"Home-made" paint jobs

I am wondering if anyone has tried an old fashioned Wagner or the like for putting on the racing livery? I know that if spend good money on a paint job, I will end up driving it like a wuss for fear of getting rock chips or worse. With that being said, I heard on one guy who would use a power painter and just kept wet-sanding to get a nice finish after multiple coats.

I tried painting some of the engine bay parts, e.g. fan shroud, etc., and got a lot of runs/drips, so I would not be capable of putting a nice coat on the entire car that way.

Any other good ideas?

Maaco ambassador. cheap, and you don't have to do much prep. thats where my car's heading after this year. i'm not into sanding, that's way too much labor for me.

for a PCA memeber, i think a Premier would be a good choice. :D

I got a flyer from Harbor Freight yesterday and they have a gravity fed HVLP gun on sale right now really cheap, less than $20. I didn't pay that much attention; I've already got one and it works pretty well. Or let's just say it paints better than I can...

Not sure if this is the exact model, but if not it's pretty close.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=90977

I can get the details if anybody is interested.

with paint guns you get what you pay for.

I would rather rattle can, 2000 grit, rattle another coat, 2500 grit and hit it with a buffer.

For under $300 for a single color you cannot beat Maaco. But you might want to do some additional masking before you take it to them, especially the engine bay. I have painted fenders and noses w/ spray cans and gotten a decent job. I have a Wagner but that thing seems to spit too much.

I second the Harbor Freight reference. My car is beautiful 3 colors, stripes . . . then some IT7 jammed me at Roebling and the complex paint scheme wasn't so amenable to repair.

I went to HF and got a small HVLP gun and modest compressor (which can also go to the track for tires air cleaning . . .) and tackled the job my self.

The results were "acceptable" and gave me new insight into car prep/care and body working.

The next time body damage happened I was better at the repair and paint process. Physical contact is basically unavoidable and sort of inevitable if you become modestly competitive.

The cost to constantly have "professional" body work done and paint requires IMO the ability and willingness to tackle the repairs oneself especially if the color scheme is complex.

Make sure you more than adequately cover the SCM requirements of the spray gun with the compressor specs otherwise you'll be waiting for the compressor to catch up all the time and the paint will not feather properly.

Another recomendation is to use single stage paint. (no clear coat). Clear coat looks nice but is another step possibly another masking step and simply more complication than a race car logically needs.

tbtapper
ITS 19

First, race car bodies have to be thought of as "semi consumables", LOL. Second, unless you are unemployed, and only make minimum wage when gainfully employed, a Wagner and wet sanding is a recipe for a lost week of your life. Don't do it.

Second, don't waste money on a $20 gun...the other things you need, like a regulator, a good compressor (or turbine, HVLP), masking materials, spray booth material, paint thinner, cativator, primer and so on, will cost twenty or thirty times the gun price. If you plan to do it again, then invest. Otherwise, don't.

That leaves Maaco. For the price they charge, none of us could buy the materials needed, much less the labor. Amazing deals.

That said, you get what you pay for, to a degree. But you can improve the result by meeting with the shop foreman first. he'll tell you what to do to make their job better. Like mentioned above, extra masking.

Choose a color that is availble in a spray can so you can match easily later. Design your graphics to use vinyl instead of, like me, three different metalic/pearl/candy colors requiring a day to mask, and untold complications, LOL. You can get fancy nad paint the car two colors, then use two colors of vinyl as intermediate stripes and end up with four. Even with Maaco, thats easy, because the mask off is simple.

This coming from a guy who paints his own cars.....

I have the best solution - get Maaco to sponsor you. I have the Maaco decals and have made good friends with my Russian Maaco guys. They love it when I bring in a picture of the car in battle and then show them the recent damage needing their help.

Also works great for intimidation factor on the grid i.e. - hey, nice new car you got there. See mine with all the dents? Well, we plan on adding a few more before we go off to get it all fixed for free..." (sic)

PS - red is most expensive. 2 color jobs are a pain in the ass, but if you do go 2 tone get black or dark blue for the bottom half of the car. Makes it much easier to maintain and looks good longer.

