Proper paint prep

[jimynick]

After the 1:1 mix, 6 gallons works for us with left overs if we're not painting the bottom.

We just finished painting the top of a fender for a local guy on his 65 Plymouth that a tent fell on at the Norwalk MOPAR show, the ding was way to sharp and deep for my PDR guy to work out perfectly.  Fortunately, he had an extra quart of single stage paint from when it was painted over 10 years ago, matched perfectly.

Are you talking about single stage paint here? Surely to God not 6 gallons of base!?

[JS29]

@jimynick  I hope not as well! The film build would be thick enough to measure with a ruler. 

[Shane Kelley]

You can burn through a lot of paint doing everything individually. Spraying the backsides of parts and all the little places the average shop would never do. The color coverage is another factor in how much paint you use. Interior floor pans and everything related inside the car is a real paint hog as well. You also have to remember you need plenty of material on the exterior if you start cutting the surface with 800 to level everything out. Then you work your way up through the various grits of sandpaper taking more material as you go until your ready for the buffing stages. That's even more material. Ideally you want a minimum of 4 mils of paint when all is said a done for long term durability. 

[YellowThumper]

After the 1:1 mix, 6 gallons works for us with left overs if we're not painting the bottom.

We just finished painting the top of a fender for a local guy on his 65 Plymouth that a tent fell on at the Norwalk MOPAR show, the ding was way to sharp and deep for my PDR guy to work out perfectly.  Fortunately, he had an extra quart of single stage paint from when it was painted over 10 years ago, matched perfectly.

Are you talking about single stage paint here? Surely to God not 6 gallons of base!?

Hemicuda previously noted they finish off their single stage sprays with 50/50 mix of color and clear. Probably the 1:1 noted in this quote.

[jimynick]

Shane, I hear you about painting interiors and floors, but when I did mine, I don't think I used much more than 2 qts- 3 max, of paint and that included the firewall/cowl, trunk and engine compartment. Not many clear their floors and belly pans and trunks, SEMA cars aside. We painted son Jim's Prelude complete and I believe we did it with 2 qts of base for the exterior. I can see burning through a gallon or two of clear, but when I hear about 6 gallons of paint being used, I scratch my head, ya know? When I got a painters licence in 1974, we were painting full size cars, complete, with one gallon of product. By the way, the amounts I've mentioned, are paints non reduced if that makes a difference.