I don't understand all these budget paint job write ups... I mean does no one value their time? I mean ya I see paint your car for $300 but why even spend the $300 if your not gonna be all that happy with the end result? I mean maaco will just spray it with a single stage for $300 and you don't have to lift a finger and will come out looking like what you paid... Yeah sure your cars look great from a distance but thats it...
I spend on average per car $350-500 for paint materials... Not a whole lot more than what your talking about... The low side would be without primer and just a sealer which works fine if your clear on your car is in good shape right now and your not repairing anything along with all the panels matching... You can sand the car with around a 320-400 grit sandpaper and apply the sealer then base coat... All these products can be had at any paint supply store and they will also have recommendations...
I recommend just using primer... The high fill kind not cheap spray can stuff... This will send you off into the $500 range. First sand the car down with 180... Then find the spots your going to repair and hit them with 80 grit and use body filler not bondo... Get the car looking as good as visually possible then your ready to primer... Once you primer mist black spray can primer over top and let dry. Then hit the entire car with a long board to show anymore imperfections. If ya don't care skip that and wetsand the entire car with 400.
Then your ready to shoot your basecoat/clearcoat... Pretty simple really just go nice and easy... Try to keep it as even as possible and I highly recommend having a couple drinks prior if you haven't done it before it will definately calm you down. Just spray on a thin layer and let it sit for like 10 min to give the next coat something to stick to. Spray on more coats until evenly coated and you got good coverage and your done. If your not confident just take it easy and don't lay it on too thick and just go for more coats. Remember if you make a run just let the car dry then sand and respray that simple...
Next let that dry for about 45 min and hit the car with the clear... Again same idea light coat to start and I like to go easy on the 2nd coat as well... Basically ease into it and get some clear on the car. Then from there lay it on as thick as possible without running it... If you run the clear its ok! Once you have a couple layers down you have a base then keep spraying the car... If you run it go over the car again and lay it on thick in that area so you have something to sand.
Then once your done with that just sand the entire car with 1000grit on a block and flatten down all the runs then switch to 1500 then 2000... Basically if ya put enough clear on there it's gonna turn out as good as you want to sand the car... Then buff the car out with 3m rubbing and polishing compounds and you have a factory quality paintjob for maybe $500? I mean if you have to buy the tools and stuff it will be more but just ask around... I use a harbor frieght buffer and da which were stupid cheap...
The biggest thing is the clear leaves room for error... Basically screw up and run it? Oh well sand it out... Just don't spray it too thin which shouldn't be very hard. Screw up the single stage paint and thats just the deal... It's a pain in the ass to fix and the end result never looks near as good. I use Nason which is a Dupont product for paint and I believe the clear I've been using was Xpol? I'd have to check but seriously is $100 for a gallon and works great.
Also your gun is huuuuge. People say just get a cheapo hlvp they are fools... I've tried several and there is no comparison to a sata gun... The home depot/lowes guns are trash and so are the harbor freight guns... The uneven spray patterns will make it nearly impossible to get a nice finish along with having the problem of getting airbubbles in the clear/paint which are not removable and look nasty. One option I have found tho! This gun is awesome and I'm gonna purchase a couple more is U-pol!
Here is some on ebay 1.4 tip for base/clear something slightly larger for high fill primers.
http://item.express.ebay.com/Vehicle...mdZExpressItem
It's just a sata knock off and had some bugs but pretty even spray pattern and no air bubbles I swear by this gun! I have used it with great success!
So yeah just a few more bucks and a little more time and you can yield excellent results... If you seriously read this carefully and take your time you should have absolutely no problem making your car look great! Oh and it will last too... This is the same process a body shop would go through on a paint job they would warranty for several years... I have a pretty hardcore pressure gas pressure washer and I wouldn't think twice about blasting one of my cars... I garuntee if you hit that guys car with it the paint would peel off... 600 grit sandpaper is going to leave you with a pretty poor surface for the paint to bond too...
Hopefully this helps some of you do it yourselfers who want quality without insane body shop prices...