What do you guys think about me painting my car myself?

[Argeo]

Ok or stupid? It appears my auto body friend who was suppose to help me spray can help me this weekend or not sure when afterwards. He travels on weekend with car to various shows so he is always busy once spring comes. Completely understandable.

What I have done. I have stripped, cut and welded in new areas that were rotted. Sand blasted all rust, bondoed and primered 90% and block sanded 90% of the car.

I do have a spray gun (which I used to primer), a compressor with moisture control and pressure regulator and will be cleaning garage and making a spray booth.

Any reason I shouldn't? I have come this far practically alone, why not finish solo?

I go by a 90% rule which is if I can fool 90% of the people into thinking it looks great, that is ok with me. Contest car is not my intention.

Opinions, advice?

Thanks,

David

[RoninLB]

If you practice with a touch up gun you can build a technique much easier than a full size gun.

[Rot 911]

David you can absolutely do it yourself. Hell Stephen Wilkerson (probably spelled wrong) who goes by I think "formerly steve wilkerson" or something close to that and who wrote "The Gold Plated Porsche" painted his 911 in a barn piece by piece. Do a search and you will find his posts here. Lots of us have painted our cars or parts of cars in our garages. Do a search. For my adventures search my name and "painting the ducktail." Also thrown hammer posted his adventures of painting his 911, which was the first car he ever painted. Worse thing that can happen is you have to do some sanding and repainting. The DIY guys here, including me, will give you all the support and advice you need!

[cstreit]

I did mine last year... It wasn't too bad. Since it was my first time I did a number of color appliations with wet sanding. Had to re-touch some areas that I burned though (corners and such). It was a real pain, but it's possible!

[Argeo]

Enough said. I am going for it.

Thanks, you'll all be hearing from me.

David

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

That would be Formerly Steve Wilkinson, a handle awarded to me by Wayne, I had nothin' to do with it. And yes, I did paint the thing in my barn and on the lawn in front of it. You're exactly right about the 90-percent rule: 90 percent of the people who look at my car just see that it's shiny and very yellow and are stunned to learn that I painted it myself. They never notice the dribbles down by the rocker panels, etc. They think it's "a professional job." The other 10 percent, if they're kind, say things like, "Uh, it'll probably look pretty good after you rub it out..."

I think one of the keys is to get a paint that you can color-sand, rather than anything fancy and metallic and tricky that you spray and that's it. The Glasurit that I used, though expensive ($580 or so a gallon including the thinner, hardener and whatever the second main component is called--don't remember) Can simply be sanded with very fine-grade wet-or-dry (in fact you're supposed to sand it) to remove mistakes, errant bugs, fingerprints, runs, whatever. There's nothing you can do--well, maybe a few things--that you can't simply sand out, or down, and do over again.

If you'd never even touched a spraygun, you might be in for a bit of a challenge. But if you already sprayed the primer, you're halfway to being a quasi-expert...

Please ask if there's anything specific I can advise you on, either by PM or on the forum. It's not that I'm an expert by any means, it's just that we're both coming from exactly the same place.

Stephan

[widebody911]

Cars I've painted in my garage

[LakeCleElum]

I've painted 9 cars/trucks over the years; including a 912. The first one wasn't great, but the 2nd one was. I say go for it. Start by painting the underside of the hood and trunk to learn your technique. Tempature and air pressure are important. Get a few box fans for the doors/windows of your shop. Keep the gun moving to avoid runs. Make sure you have a good quality gun; not a $29 thing from JC Whitney. Take your time, have fun and show us pic's.....Bob S.

[Argeo]

Stephan,

You probably don't remember but you are the one that movivated me to take on this whole project. I think we spoke about a year ago via email. Definitely before the book was published.

Anyways, i will be using Chromobase paint. The color will be Riveria Blue (non metallic). I think it is a good color for a novice body guy like myself since light in color and non metallic.

Thanks again.

Thom, the 911 looks great. It certainly gives me hope for mine.

David

[MikeBogue]

You also need to be more carefull if you are painting a metallic paint than when you have a non metallic paint. If the paint is applied too heave, even thaough there may not be any runs you can still see runs in the metallic. I absoultely agree with LakeCleElum about the gun. Get a good HVLP gun and your life will be much easier.

Mike

[mudman]

I made the wrong decision and had it done. Even if I had really messed up I would still have learned a lot and would have more ambition to do more painting in the future.
-Jeremy

[Argeo]

Thanks ike and everyone else. Yeah, I specifically chose a non metallic so I would have to deal with the metallic runs. I like the flat colors also so it works out kind of nice too.

I'll keep you posted. The count down is on.

David

[Argeo]

Sorry Ike, I meant Mike.

My bad.

Avid

[thrown_hammer]

DO IT!
Almost ready to PAINT.

Ignore all the childish behavior towards the end of the thread...

[chgrec]

I actually built a booth in my garage out of 3 cheap box fans, clear painters tarps, some AC filters, duct tape & strips of 1x1 wood.....painted my entire Alfa spider. I also recently built a "quickie" half size booth to spray my new 911 fiberglass rear bumper. Only took about an hour to setup the half size booth using the garage door rails as the top corner support..I plan to shoot the front bumper & new deck lid this weekend doing the same thing.....

All car parts I have painted were basecoat/clearcoat and came out great, even the Alfa Mediterraneano Blue (metalflake).
I have some photos I took of both booths...I can upload them if you want when I get home tonight.....

The biggest difference (besides prep) between a good paint job and a great one is often times the cleanliness of your paint area. Dust flying around wet paint is death to a good shine.

That and I have painted in my garage once without a "booth" in the past. I was cleaning up paint dust and overspray for months after, not to mention the stern looks from my wife....

Let me know if you want to see the photos but it really isn't difficult....

Chris

[Argeo]

Would love to see the photos. Thanks.

[lateapex911]

Go for it....as the others mentioned, cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to spraying. Be fanatical the closer you get to spraying color when it comes to cleaning crevices, tack ragging, masking, etc. Color paint overspray will hang in the air "wet", and stick to EVERYTHING, as opposed to primer, which cleans up much more easily, so be thoughtful of protecting your "Stuff".

Second, have tons of gloves, paper towels, stir sticks, etc ready, and buy the ratio mixing stick if they sell one for the ratios of body/ thinner/ catalyst for your make of paint. I used Glasso too, easy and great results.

I'll post my barn project when I get home...
:

[armandodiaz]

What does everyone think about the ready-to-spray products. Any good?

[doozer]

Home Booth photos I have been collecting

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[doozer]

Home Booth photos I have been collecting

Hope this gives you some ideas.