Need Painting Help

[Mastrcruse]

I am going to be needing to paint my valance and rear lip spoiler and found this company that can put them in a can. http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

They look like they can do it well. What do you think about this? How many cans do you think I will need? Will I need a primer and clearcoat (knida know I need a clearcoat)?

Thanks
DJ

[Mastrcruse]

Sorry mods, I might have put this in the wrong place.

[AndrewBird]

When painting something as big as a front valence, I wouldn't use spray cans. It's hard to make the paint even with spray cans on that large of a surface. If you have an air compressor, I would pick up a cheap spray gun and do it yourself. Good learning experience. If you don't have an air compressor, I would just get it done professionally. It shouldn't cost more then a few hundred for all of it and would be the best way to go.

[Mastrcruse]

I have a compressor and I do believe my dad has a spray gun. My dads friend also restores/paints cars on the side, he did my Audi cheap, maybe he will do it again. On the website they have a spray can attachment that says it turns the can into a gun..I wonder if that would work. I wonder if Maaco would do it cheap. Anyone have experience with Maaco?

And btw I love the MGB. We had a 69 British racing green B...loved it, dad kinda let it be my car for a while until we sold it. Now we have a 71 mint midget that I can't really fit in.

[AndrewBird]

FRom what I've heard about macco, they have good painters, but their paint is crap and they do almost no prep work. IF you did all the prep and took them a can of mixed paint, I'm sure you'd end up with something decent. Not sure if they will do piece though, I think they only do whole cars.

Your dad's friend seems to be your best bet. If anything, talk to him and see what he has to say. Maybe he can give you some tips and help you spray it yourself. Then you learn something AND get it done on the cheap.

[Mastrcruse]

Yea I think I might talk to him first. Also, How much paint do you think it would take to do one ES front Valance, one IS front valance, 2-4 aluminum bumpers, one rear lip spoiler? quarts?

[1991 318is]

Some BMW paint is expensive. Diamondshwarz and Brilliantrot are $75 a quart for base coat only. From a local body/paint supply store, you can get a pint of pre-mix, It's thinned and ready to spray. They also sell spray can systems that you can refill and re-use later. I'd go to a cheapie paint place like Econo-Auto Painting or Earl Scheib. A valance is one of the less critical appearance panels. The rear spoiler can also be black in case you have old paint that's hard to match.

[Mastrcruse]

I dont think it should be that hard to match, I have zinno, but I might be wrong because I really don't know how hard different colors are to match. The guys above sell all color at 74.?? a qaurt.

[AndrewBird]

Check your local paint shops for paint. Josh (Eurospeed) just got a quart of paint mixed for less then $40. It only took the guy a few minutes to mix it from the factory paint code too.

[Mastrcruse]

Okay I will do some research. I really don't know where there are paint shops around columbus so I will just have to search. Do you think a quart is enough or do you think I should go with 2 quarts? I really don't know how much a quart can do on cars.
Thanks

[BMW BMXER]

I just recently got the spray can attatchment to make it hold like a guy, that combined with a wide fan spray nozzel does a failry decent job for a rattle can.

[Mastrcruse]

Could I wetsand, and prime (out of a rattle can) to save myself some money or would that make the painter shy away from the pieces?

[AndrewBird]

Could I wetsand, and prime (out of a rattle can) to save myself some money or would that make the painter shy away from the pieces?

Pretty much no painter will just paint. They have to do the prep so that they can guarentee their work. You can get it close, but I wouldn't even bother as most places would rather just do it themselves.

[Mastrcruse]

Okay, didn't know if it would save me some money but I also thought about what you said.
Thanks again

[Jand3rson]

Pretty much no painter will just paint. They have to do the prep so that they can guarentee their work. You can get it close, but I wouldn't even bother as most places would rather just do it themselves.

That's true. When I was going to get my iS front airdam repainted, I went to about 4 different body shops, and asked them for a price, and then a price if I did the prep work myself. 3 of them told me they wouldn't do it if I did my own prep, and the 4th told me it would cost more, if they had to fix something in the prep that I didn't do right.