3 Ways To Paint Your Car at Home with Auto Body Supplies
Are you tired of driving around in a faded old piece of junk? If so, then you’re probably ready for a new paint job. Professional auto painting is no cheap undertaking. Even the cheapest painters are going to charge you several thousand dollars just to get the job done.
Why not grab the necessary auto body tools and supplies at discounted prices and give it a shot yourself?
If you’ve got the patience and space, then you can pull off a DIY paint job at a fraction of what it would cost to get a professional to do it. With the right auto body shop paint supplies whether bought, borrowed, or rented– you can have your car looking as good as new.
A Quick Word about Preparation
Even the best paint will end up looking terrible on a poorly prepared car. Whatever you do, take the time to get your vehicle ready for painting. First things first, find a safe space like a garage where your car can live for several days. The last thing you want is for leaves and/or dust to blow into your paint or primer as its drying.
Give the car a thorough washing and drying before you get started. Use coarse sandpaper or a grinder to eliminate any and all rust spots. Use Rust Kutter to help make sure it’s all dealt with before you start painted. Hammer out any dents and fill in gouges. Sand your work for a nice, even finish. Mask off anything you don’t want to be painted.
Foam Roller
A while back, Hot Rod magazine ran a piece on painting a 1962 Ford Falcon for just $98 with a bucket of Rust-Oleum and a bunch of high-density foam rollers. Since then, numerous people have been able to pull it off with success. It takes a whole lot of prep work, rolling, sanding, and buffing, but with some patience and elbow grease, it can be done quite well.
While this method won’t give you a great variety of colors or anything more than a basic enamel finish, it’ll get your car looking presentable without emptying your bank account.
Spray Can
This one’s a variation on the foam roller method, sans the rollers. It requires all the same prep work but opts for spray paint cans over buckets. This method takes a lot of patience. If you try to spray the paint on too quickly, you’ll end up with an ugly, splotchy mess. Even so, you’re likely to end up with an uneven coat of paint.
You may not end up with a perfect (or even) gloss, but the spray can method will get you down the road with a passable paint job.
Spray Gun
By far, this is the best method for a do-it-yourselfer. It requires all the same prep work as any other method, but you’re going to have the easiest time applying the paint and getting a nice even finish. It’ll save you hours working with rollers or cans. You’re going to need a sprayer (along with some support equipment) for this one, so be prepared to either buy or rent one.
Even with that expense, the spray gun method will get your car looking as good as new without costing you anywhere near as much as a professional paint job would.
At the end of the day, you’re always going to get the best results by paying a professional to paint your car for you. They’ve got the skills and the equipment to do things the right way. If you can’t afford that, however, then we’ve got everything you need get the job down yourself.
