paint shops

[clutchmuch]

what are good car painting shops in cedar rapids. i know of lithia and thats it, and was wondering what they charged for a full car job or if there are any places cheaper?

[Clinical]

Honestly unless you're going for a show car look, buy a spray gun and spray it yourself unless you have 3k+ to dump on a nice paint job.

There are people here who can do a good job painting, I'm not sure what they'd charge. Fifdy painted his car and does a bunch of other paint work so you may ask him but I'm not sure he has a place to do it.

There are a few writeups on different forums on how to do your own paint job that turn out decent, no they wont be factory / professional quality but a lot turn out good.

[85XR7Project]

I don't know that I'd paint my car until vie researched the shit out of it. You would probably end up with orange peel and runs.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Panting is pretty easy really. Depending on what you car is going to be used for, maybe forget about the base/clear and just go with a nice enamel. That is how I do about 90% of my cars. Mainly because they get treated pretty rough, it is a lot easier to touch up an enamel job than a base/clear. It is also easier for the "beginner" painter as well. They looks just as good as a base/clear in my opinion.

I got compliments and :who did the paint" quite a bit on my Neon back in the day. I used a cheap Devilbiss Finishline and some pokyurithane enamel, silver metallic. If you decide to give it a try yourself (I think you should) the Finex FX3000 by Sharpe/Graco is a damn good gin for the price. Honestly, since I bought that gun last summer, I haven't used my Devilbiss or my Satajet 3k... Same thing at work, I find myself using that Finex fx3k as much, if not more than the Satajet 3k...

[FiFdYnUtZ]

Please don't try to paint your car yourself, it never ends well, and nevertheless an enamel paint job on a later model car would look like garbage....I work for eastside body shop in belle plaine full time and do a majority of the body/base/clear work for underground art studios as well but I can tell you a nice paint job will quickly run out of your cost range, especially a kandy paint job...I have heard golden hammer in cr is good and I know/work with the shop manager of cassills body shop as well...if you have any questions or anything ill do what I can to help ya out

[clutchmuch]

well im not going to spend 3k, i wouldnt even spend 1k, might just find like a guy who does this shit out of his garage and see what hes offering, if its too high for me, ill grab that gun and do it myself.

[allgo]

Please don't try to paint your car yourself, it never ends well, and nevertheless an enamel paint job on a later model car would look like garbage....I work for eastside body shop in belle plaine full time and do a majority of the body/base/clear work for underground art studios as well but I can tell you a nice paint job will quickly run out of your cost range, especially a kandy paint job...I have heard golden hammer in cr is good and I know/work with the shop manager of cassills body shop as well...if you have any questions or anything ill do what I can to help ya out


Fifdy is so right..I love how people say they painted there own shit and say people say it looks good...when really they want to say who painted it stevie wonder..do everybody a favor that has to look at your car pay some good dollars and get it done right..golden hammer is good shit..

[Scott]

I would have to dissagree, if you only have 1k to spend its NOT going to happen. I would just buy a bunch of spray paint, find a car wash with doors that close, wash EVERYTHING down, car, walls, garage doors, ceiling, EVERYTHING..... then paint your heart out till your high from the fumes. Then unmask it quick and drive it real fast to dry the paint off on a nice hott day

[JacobS]

or heres an even better idear...leave it the way it is! youre going to spend more money painting and fixing rust then youll ever get back out of the car. unless you want a show car, just say fuck it!

[sparkles]

1)What kind of paint job do you want? If it's something that you're wanting to be really head turning, you need to save your money and pay to have it done. If you're just wanting something better than what you have, I say go ahead and try it yourself. It won't be the best thing, but just like everything else in the car hobby, experience and trial & error eventually end up with good skills and knowledge. Painting is no different.

2)What is your bodywork like? If it's all banged up, full of rust, and has more waves than Maui, I'd say save your money until you have a car that is a little better candidate for paint. Painting is one thing. Bodywork is a completely different animal.

3)What kind of paint are you thinking about having? Single stage, Base/Clear combos are easy enough for beginners, but if you're wanting a Candy, Pearl, Mid Coat, Flake, Mystichrome, etc, then leave it to the professionals until you get some better skillz.

4)Do you have a place to paint it yourself? You don't need anything too crazy. A decent garage that has enough room for you to move around the car is good enough. You just need some plastic to put up and keep dust out, some ventilation, and remember to wet the floor down.

5)What's your "tools" budget? You need to consider an initial investment in a GOOD air compressor, oil and water separator, good hose, GOOD gun, sandpaper, tape, plastic, any tools needed to pull trim off possibly, etc. A lot of people overlook this.

6)How willing are you to COMPLETELY disassemble your car? I ABSOLUTELY with a fury of a thousand burning suns, hate it when I see people paint their own car and do nothing but tape around everything. It's so obvious. If you're not willing to do it right, pay someone to do it. Take the bumpers off. Paint the jams. Take off the weather stripping. Remove the ground effects, bumpers, etc and paint them separately. Take the side markers out. Remove your wheels and black out the wells. It's all in the details in what makes a home paint job look professional. If you don't want to take the time and effort, just pay someone.

