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just wondering if anyone has painted their car themselves or is anyone here a painter. i cant stand the cream colour of my car and want to have a dig at painting it. what would be involved? how much would it cost? i have a proper spray gun to paint with. would i need to strip all the paint of it that is there at the moment or can i paint over the top? any help will be appreciated.

sounds like u should do a fair bit of reading up and searching on the net.


for a GOOD result u cant simply spray over the top without some surface prep on it.

i dont no everything myself but i have taken part in the painting of a few cars and its not something id go and do myself again.
doing it properly without leaving it the orignal cream inside the doorjambs under the bonnet and etc takes longer as the car basically needs stripping apart.
ie. doors off, tailgate, bonnet, all the seals for the doorjambs and etc.


it will take a fair bit of time to do, can cost a fair bit depending on wt paint u use and before u finish it u may wish u never started

Whats the car?
If it's only the colour you hate, it would be cheaper to trade it in on one that you like.

84 MY wagon i beleive.

yep 84 MY wagon, i cant really trade it in cos i got it given to me by a family friend

Why not just give it a bottom half respray and make it a two-tone job?
You can leave the top half original, which means you get away with door jambs, under bonnet etc. If yours is that baby poo brown I agree with you! Think about a contrasting/complementing colour - like red maybe....

Give it a cammo paint job simple and easy to touch up

i was thinking black

If you are going to use it offroad you should seriously consider keeping it cream as it will hide the dirt the best and black gets dirty so quick

Keep it looking standard and you can get away with more amounts of lunacy.
If it stands out people look at it cops included.

another thought you might like to consider is some graphics. It'll change the whole look of the car and give you that "personalised" feel.
Don't paint it black or it'll show up every crease & dint and never look clean.

yeah I think leaving it stock and put some nice graphics on it, tint the windows and put 14" white spoke wheels on and you will have a nice car.

Then theres the bull bar, lights and other things to bolt on that will make it stand out, and it will be all your own work.

i cannot leave it the colour it is now. i look at it and pretty much want to puke. if black shows up dints that f!@#s that idea because it has so many dints its not funny. its already got a bullbar so i can go knock down some saplings or trees

(private property, not too illegal, i look in the rear view for greenies hiding to dob me in)

Babys..t brown huh? Horrible colour but easy to repaint, cost will vary on your choice, the type of paint selected and if enamel, on the colour also. You will need depending on your choice to go bare metal or not, undercoat, top coats, sandpaper, masking tape, low tack, (heaps of this), thinners, masking off paper, prepsol and probably a little filler and if so spray putty, and thats just off the top of my head, sure l've forgotten something or two. What is involved is full strip of outer body, plastic bits, bumpers, lights, depending on how thorough you want to be, windows also + any bolt on panels, not ness the doors and guards but wiper grill etc. if planning to spray over old finish, Sand out any imperfections, scratches etc and prime then sand whole car back well with 400 grit wet or dry paper and use it wet. Once this is done, run over the car with a cloth dipped in Grease and wax remover, (prepsol), making sure to get in ALL the hard to reach places. The fun bit next, Masking, (always got the apprentice to do this) a bugger of a job as you have to be very thorough. best way is to mask inside door frames so spray will not enter cab and any through holes in the panel work. Before you finish off hop into car and look for daylight, if you see some, not good, mask so no light appears through. Rubbers can be lifted and taped. Clean whole body again with prepsol, now your ready. Best way to cover old paint is to use more than l coat, rubbing back with 400 between coats to avoid any peeling later. if you do this properly and can use that gun you have thats it, finish with light cut and polish to raise shine on paint.
So l spose your question is what would l know, well, quite a bit actually, did baked enemel finishes on Italian Sports cars for nearly 10 years, (the $15000 type), 20-30 motorcycles and countless acrylic jobs including my ute. Hope this helps, Good luck.

proud_2_be_australian wrote:just wondering if anyone has painted their car themselves or is anyone here a painter. i cant stand the cream colour of my car and want to have a dig at painting it. what would be involved? how much would it cost? i have a proper spray gun to paint with. would i need to strip all the paint of it that is there at the moment or can i paint over the top? any help will be appreciated.

Morcs wrote:Keep it looking standard and you can get away with more amounts of lunacy.
If it stands out people look at it cops included.

Great advice!

Although, you do know... Cream, is the best canvas for a black and white (cream) cow print!

Actually i got my idea from someone else doing this to their car... and its just occurred to me, that it was an early my wagoon as well. I'll try and get a pic!

Hey guys thought i'd hike it on the end of this thread, I'm looking at getting an air compressor *as i can get one discounted through work* for touch ups, painting the tray etc and if i get good enough maybe a full paint job in the future. Just wondering what specs i should be looking at for an air compressor that will let me do a decent job..

No advice at all?

For spray painting you should get one that is rated at 12 cfpm or better.

i painted a couple of my toranas(engine out- all nuts and bolts,trims, bumpers,suspension etc..... changed as you do when you re young and too much time on your hands)changed the colours and all sorts----fixed up my vn commodore after it was trashed (many hours and many painkillers!!and drum'n'bass!)


----quite rewarding,but i look back and cant even fathom the energy i must have put into it!!!

price up 8litres of paint,3times as much thinners,wax'n'grease?,fillers,
undercoats,buffer+compound,50sheets-wet'ndry.....smokes,grog,commitment,smokes,grog,skin off,smokes,grog,porn,music,
paintjobs are great!wish i could go back a few years...

my question to you before you start----


are you single,interested in cars and have loads of tools and spare space?

go white! subarus go white, good colour ,and to hide faults!

i am a painter, so for best result is easier to start form scratch. but that involves removing all the previous paint to bare and startin over again. but if you want to change colour you can sand the car to remove all the clear and get it smooth then spray your chosen colour ontop, but is alot more work involved than spraying bare. best take to panel beater or spray shop they have the tools to do the job right.