Well, I do when there is time.
Most people I know who could, don't.

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ASE Master Mechanic
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Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
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1985 300SD
1983 300D
1984 190D
2003 Volvo V70
2002 Honda Civic

https://www.boldegoist.com/

I do.

I find it the most fun part of maintaining and constant upgrading your car is body and paint work.

With a good gun and other decent equiptment you can get pro results if you take your time prepping and use quality base clear systems ,I find them very forgiving. only thing to be real aware of are that the 2 part paints are toxic and you want to wear the recommended protective gear.

William Rogers..........

i do the body work and the prep. i dont have the time to paint because of my job

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

When I had access to all of the tools I did it for myself and friends.

Last car I did was in the 80's when I stripped, repaired and painted my dad's model A kit car. It took a first place at a car show about a month later and people were wanting to know where he got it done so they could take thier cars there.

Sadly, I don't have the tools to do this anymore, but I would not be afraid of doing it if I had them.

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1998 W202 C230 - The money pit of late.
1984 W126 300SD (356,800 miles) Gone to the wrenchapart
1984 W123 300D Gone to the wrenchapart
1972 W108 280SE 3.5 (sold but not forgotten)
1986 Buick Grand National 3.8l Turbo (86k miles)
1966 Glassic Model 'A' Replica http://www.glassicannex.org

http://banners.wunderground.com/weat...Round_Rock.gif

I do, if I had the tools and facilities.

Living in an apartment makes that somewhat
impossible.

Louis.

I don't have the time, nor the expertise. If I did, I would have had my car painted by now. That's why I'm letting a PROFESSIONAL non-Maaco style, non-shadetree body shop do my repaint.
-Joe

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

1.Todays paints if used wrong can kill you.
2. Most states require you have a professional paint booth to paint in.
3. Most amateur jobs are just that amateur.

I think its best to leave it to the pros.

"1.Todays paints if used wrong can kill you. "

True , but so can water if used improperly


"2. Most states require you have a professional paint booth to paint in."

I have no way of verifying such a statement. Probably true that there are many local ordinances that would frown on such activities. I live in the sticks and I can't imagine how anyone could stop me from shooting the occasional car


"3. Most amateur jobs are just that amateur."

True, but I think the readers of this forum are a cut or two above "amateur" in interest and with a bit of practice, lots of patience and knowledge can produce much better than amateur ( ie rattlecan)results

"I think its best to leave it to the pros."

Your money- your call.

I've repainted my wife's car in red (GM #81) which approximates Signalrot. I went that way because I found pre-mixed (Kirker) urthane paint for $80/gal with hardener. The result is very good but it took me countless hours of spraying and respraying (wrong color selected, poor conditions led to thin coats and burn through on color sanding). Lots of lessons learned.

Will I do it again? Heck yes- I have my Spitfire and Ford pickup to do next- this year. Another Mercedes? not if I can help it because there just too much trim to take off/mask.

But if you pay someone to do this they'll just have to spend much of the same amount of time on prep work. May be best to do the grunt work and have a pro shoot the car if you can find one to work this deal.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

I did this one in 90' with Dupont Acrylic Laquer. This pick is about three yrs old. I'm gonna redo it in original white PPG two stage soon.

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This was before I painted:

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__________________
1998 W202 C230 - The money pit of late.
1984 W126 300SD (356,800 miles) Gone to the wrenchapart
1984 W123 300D Gone to the wrenchapart
1972 W108 280SE 3.5 (sold but not forgotten)
1986 Buick Grand National 3.8l Turbo (86k miles)
1966 Glassic Model 'A' Replica http://www.glassicannex.org

http://banners.wunderground.com/weat...Round_Rock.gif

This was after I completed the job.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
1998 W202 C230 - The money pit of late.
1984 W126 300SD (356,800 miles) Gone to the wrenchapart
1984 W123 300D Gone to the wrenchapart
1972 W108 280SE 3.5 (sold but not forgotten)
1986 Buick Grand National 3.8l Turbo (86k miles)
1966 Glassic Model 'A' Replica http://www.glassicannex.org

http://banners.wunderground.com/weat...Round_Rock.gif

Cap;tn
I see five bolt rims, but no fender emblems. Are you hoping to surprise someone? Whats under the hood?

I just did my Camry over and it looks pretty good.

My cousin owns a body shop. When I have time he lets me do my cars for freeeeeeeeee.

I pay for the paint though. Great deal.

I plan on taking the SDL apart and doing it when fall comes, AFTER I dye the seats ans replace the headliner.

It's raining everyday here now and it's difficult to plan atround that.

Have a great day!

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

I love that Falcon. IMHO, the '64 and '65 were clearly the best looking Falcons in two door hardtop or convertible styles.

When these cars were new I was about 15 and lived in Lubbock, Texas. A tornado tore through one of the zillion nearby farm towns and tore up a bunch of cars at a Ford dealer. Unlike today when this happens, the dealer took the insurance money on each car and sold the cars for the difference between insurance money and regular asking price.

A friend of my Dad's showed up at his shop with his 16 year old son in a car like the one in the photograph. It had a 260 and a 3 speed, and they had just bought it for $450. It had gashes in the fenders, trunk lid and hood but the top was almost untouched. My Dad went in and called the dealer and there were no damaged cars left. I was so disappointed.

I would have driven that car, gashes and all with a HUGE grin on my face. At that time I had a '48 Chevy Fleetline that I had bought at the wrecking yard for $12.50. About a year and $100 later I had transportation, of sorts. To me, having that Falcon would might as well have been like getting a new Ferrari.

I have done a reasonable amount of body and paint work over the years and I firmly believe that anyone can LEARN to do it, but the difference in result is TOTALLY due to attitude. Those who are patient and fussy can do a GREAT paint job. It is all in the preparation. Anyone can learn to shoot paint. The majority of people, including myself, want to hurry up and get the paint on to see what it's going to look like.

Those people who take their time, dust on a little scrap paint to gloss it up and see if it is straight can do VERY good work. Like many other things, it all has to do with the attitude.

Have a great day,