Cheap paint options

[Dantheman]

Have you considered renting a booth? I would expect most of the needed items you are asking about would be there already. Not to mention having a controlled environment is a huge plus.

[redneckrolemodel]

I can only give 2 real pieces of advice. Depending on what you are looking for: Cheap or Quality. Body work kind of boils down to the old saying "You can't have your cake and eat it too". If you want cheap you will sacrifice quaility, and if you want quality it won't come cheap. I do all of my own body work and I will give you two pieces of advice if you want to do it yourself...but it still maybe cheaper to just have it done.

 

Option 1: CHEAP. If you are serious about quality this is not the option for you. Harbor freight guns do squirt paint for sure. For someone that hasn't done much painting the hardest part for alot of people is "Technique". I would practice on a junk hood or something first. You will have money tied into a air compressor, DA's, Air drier, Hose, Paint gun, Buffer/polisher. Now I don't know how bad your body is but if you need DA's I am guessing you have some body work to do. Another thing to look into is a set of body hammers and dollies for little stuff and from Harbor Freight they are cheap. If your body is bad and have some big dings a stud welder and slide hammer will help alot but they are not real cheap. Along with all the tools another spendy part of paint is the prep materials...Masking tape(use blue or green...not white), utility knife with blades, Bondo, sand paper(various grits), If you are going for cheap you can use newspapers but will use more tape, Paint, Primer, Clear, if body work is needed a can of dark spray paint can be used for guide coat, Now for paint and primer here is a cheap and easy way to do it....Industrial paint. It's cheap and easy but your colors are somewhat limited and is not professional quality and they still need thinned and that good stuff which is another can of worms.

 

Option 2: Quality. If you want a good quality job done the best way to do it would be to have someone do it that has all the needed equipment and like some other people on here have said is help them do it so you can learn and if you help and they don't have to do all the work it might save you some... the more prep you do the more money it will save and better job you get.

 

I am not saying that someone without all the cool guy equipment can't put out a good job. It is totally possible but it takes time. The biggest problem with doing the Painting part of a paint job is there may not be a bug in the air until you go to painting....then they are all over your vehicle. My Nissan Patrol is painted Safety Orange with industrial paint... it is my backwoods fishing rig and checking fence rig. It will get scratched and stuff so I was not going to put a high dollar super duper paint job on it but wanted it to look good. I am the Asst. Cheif of the Rural Fire Dept. in my area and I paint all of their trucks and they get Safety Red because as a fire truck they get used and abused and it is industrial paint and the first fire truck I did for them was done about 5 yrs ago and still looks like it did a week after. I will not recomend industrial paint unless that is the absolute color you want but prepare for alot of prep work to make it look "real good". Now onto guns...Harbor freight guns are great for undercoating and sometimes primer. If you buy the double pack that has the bigger one and the detail gun remember what I said about the bigger one. The detail gun actually did surprise me on the paint it squirted. Another thing to know about your paint gun is to make sure you are using the right tip and nozzle for what you are doing. Another thing about the body work part of things is "Lighting". Lighting is your best freind when it comes to doing body work. Another helpful hint is when doing body work take good long strokes....shorter faster strokes make it alot easier to make dips and waves in your bodywork. I am guessing that since you don't have any of this equipment that you haven't done alot of body work. I mentioned "Guide coat" earlier. I don't know how well your vision is or how sensitive you can feel things, but what guide coat can do is show you low spots and really helps for beginners. To use this if you use a can of black spray paint hold it back quite a ways (not like you are going to paint bust so you get just a good mist on the body) and then do some sanding and when the majority of the back mist is gone and you have just a little left will show you your low spot. Another helpful hint for the do-it-yourselfer is once you start squirting paint don't stop. if you are on a schedule wait until you have time...once you start don't stop. I am not a true professional but have worked in body shops and have done alot of body work and there are alot of people out there that know alot more than me. This is just advice I will give from my personal experience. If you have anymore questions post them or PM me and I will try to help the best I can.

[redneckrolemodel]

Yes....Like mentioned be careful what you have around your vehicle...oil is the absoulute worst. This will cause a bunch of very noticable "fish eyes" in your paint and they do not cover....they will come back. For your pressure at the end of your hose and at the bottom of your gun you should have a pressure regulator. It does not take a lot of pressure and there are a few different adjustments on the gun itself and different people need different adjustments due to the way each person paints. I run my air pressure around 35 PSI depending on the conditions. Another thing to be aware of is if you are doing multiple coats remember your flash times.