Where do you buy Auto Paint?

[winker]

Where's a good place to get a gallon of paint???

Ok, here's the story.

Back in May, my '84 got clipped. The passenger side front fender has a nice big dent in it that just isn't coming out. Now everybody who's seen my car knows that...well, let's just say that it would need a lot of body work to look nice. Right now, there are 3 distinct flavors of "red" around the car. You can obviously see that the pass. door, fender, and hood were repainted fairly recently. The trunk is from an '88 and while it's "red" it's not the same "red" as the original color, which is badly faded, nor the door-fender-hood "red". The clearcoat is starting to peel off the hood where my asshole neighbor sat his can of brake fluid. Blah-blah-blah. The paint is crap.

But the car is cheap! Now I want to learn how to paint a car. I have a car that needs painting. I have books on how to paint. I have lots of spare time. I figure I'll start with the new fender and work my way around. Seems pretty easy, right? Problem is I have NO IDEA where to buy paint.

I went to Napa today and asked them. They have Coach Black! That's it.

I did a google search and found a Sherwin-Williams online store. The cheapest gallon I could find was $130 and you couldn't see what color it actually was! It was some color of red, but dark red? Pink? WTF???

So seriously, does anybody know where to get a gallon of Ford Laser Red paint and just how much will it cost, roughly?

Also, anybody have an extra set of fenders laying around?

[RayK]

Well, I bought my paint at Red Rooster in Crystal years ago. You really need to build a paint booth and make sure you have some kind of respirator on as paint fumes are fugging bad. I think I shot urathane(?) by Ditzer(?). Was like 60 a gallon, then you need to thin it and will need flexall for shooting bumper covers. Kinda fun, but damn sticky shxt and garage will stink for a long time.

[TitaniumGT]

Well you need the Paint code, If I'm not mistaken I believe Laser Red is E9. That is going to be a very exspensive color to paint since it is a Tri-stage. That means you will have to buy a gallon of the silver-copperish base coat ($300-500) Then you will need a gallon of candy red mid-coat (300-500) and then a gallon of clear w/hardener ($200-450), Don't forget to buy a couple gallons of reducer to thin the paint,

You'll also need a good 2k primer ($100-200), a half gallon of sealer. Not to mention all the sand paper, tape, masking paper, thinner, and a decent paint gun. Its gonna add up fast! I recommend not taking any shortcuts since you are gonna have some money wrapped up in materials. You'll most likely need a high-speed bufffer once your done to make it smooth and shiny!

You can get all this stuff at Welle Auto supply, GT parts and paint, keystone, or wheelers.

[winker]

Yeah, the paint booth won't be a problem (at first) since I'll be starting with the fenders by themselves, off the car. Basically a couple of sheets of plastic tarp and a bunch of duct tape. I should be fine. I already have the compressor, gun, respirator, etc. Once I get a couple of pieces done (probably the front fenders, hood, and bumper) I'll look into moving it into a real booth for a weekend or something.

Titanium, are you saying each gallon is going to run me about $200-$500 and that I'll need 3 gallons of paint to the Laser Red? Actually, that brings up my next question. How far does a gallon of paint go when you're spraying a car? Would one gallon of each do the whole car? Mind you, it's a convertible so there's no top to coat.

Maybe for the first part here, I'll stick with the Red Rooster Urethane. HAHA! I'm sure it's going to take a couple of rounds to get it right so I'd rather not drop $1000 in paint that I'm going to screw up!

Also, when doing the bumper covers do you have to strip the old paint off? If so, how? I'll be sanding down the metal pieces, but I've never even SEEN someone repaint the plastic-rubber things with anything better than krylon.

[crzy88lx]

welle auto supply sells car paint. they are pretty good.

[Mike Neal!]

welle auto supply sells car paint. they are pretty good.

they sell house of kolor paint too? good place to go for paint. i used to work there years ago.

[Spiral]

It really depends on how well the paint covers, but for a convertible mustang I think 3 quarts of paint should be enough, but a gallon would be nice for touch ups down the road, so basically a gallon would be good. The prices of paint varies depending on the mix, but figure between $60-90 a quart. Take your time, I cant say Ive done a complete car myself but Ive done smaller proejcts. Although this winter Im going to do my entire mustang myself.

[Hack]

I'll speak up for Welle Auto as well. Not only do they sell paint and supplies, but they also have very knowledgeable employees.

They even periodically offer free classes on how to paint your car. I went to one this spring. It was terrific. They covered everything from how to set up your garage for painting, what tools you need, safety equipment, rust removal, primers, paints... Very detailed - IIRC it was two evenings 3 hours each evening. I loved it! I brought a pen and paper and spent the whole time furiously scribbling notes.