I'm trying to weigh my options and need some advice. I want to have my '90 Jeep Cherokee painted but I want it done with as little cost as possible. I'm not wanting a show car paint job but I don't want a Krylon job either. I do want it to look halfway decent. It does need minor bodywork. I'm not opposed to doing everything myself since a guy at my station has experience in paintwork and has the equipment and I think it would be nice to add another experience especially since I can do it while at work. If I were to go that route what would the cost be for the materials needed?
Although I haven't priced anything I can't imagine it would be cheaper to DIY than to just take it to some shithole like MAACO, Peach, etc. except for the fact I know the paint work would most likely look better if I did it myself.
One last thing a guy mentioned I should look into contacting a high school and allow them to use the Jeep as a project vehicle for the students to learn on. He said the paint jobs usually come out really nice and it doesn't cost anything. Any truth to this? Y'all know anyone who to contact?

11/23/2009 12:51:23 PM

Suspend 69, then we'll talk.

But for real, paint is almost always one of those things where you get what you pay for. You can get a Maaco job for cheap, but it'll flake off quickly. Similarly, you can try to do it yourself, but it probably won't turn out all that well and you're still looking a a good chunk of change is supplies alone. If you do, spend 80% of the effort on prep, or that's what I've always heard at least.

[Edited on November 23, 2009 at 12:56 PM. Reason : .]

11/23/2009 12:54:08 PM

search function or have a mod bump an ol- oh, wait


imho, dont leave it sitting with a high school auto class... you'll have more $$$ to spend after they fuck with it (and not the paint)

11/23/2009 12:54:10 PM

you can spray it yourself with a heavy coat of acrylic laquer, then polish out the dust and runs

otherwise you can build a rigged paint booth with plastic sheeting, some ac filters and a box fan, and spray a base and clear, but less room to fuck up with a two part, this is how i painted my mustang in high school and it turned out great, but my dad has also been painting cars for 30 some years adn helped a little

11/24/2009 7:22:01 AM

Quote :

"You can get a Maaco job for cheap, but it'll flake off quickly."

8 or 9 years ago i had a car painted at maaco...it was their "ambassador" paint job at 50% off, so it cost something around $300...i had the car for more than 2 years and the paint was fine during that time

granted, they had drips on the car and had painted on top of some of the rubber around the windows, but i showed it to them before i accepted the car and paid for the service, and i came back the next day and they had fixed it

*shrug*

11/24/2009 7:52:49 AM

I too have used Maaco, about 5 years ago, and my paint isnt flaking.

They even did some work to remove rust before paint, in total, it was around $700. Paint still looks really good, aside from dulling because I'm slack about waxing it.

They wont do the best job, but they will fix things you notice before you accept the car. They fixed quite a few "oversprays" or other things on mine.

11/24/2009 8:27:04 AM

PLEASE try to do a roller paint job and post the results

11/24/2009 11:23:09 AM

Quote :

"I know the paint work would most likely look better if I did it myself."

Bullshit, do the prep yourself and let the guy who paints 10 cars a day, 6 days a week do the spray.

11/24/2009 8:37:02 PM

what did that set you back?

11/24/2009 8:38:36 PM

11/24/2009 8:48:56 PM

I went all out on the black truck and got the extra clear coat, total was... $319 I think? That's the only one I spent more than $300 on so far.

11/24/2009 8:51:28 PM

damn. that's what i'm talking about. let me know if you think your guy is up to do mine.

11/25/2009 7:56:26 PM

My "guy" is called econo paint and auto body downtown, they fucking put Peach out of business.

11/25/2009 9:51:39 PM

everyone has told me maaco is cheap

11/26/2009 12:47:14 AM

ya fucking think

11/26/2009 11:16:21 AM

I too am very interested in this. The roof on my car is oxidizing bad

11/26/2009 5:18:04 PM

let me guess

a honda?

11/26/2009 7:01:31 PM

econopaint. haha. i was thinking about taking it to them. i know a guy who had his truck painted by them. it was only $200 and looked good.

11/26/2009 8:04:57 PM

^^haha of course

11/27/2009 11:11:07 PM

Yeah, I have been pretty happy overall with the work I have gotten done there, more so than the times where I have gone to high end body shops and had to worry about body work and paint matching/blending. HOWEVER it is a cheap paint job and should be treated as such.

- First, before anything else, wash the entire car twice with dish soap, you want the thing as clean as possible. I mean wash it like you are trying to hide the evidence- then wash it one more time. Even in the door jambs, unless you are changing the color they wont directly be spraying there but clean it anyhow.

