you really want to do it it is rewarding as all heck when you roll out a fresh paint job.
If you don't have the time for all of this and decide to go the local Shake n Bake USA you can get a better job by doing some of the prep work your self.
Also the cheepo places use cheepo paint that they buy a bunch of.That's why you only have a choice of so many colors.they may or may not match your door jams and I personally think thats a really bad look.

 

[DeathGrip]

I do need to ask,What color is it now?And where is the damage?
You might get away with a partial paint job.

Now I'm gonna go and miss my painting days.

 

[writerinmo]

I worked for many years in other people's body shops, then finally opened my own. Frankly, it's a lot easier to paint a car than most people want you to realize. Todays basecoat/clearcoat systems are much more forgiving than the old days when all you had to choose from was enamel and lacquer.

HOWEVER...

Preparing a car to BE painted is yet another story. I will personally vouch for the fact that for every dent, however small that you can see, there will be another one that you don't. Finding and fixing ALL of these is the difference between a 55 paint job (looks great when you drive by at 55) or a great one. I did mostly insurance repairs and classic cars in my shop. I prefer the classic cars, that had metal that you could work with in them. I think you could melt down a 1/4 panel off a 57 Belair and make an entire body for a Toyota nowadays...

This said, I never used stripper on any car other than a total restoration. It is nasty, messy, stinks to high heaven and if you leave ANY residue in any of the little nooks and crannies then your bright shiny new paint will lift right off and look like hell.

Bodywork takes years to learn to do well. If you are just going to do one car than it would behoove you to farm it out. If you have any local technical colleges that teach autobody then it might pay to check it out, they usually only charge for materials.

I have used Earl Schiebs and the like cheapy paint jobs in the past. If you do your own bodywork and just have them spray it and DON'T buy the ultra-cheapy paint, you can still get a good job done reasonably... depending on the shop.

It isn't something that you just jump into. You are dealing with hazardous, dangerous chemicals, some of which can send you to the hospital with serious and potentially deadly respiratory problems. If you really want to learn, then I would suggest picking up a few books on the subject (recently published as the industry has changed immensely in just a few years.) and studying, maybe painting a few scrap hoods or fenders to practice. When you know what HVLP and activators and catalysts are and do, then you are closer to doing a good job yourself!

 

[DeathGrip]

Absolutely correct writerinmo.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I vote to leave it the way it is. Face it, will a paint job increase the value of the car? If no-then why do it. You've got a 2001 interceptor whose beauty lies beneath the hood. I believe in putting money into a car only to a) keep it running or b) increse value over the cost of an improvement. This project fails on both criteria.
However the wildcard does creep in and may have a drastic effect in what you do. By wild card, I mean your daughter and wife

To answer your question though,No I have never painted a car but me and my buddy DID hand paint a 48' aluminum Sport fisherman-with brushes and paint rollers. And you know what...it looked it too Something to do with the harmonics or whatever but that boat was a fish raising son of a gun as well as being ugly as homemade sin. We joined a hoity toity fishing club and promptly won boat of the year. Bunch of cajuns sitting on a hand painted "crewboat" built fishing boat next to the gleaming Hatterasses and Betrams, bar b quing on the back deck with laundry hanging from the outriggers listening to country music and drinking long necks. Talk about country come to town The 4-5 release flags didn't hurt either

 

[sigp220.45]

A couple things to keep in mind here:

We are talking about a 10 year old Crown Vic. Not a collector car even with the interceptor package.

Also, is your daughter a car enthusiast or does she just want something that looks clean and she's not embarrased to be seen in.

If it isn't a car she's in love with and going to keep forever, I wouldn't spend a ton of money on paint and body work for something that is just basic transportation.

JMHO

She just wants it to be one color - right now its white with large patches where the paint has completely peeled off. I'm not about to spend a bunch of money on this thing - its got about a quarter of a million miles on it already.

I was hoping I could get away cheap by doing it myself since I've got this mongo compressor and my Pops has the paint guns. But now it looks like I'd be the car-guy equivalent of the Bubba gunsmith we all bemoan so much.......

 

[PALADIN85020]

When I was in high school, I had a 1950 Chevy 2-door. I didn't like the sky-blue color, so I made a deal with a car paint shop about 1/2 mile from me. I stripped the trim, sanded the paint down, used spray-can primer where needed, did all the masking, and then drove it down to the shop where they did a fine job of spray painting it '57 T-Bird metallic bronze. I think the total charge was $60. A couple of years later, I tired of that color, and did the same deal, only in '58 Corvette silver blue. By then I had also louvered the hood, so I needed to repaint it anyway.

