ddawg23213

Somebody scratched the **** out of my rear lip and bumper, and I don't want to pay a body shop to fix it. I am considering tackling this myself and was wondering if anybody had any advice. I also have a few questions.

How hard is it to get the paint to match? I was just going to order GM victory red paint.
What kind of primer and clear coat should be used?
If I take my time do you think I can get it to match?

I've done some research on the process and it looks like something I can handle but is it reasonable for me to think this is something I can do on my own?

jrmotosports 88

you could most likely do the job on your own.... specially if you are mechanically inclined... however to get factory results maybe a task you may not achieve.... its too hard with a spray balm and a garage to get it exactly... with a bodyshop they have all the proper tools to achieve high quality finish.... also to find a high quality clearcoat in a spray balm.....

BlackARCA06

iTrader: (5)

Its not gonna cost that much for a shop to fix it if its just scratch maybe $200-$300 or even less depending on the shop. Spray Can will look terrible.

ddawg23213

It's multiple scratches and possible even very light gauges that need to be filled which I can do. I have parts to practice on, and I am mechanically inclined.

I wasn't going to rattle can it, I have a spray gun, compressor, and an air dryer.

What are these special tools that they have to do the job?

brian.olsson

its actually not as hard as most people thing, some of the supplies youd need are

sandpaper, 320, and 600 grit,
paint, can get it off your paint code in the trunk and take it to a paint store for the right color
reducer for the paint
primer sealer
high build primer
thinner for the primer
clear coat
hardner for the clearcoat
wax and grease remover

all that you can get at a paint store, but will cost you about 2-300 bucks cause they dont make it in small quanties. But its a good thing to have if you want to do more painting

their are two ways to do this,
1 mask off the car around the bumper, or take the bumper off, if your limited on space, pull the bumper off and spray it, but make sure if you pull it off, you set it up so like its sitting on the car, the color will match better.

once you have the bumper off, sand it down with some 320 and get it nice and smooth, and knock off as much paint as you can, spray on the high build primer after mixing it to the proper mix, take some paint of any color and mist it on the bumper, this is a guide coat, now you can start block sanding everything out with 320. and get as much of the guide coat off that you can. once your done with that and are happy with how smooth it is, its now time to seal it with the primer sealer, than hit it with some 600 grit, and clean it all off with the wax and grease remover, than spray the color, once its dry, spray the clear, let it dry, mount on your car, and enjoy

ddawg23213

so you would recommend spraying the paint with the part on the car?

Is there anywhere online where I can get this stuff in smaller quantities? I am trying to keep the cost down.

brian.olsson

you can, you'd jsut have to also get masking tape and a drop cloth to cover the whole car, and you'd honestly have to go to the auto paint store and see what they can do for you, you might be able to get the stuff in some smaller quanties, or stop buy a auto body shop and see if they can help you out and get you some stuff in smaller quanties to do what you want to do, I've done that a couple times before. just throw them like 50-100 bucks

jrmotosports 88

i was mainly refering to a booth.... however sounds like you may have a good grasp of what needs to happen so maybe your results maybe better then most.... just make sure its warm and dust free and it has chance....

joezombies

I think there's a learning curve to.painting, from my experience. I picked it up rather quickly, however I did a lot of research and emailed a few people for advice. My best suggestion if you want to get a good idea of what's entailed. Look up swrnc on YouTube. His names Pete and he does videos about building hot rods and autobody. He has a channel directed straight toward the layman doing autobody repair at home and he covers blendong and prepping and the whole 9 yards. Its called diyautobody or something similar. He is always happy to answer questions via email and even sometimes by phone. He is a little rough around the edges and cusses a lot in his bids but is a pro and helped me out a lot when I painted my bike, which was the first thing I'd ever painted that wasn't rattle can. And Brian ollson seems to be pointing you in the right direction. But like I said check out Pete on YouTube, you cannot go wrong there.

