Aside from being the eternal tightwad (not always a +), I don't mind sweating to get the job done. I would like to get my truck looking nice and I think a paintjob would help a lot. I really don't have more than about $1000 to spend, maybe $1500 tops, but if I could do a decent paint job myself, I would try it in order to spend the money on the paint and supplies. I guess my questions are:

1. How much of a PITA is this really? I have 2 dented rocker panels and one front fender that needs a little attention. I am an artist and I spend most of my days sanding and working with wood, so finishing is nothing really new to me. I work with wood-bondo a lot.

2. How hard is it to spray a decent paint job? I have a steady hand and (again) spraying is nothing new.

3. What kind of paints should be used? I am just going for the factory White re-paint (GW7).

4. Anybody have pics of their DIY jobs?

5. Anybody ever shopped at smartshoppersinc? What about Kirker paints?

Any other info will help...

 

Ever consider a rustoleum paintjob?

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...0&fpart=1&vc=1

My buddy and I have played around with the gloss black (supposedly the hardest to work with) and the results are GREAT. The shine is really good considering what it is. If you don't have any auto body painting experience (like me) I would consider this option. I'll try and snap some pics later if I can. Best part is, you can do it yourself for maybe $50-$100 and you won't have the mess of a spray job. Sure, it doesn't look as good as a $4k job, but it costs only a fraction. I plan on painting my truck with rustoleum pretty soon.

 

Check out Loch's gallery and maybe send him a PM. He did his own and it looks

 

www.paintforcars.com

couple hundred is a nice compromise. And theres no differance spraying metal than wood, just invest in a decent gun.

 

Time and labor is where the money is at in paint. I have had very little training on spraying paint and I get decent results everytime. I reccommend Omni paints which are made by PPG. Very reasonable prices I think. I get my paint from carquest. Get yourself 2 gravity HVLP feed guns from Harbor Frieght assuming you have a compressor. Take your time and follow the directions and you should end up with good results. If you want I can send you all the stuff #'s on all the paints I used on my last project.

 

WOW! I read that whole thread and was completely blown away. I'm gonna do it! I can see how the guy did it and the results are amazing! For $50 I will sure as %*&$ give it a try. UN-freakin-believable! Thank you SO MUCH for pointing me to that thread!

I am definitely going to do this - I will be posting pics when I get things going.

 

Funny that you mentioned this. I dropped my truck off at a local vocational school today. The school has a body shop program for high school kids. The teacher said I could come down and help if I wanted to. The cost can't be beat.....$125.00 shop fee plus materials!! Granted the work will be done by kids, but they got to learn somewhere and I might learn something too. The only draw back is it could take several months for the truck to get done, but I only use the truck to tow my 5th wheel camper and the camping season is over. Check with your local school district to see if they have the same program. Just an idea.

 

From the small amount I've done I have a few tips for you.

Take an old body part and practice on that. It takes a little bit of playing around to get the mixture right. It has to be REALLY thin. I still can't get it perfect so it is still orange peely, but that is gone by about the 5th coat or so. I did 7 coats on the test patches I did, and WOW, it looks GREAT. I was laughing to myself the whole time when I saw what it looked like completed.

You need a high quality roller, it makes a big difference.

I was thinking about getting my truck painted (some junky cheapo job) til I read that thread. My buddy has painted my old toyota crawler with a spray and that stuff sucks. It's nice rolling paint on!

Let us know how it turns out! Can't wait to see pics.

 

Did mine myself with the help of a few friends pics in gallery. Jethrro

 

Very nice. Give me some details on the job and paint...

 

Mines going to need to be painted sometime, and that Charger looks awesome. I want to paint it back silver. What does a professional, single color paint job run on a truck? I will also have to do a little body work on some rusty spots, but man that looks awesome. I might have to look into doing it myself with something like that if I get the chance.

Eric

 

I was delivering rock in a tri-axle dump.

At the farm where I was delivering to, there was an old man painting an equally old Datsun truck with a long-handled roller and black barn-and-fence paint.

When I returned with a second load, he had just finished adding the stripes with, get this, DUCT TAPE.

Looking at it through the windshield of the dump-truck, it looked like a high-dollar paint job.

Those duct-tape stripes were straight as a gun barrel.

 

I put some new clear on my '92 after it started peeling.
First #1 boo-boo was no filter/dryer. Condensation spattered the job and did not enhance the deep gloss shine...hadta sand it off then with a new filter/dryer, drained tank and new hose, I got a fair squirt job some might call a clear coat.
I'm parked inna carport now to protect the paint on the '01 now...that and a regular wax job.

 

There is a shop on highway 461, between hwy 80 and I-75 at Mt.Vernon, that has a big sign, out by the road, that states "We will paint any car $150."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just looked at the Rust-o-leum paint jobs and that is un-believable how slick he can do that, really amazing.

I guess most of the secret is in the wet-sanding and polishing.

I have several guinea pigs; so, I am gonna try it.

 

My son and I did the bodywork and then painted my 82 Chevy 6.2. We took a lot of time on the body since I painted it black, many hours of block sanding the K200 primer.

I shot it in PPG Deltron Black it was around $100.00 for the gallon plus the catalyst. I set up a spray booth using plastic film and run water on the ground for the dust. The paint flows well and it came out real slick.

Other than the prep the most important thing is the spray gun, I have a Binks and of course the AIR make sure you drain your compressor and have a air filter/ dryer on the line. Any moisture in the line will screw up a good paint job real quick.

Lots of lacquer thinner or wash to make sure there is no oil on the surface or you will get fish eye you will have to sand out.

Make sure nobody is spraying WD-40 or Armoral within ½ of a mile or it will get on the surface.

Be sure to wear a good respirator when you shoot a 2-part paint so you don’t kill your lungs.