- Anything that is removable that you don't want painted should be removed. This is the hardest part of the prep and should not be overlooked due to the fact that overspray is the thing most likely to piss you off down the road. Even inner fender liners are usually easily enough to remove instead of trying to repaint black later. Any areas that you want to be 100% on the masking you can mask yourself, but don't plan on masking so much that they just roll the vehicle in the booth. Also, if the guy who does the masking on your car does not have to worry about your door handles and lock cylinders then he does a much better job on the stuff like windshield molding, etc. I usually remove every light but the headlamps too since then they can just spray at will in those areas, which keeps there from being tape edges around the lamp openings that could lift easily.

- Once you have the details removed, then its time to do any body work you want to do. If a car has nasty chips in the paint, I have actually layered touch-up paint in the chips and then wet sanded it smooth with the rest of the paint. I have had a couple larger dents fixed by the paint shop but do not expect any miracles here, their expertise is painting cars and painting them fast. If you are replacing any fenders or bumpers, do it now.

- Next is the actual prep. I wipe everything done real quick with mineral sprits to start with a clean surface, then start scuffing with a fresh red scotchbrite pad. Two of these pads will more than do an entire vehicle. Start at one corner with one pad, then work an entire side then grab the new pad and do the same on the opposite side. You are looking for an even, dull result here, so that the new paint will have something to adhere too, but if you sand it, or even get too rough with the pad, you will be able to see it under the paint later on. It is OK to do the edges of the doors/hood but do it even more gently than the outside panels as they wont get as much paint. Try not to scuff too much in the door jamb either as you might end up with scuffed, unpainted paint in the end. Wipe down with mineral spirits, twice. Dont get in the habit of touching it with bare hands even.

- Take another look over everything and think about wether overspray is gonna get on a large part of your exhaust, inner fenders, exposed parts of the suspension, etc and maybe spray these areas with some Pam or something. NOTE this is not something I have done but probably should have tried. The idea is making it a little tougher for the paint to stick to these areas. The catch is it makes more work for you as you have to be extra extra careful to go back over the entire vehicle again with the mineral sprits to ensure none of the "non-stick" spray got on the exterior surfaces you want painted. Some might reccomend tire shine for this but anything with silicone virtually gaurantees you fish-eyes in the paint no matter what. On the ones I have done, touching up the exhaust, or even replacing it later was a better alternative to me than risking the paint finish. I said fuck the inner fender areas, nothing a little light work with a black rattle can wont take care of. In my experience they have never gotten any overspray on the wheels/tires of anything I took there, so I wouldnt worry too much about that.

- Also, before taking vehicles to the paint shop I tend to go ahead and clean up the interior. They are more likely to take care with it if it is somewhat clean to start with. I do all my prep work at home and trailer the vehicle to paint, this way I dont have to be pulling tail lamps and license plates in the parking lot. And lastly, something they won't tell you at the paint shop is that the paint needs to cure. I mean really badly needs to cure if you want it to last. These guys do not mess around- expect two to three days turnaround at the most. As soon as you get the vehicle back, go over everything looking for leftover masking tape and get if off there, then wait as long as you can before reassembling the vehicle. I have reassembled the day after, two weeks after, and one month after and by far the paint is much harder after the 2 week mark, and as hard as its gonna get by the month mark. Results may vary a little in the colder months as I usually am doing this in the hottest part of the summer. This time of year I would actually try to keep the vehicle indoors for the curing time if at all possible with a somewhat consistant temperature. Also avoid washing it while you are waiting for it to harden. Patience is the key here, remember you could pay several times as much for someone to do as good a job with some more expensive paint, or to have it done at a place with a curing booth, but you can get a great result with the cheap paint job- it just takes some work and patience on your part. In the end it is worth it in my opinion.

11/29/2009 11:04:49 AM

Almost forgot- the emblems. I pull them off and if they are going back on, I only remove 98% of the adhesive thats left behind. That way I the paint will still go on thick enough to adhere but I do not have to guess exactly where to place the emblem when I go to stick it back on, I can see the little bit of adhesive left and use it as a guide.

11/29/2009 11:11:13 AM

thanks for the how-to guide. it'll be used.

11/29/2009 12:55:18 PM

I, too, am thinking about getting my car painted. I want to sell it soon and it's in great condition except for some serious oxidation areas (no rust or body work needed).

Are 1-coat jobs really worthwhile? I kind of feel like not having a clear coat would make it look shitty.

11/30/2009 2:27:23 PM

You would be amazed at the gloss ratings on some of the monocoat systems out there now

11/30/2009 2:32:46 PM

Yeah really.

11/30/2009 4:46:07 PM