So, should I start painting?

[e9999]

a very general question, please:

My DD has been staying outside for 10+ years and the clear coat has taken a beating in the sun. It's not too bad on most of the truck except for the hood which had been overenthusiastically buffed some time back by a . (There are now cracks in the paint showing a white underlayer.) Certainly, it's not detracting dramatically from the appearance of the car, but it's clearly not in perfect condition either if you look closely. I would say a 6 /10 with 0 being terribly bad paint and rust that would benefit from a gray primer can job and 10 being new.

Anyway, the car is older and not that valuable anymore but is a sound DD that I want to keep.

So, I've been toying with the idea of possibly repainting it -or at least the hood- at some not too distant point in the future. I would not have a pro do it cuz it 's not worth the $$ I think, but I am vaguely intrigued by the idea of doing it myself. Primarily cuz I'd like to try it, not so much cuz it needs it bad. But it kinds of give me an excuse to do it and I would not be completely distraught if it's a bust cuz the clear coat is not that great anymore. I have zero experience, a so-so compressor and a couple of inexpensive spray guns. I have a garage but full of stuff. Plenty of room outside.

So, my question is: is it a reasonable idea? Can one do a reasonable job at not too big an expense and without a major investment in time? Or is it one of these things that one should not touch with a 10 ft pole and leave entirely to pros or semi-pros?

General thoughts?

[nuclearlemon]

fwiw, treeroot painted his 40 outside, under one of those portable garages in the rain and dark and it turned out great.

[5280Hawk]

What kind of car are we talking about?

How full is your garage? you could clean it out, still paint the car outside, then pull it in to dry, to "cover" it. That is exactly what i plan to do with my 60 here in a few days when i paint the body.

One thing that has been made abundantly clear to me, while working on my own paint project - The prep work you do before you put any paint on anything, is the most important step. If you want it to look good you have to spend alot of time on the sanding, filling ect.

I think you should do it.

[e9999]

It's an Accord, so smallish. I can certainly park the car inside to dry, but I probably could not spray inside without major reshuffling of junk.

Yes, prep work... if we're talking a hood, say, can't you just power sand it all down, prime, resand lightly or something like that, and that's enough? You don't have to do fancy handrubbing etc, right?

But for those experienced in painting, is it a bad idea for a newb to start with a vehicle? I guess I could do bumpers, furniture etc first but that just lacks the excitement factor...

I'm very mechanically inclined and hands-on but I also know that there are jobs that demand skills not readily acquirable in a short time by a newb (like stick welding for example, where I would not dream of learning on a truck frame for instance...). My gut feeling tells me this is probably something I'll regret... But I'm still tempted....

[Cuerno Largo]

Do it yourself.

About 10 years ago, one of my old trucks started peeling paint on the hood. I took a belt sander to it and sanded to bare metal. Built it up with rattle can primer, sanded the primer, applied 3 coats of rattle can duplicolor with wet sanding between.

It looked pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good.

5 years later I gave the truck to my Dad and he had it painted by a professional due to the paint peeling everywhere else (the hood was still looking good). The guys at the paint shop could not believe that the hood was done with rattle cans becuase it looked good.

I have since graduated to a compressor and HVLP gun which is so much easier.

[jsaltlick]

Do it yourself. If you fuck it up it'll only cost $300 at MAACO to get the whole thing re-done anyway.

[5280Hawk]

Yes, prep work... if we're talking a hood, say, can't you just power sand it all down, prime, resand lightly or something like that, and that's enough? You don't have to do fancy handrubbing etc, right?

right, the hood should be pretty easy, to keep the finish straight and smooth use a block when sanding, it will help keep the surface even, you probably dont' need to get all the way to bare metal either.

MAACO doesn't know what sanding is, you could so just as good with a rattelcan.