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Practice, practice, practice... Chris has most of it nailed but I'll toss in my .02 here since I've squirted a few cars.
1. Stay away from metallic paint. Without quite a bid of practice your finish will look like it has "stripes" in it. Technique must be very good to turn out a decent looking metallic job.
2. Use this as a good excuse to convince the wife that you need a really nice air compressor. Point out how much you can save over that $3000 body shop paint job, air up tires, blow out the garage, etc.
3. Finding a good place to paint might be a problem. It's not as easy to find a body shop that will let you borrow, or rent, their paint booth as it used to be. Last time I checked into this I was quoted $300 just to use the facilities.
If you have a 2 car garage you can hang canvas from the ceiling around where you are spraying the car, wash down the floor, cover everything in sight with drop cloths, and dampen the floor and canvas "curtain" just before you start spraying. This will give dust and overspray something to stick to besides your fresh sticky paint!
4. Did I mention practice?
5. Use a single stage enamel with a catalyst. I have gotten good results with DuPont Centari with a gloss hardener. As, hopefully, you are spraying a solid color (instead of metallic), any little boo-boos such as runs, etc. can be wet sanded and buffed when dry and all or most of your sins will be able to be gotten rid of. A gloss hardener will enhance gloss, and dramatically reduce cure time. You'll be able to put the car together and use it the next day.
6. Rent or buy a good spray gun. If the EPA has mandated that shops in your area must use HVLP sprayguns you should be able to find a good quality "regular" gun at a neighborhood pawn shop. Look for a Sharpe, DeVilbis, or Binks. I have two Binks guns and a Sharpe and have less than $100 in the three of them. The regular guns will use more paint but, unless you plan on painting a bunch of cars, will be more cost effective.
7. Practice some more! As far as practicing goes, most paint suppliers I deal with always have a "goof table" where mis-matched, wrong-mix, and other goofs wind up at a very reasonable price. Buy a can of "goof" paint (the same type as the paint you plan to use), go to the junkyard and buy an old fender, and practice spraying.
I'm leaving out quite a bit here but hopefully you might be able to decide whether or not it would be worth it. I enjoy painting (hate prepping), but after refurbishing half a dozen cars all my "stuff" has more than paid for itself.
Have fun,
Justin B.
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