Well after many months of sanding and repairing cracked fiberglass and plastic panels, I finally finished my car. The color is sunrise orange pearl from Urekem. I got a gallon of color, a gallon of clear, a quart of black, and a quart of clear plus all of the activators and reducers for $340. I also used a 2K primer from Eastwood that was $80. I would like to say that's all I spent, but since I dumped 2/3 a gallon of the paint on my garage floor, I had to buy another gallon. I'm not endorsing the Urekem paint, but I was looking for something not too expensive that had a pearl color I would like.
It's not perfect, but I'm not a professional painter and I'm happy with the results. So don't be afraid to paint your own car, just be prepared to quadruple your stress level. I parked the car last August, and I drove it for the first time last week.
Reminds me of sherbert candy. Looks nice though. Did you remove the panels to paint or leave them all on? I am painting mine and I've pulled pretty much everything except the roof and rear clip to paint them. Just got the doors left to do. I am using all Eastwood's 2k paint and primers and it's also my first time painting a car. Buy a Fiero, learn just about everything!
------------------ Anything I might say is probably worth what you paid for it, so treat it accordingly!
The car was originally an 88 formula. I got the body panels to convert it to a GT, but never got any rocker panels or door trim. After I got it together though, I realized I kind of like the clean look without them.
I did remove the hood, decklid, and the bumper covers. The rest of the car I taped and sprayed. I really liked the eastwood primer, it was easy to sand. I had issues with orange peel like texture in the primer, but I thinned it with reducer for a 4:1:1 ratio and it helped with the texture it had when spraying.
It looks AWESOME!! Good for you! I spent more $$ than that on the vinyl wrap I did myself and I am not very happy with it, there have been a lot of issues that have popped up with it over time. And pretty much my only option is to re-wrap an entire panel for one small issue, at least with paint it can be sanded, buffed, feathered in etc.
Was this the first large paint project you've done? I have been tossing around the idea of attempting to paint my other Fiero, but it's pretty intimidating. I have an air compressor, but have never done any paint work with it, the only kind of paint projects I have had any experience with are small rattle can parts and stuff.
That looks great! I've been trying to decide if I'm going to paint mine myself or pay the big $$ to get it done professionally. I'd be thrilled if I could get it looking that good!
Wow, that looks fantastic! I so wish I would have painted mine myself. It gives you a lot more control, can pay attention to detail, and a great feeling of self accomplishment. Great job@!
Thanks for the complements, it was the first paint job I've ever done and the first time I've used an HVLP gun. The best thing about painting it myself was if I messed up a spot, I could wait til it flashed off and then sand on it some more and keep going. I'm sure I have way more coats of color and clear on the car than needed, but it allowed me to learn while painting.
I used a kobalt 3.7 hp compressor with a 60gal tank and it ended up being way more than I needed for the harbor freight gun I used. Really for as cheap as thecoatingstore paint is, it's hard not to do justify doing it right. I once rattle canned a car and it cost me over $60 in paint. They have gallon color and clear kits for just over $200.
My second was a Neon in orange. BTW, I like orange so nice color choice!
My wife wants me to fix the rust damage on our Mazda Protege5 and a couple of dings. Then she wants me to sand it down and repaint it to since the clear has started to flake off. I like the color it is now but I'm not sure if she wants to stick to a dark blue like that or change to a different color. I've been looking at a couple of color options but have ruled red and green out. A metallic purple is a possible and a lighter metallic blue, but she will get the final choice unless we buy something else for her and I to drive before I have the time to do it.
That looks great! I've been trying to decide if I'm going to paint mine myself or pay the big $$ to get it done professionally. I'd be thrilled if I could get it looking that good!
Man, this *for real*. I am terrified of trying paint but I keep seeing people get very nice results so I'm increasingly convinced I can do it. I am strongly considering buying some old car to test my work on.
Slowly I am amassing information about DIY supplies and techniques. Someday I will pull the trigger.
Man, this *for real*. I am terrified of trying paint but I keep seeing people get very nice results so I'm increasingly convinced I can do it. I am strongly considering buying some old car to test my work on.
Slowly I am amassing information about DIY supplies and techniques. Someday I will pull the trigger.
It's like anything else. You don't hop on a bike and just take off having never ridden one before. Same with paint. You will make a few mistakes here and there but thankfully you can sand them down, feather it out and re-coat it before applying the clear. Clear is well, clear so you can sand runs out and polish it back up. Just make sure you use some really fine sandpaper. I had a little prior experience before painting mine just not on cars. I worked in a machine shop for about 10 years where I painted machinery frequently as part of my job. It gave me experience in different types of paint and different conditions for painting. I went in having painted with automotive paints a couple of times before. We didn't use only automotive paints at the machine shop we used water based latex and acrylic, industrial enamels, two part epoxies and some various aerospace coatings among others. It really is fun though and I think something worth trying your hand at. Good luck!
All pretty nice looking cars. Painting is not rocket science. Too many people get scared. All of you probably spent too much on materials though. I can paint 2 full size vans completely with a gallon of color. I painted my 4 place airplanes with 4 gallons each. Like 2 gallons for the fuselage and tails, 2 gallons for the wings. Its always nice when you can say you painted it yourself.
