keep researching and it will all come together.

First, if you're looking to go gloss black, I'll just advise you that its a tough color to get to look good, especially for your first project. BUT, I did my first project in black and it came out ok. Just knowthat your prep work has to be good, you will see imperfections a lot easier with black. I'd also go basecoat/clearcoat with black so you can sand out and buff any imperfections as opposed to single stage black (clearcoat is mixed into the color). I think single stage will give you less leeway to fix imperfections, maybe someone can disagree.

Id say you can probably get by with 2 quarts of paint and 2 of color, but its been a while since I sprayed base/clear. And that may be cutting it close. I just did a car single stage and used half a galon of color, not counting when I thinned it. I also should have done another coat though.

Leave bumpers etc on, tape off everything and be careful with it. If you can take off trim, take it off.

I went with duplicolor - a gallon of single stage and used napa for base/clear and both worked well, but are prob considered low grade paints, napa prob mid

 

As mentioned above make sure your prep work is perfect (or as close as you can) if you are doing black. It is hard to say exactly how much paint you will need without knowing a brand because they all have different mix ratios. Black is one of the only colors I would ever do a single stage on and as long as your application is good you should be fine using it, just remember that single stage will fade a bit faster than base/clear. As far as a mid grade brand I would recommend U-tech. I used it for years with very good results at work and it can be either base coat or single stage depending on what binder it is used with It is also manufactured by Akzo Nobel which is one of the top paint manufacturers out there and has a very comprehensive warrenty as long as it is applied correctly.

As far as primer goes I would use a high build poly-urethane primer. Also remember that when picking a paint you should use a primer/sealer made by the same manufacturer or there could be serious adhesion problems. If you did use U-tech I would recommend either color build or auto surfacer lv for primer.

 

Great info - Thanks!!

I've got some experience shooting paint with a gun (small parts for work) and shooting entire cars with rattle cans (race cars) so I feel confident tackling this. I'm not even looking for perfection, just a solid color w/out rust really.

Where do you guys recommend buying this stuff? I guess I'll have to google some auto paint shops, I used to know the places in my old town but now that I've moved I have to re-learn all the good parts stores again!

 

my painter used a little under a whole can of paint. what is that 6-7 quarts?

 

Paint is usually mixed by the gallon or less.

And to the op I used around 3/4 of a gallon un reduced when I painted mine that did the entire outside pluss door jambs, trunk, and the underside of my hood. That was for a coupe but it should get close for other sizes I would get a gallon plus hardner/activator and reducer (if going single stage) or just reducer for base then get enough product to get at least 1.5 (I would get a bit more just to be safe) gallons sprayable for the clear.

 

I bought 2 gallons to be safe, used under a gallon after it was thinned

 

I've seen a windshield removed and reinstalled before and you could honestly do it yourself if you had the right tools and worked very carefully. The glass company had mine fully replaced in less than 20 minutes.

As for paint, I can't really tell you how many quarts/gallons I've used in the three cars I've done. The newest one(93L) I was able to do with spray cans, and it took something like 15-20 12oz cans being sprayed very liberally. You'll also lose a lot less paint when using a roller or compressor gun.

 

What's the cost of all this ? And the time to prep all the way to the clear coat. We talking over 3 weeks huh. Just being consistent at it