Alright, this summer I'll probably be painting my car after doing the body changes. In the meantime, I wanna get the equipment to do so and some cheap paint so I can get comfortable with the process, and maybe get a junked car or something to practice on.

In the way of pressure guns and such, does anyone know what the best type to use is? Anyone have any experience they can draw from or know what the pros tend to lean toward? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Corey

best bet- instead of being unexperienced and buying equipment, that $$$ to pay a professional and get a nice job. You won't do much good without proper training on that stuff. try if you want, but you will have to spend quite a bit on equipment. Air(I think) hoses, spraygun, lamps to cure with, a booth to paint in to keep it clean while u work, sand paper, water access, paint supplies, tape, paper, etc. That stuff adds up and you could pay someone instead. But if u got training, the stuff would pay for itself if u did other cars.

we started using a badass $500 paint gun on my car, but something happened to it, so we finished using a $50 harbor freight gun... so i don't think it matters to much. good luck

use house of kolor paint...:thumbsup

Is that what you used on yours? I was thinking of using spectra blue mica, but I suppose with some mixing I could come up with a similar if not better color, no?

Another question, how big of an air compressor would I need? Someone pointed me in the direction of this one: http://www.epinions.com/content_53103922820

Would that be enough? Thanks for the help again.

-Corey

House of kolors is the way to go! If possible see if you can rent a spray both they are way to much to buy though for just doing one car. You can do a decent job with out one but you run the risk of getting crap in the paint as it dries. Also the prep work and the finishing work like wet sanding and buffing is what will realy make the diffrence. Good luck though you have a lot to learn.

Take the auto body class at any local college to you, thats what i did. YOu get access to every tool imaginable, all the bondo/fiberglass you will need, a spray both and spray guns, and a teacher who knows what he/she is talking about.

Yeah, was thinking of doing that already. Already have my spring classes picked, but I'll probably take the full complement of auto body classes (AUB 106 - BASIC Sheet Metal Operations, AUB 116 - Auto Body Repair, AUB 118 - Automotive Paint Preparation, AUB 119 - Automotive Painting, and AUB 125 - Auto Body Welding) starting this summer.

Trust me, I'm gonna know what the hell I'm doing before I lay a hand on my car.

-Corey

it's not really that hard, the only hard part and time consuming part is the prep work. bondo takes the longest. i did that on my old 90 skylark. luckily i have no rust on my talon, but i will be doing bondo work to it this summer. i'm gonna try to use only body filler and no spot putty which will make it even harder for me. but yeah, just buy a spray gun. i have a 40? gallon compressor at home but if you have one i'm pretty sure you'll be ok.

It is not easy to paint a car yourself. I know guys who have been in the business for 10+ years and are just now getting good at it. It takes alot of practice and even strokes to get it to come out like glass. Use caution, and good luck. The college classes are a exellent start. I took 2 myself. Very useful.

applying the paint is easy, but the clearcoat is a PITA, i screwed that up on my old car, but you couldn't even tell that it was repainted, the only thing that you could tell was the clearcoat, but that was blending into existing paint, i'd think that doing the whole car would be easier