gonna paint my car

[jrobie79]

So i decided im goign to paint my car, by myself, my cousin has worked at a body shop so i figured he could throw some advice in there. However i would like to know if any of you were going to do it, where do i get started. I'm pretty sure I can get all the equipment and I can set up a tent in my backyard that my uncle used to paint his car. I was just wondering if there were any write-ups or tutorials related to this project. Thanks.

[MikeE30325i]

well, since painting a car is generic for just about every car, i would go to a site or forum about painting cars, not one about E30's only.

good luck.

[FoxXx325echo]

and if you are going to do it, PLEASE remove trim instead of masking around it...too many places paint around trim only to find that when the tape is pulled, either the paint is too, or there is some of the primer/old paint showing through...just my .02 tho, good luck!

[Garageaholic]

Roll it... see sig.

[BDSax]

buy good paint. Take all trim off is a must. Prepperation is the key!

[euroshark]

Hey Frank, did you remove your front and rear windows when you painted yours? I'm trying to plan ahead, and it appears that popping the windows out of my 6 series might be a little tricky...

[AndrewBird]

This is a great link on painting yourself:

http://www.theautoist.com/body_repairs.htm

[whiltebeitel]

Car Craft (I know, I know...) did a good series about body prep and painting a few months ago. I reccomend it!

[egk2]

What are you using for a booth?

[Court M3]

I can set up a tent in my backyard that my uncle used to paint his car. I was just wondering if there were any write-ups or tutorials related to this project. Thanks.

[DatUtahGuy]

Well I'm a painter at a dealership and I could give you some tips....

* Have some kind of closed space(booth) with good illumination, you need to be able to see what you're doing, specially when laying down your clear.

* Prep the car and take off all trim, including windows if possible, if not, buy "lifting tape" and make sure you lift the seals of the windows to get paint underneath.

* Mask up door jams and under the hood and trunk, look for "transition tape" from 3M, helps hard lines be less noticeable.

* Clean up car with solvent 330 or 394, or both... it's not worth shit if your paintjob has boulders on it.

* Seal, basecoat, clear.... there's no "by the book" way of painting, you just gotta feel it.

Spend about 95% of your time prepping the car making sure it's perfect... that's the difference between a good paintjob and an ok one.

If you have any questions on what materials to use feel free to PM me and ask.

Good luck! Post pics of your progress!!!

[AndrewBird]

To add, I just learned about Duplicolor's new do-it-your-self paint. Take a look:

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/paintshop.html

Seems pretty cool, and it comes in quite a few colors.

[Garageaholic]

Hey Frank, did you remove your front and rear windows when you painted yours? I'm trying to plan ahead, and it appears that popping the windows out of my 6 series might be a little tricky...

I did not remove the front and rear windows. I simply masked around the trim. Would it have made a difference? Yea. Would it have been noticeable? no. Not worth that extra work.

[Garageaholic]

This is a great link on painting yourself:

http://www.theautoist.com/body_repairs.htm

My rolled paintjob looks just as good as that. I think that all DIY paintjobs will turn out relatively the same quality... mainly bc you dont have all those expensive tools to do the job perfect like a professional.

[egk2]

I thought he was going to use the tent for prepping the car for paint, not to actually paint it. You're probably going to need some kind of ventilation/extraction system to minimize dirt in the paint/clear.