cost of paint job

[Ron Green]

A overlooked tip is to not be afraid to spend a couple of bucks and do some test sprays that you can hold up to the car, move around or even take outside to see if it changes to something you don't like or just doesn't look correct. Cheap insurance to waste a few different sprays then have a whole vehicle that just isn't quite right.

[55PackardGuy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">straighten the body yourself</div></div>

Any suggestions on BODY FILLER? I am going to be removing a lot of it from my project car, it looks like, and I'd like to replace it with something good that will adhere well and take paint well. I practiced with some ultra-light stuff from NAPA last summer on the bottom edge of my pickup door. It seemed to work very well, and I reasoned the lighter the better. It sticks like crazy, but it sets up very quickly after the hardener is added.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There's no paint that can make bad prep look good.</div></div>

The old saw is, "there are only three things you need to remember about painting and re-finishing work: surface preparation, surface preparation and surface preparation."<img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Guest imported_Speedster]

I recently tryed Por-15 'StraightLine' Filler, it has a very fine texture and does a good job but it is Harder to mix correctly, since it doesn't change color when adding hardener. I think the ol' Bondo is still the best but you also need a good Glazing putty to go on top of the Bondo, like 3M Blue Glazing Putty.

[Guest Albert]

When I did mine the only color coat that i did was the inside of the door frames and jams and the firewall pryor to the body going back on the frame

[WCraigH]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> (snip) Second, strip all the paint yourself. If you're not doing a frame-off total repaint and just want the jambs and body painted, a set of sanding discs on a buffer will do the job in about a day. They sell a kit just for this at www.autobodystore.com. Get a selection of smaller wire wheels you can chuck into your drill for some of the nooks and crannies. <span style="font-style: italic">Not a hard job at all!</span> A body shop will likely use chemicals, which can come back to haunt you later. (snip) </div></div>

These composite wheels do a MUCH better job at removing paint than wire wheels or chemicals! There was no comparison to the effort and time on my 1976 Firebird (haven't stripped the Panther yet). We're talking 1/3-1/2 the time and less effort too.

Sunchaser Strip-It Disks

You need a 4,500rpm electric tool such as this:

Makita GV5000 Sander

[Guest Albert]

I used paint stripper and streight razor blades on most of the car, and paint stripper and wire brush on the grinder to get at the hard to reach parts, I found that the paint stripper did not touch too much of the original red Oxite primer. Then gave the car a coat of 2 stage primer/filer primer

[Guest Albert]

And a pic of the firewall

[FRANKL]

just an update on this threat.

after getting some sound advice here and being innately frugal, i decided to strip the paint on the car myself prior to getting any more quotes. i was finding them all saying they could not be sure what they would find under the paint so i figured they were putting in a fudge factor as could be expected. i was pretty sure it was a rust free california/arizona car as advertised and was happy to find i was right. i did find some body filler where it had been repaired in a few areas but no damage requiring metal replacement. i had the guy i wanted to do the work requote today and he originally quoted $4000. he quoted me at $2500 which is just what i was hoping for. i am having the car delivered to his shop tomorrow.

the top layers of lacquer looked prety good but was very brittle and not bonded well to the primer. i was able to strip this entire color in about 8 hours using only a razor as advised by albert in one of his posts. the primer and original color and powder coat came off much harder. thanks to wcraig for his tip on the stripping products from Sunchaser. i bought the makita gv5000 sander and strip-it disks and they did a great job in removing these layes to bare metal. they don't clog like sandpaper and are durable. it took about 5 disks to do the car. there are 2 versions and i tried both. i liked the original version best as it is more flexible but not as durable as the newer version. i then used 80 grit to clean the rest of powdercoat and roughen the surface the car and the door jams. it took about 40 hours to remove all moldings, handles etc and strip the car. nice return on labor investment. i love it when a plan comes together.

[Guest imported_Speedster]

Great, And it's Good Healthy Exercise, Also. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Bill Kennedy]

Thanks for the followup. I am planning on stripping a 1924 Maxwell and will use the products that you found to work for your car.

[WCraigH]

FrankL:

I'm glad you tried the Sunchaser tools. When I saw it demo'd on my 76 Firebird, which was previously partly stripped (rear half) by chemicals, razors, wire wheels, et al, I was astonished at how quick and effortless the Sunchaser solution was. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

OF COURSE, you're gonna take some fine digipix of your 1949 Packard and post 'em here for all to admire! If your fine pix are limited by the max size of an attachment here, email full size ones to me and I'll upload them to my website and post links here.

[Twitch]

Great! That's just great news!