If you gonna decide to DIY it, here is some info for your inspiration. I used zero body filler on the car. The original paint was in ok shape and my goal was to preserve factory e coating as much as possible. Original pain is a great base if not damaged and prepped properly. So all small dents were pulled using paintless dent removal kit from Amazon, all small chips were sanded and prepped, leveled with skim coat of a quality glazing putty where needed and the whole car was block sanded. After that , the car was epoxy sealed/coated (I did it outside as not to contaminate the booth), block sanded again using a guide coat so all panels are as straight as possible, washed, brought into the booth, degreased (quality degreaser is a must as well as lint free wipes etc etc). You can see a combination of white and grey spots all over the car which is a combination of the factory paint and the epoxy sealer after it was block sanded for the last time before paint. As I mentioned, my goal was to preserve factory e-coating, it was very important to me (you can see a few dark grey spots on the car where I blocked sanded down to e coating). You probably saw how BMW dips these cars into the tub to apply the e-coating. Probably the reason these cars are lasting so long.. well that and all that cosmoline BMW used lol. Speaking of the cosmoline, make sure you get all that shit off as a first step before you do anything... yes it is a bitch to get off. Clean Clean Clean is a key to get good paint results. If you think it's clean, clean again. Gloves so you don't touch it with your skin oil, degreaser, lint free prep towels etc etc ..
BTW that copper coil behind the compressor you see in the pic, is my homemade air cooling coil. It cools the air and keeps the moisture out so the desiccant dryer doesn't work too much and doesn't need frequent changes. My goal was to spray the entire coat without pausing for desiccant change etc and keep all those things to worry about only between each coat application...while each coat is flashing off.
BTW that copper coil behind the compressor you see in the pic, is my homemade air cooling coil. It cools the air and keeps the moisture out so the desiccant dryer doesn't work too much and doesn't need frequent changes. My goal was to spray the entire coat without pausing for desiccant change etc and keep all those things to worry about only between each coat application...while each coat is flashing off.
Attached Files
Comment