[clutchmuch]

very nice tips, and yeah ill take the time, founds some nice fenders for the crx too.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

an enamel paint job on a later model car would look like garbage...

going to have to disagree with you there. Granted, they don't look as great as a well done base/clear but I have seen some really nice poly. paint jobs. a non-metallic poly can be cut/buffed to look really damn nice for 1/10 the total cost.

I don't know know why people make painting out to be "SOOOO HARD". I am not saying it is "easy" but... Yes, there is a level of skill needed and not everyone has it but it isn't hard to learn. I've been painting for about 10 years now but I can remember when I first started. The hardest thing for me was laying down clear coat. It was hard for me to go that slow, I kept feeling like it was just going to run like crazy.


ANYWHO... I say if you are on a tight budget, buy a gun, by some paint and find some junk body parts for free. I use to go to body shops and they where more than happy to give me whatever junk parts they had laying around. That is how I learned how to do body work and paint.

[Domestic Disturbance]

Brown is in. Go with brown. Freiburger says so

[clutchmuch]

My old neighbor has a garage and gun and all the shit i need to paint, he say's he will do it for $750 or i can give it a go myself for like a hundred bucks, so i think im going to go that route and see how it turns out.

[Ricky]

i say do some practice parts and make sure you got the skill down then for that price just go for it. you can always repaint since you did it so cheap the first time.

Make a thread and post pics!

[FiFdYnUtZ]

an enamel paint job on a later model car would look like garbage...

going to have to disagree with you there. Granted, they don't look as great as a well done base/clear but I have seen some really nice poly. paint jobs. a non-metallic poly can be cut/buffed to look really damn nice for 1/10 the total cost.

I don't know know why people make painting out to be "SOOOO HARD". I am not saying it is "easy" but... Yes, there is a level of skill needed and not everyone has it but it isn't hard to learn. I've been painting for about 10 years now but I can remember when I first started. The hardest thing for me was laying down clear coat. It was hard for me to go that slow, I kept feeling like it was just going to run like crazy.


ANYWHO... I say if you are on a tight budget, buy a gun, by some paint and find some junk body parts for free. I use to go to body shops and they where more than happy to give me whatever junk parts they had laying around. That is how I learned how to do body work and paint.
Enamel is completely outdated and with the availability of cheaper base/clear materials it is virtually obsolete, and painting isn't "that hard" but making a paint job reeeeallly nice takes a very high level of skill, experience, tools, etc...not for the hobbyist in my opinion.....

[Scott]

2)What is your bodywork like? If it's all banged up, full of rust, and has more waves than Maui
.

Wavier than a bus full of special ed kids!!

"Of course no offense to anyone"

[JacobS]

if you need any body parts to practice on give me a PM ive got a fender from my old car that would be perfect for it. and other parts too. let me know.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Enamel is completely outdated and with the availability of cheaper base/clear materials it is virtually obsolete, and painting isn't "that hard" but making a paint job reeeeallly nice takes a very high level of skill, experience, tools, etc...not for the hobbyist in my opinion.....

I agree. I just assumed (and maybe I shouldn't have) that he wasn't wanting something "reeeeeeallly nice". I also agree that it is out dated but I would not say obsolete. I just prefer it for cars that get beat on because it is SO much easier and quicker to do repairs.

Look at Lacquer, that is dinosaur "paint technology" yet some of the nicest paint jobs I have ever seen are hand rubbed lacquer jobs...

[sparkles]

Fifdy-you had any experience with that new waterborne stuff?

[FiFdYnUtZ]

I have used waterborne several times with my airbrush but I have very limited experience with it spraying with the big gun...I'm going to wait until I absolutely have to use it before I do, there is nothing better about it over solvent based, just bullshit epa regulations....I'm looking to pick up an iwata ls400 gun nezt week though, and I plan to start trying it out more..

[sparkles]

I was just curious on what all differs from traditional paint. Dry times, sagging, mil thickness, coverage, etc. If anything at all. I'm sure it smells different of coarse.

[FiFdYnUtZ]

When I went to my sata/epa certification class they were swinging it as something that is inferior to solvent based paints, supposed to dry with air very well, easier to reduce, yet is a LOT more finicky with color match, coverage, etc...they also mentioned that a lot of the older tricks for fixing fuck ups in solvent based paints aren't going to fly with this stuff...a lot more sensitive to mix formulas and alterations....sorry if this isn't making sense its really hard to type this much on my phone..

[sparkles]

So are they talking like they're going to do away with solvent based paint for the most part then eventually?

[oVa-Boost]

eventually all body shops will have to change over to Waterborne Paints because of epa and is expensive as hell from what i heard to convert over. Where i work we use PPG products and all guns have to have some kind of paper work saying there are HVLP 65% Transfer efficiency and showing 10psi at the air cap in order to spray them at the shop. Waterborne drys a little quicker than solvent based paint, but spraying Waterborne is just like spraying solvent base just have to adjust the gun and have skills etc but it lays down a little weird like blotchy looking so you would have to give it another coat of paint and when it drys it looks good. primers and clears are the same its just paint that changes.