I agree with what Jake said. I have always done my own stuff, and several of the other cars in CFR. It seems to always cost $200-400+ in supplies. Maaco doesn't end up with the finish and detail of a proper paintjob, but I still don't know how they do it so cheap.

I would definitely never try it with a Wagner painter. The cheapest of the halfway decent paint guns start at around $100. The HVLP's use a LOT of air, so you need a pretty decent compressor to use them.

I actually like using the base clears because spot repairs seem to go much easier with them. Unfortunately, we do run into each other once in a while.. :)

I must agree with Jake on this one...if you remove all the lights and trim (if any) bag up your shocks and do your own taping the results will be better than anything an ameteur can do in his/her garage/shop/yard and cheaper too! You get the satisfaction of doing something to it but pro results!! Those guys have been spraying cars for a long time and can make a cheap paint job lay down pretty good...
A few years ago I broke my collar bone in a BMX wreck ao I had some time on my hands...I had my ITB GTI sitting inthe back yard with an ugly paint job. I had a bunch of red and white touch up paint for a honda and decided to see if I could do stripes...I ended up painting the entire car with touch up paint in the small cans!! It actually came out pretty good...It was on the cover of the Checker going for the lead in turn one at Daytona enduro a few years back! looked good at 100/100...

I've done some semi-decent touchups using one of these:
http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

Still takes some post-paint wet sanding/buffing to get rid of the orange peel, but not horrible.

It makes it so you don't necessarily HAVE to pick a color that already comes in a can - you can mix the auto paint, hardener and activator, then stick it in the jar and put the air can on top.

My biggest problem with the last car was the fact that it had already been repainted, and the paint wasn't EXACTLY what the color code claimed it was....plus it was metallic.....so, it was a car of many shades.

And if you DO decide to do some of the painting yourself and like me you're not a paint whiz, find a good paint shop with a good guy behind the counter - his advice is invaluable.

Jarrod

Painting a car is like doing tasks around the house. If you can do it yourself, you get the total feeling of accomplishment when it's done. If it looks like crap, then you spend all your time appologizing for how it didn't come out. If you spend a little change to have someone do a decent job, it looks good and makes you feel good about it. Plus, it'll give you more time to do the little tasks around the house that give you a feeling of accomplishment.

With race cars, it's not how good you look in the pits, it's how you look on the track. The first rub in a turn, the first draft, the first rock peck from a tire, the first trailering incident, and it's all done, anyway. B)

With any method you choose, there will be pros and cons. I just finished a paint job using my air compressor and a ~ $50 bottom feed gun. Next time it gets a fresh coat of paint (notice how I didn't say if), I'll do it myself again using the same exact method.

The bad thing...to do it right yourself using decent paint will cost about $350. Misc. supplies add up quickly!!!

About that HF $20.00 spray gun - I bought one last year. Used it to put primer/rustoleum on the bottom of the car. What a difference from the spray cans! Very nice coat, no running, great coverage. I decided to do the body with cheap Home Depot cans, just because I was on a very limited budget and had major costs associated with new cage, floor & frame rust repair, ...etc. Well, the finish is a great 50/50 job - looks great at 50 ft at 50 mph!

Seriously, the first weekend at the track, and I banged up the left fender behind the wheel. When I got the car home, I took off the fender, banged it out, put it back on and painted it in about 75 minutes. Cost - just my time!

I wish I had the time to get a body shop sponsor, but even then, it's nice to be able to do the little things. Visit my motorpride.com site and check out the blue Charger in the first photo.

The body shop sponsor...

I had one but hated being on their schedule. The first year it was awesome! They took the car during the winter, did some cosmetic body work, and used a very nice paint on it. The next time they even got creative and used multiple pearls in the paint. While this looked great, it back fired the next time painting was needed and we couldn't possibly match the paint. Ooops, didn't think about that.

