Cost of Materials to Spray a Car

[Keith 66]

Your wife is probably right. Last car i sprayed was my Moggy pickup, i had the luxury of a 1500 sq ft workshop & partitioned an area off with polythene sheet to create a spray booth. Even so dust was an issue , Not surprising as the rest of the place was a dusty woodworking & boatbuilding shop.
I am at the stage where im halfway through the welding on the same truck & then will need to spray it again. No way will i contemplate doing it at home where it is now, not enough space & too many tools, machines & dust traps everywhere.

 

[8ob]

Worked at a coachbuilders in the early 60s, Tekaloid coach enamel, oil based so brush marks flowed out unlike current water based stuff. Varnished after, beautiful gloss, always done after normal hours so no dust disturbance.

I knew a guy that was into his Austin 7's , they were all hand painted with brushing cellulose, left for a while until the build was complete and then flatnpolished. The finish came out like glass.

Bob

 

[steveo3002]

the coach paints would be worth looking at for sure

 

[Greeves246]

Unless you have a large garage/ workshop and no neighbours I would definitely go the coachpaint route on that car. I built and sprayed a Marcos in a small garage so I know what problems there are. Finished car with Jem Marsh.

 

[MetalMonkey]

It is probably a good idea to pay somebody to do it – but to play devils advocate, and based on my experience, I’d suggest most professional jobs fall well short of acceptable quality.
Most bodyshops are geared towards accident repair, and quick turnaround with minimal effort and expenditure.
Full restoration resprays are an entirely different game, very time consuming to do properly and not very profitable.

It is worth doing some research and trying to find somebody that does mainly restoration work rather than accident/repair.
Perhaps speak with owners clubs and other enthusiasts, there are also a couple of guys on here who might be able to make suggestions or recommendations. Expect a long wait time for somebody good.

Again, I don’t wish to sound pessimistic but I’ve resprayed several cars, and I’ve paid others to respray cars, and based off of that I know I can do a far superior job at a much lower cost than at least four local bodyshops, mainly because I can afford to put the time and effort in which they can’t without being unprofitable.
However, I cannot do it quickly, and lack the skill or practice to do blends, so have to work within my limitations.
It also takes a large investment in equipment and a lot of effort and practice, especially if you aren’t doing it regularly. You also need space and it can be very messy.

You could consider doing all of the prep work yourself, and then just finding somebody to spray the paint – but the difficulty with this is if you haven’t the experience in spraying it can be hard to know what needs to be done with the prep, and prep is 90% of the job – even then they may not do a particularly good job and any issues down the line will of course be blamed on the prep.
It could be an option if you can find the right person to work with and don’t mind putting in the elbow grease under their supervision.

 

[bert]

Where abouts are you? There are several people on here who paint cars professionally and might be able to do the job for you.

You are right though accident repair centers are not where you want to take it

 

[northwest]

I think they were originally brush painted, by guys who could paint.

Paint £45 a liter, I buy 6l to do a beetle

SIX LITRES for a Beetle?? I can paint a transit van with one, or I could so where the hell are you putting more than a gallon of paint? With respect. I cannot see it even if you were putting it on with a roller. (and I have seen that done more than once).

 

[Smallfry]

SIX LITRES for a Beetle?? I can paint a transit van with one, or I could so where the hell are you putting more than a gallon of paint? With respect. I cannot see it even if you were putting it on with a roller. (and I have seen that done more than once).

Always makes me laugh this. I read in resto and classic magazines about guys who say they have applied 30 coats of paint, or more. Its ridiculous and completely unnecessary. All that is achieved, is that the paint chips easily.

 

[northwest]

Always makes me laugh this. I read in resto and classic magazines about guys who say they have applied 30 coats of paint, or more. Its ridiculous and completely unnecessary. All that is achieved, is that the paint chips easily.

I always tried to get it in one, maybe two, but as you are putting the first coat on, you are automatically going over it in most areas, it's why corners and folds are susceptible to runs. In order to put more than three or even four coats on it is a bloody task and a half taking weeks. If you want depth to the paint, go clear over base.

