How to paint a car as a do-it-yourself home project with limited funds? And still get a half way decent looking vehicle.

This is a good question.

The fact is, that without knowing what resources you have at hand, it's not possible to tell you what results you will end up with.

Also, are you just spraying over damage repair or are you taking the plunge and going for a complete respray?

Either way, you do need an enclosed area. I have tried repairing damage outside, but you are subject to wind, sun, changes in temperature, humidity - the list goes on.

Although you can do this with tins of spray paint from the auto store or a propriety producer of spray paint, the best results are obtained through the use of a compressor and spray gun.

Now you have the problem of whether to use acrylic or two-pack paint.

The latter will require extraction and proper face masks as it's dead poisonous, whereas, you may have to work harder getting the optimum finish with cellulose or acrylic paint, but the health risks are much lower and so is the equipment list.

I would say it's possible, but don't rush things. Take your time and also do the right thing by reading the instructions.

Rushing the job will lead to orange peel with acrylic or cellulose paints and that's a strip and restart. Go carefully and at a steady pace and the results from that will be more than adequate.

You are unlikely to be able to reproduce a shop finish especially on your first attempt, but with patience and attention to detail, you should be able to produce a perfectly acceptable result.

Back in the day of street rods and oil-based machinery paints, a lot of people used to paint cars at home but the results weren't that good then. The automotive paint finish has advanced a lot since those... keep reading →

Painting a car is certainly not easy, for a start you need somewhere enclosed e.g. a garage, then you need equipment such as a spray gun.

THE BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE IS TO FOLLOW MY STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO HELP YOU GET THE MAXIMUM RESULTS.

IT IS ONLY AS HARD AS YOU MAKE IT.

http://paint-a-car.com/