I just got my April, 2001 Car Craft magazine last week and they had a "paint your own car the right way and save money" article. I haven't painted a car in my life before and this article gave me new inspiration to try to paint my own 66 Chevelle. At least I want to do my own body prep and have someone else shoot the color. Is painting your car really as easy as they made it look in the magazine? Is there anything in the article that they didn't mention?

Thanks,
Kevin C

One thing to consider, those magazine experts never paint their own projects, they just take it to the local custom painter for a "budget" 5000.00 job. Don't let the article fool you, painting is 75% prep and then 25% the "art of appling the paint" and with the average material cost running upwards of $800 to $1000 bucks, it could be a very expensive learning process.

Kevin,

I saw the same article and laughed my arse off reading it.

I had never painted my own car before either and I tried it for the first time last year after reading a simliar article in another magazine. I ended up spending $2500 for something that looked like a metling candle. I ended up paying an experienced person to do it right the second time.

If you want to try painting that's great but practice on somebody elses car first. Painting is very easy for PAINTERS!

That's why you get your bread from the baker, your meat from the butcher, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck,

Bill

I have not seen that article yet, but EVERY time one appears in the car magazines it just pisses me off!!!!

I feel that it's a real dis-service to the readers! Normally the work is done at a professional shop and even if the author worked the spray gun, there was a pro looking over their shoulder at all times.

I've painted about 6 cars over the years and none of them cheap! (all of them were done in the garage) Due to the time between cars, I'm always on the "learning curve"!

The only reason that I do it is that I'm one of those guys that "just have to do it themselves". Plus there is the fact that I love collecting tools.

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Wes. Vann
Technical Reference section
Gold Member #5

if i where you i would paint some thing besides your chevelle first.like a 300 doller beater .this way you can see how your paint and body work looks.also there dont tell you about buffing the paint after you are done.my brother dose body work and knows what he is doing. so i let him do all my painting and i stick to wrenching.a paint job is only as good as whats under it .if you want to learn.learn on something you dont care as much about.id hate to see you have to restrip the chevelle because you dont like how it turned out.

I too thought it would be fun and those articles do sound like it's not that hard. Well guess again. The body work to me is the hardest. It's not easy to get that smooth as glass look from sheet metal and bondo. I lost count of how many times I sanded that car. So I had a prof paint it. You can still see a lot of imperfections but it's not a show car, it's a nice looking driver.
If you decide to do it yourself have fun and good luck.

After reading that article I decided NOT to paint my own car. Even for a paint job in a professional rag like Car Craft, there were runs and heavy orange peel texture on the sides! Look at that front turn signal cutout, can you say bad?
If that's the results of their labors and I'm sure they had professional advice and all the right tools, just think how ugly my job would turn out! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/eek.gif

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Doug, Chevl71
Team Chevelle member #625
Gateway Area Chevelle Club member CM028

chevl71 homepage (http://www.chevl71.homestead.com/chevl71homepage.html)

I've painted 1 1/2 cars by my self, a '78 El Camino and a '62 Nova. Both came out pretty good in my opinion. I find the actual painting to be easier than getting the body straight. I've had two cars painted by the pros, and I'm not happy with either. I took my '62 into the body shop very straight, for final blocking and painting. Their result was plenty of runs and a ton of dirt, my '63 didn't come out any better (I'll post pics soon). I shot the engine comparment of the '62, as well as repairing a few runs and reshooting the tail area in my drive, and got less dirt and no runs. I agree with Wes V. If you want it done right, do it yourself, especially the prep, and you'll know it was done right.

I don't want to knock all the body shops, but it's not easy to find one willing to take the time to prep and shoot your car right... as for the guys who are honest and deliver what you promise, God bless you.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1551528&a=11769071


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Wes
'63 Nova SS Conv 350, ported DartII, 268XE, stealth intake, th350, 11" Holeshot, 4WDB, 3.08 Posi
'65 Chevelle Conv 400SB, 268XE, ported SportsmanII, RPM AirGap, 1 3/4"hedman, front disc, 12 bolt rear
'62 Nova Conv 350, mild cam, ported camel humps with 1.94/1.5 valves

I too have painted a couple of cars but they were not for show I have the 30 foot attitude if it looks good from 30 foot away it looks good to me BTW these cars were raced at the local race track take the advice from all here let the pros handle it. Now all of the valley boys have spoken Gene...........

