[REDROCKER652002]

Originally Posted by Myself

My 2 cents worth. Let me start by saying I'm not a pro but can lay down show quality paint with my Husky $40 paint gun....hell, anybody can! It's all about prep and practice. That being said.....the cheap guns don't atomize as well as the better ones. My method is to reduce the paint, turn up the pressure, and use trigger finesse to get results. It's not unusual for me to reduce 10% and crank my pressure to 60psi. This is run city for most folks. My thoughts....1- Spring for a better gun. Check with your local body supply and see what they have. Reviews are great on the Spectrum gun from HF but at $129 use a coupon cause the body supply will have a name brand gun in that range. 2- I've used several different compressors and can tell you a 25 gallon oil type with twin piston pump is absolute minimum. It will get you around the car once before your pressure drops too far. Oiless, single piston, or smaller tank and forget about decent results. Drain the moisture from the tank before you start and use one of those little moisture balls at the gun. 3- Any name brand paint should be fine as long as you stick with those products and follow the instructions. I like the PPG products because that's what I'm used to. I've also found if I'm not color matching I can use the cheaper line of basecoat followed by the quality clear. Good clearcoat will be $300 a gallon or more. If it's around $100 a gallon I call it 5 year clear....that's 5 years out in the weather before it starts to blister and peel. I only ever wetsand to 400 grit before painting. I've never had issues. I know 2 different guys that went 800 grit thinking the paint would be smoother....both had paint coming off the primer about a year later. 4- Any sort of draft through the area is great, just enough to keep the overspray moving and not clouding the area. 5- Good lighting. If you need to place a couple worklights on the floor pointing down the sides of the car....do it. You NEED to be able to see what you're doing. 6- Actual painting, keep the movement fluid and at a right angle to the surface, don't flick your wrist out! My first coat will be horizontal along the car. Second will be vertical, third back to horizontal. If I'm doing a pearl or metallic, each coat gets followed by a haphazardly dusting over the car with the pattern as wide as it can get. It keeps those from getting splotchy or mottled looking....which is EASY to do with metallics!

I hope this info was helpful. It sure would have been to me 20 years ago!

Great info. Would you be able to post some examples of the types of compressors you are talking about? I was looking at Lowe's and Home Depot and they have 60 gallon stationary at about 500 to 600 dollars. Are those any good?