 

[steveo3002]

Always makes me laugh this. I read in resto and classic magazines about guys who say they have applied 30 coats of paint, or more. Its ridiculous and completely unnecessary. All that is achieved, is that the paint chips easily.

yep stonechips that look like craters lol

i agree with nobody will put the care into that you would , been tarting up some scabs on our old focus , im easily putting 6-8 hrs into one door , picking away at rust , going over it again and again , making sure all the edges have plenty of primer on etc , no one would pay enough to get that care at a bodyshop , plus its nice to know you did it yourself

 

[charlysays]

It is probably a good idea to pay somebody to do it – but to play devils advocate, and based on my experience, I’d suggest most professional jobs fall well short of acceptable quality.
Most bodyshops are geared towards accident repair, and quick turnaround with minimal effort and expenditure.
Full restoration resprays are an entirely different game, very time consuming to do properly and not very profitable.

It is worth doing some research and trying to find somebody that does mainly restoration work rather than accident/repair.
Perhaps speak with owners clubs and other enthusiasts, there are also a couple of guys on here who might be able to make suggestions or recommendations. Expect a long wait time for somebody good.

Again, I don’t wish to sound pessimistic but I’ve resprayed several cars, and I’ve paid others to respray cars, and based off of that I know I can do a far superior job at a much lower cost than at least four local bodyshops, mainly because I can afford to put the time and effort in which they can’t without being unprofitable.
However, I cannot do it quickly, and lack the skill or practice to do blends, so have to work within my limitations.
It also takes a large investment in equipment and a lot of effort and practice, especially if you aren’t doing it regularly. You also need space and it can be very messy.

You could consider doing all of the prep work yourself, and then just finding somebody to spray the paint – but the difficulty with this is if you haven’t the experience in spraying it can be hard to know what needs to be done with the prep, and prep is 90% of the job – even then they may not do a particularly good job and any issues down the line will of course be blamed on the prep.
It could be an option if you can find the right person to work with and don’t mind putting in the elbow grease under their supervision.

Agreed, although I'd say rust remediation prep is basically a meticulous process and less of a skill (except welding). Even a rock solid classic car is going to have lots of little spots of rust starting here and there unless it's lived under a car port in southern Spain. It only needs an edge which wasn't perfectly coated 50 years ago for something to start up in a small way which could later jeopardise an expensive paint job. Sadly the vast majority of body work places won't check carefully for rust and many will hurriedly use converters if they do notice anything.
Well worth the OP doing an incredibly thorough inspection and strip down on the panels, chemically remove any surface rust with something like bilt hamber deox gel, clean and key and spot prime with epoxy primer.
Even if the car painter bare metals it all the OP will have saved on rust remediation and ensured that nothing will spoil the paint job.

 

[steveo3002]

id bare metal it one panel at a time so you dont get in too deep ,use all the lotions n potions to make it rust free , spray with epoxy primer , then up to you if you spray it brush paint it , either way would make a nice lasting job and im guessing it lives indoors so less to worry about weathering etc

 

[bert]

SIX LITRES for a Beetle?? I can paint a transit van with one, or I could so where the hell are you putting more than a gallon of paint? With respect. I cannot see it even if you were putting it on with a roller. (and I have seen that done more than once).

Everywhere, inside and outside of all panels. 3 coats.

1l wouldn't even paint the wings of a beetle let alone a whole transit

 

[northwest]

Everywhere, inside and outside of all panels. 3 coats.

1l wouldn't even paint the wings of a beetle let alone a whole transit

You Sir, have a bet.

 

[Slowcoach]

You Sir, have a bet.

Quick, someone find this man a high a top LWB transit (including roof please)

 

[bert]

You Sir, have a bet.

You wouldn't like to know how much I put on a camper van

 

[Greeves246]

Just spoke to a friend who does car restoration and has done for many years, he says a TR 6 , inside and out would take about 6 lt. That’s 2pack and he has a large oven with expensive extraction.

 

[charlysays]

id bare metal it one panel at a time so you dont get in too deep ,use all the lotions n potions to make it rust free , spray with epoxy primer , then up to you if you spray it brush paint it , either way would make a nice lasting job and im guessing it lives indoors so less to worry about weathering etc

That sounds like the better plan tbh. When I did a respray I spot repaired the OE paint to paint over it and it probably took way longer than ripping it aggressively back to bare metal!

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

Crikey... this thread has made it worse! I'm about to respray a mini, and will be using base + clear. I expected to buy 2.5l colour (which with thinners makes 3.75l) but now don't know whther to order 1l or 5l!!

 

[bert]

Basecoat is normally a 50/50 mix, for a full repaint of a classic mini I used 5l, for basecoat that would be 2.5l but always buy more to be safe.