Basic painting questions Options

[KaptKaos]

I have a few panels (hoods and trunks) that I want to try the $50 roller paint job on. For those that don't know about it, here's a good site with a link to the original thread on the mopar board:

$50 Paint Job

Before anyone gets all pissy with me, please understand that I have 3 kids and a stay at home wife. I need to be a CSOB.

With that out of the way, here is a pic from that guy's website:

(IMG:http://rickwrench.com/images-sounds/rustweb/vairbeforepaint.jpg)

You'll notice the layers of paint on the body of the Corvair.

My hood that I have been working on has a few layers too. I used chemical stripper and got parts down to bare metal, others just wouldn't budge. What's the best way to smooth all of that out? The $50 thread says to paint over it. I did that but it left the contours of the old spots in the new paint on my first try at this.

For what it's worth, I am practicing on a few panels to see if it works and if I like it. Not sure I will ever go this route.

The guy on the site with the corvair makes a good point. If you're not going whole hog on a paint job ($5k plus kind of job) is this any worse than Earl Scheib? And, if I were to go the whole hog on a paint job, I would be stripping the car anyway.

So there it is. I am a noob at painting and appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

[roadster fan]

I tried this process on a scrap piece of 16 guage about 6"x12". I was impressed with the results but am a little concerned about the time involved in doing a whole car. The materials were cheap, the process easy, and the results where good.

Hotrod magazine did a car in 1 week sometime last year IIRC(Ford Falcon), and they described the results as being a good "15 footer" IIRC. My test panel was a good "1 footer" but we are talking about sanding and painting a small panel not a whole car. If I was gonna do a whole car I would plan on a nice "5 footer" job when I was done.

For your car just make sure you block sand the whole car feathering all the paint still on the car. For a great job you will have to do all the same prep you would do for a $5,000 paint job, but you will save money depending on what your time is worth. I calculate that worth by what I can make at work on OT minus the enjoyment, education, and satisfaction I can get by doing it myself. Sometimes I do the job myself, sometimes I pay someone to do it for me.

The professional painters here will tell you to get it sprayed I think, If you are looking for a paint job that looks good, will be parked indoors, and you have the time to dedicate to the job I say do the $50 paint job. I think the area that most people skimp on, preparation before the actual painting, is the critical factor in the quality of the final finish. Sand, sand, sand some more until you can't stand to sand anymore. Then sand some more (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif). There is a reason the quality professional job costs $5k...........time.

Sorry for the long post, I have just been thinking alot about this very issue.

Hope this helps,

Jim