The point is, that most of the labor is in the prep work. Once that is done, spray painting is a piece of cake for the professionals to do. I would never attempt to do that myself. The risk of an orange-peel surface, runs, etc., is just too great. You can probably make a similar deal as I did today, except it will cost you more than $60!

John

 

[caseydog]

I do a couple every year , my own ,family, close friends. You won't need to buy a bunch of tools , I use 80% hand blocks.

A cheap paint job really isn't enough motivation to take this on, you'll be ready to farm it out before you get it masked. For most guys who follow through and get it done it's really a personal satisfaction thing. I know a few office types who love that they can accomplish this themselves, basically I'm sayin unless you have some higher motivation you should probably consider farming it out. If you do decide to go through with it I'd be happy to swap a few e-mails with you and help all I can.

Just the bare basics , sandpaper,blocks ,tape,respirator, a little primer,color,clear,reducers you're probably looking at least $750+ using name brand "value line" chemicals.

Ray

 

[lonejacklarry]

Nice car, caseydog-

That reminds me-if you are a novice painter, paint the car white or tan. DO NOT try to do black. White is very forgiving but black is for the folks that really know what they are doing.

Remember to use a respirator or, better yet, a fresh air supplied rig. If a filter mask filters out the particulate matter, fine, but if the oxygen is displaced in your shop then things go downhill fairly fast.

The isocyanate paints out there today can kill you if you do it wrong. They are tough on skin, eyes, and the respiratory system. They work great but are dangerous!!

All in all, I'd let someone else do it if I were you.

 

[venomballistics]

Nice car, caseydog-

That reminds me-if you are a novice painter, paint the car white or tan. DO NOT try to do black. White is very forgiving but black is for the folks that really know what they are doing.

Remember to use a respirator or, better yet, a fresh air supplied rig. If a filter mask filters out the particulate matter, fine, but if the oxygen is displaced in your shop then things go downhill fairly fast.

The isocyanate paints out there today can kill you if you do it wrong. They are tough on skin, eyes, and the respiratory system. They work great but are dangerous!!

All in all, I'd let someone else do it if I were you.

wivestale ... while black, and metalics show your sins, body prep is about making all your wrongs right.
take the time to do that correctly, and you will have no trouble with any color.
I was told not to try black or metallic ... didnt listen ... did the mustang in black and gold as God intended .. and for my disobedience I got a job out of it

 

[Farmer17]

My girlfriend's son has an old, white Chevy work pickup that his dad bought him for $900 and it was the most horrible looking thing you had ever seen. It had big dents and peeling paint and he was ashamed to be seen in it, but it runs fine and I told him I would help him with the appearance. I bought a bunch of cans of white, black, and silver spray paint and several rolls of masking tape. After about two hours of masking and sanding that truck looked 100% better and no, it doesn't look wonderful, but it looks decent and he is no longer ashamed to be seen in it. It was actually fun painting it and if I did it again, I learned enough that I think I could make it turn out quite a bit better.

 

[caseydog]

Improving the appearance of a decent running vehicle is as old as cars themselves. I've seen some truly determined spray can jobs that actually looked pretty good. Spray cans have a lot of limitations , very thin so the tiny propellant charge can push it, fast drying seems like a good thing but when doing large areas causes major haziness from overspray.

Some more recent determined DIY guys have developed a solution using those little (4" ?) foam rollers sold in the paint dept at the box stores and some enamel tractor type paint thinned with a slow evaporating reducer and multiple coats until you get enough paint on that you can actually wet sand it with 1500 paper and polish it with a buffer.

A 1962 Ford Falcon Recieve A Budget Paint Job - Hot Rod Magazine

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

She just wants it to be one color - right now its white with large patches where the paint has completely peeled off. I'm not about to spend a bunch of money on this thing - its got about a quarter of a million miles on it already.

I was hoping I could get away cheap by doing it myself since I've got this mongo compressor and my Pops has the paint guns. But now it looks like I'd be the car-guy equivalent of the Bubba gunsmith we all bemoan so much.......

If you do it, WE WILL COME to watch with popcorn and all kinds of helpful hints
I say go for it, you're just dyin to use one of those spray guns aren't you ???