Paint shop recommendation

[4EyedTurd]

You ever do anything?

[Trip McNeely]

Maaco has gone up. Painted my wife's camry last year. Was $3300.00

Still cheaper than buying her a new car. Its brandy new with paint and new headlights.

As someone who owns a paint store, paint has gone way up. Between that and labor increases I can see Maaco now being a not so cheap option as it once was.

[Murph Tang]

As someone who owns a paint store, paint has gone way up. Between that and labor increases I can see Maaco now being a not so cheap option as it once was.

That and with the prices of cars gone up most are doing like me and just doing a paint job when it looks bad.

[Trip McNeely]

My Bel Air is still in its original skin, the roof is powdered red primer and I’m ok with that. Lol

[jw33]

Seriously been putting together a list of materials and then attempting this in an inflatable paint booth. I mean, why pay someone else thousands of dollars to do something I can do myself for thousands of dollars.....

[bird_dog0347]

If it's just paint and doesn't really need any bodywork I'd agree with you.... but mine needed so much body work and I didn't have the time, tools, or skill for all that mess.

[Rick Modena]

Seriously been putting together a list of materials and then attempting this in an inflatable paint booth. I mean, why pay someone else thousands of dollars to do something I can do myself for thousands of dollars.....

Ha!

[jw33]

As someone who owns a paint store, paint has gone way up. Between that and labor increases I can see Maaco now being a not so cheap option as it once was.

What brands do you like for epoxy primer/base/clear?

[Trip McNeely]

What brands do you like for epoxy primer/base/clear?

I don't carry an epoxy as we don't have much for industrial coatings. I do however have a good poly recommendation. What are you trying to do?

[jw33]

Pretty sure I need to use a DTM epoxy primer since I have a good bit of bare metal due to the classic flaking ford white paint. I'm looking to go with a nardo or chrysler ceramic grey base/clear after that. Other than a couple of holes from antennas I'll patch it doesn't need any other body work.

[jw33]

Before











After







Did it myself in an inflatable spray booth in a pasture..... I got all my stuff from English Color in McKinney and those guys were super nice. Used PPG Omni + for base coat (Audi Nardo Gray) and a Euro high solid clear. Took it down to bare metal, pulled all of the trim, door handles, bumper covers, and patched the 3 antenna holes. Painted the door jambs and under the hood/trunk also. Used the 3M performance spray gun with a 1.3 tip for everything but the high build primer.

[4EyedTurd]

Pics won’t in large but it looks pretty damn good. How much time and money do you think you have in the prep and paint?

[jw33]

Pics won’t in large but it looks pretty damn good. How much time and money do you think you have in the prep and paint?

Time? I don't even want to know, a fucking ton..... But I removed all of the trim, weather stripping, door handles, bumper covers, painted the door jambs, under the hood/trunk, built a stand for the bumper covers, ect. Plus all the cleaning of everything, it was a pretty big project. Started in late November and just finished, but I didn't work on it all the time and the weather slowed me up a good bit since I was all outside. Only a few antenna holes and few very small dents so not a lot of body work. The good thing about the shitty white paint was that it came off way quicker than I thought. That only took two days and I went through about 4-5 80grit 3M discs.



Primer, base, clear and all the activators/reducers was right at $1k and that is all middle of the road stuff. I probably have another $4-500 wrapped up in sanding/masking materials and I still have a lot left. One thing I found out is that 3M may cost more, but there is a reason. ALL of the 3M stuff that I used worked awesome.