Paint question...

[kornball426]

I'm thinking about painting my Regal sometime in the future, and I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on who to go with or what to look for to get a decent job? Or whether I should get a spray gun, and practice and then do it myself.

I am not at all looking for show quality... I just want paint that will hold up, not peal, and keep my car from rusting for a least a few years. Do you think I should take a chance and do it myself? I know places like Earl Shieb and Maaco are crap, but from what I hear that has to do with their prep work which is crap. If I sanded, cleaned, and primed the car do you think their paint would hold up?

I should clarify I want this done cheap... :lol: Nothing fancy, just gloss... No metallics, or pearls, or any of that... Just gloss I'm thinking white. Maybe do lacquer or enamel since it's cheaper than acrylics.

I actually Rustoleum spray canned my old pickup truck just to keep it from rusting, but it actually didn't look too bad... It was all flat black kinda rat rod looking. It was actually supposed to be gloss black on top, and gloss on the bottom, then flat down the sides inbetween the trim lines but it all came out flat. I did a good job masking and sanding though so with all the chrome trim shined up, and all the body panels, and the grill blacked out it actually looked kinda cool. And and I drove it year round for like two years after that, and it still looked the same as when I painted it when I sold the truck. I'm thinking I might do the same thing on my regal, but I want to explore better options first. :lol: :lol:

 

[Blake442]

I've seen a few decent paint jobs roll out of Maaco when the car owners handled the prep work themselves.

There's usually some good painters that work there, but they just cut corners on the prep work (i.e. scotchbrite the whole car and it's ready for paint).

There's a fellow on here who shared a link with some folks that had painted their cars with rustoleum and a roller, and they actually looked pretty nice from the pictures.

 

[kornball426]

lol... I had a rolled on paint job on an 86 F250 diesel (I got it that way), and before I repainted the tank on a motorcycle I restored someone had brushed on paint. It didn't look as bad as you'd think...

My farmer friend said to me "I've got a couple gallons of John Deere green settin around somewhere... It's amazing the sins you can cover with a coat of that stuff"

I'd like to avoid anything like that though. :lol:

I can do the prep myself easily, and I can even spray the primer since I'd block sand the car first to try to get it somewhat straight before color. I just don't have enough painting experience to do the whole job if I'm going to invest in getting a proper paint job. I don't own my own gun, or a compressor big enough to keep the pressure at a consistent level. I have a friend that could do it for me, he did a decent paint job on his Camaro. But he's in jail at the moment. :shock:

Maybe I should paint the car camouflage... Then any issues with the paint, I can just tell people that's to help it blend in. :lol: