painting my mx3

[leeblount]

i have never been on one of these forums before in my life so if i have posted in the wrong place or anything let me know, i am respraying my mx3 and want to know how much paint i would need to buy so that i can find out if its worth doing ?!?

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Have you ever painted before? And do you know about primer, sanding the car down, smoothing it out, needing a paint booth, etc....?

[leeblount]

i havnt painted before but i have watched, i think its, sand it down prime it then put the colour on then laquer ?, but i can find that out if its worth doing, i have sorted a suitable place to do it, all i need to know is an estimate for how much paint, primer & laquer i need then i can work it out

[mitmaks]

You sound like you have no idea. Watching someone paint is WAY different than actually doing it. I've seen Metallica play, no way I can play like them. Just cause you watched doesn't mean nothing.
Mx-3 would take about 3 qts I would say of base paint if you're just doing outside, you'll need at least a gallon to do jambs/engine bay.
I would suggest practicing before you paint a car, not everyone's a painter

[leeblount]

thank you, and of course i am going to practice on something else first it would be bloody silly to butcher my car with a first attemp to paint lol i have some old push bikes i can practice on lol, as to my previouse question just to make sure lol, do i sand it then prime it, colour with base coat then laquer it ?

[mitmaks]

lacquer? Nobody uses lacquer anymore, it used to be used on old cars back in 60s 70s. There's many painting systems now but mostly 2 of them are used base/clear and single stage. I would recommend single stage for beginners like yourself. You'll need equipment also, air compressor/dryer, spray gun, D/A, sanding blocks, etc etc.

[wytbishop]

Umm...painting a car is hard. Like really hard. People go to school and apprentice and spend years learning how to do it properly.

I'm just saying...seems like a recipe for wasted money and disappointment to me.

[mitmaks]

Umm...painting a car is hard. Like really hard. People go to school and apprentice and spend years learning how to do it properly.

I'm just saying...seems like a recipe for wasted money and disappointment to me.

I was trying to find a way to break it to guy, you're more straight to the point lol.
Yes, it took me years before I became a good painter, lots of practice helps a lot.

[onlytrueromeo]

If you have no experience and do not plan to invest $$/time into learning how to paint, I would suggest either buying a cheap spray gun and the cheapest single stage paint you can or just getting paint mixed and put into spray cans.

How bad is the bodywork? This will be the hardest part of prepping the car for paint.

If you want a professional look, you can either:
1) shell out 2-3k for a paint job
2) Buy paint gun + paint, make your own spray booth, buy tools to strip/prep car, spend many hours and prob. 1-2k just being able to START to learn. You need an air compressor to run air tools/HVLP gun, and a garage to do it in.

Or you can hope for semi-decent results by fixing body spots 1 at a time and priming after to keep rust away, then when its time to paint, prep everything and use rattlecans.

Either way, if you do it yourself prepare to spend lots of time learning and doing and screwing up. I hate painting...from now one the only thing I'll trust myself to paint on my car is the interior which will be covered by carpet or plastics!

[Daninski]

You can do a little research. Decide if your going to use water or oil base paint. Prep is big time important as is having a clean place to do the actual painting. Use the Search function and check out people who have done roller paint jobs. That's another option. Fianally compatability must be considered. If you use laquer based primer your paint could react with it and you'll end up with a wrinkled finish.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

I dunno what the big deal is, Miguel (Colin's buddy) painted his front bumper with no experience, said he watched how to do it on YouTube, and it turned out amazing! I'm sure for the pro/showroom paint jobs you need to have years of practice but I'm sure if you just do a bit of research and have the right tools & paint and know the procedure I imagine you can do a pretty good job yourself. I plan on doing this myself with my bumper.

[onlytrueromeo]

Painting an individual piece, especially one that won't need bodywork is totally different than painting a whole car. I painted mudguards the same way I sprayed my car, and they were totally different beasts to tackle. No taping required, nor did I hafta worry about overspray, etc.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Yeah I guess. I would feel pretty confident doing it though.

[mitmaks]

Painting an individual piece, especially one that won't need bodywork is totally different than painting a whole car. I painted mudguards the same way I sprayed my car, and they were totally different beasts to tackle. No taping required, nor did I hafta worry about overspray, etc.

You got that right. Ive painted some trim for buddy a while ago with spray cans base/clear and it turned out fine. There's no way I'd paint whole car with spray cans.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

I never said it was done with spray cans.