Need some advice on paint
 

So ive got a quote from a local paintshop for $1000 for all bodywork and paint or $250 if i bring it in ready to spray and im sure i can haggle a half way price for partial work on my part which is what I want to do. Probably will end up doing a majority of the bodywork/spot primering, pull the emblems, side markers, and other stuff, and let them mask, final prep, and spray the car. Ill see if i can get them to do that for like $600.

Mainly, my problem is that ive sprayed a couple pannels with duplicolor a year and a half ago and they are cracking and fading badly. I hope that it will be easy to remove because i don't want that crap contaminating and wrinkling up the paintjob at all. Any tips for taking care of this? Will laquer thinner strip the duplicolor easily and leave the remaining factory paint? Also one of these is the rear bumper, so nothing that eats urethane. I have no problem stripping to metal and spraying a coat of epoxy primer too, if aircraft stripper is the way to go in this situation.

Well lmk what you guys think, i can put up some pictures if necessary

if it's cracking, you want it off. your paint is only going to be as strong as the base. If you use chemical stripper, be sure you are thorough about getting the stripper off the panel before moving forward. If you sand, you'll want to end up at at least 320 grit before spraying primer on top of it. Once you have it off, you will want to spray a sealer/primer over it to protect the topcoats from any incompatibilities with the underlying paint.

I'm in the same boat as you right now. I'm going to try shooting paint myself in about a month. A buddy and I are building a makeshift paintbooth/garage/shed to do that in.

I only WISH someone would do a full respray of my car around here for $1000. It's more like $2500 before anyone wants to even LOOK at it out in these parts.

ya its a good deal, an upstart 2 person operation drumming up business. Their work is not absolutely perfect, but lightyears ahead of what i could do. ive checked out several of their jobs and they are all 3 foot or better id say

wow 250 to spray is a helluva deal...over here its like 500-600, plus another 1000 for prep.

I was under the impression that 250 wouldn't even cover the cost of paint?

ya it would, that was with Nason BB/CC at my request at the time of the quote. Paint would cost about $150 altogether, no primer. Thats ready to spray price, in the booth and shoot the paint.


OK ENOUGH WITH THE SIDETRACK, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THE DUPLICOLOR? Anyone tried lacquer thinner on the crap?

lacquer thinner wont do shit to it...Ive tried that before....sand/grind it off?

well i figured as much, i guess ill just have to sand it all down, or chemical strip.

strip it with 320 grit, use some filler primer, wetsand the car with 800 grit, give it to the dude to paint. if i were you though, id tape it off yourself because for the price that guy is quoting you, im positive hes going to skimp every chance he gets.

Get a rotary sander and some finishing tools/supplies. Don't get vigorous or you'll leave marks that either you or the painters will have to deal with. Which means headaches for everyone (and maybe more money for you). I would strip everything possible and remove what panels I could. Especially the fenders, hood and trunk. Strip all that and make sure that when they paint, they can get everywhere possible. I'm not sure if they would charge more for this or not. If not. Do it. I wouldn't want it to look like a re-spray if it were my car.

Delivery day would be taken care of with a trailer for the car and all the panels removed. I'd have everything masked and probably (if available) extra wheels/tires that I don't care about. Before leaving, I'd mask the muffler and exhaust tip and make sure the rad and engine bay are covered too. Stick around while they prep the car and finish all your work. If you can, watch them paint it. Mirrors would be removed and everything. Also, after the paint cures on the car, I'd go around and wet-sand everything and polish it up well.

P.S. a good way to tell your painter's skill is to have him do a small patch panel in your color. If black, you want to make sure that he can lay it down properly. It is the hardest color to paint correctly.

WOW -
I spent $450 on my paint alone, not including the quart of Primer that I needed. It was Dupont BC/CC. And I painted the car myself at home. The RED SU base was $75 a Quart, and I needed at least two quarts - But I got four quarts because I had never done it before and needed to resand the Base in areas = $300
I used four quarts of CLEAR @ $39.75 = $160
Sounds like they are going to lay on some pretty thin coats. If they can get away with 2 quarts of each, they are damn good.
Oh yeah, I remember now - I repainted the door jambs and the undersides of the hood and trunk lids. And I removed everything from the car when I painted it (doors, hood, trunk) - That is probably why I ended up using more paint than just shooting the outside of the car with everything attached.

brake fluid:)

Wrong. Metallic silver is teh hardest color to shoot. Ask me how I know :)

http://www.clubroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18494

Ok so ive spent the past month getting the car prepped for paint and its ready to get painted but I have some concerns:

1. Should I ask for an extra clear coat to give a bit more to buff and cut?
2. Will 55 - 60 degree temps cause any problems? Any other weather concerns?

As for as what ive done, I removed the doorknobs, washer things, emblems, lights, window trim strips, antenna, ht latches, etc. I also replaced one of the fenders with a piece from mazdamotorsports ( $130 shipped!). All the dings and stuff have been filled, blocked, primed and blocked again.

Wish me luck

Most new paint isn't really temp dependent.

Just make sure its clean, you don't need to block anymore, etc...

Goodluck. :D

should I request an additional clear coat? I imagine they wouldnt charge more than $80 for that.

Ok well i got the car back from the paintshop, Here is the breakdown on the cost:

I bought:
1 pint dupont jet black basecoat
1 gallon nason clearcoat
1 pint transtar filler primer
guide coat
body filler
replacement panel from mazdamotorsports

The shop cleaned up a few spots that i could have done better, sprayed a coat of epoxy primer over the whole car, smoothed the lower pannels that have that chip gaurd, and sprayed the paint

Supplies were about $600
Shop charged $350 for the labor

Ill put up some pictures in a little bit

Was your car BLACK in the beginning? Or was it a different color?

Car was black before and had body damage on multiple panels. Have not cut and buffed at all, bit of orange peel and some dust specs, but not too bad. The paint guy said he put on 4 coats of clear with the gallon I gave him.

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In the third pic is the dust from the ride home or bad spots in the clear coat?