joezombies

TCP Global - Quality & Service Since 1974 sells paint online and you can buy quart kits. I believe they even color match from yourVin, however ppant stores don't always get the color mixed right and if it was off that would be a big hassle to return.

joezombies

What size of air compressor do you have?

brian.olsson

yeah, the paint itself isn't too expensive, all youd' really need is half a pint, be about 30 bucks, but the reducers and other stuff is what starts running up the costs, cause you can usually only get them in half gallons and their about 60 bucks, for the primer, you can get away with spray can primer to cut the costs, it wouldn't look totally perfect to the perfectinst, but honestly you take your time with it and do some really good prep work, and you honestly won't even notice

brian.olsson

This is a valvecover I did for a friend using spray can primer, auto paint color matched, and spray can primer, I think it turned out pretty well, and it matched the car perfectly

joezombies

Www.youtube.com/user/diyautoschool

joezombies

My first ever paint job using a hvlp gun not bad for using a $50 harbor freight gun if I do say so myself! Paint was hok tangerine candy, even though the camera couldn't pick up the color right.

This is after I wrecked her :'( my Kodak can shows the color much better.

ddawg23213

I think it's around a 20 gallon

joezombies

Ouch! I started with a 25 gallon and it wouldn't E.ven Keep up with my hvlp gun. I made 2-3 passes with primer on a fairing and it was out of breath. I found a 80 gallon on Craigslist for a steal and it had no problems.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

lol ur ass is crazy pay the money and call it a day

joezombies

Some people like to do things themselves. It makes it that much more worth while to know you did in not someone else. I myself enjoy doing paint work. Its nice to see what something can be with a little paint.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

ya but im a professionallist and sorta like my paint to last. **** is rough to come out looking good with a good both when u know what your doing. When u dont and ur just spraying it who knows where... god damn

brian.olsson

huh, I"m confused,

but painting is not hard at all, its all in the prep work, and all paint can last, just depends on how you take care of it after you paint it.

StevoElSupremo

yeah theres a knack to painting, experiment first on a large piece you dont care about, if you have a buddy with a shitbox tell him you'll paint his door or somthing if he pays for paint.

a guy in my local club got an SS bumper and painted it himself.. and trust me... he didn't have to tell us he painted it himself

joezombies

Well done rght anyone could paint a car. Ya'll talk like what you buy from a paint supplier is completely different from what paint shops use. Its not really, however there are different qualities of paints. And a lot of paintshops are switching over to water based paints. Anyways I refer you back to the above pictures of my bike. It is not perfect, however for being my first ever paint job it came out amazing. Everywhere I went people stopped to look at it and asked me where I had the paint done. It felt good to say I did it myself. I did not do it outside and I took my time. Put in a lot of prep work and definitely took my time while painting.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

right i'm not bashing because yes you can paint it and by the grace of god it might turn out decent but i've seen cars painted by someone who knows what they are doing turn out like **** because they did it outside. also idk if victory red is but a lot of GM colors are actually pearl. so painting a single piece would stick out even if you knew how to paint unless you blend it. and thats not accounting for the fact that the bumper is plastic vs the metal of the car so that makes it even harder

sorry if i sound negative but you need to know what you're getting into before you get into it.

right but you painted the whole bike right?

Omiotek

iTrader: (2)

And that's where your wrong. Painting isn't hard but painting good is hard. It takes a lot of practice especially with metallic.

Prep work is 100% key but even with good prep if you put the paint on wrong or too much room soon, or mix it slightly wrong you are prone to failure. If you don't clean the surface it will fail, using the wrong materials for the atmospheric tempature your spraying in will cause failure. Using garbage materials with fail even with good prep.

That's where I have found people are wrong. I see the prep statement all the time and all it does is confuse people. Its a combination of both good prep and good materials....also its a combination of patience and practice.

As far as the guys that want to do ghetto whole DIY thing. It depends....if your meticulous and care about your car and never painted before just pay a good shop to do it and save yourself the headache. If you don't care how your first few projects look then go for it.