Last year I had an incident at Summit Point which required the frame to be straightened and car repainted. The problem was they were very busy. I prepped the car, and he had me bring it to them. Still waaay to busy. Hmm, paying customer or some racer who they're sponsoring. Of course I can't blame them, they went with the paying customers. Missed the NARRC. Time was still ticking and the car sat on their lot. I ended up taking it home right before the ARRC and use good ole spray paint. While I really, really appreciate everything the body shop did for me an taught me about painting, I decided that it would be better to have things in my own control. Now if my car needs painting, I prep it on my own time then paint it when I choose to. It can be tough relying on other people for this type of stuff. I'd much rather find a different type of sponsor that if they can't/don't come through, it won't impact my racing. Don't get me wrong, the whole experience was awesome (and they straightened the car for free!), but now Dave's Autobody is my sponsor.

as far as paint is concerned, i am using nason fast dry, its an equipment type paint, single stage, and i got two gallons, and a gallon of reducer for just over $60. It looks ok, and you can just reshoot it over your accidents, without the need to redo a whole section of the car.

got some paint cheap - returned quart of ppg paint - silver (for stripes) $9. you might want to check local autopaint suppliers. supplier near me has section of return/no like the mixed color section for 75% off.

found this - they sell on ebay but havent tried the paint yet. gallon of auto paint under $50.

http://www.paintforcars.com/


before and after my first paint/body work attempt (about $250-$300 in paint/gun/supplies/bondo). the front fender was not color sanded and looks lighter. has some orange peel, got some runs and tonal variations (needs more coats). just got the supplies to put 2 more coats of blue on and silver stripes. didnt know better and went with blue metallic pearlescent. was single stage at least.

told my neighbors the Neon was being turned into a race car. the 5 year old ran out and said thats not a race car - so needs the stripes :)

I can't understand why someone would put a car on the track w/ anything over a $500 paint job, especially in IT. I'm of the opinion that a 20/20 paint job is all you need. I did my old Rabbit GTI for ~$150 in material, and that included the Bondo and the primer. I did a base/clear single color. We shot it outside my friend's shop in a makeshift booth (used one of the $150 20x10 Costco shelters, just so happened that it was my pit canopy!)

Last year I did a rattle can job on my car.. I sanded and primed and used about 12 cans of the house brand John Deere Yellow paint at Tractor Supply.. Came out looking okay, but having spent all the time and effort doing it, I can assure you next time I'll be going to Maco for a cheap-ass paint job.. Just the fact that I won't trash my garage again will be worth it.. -Al G.

You can do it, but stay away from using the Wagner, it's meant for thicker latex house paint. I painted my Mini with a cheap Sears spray gun and small compressor, one stage acrylic enamel with catylist.

It looked good up close, not a pro finish but good for a race car. Like others have said, prep is everything.

I have a new HVLP and bigger compressor to paint my Scirocco, it's on stands with no suspension so Maaco is not an option. The ability to fix your own bodywork on your own shedule is worth a lot to me.

around here the body shops are way underworked... I took my car in last Feb and let them keep it as "fill work". I bought Dupont Chroma paint on eBay (a rare find) so got a darn good job for 1/2 price, ~500.

http://www.vectorbd.com/users/jpl/vwsil8.jpg

Ok its finally time...I have heard enough comments on it...so I must fix the body on the Teg. i really need to show it some love as it has been good to me! I will try the bodywork myself and take it to a pro for its refrigerator white paint job. Anyone know a good bodyshop in SE florida? If I cant find anyone it will be MAACO.

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Ok its finally time...I have heard enough comments on it...so I must fix the body on the Teg. i really need to show it some love as it has been good to me! I will try the bodywork myself and take it to a pro for its refrigerator white paint job. Anyone know a good bodyshop in SE florida? If I cant find anyone it will be MAACO.
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I'm glad you said that. I'd made all the comments about you doing more damage to your car than I'd done, but I didn't think you got the message. I didn't want to make the comment about seeing cars left over from Katrina that looked better. :lol: