To paint.... or Not to paint

[SILINC3R]

So I have always spent my money on parts instead of body work because I feel I would rather have a car that runs well and it quick than a car that looks good. Well when I go to these Subaru meets and see the members rides and the paint and body looks good it makes me jealous and wish mine could look presentable. I take very good care of the body as I can and wash and wax whenever I have time and it is needed but obviously there is only so much you can do to a 20 year old car with rock chips and faded paint and dents and what not. this is one area that i am afraid to tackle. the space and time it requires is also daunting and overwhelming. I just moved to Port Angeles, Wa to go to the airmen program and there is a paint booth so I have been thinking of doing the paint. there are many dents and I dont feel like taking it to a shop to have them do it so I may just leave them and paint the car. Being a non-rate in the Coast Guard and being on a ship and a deck hand my primary job was to keep up the paint on the ship so Prep, Prime and Paint is not new to me but being on a car I feel like it will be a big job for me. I am a very meticulous person and would want to disassemble everything but being that i am going to paint it the same color and I am not going to a full job now I feel i dont really need to do. the main concern i have is the edgesof the metal like doors, fenders, hood, and trunk. since there is paint already on the car i know i dont have to take it all the way to meatal so make sure its smooth and prime where needed.

so the ones that have manned up and done this. how serious did you get? did you take the fenders, hood, mouldings, etc off? how much time did you spend? were you satisfied with the end result? also may paint it winestone but think i should stay with the stock Rio Red. Thanks in advance.

[kimokalihi]

Youre brave considering painting your car without fixing the body damage. Its an overwhelming amouny of prep work to get a vehicle ready for paint. Even without going to bare metal. I guess it depends on how anal a person is but you said youre meticulous so it will be a ton of work. I dont think youll be satisfied in the end if the scratches and dents from the previous owner are still there after painting it.

I would put that money towards a 6mt.

[evolutionmovement]

If you don't paint the whole thing, it's unlikely the paint will match, particularly with red (also a more expensive paint because of the pigments). The quality of a paint job is entirely in the prep—even the paint quality itself isn't anywhere near as important. If you're not prepared to tackle that or want it to look good from less than 20 feet away, I wouldn't bother. It's a lot of time, but that's what it takes. For removing trim, I'd take off the easy things like the lights and mirrors and such, but wouldn't bother with thing like the gutter trim and window moldings.

[Legacy777]

I've thought about this as well.....even though my paint looks good, there are things that do show their age. The most expensive stuff for painting is the prep work. If you remove all the trim, sand an block the car yourself, that will definitely reduce the work a bit.

What I'd suggest is talking to the shop you're thinking about having paint the car. I'd tell them, you'll remove all the trim, etc to get it ready for the body work. I'd let them do the dents or any of that stuff, and if you want to tackle sanding and prep, you could.....otherwise let them do it.

I would suggest letting them paint, because without some experience chances are it won't turn out the best.

[SILINC3R]

I would be painting the whole car and fixing the scratches not the major dents, the little ones I would bondo. It's just that I've gone to body shops and they quote around 3-5 for fixing everything and then painting. But I feel for the 200 or 300 it might cost for al the supplies I could do an acceptable job since I have access to a paint booth and have roughly 4 months to do this. But I think ill check out the shops out here and then hit up the junk yard and look for better senders and doors and whatever else. Also what the hell do you do for the Chrome gutters?

[kimokalihi]

Well maybe just pay a shop just to fix the dents you don't want to fix and do the rest yourself?

[evolutionmovement]

I don't know what these dents look like, but have you looked into paintless dent removal? The gutters are stainless steel. You can paint them or have them vinyl wrapped, I imagine.