specialk

Hey everyone,
i'm going to be sanding, puttying, and primering my car pretty soon but I want to do it right. Does anyone know of a good tutorial about how to paint or sand or putty my car? I don't have the money to get it done professionally so I'm going to do all this stuff myself then tape it down and get the maaco special. can anyone help or has anyone done this before who can shed some light on what grade sand paper to use, wet sand or dry sand, down to bare metal or just clear coat off, aaahhh so many options and possibilities to ---- up! thanx for any help guys.
PS: ENGINE SWAP, TURBO, AND ROLL CAGE COME AFTER THE PAINT!!!! WOOOHOOO!

Xplocivic

I would stay away from Maaco. A buddy of mine got his car painted there and there was overspray all over the undercarridge and his exhaust. Just an overall shoddy job. When they are done painting a car, they just park it outside from what I have heard. I don't know though, just my $.02.

tranceminister

Theres alot involved man. I do bodywork for a living. My advice is do it right the first time and save yourself a hassle in the end. But anyway, do you have an email addy? I can give you some help with grits, primers etc.

ZexRex

only advice i have is get new panels when possible, if its your first time dont try to repair hoods, doors, fenders, hatches, sunroof, etc. if you have expierence or the damage is very minimal then i would go for it. i wasted about $60 on my hood before i said ---- it and got a new one. (i returned about $200 of stuff too)

also bondo jobs turn to ---- in a few years. thats just my expierence with doing bodywork. it is very hard to get right and a overall pita if you dont have expierence. i even bought a few books on the topic. good luck man.

specialk

well, i really want to do this right but show quality is not what i'm going for. I just want a car without much dings and dents and a nice shiny paint job instead of my fading red . if I do decide to do it myself (and some help from my buddies) then i'll take all the help i can get. so tranceminister my email is specialk@dangerouscrewcustoms.com if you have any tips on grit etc like you said, that would be VERY helpful!
Xplocivic: thank you for the tip on maaco. maybe i'll find another semi-cheap place to get it painted. before i start sanding and such i'll call around and get some price quotes for the entire paint job (including sanding) and see what it might be but i have a feeling it will be over $1000 and i'm not looking to spend that much.
thanks for the help everyone!!!

SilverT

A friend of mine did all the body work and prep and then had maaco paint it. Their paint jobs are kinda dirty but the paint itself is good. Just don't let them do the clear and if you do pay for the extra coatings of clear so it lasts. It turned out pretty good. He had to clean up the undercarriage but it was all ok.

FURACERMAN

If you're gonna but "bondoing" alot get rage. I hear it's the best "body filler". I like 220 grit it seems to work pretty well on just about anything. If you don't have one get a grinder it saves alot of time. I'm no body work expert but if you need help just give me a holla!

Special FX

Absolute best body work tool is the longboard air sander tool. If you need to maintain lines and do it without a real big pain, get one.

45psi

not a honda, but the concept is exactly the same. a great DIY paint site.

http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm

Chacko

hahahahaha when I was taking auto repair calsses we were right beside the body shop class. One of the teachers came out while we were smoking cigarettes and I got to talking about Maaco's crap. He explained to me that basically, Maaco uses paint similar to the crap in paint by numbers.