Buying the Paint

I have decided to paint the car in 2-pack (2K) for a couple of reasons; it has a high shine and looks great straight off the gun and it is quite hard and durable once it has cured. But with the good also come the bad, and in this case it is the price.

I have two suggestions for you when you go to buy the paint;

1. If you have a weak heart bring your pacemaker and/or your pills
2. Don't bring you wife/girlfriend/significant other

 I was floored with the $1900 quote on paint, binder, reducer and sand paper... I managed to get it down to $1400 if I brought it all at once, but this is still well over my planned $1000 budget.

I will be painting the car in three stages; 1) base colour, 2) clear binder with flake and 3) clear. The extra cost of the flake and binder add to the price, which you can cut down on if you don't want/need this step.

I don't think it is a good idea to save money here by buying cheap paint, because after all the effort and cost involved, you don't want cheap paint ruining the job.

So in short, I will look at other was of getting my hands on the paint for a better price, perhaps a friend in the industry can get it for trade price (plus comission of course).

The Victim, errr I Mean Patient

Now you didn't really think I was going paint my everyday car, did you?

I need a practise car and by coincidence a reasonably straight BMW E36 coupe was for sale in my suburb so I snapped it up for a couple of hundred bucks. As you can see in the photo, someone has already had a go at painting it mat black and proceeded to completely stuff it.

Furthermore they stuck Transformers badges and crash test dummy stickers all over it... if only I knew who did this I would report them to the The Enforcer's Car Protection Agency.

Welcome...

OK, so this is my first blog and I want to make it a useful resource for others who want to undertake the daunting task of painting their own car.

I have seen a lot of people asking about this topic online but rarely have I come across a comprehensive, step-by-step list of the process and experience. I hope to change that for all you enthusiasts out there.

I do not work in the automotive industry, in fact far from it. I am on the opposite side of the spectrum, sitting on my ass all day, working an IT job. But I do have a passion for automobiles and take pride in doing as much work on my cars as I can.

If you are planning on painting your car, I hope this helps you by getting an idea of the process, techniques involved, what worked, what didn't and how it all came together.