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Gene Callahan
Canoga Park Ca.
66 Conv. W/396
66 Wagon W/355
V.P. S.C.C.C.C.

hi guys

ive seen quite a few nice paint jobs on cars painted by their owners who were NOT body men. in fact i will be painting my chevelle MYSELF. take your time, get the bodywork right, shoot the primer and if you feel confident enough in yourself, try it. try practicing on smaller trim pieces or the backsides of body panels before you spray the whole car. if you really dont think you can do it yourself, ship er to the bodyshop

I do all my own body work and have a body shop spray it. I can get the body as strait as it's gonna get but it takes a lot of blocking. I pay $100.00 to have the car sprayed, they spray cars everyday and know any changes in the weather and how to compensate for it, they also have a paint booth and have to breath in the fumes. I hear those paint fumes can make you do the funky chicken if you breath to many of them.

The worse part for me is when I can see something in the photo that is very important, that the didn't even mention in the article or caption!!!!

I am sorry, but it is like printing an article on riding a bike that simply says..... "Get on the bike, pedal and don't fall down".

The article can teach you something, I will assure you that. I learn from them all the time, but they don't tell the whole story. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T

Im going out to get a bunch of plastic and turn my garage into a paint booth!!! Maybe old trash bagswill work!!! Yea right! I like to read "fantasy" articles.. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Hey guys,

Thanks for the honest responses. I really appreciate it. The way those guys in the magazine made body work look, I could have sworn my 12 year old nephew could have done it. I'm planning to print this page out and send it into Car Craft so they know what's going on out there.

Thanks again,

Kevin C

Hi Guys,

I used to run a small shop about 10 years ago and I'd say I've painted about 200 cars. When I say small, I mean just me. I did ALL the work from start to finish. It takes a lot of experience and then it just becomes a routine.

The talent comes in when you are hammering out dents and shaping metal so that it looks flawless when you're done. It takes years of practice to get it right the first time. I have a lot of friends that tried to get into it and their stuff just never came out well.

Those magazine guys have been doing it long enough that it's fairly routine. It is true that if you've done it enough times, you just work your way around the car one panel at a time and you're ready for paint. Try it if you want to take the time to learn how to do it, but if you want a REALLY nice job without pulling your hair out, be realistic about your abilities.

By the way, their paint job SUCKED. You can see the run on the lower left front fender and the dry orange peel on the doors. In the dim light like that a freshly painted car should GLOW! They have so much color sanding and buffing to do I'll guarantee they'll cut through their paint trying to get it to look decent. It was not on of the better articles.

Dennis

I painted my Chevelle myself (with my brother), and it turned out pretty good. It is fine for small cruises, and not judged shows. I am sure people who take their cars to a shop would probably say it looks like crap, but:
1) I did it myself!
2) less than $800 with all the supplies (top quality PPG stuff, 2-stage eurathane).
3) any little rock chips are no big deal, Its not a $5000+ paint job I just ruined because I actually drove the car...

It was also painted in a car port, and not an enclosed garage.

The body work is the real hard part. I had a 66 El Camino that was fairly straight, did some light body work, and took it to Miracle (like Earl Shieb). Cost ~$300 to seal and paint the entire car, including the door and hood jambs, bed and wheels. Three weeks later I won 2nd place at a show with 950+ cars (about 15-20 in my class).

So you don't need lots of money, just lots of time and patience. Would you want to be one of those that has somebody build a car for them? I preffer to do everything myself, because its a hobby... Its what I enjoy...

What is the take on going to like Maaco after things are prepped. I prepped a Van for work last summer and took it to maaco. turned out pretty nice for a work van. My chevelle is rust ree ans straight, as well as stripped down, so after some sanding, I think the maaco job may not be bad. Any advice on this?