I need to repaint my mini. Anyone know how much paint I need? Car is staying same color. So I need dark metallic silver and gloss black for the roof. Then clear coat.

 

Done right it is a ton of labour....hopefully somebody will post it...
But if you remember the "Earl Shrive" adds from years ago or similar MAKO, advertising they will paint any car for $99-500 is a real joke...
A halfway decent paint job is 2x3 time that much is paint+clear cost alone...
Honestly, think you are looking at $3000+

 

I'll be doing it myself. Just want to how much paint to buy. And paint alone will be expensive but whatever cheaper than paying some jerk 4-6k to do it.

 

Contact paint manufacturer, they will be able to help you with it. Or an auto body supply company.

 

prolly need 3 gal silver, 1 gal black and 3 gal clear

 

OMG ..... I hope not

I've painted a few cars and NEVER needed an entire gallon of base color ... always had plenty of leftovers even having done 3 coats. Ditto for clear. When I took auto body paint classes we usually bought what our supplier called "a kit" ... it was one gallon each of base color and clear.

for OP, since you ask this I'm guessing you have no experience in painting a car? If this is true and you proceed you are going to waste a bunch of money and probably REALLY screw up your car.

Before you start you might want to talk to an auto paint store just to see the cost of a gallon of ready to spray dark silver metallic. (some places won't even sell you RTS, but rather just the components that you'll have to final mix yourself. RTS has a very short shelf life so my nearest supplier won't sell it to an 'individual' due to a bad history of returns by folks who let it sit around b4 they got around to spraying)

AutomotiveTouchUp.com will ship you RTS in your color. One gallon of dark silver metallic RTS will run $325 plus shipping ... and you still need CLEAR. This price is a reference .... you might get it for less locally but IME this price is average for a metallic. I usually get my auto paint from Sherwin Williams Automotive and my local supplier typically has 3 grades of paint ... price difference is significant from high to low. But in ANY case a metallic is gonna cost ya .... AND is harder to apply properly. In other words, if your painting skills are weak you can waste a BUNCH of $$ fast!

btw ... where do you plan to do this spray job? Doing it in your garage is a damn good way to blow up your house and that assumes you have a BIG compressor (50 gallons plus) and spray gun. Painting a full car with less compressor gets old fast. You want 6 cfm @ 40 psi CONTINUOUSLY for a few hours using a good HVLP gun .. if these terms make you scratch your head, you are in over your head.

If you have no experience but really want to DIY, look around for an evening adult education class in body repair or painting. I found one offered at the local High School votec school and for $150 a semester got access to a full paint booth and certified teachers to help me along the way. We'd paint cars for people who wanted 'free' body work. They bought the materials and we painted the cars. I did several b4 I shot a drop towards my own car!

MAYBE you should pay a detailer a couple of hundred to 'buff it out' !!

 

Wow Capt, you came off sounding a lot like a douche bag there

 

because he knows what he's talking about? I don't know anything about painting vehicles but even I can tell if the op is asking how much paint he needs, he shouldn't be painting it himself.

 

It wasn't the knowledge, just the condescending manner in which it was shared

 

It's true, he'd be better off leaving someone screw their car up, just because it's not his problem... If GreekDrifter91 really wants to do it himself, fine, but Capt_bj pretty much resumed the important bits.

I read thru his post and I can't really disagree or see where he went wrong or douchey. When it comes to painting, you can't mess around. Hell, I've tried my hands at redoing a door and both bumpers on my winter car and I can tell you, without the right equipement, products and knowledge, it's a pain in the *** and you'll most likely end up having to redo it later. A home garage is not the best place for this as you have no proper air filtering and dust will end up ruining your efforts, and your health. I've only tackled a door and two bumpers and next time, I'll pay someone who knows what he's doing to get this done properly.

 

I thought his post what quite valuable and I couldn't disagree with you more.

 

The Capt hit the nail on the head.......he just told it how it is. I've been painting cars for years....everything from stock repaints to custom jobs on drag cars. Painting a car "right" is not as easy task. You need the know how, the right supplies, the right paint, primer, reducers, hardeners, and a good place to spray.

There is a reason most body shops charge $3000+ to paint a car....there is a lot of know-how that is needed to make it look right....and not just look right now, but for many years. If you don't prep the substrate right...your nice paint job will look like crap in a year.

If you have never painted a car before....either take a class and learn how to do it, or have someone do it for you...don't just buy a spray gun and give it a run. Bad idea....

 

I didn't think it would be that much paint, seems too low, granted ive never painted anything as large as a car

 

With a good hvlp gun, 1 gallon of base coat goes a loooooong way. Keep in mind that depending on the type, it will probably get reduced 1:1 with reducer...so you end up with 2 gallons of sprayable basecoat.

I bet 2 quarts would be more than enough for 3 coats of base on a mini.

 

....not to mention proper prep. Like everything else in this world, it's 95% preparation and 5% execution. To properly paint a vehicle, you need to remove all trim, bumper covers, wheel arches, etc.,filling dings and dents, priming, sanding, pre-cleaning to ensure no silicones (unless you want "fish-eyes"), then carefully masking to ensure no overspray. To do it properly, you're looking at serious hours worth of worth of work...and that's before you even start to paint it!

 

With a good hvlp gun, 1 gallon of base coat goes a loooooong way. Keep in mind that depending on the type, it will probably get reduced 1:1 with reducer...so you end up with 2 gallons of sprayable basecoat.

I bet 2 quarts would be more than enough for 3 coats of base on a mini.

for the record we're saying the same thing. I refer to RTS ... ready to spray. So my 1 gallon is 2 quarts of color base, reduced 1 to 1 ready to go in the gun. Automotivetouchup will ship RTS ....

IME 1 gallon RTS on a MINI will leave PLENTY of leftovers after 3 coats. AUTOM' will sell it in RTS quarts but better to have excess then to run short ..... you would have more flexibility in quantity using a local supplier. For the roof color one quart will be way more than enough. [editorial: a pro shop would minimize excess paint tho as the left overs are either a cost they eat, or are a cost passed on to the customer]

And yep, I thought I'd given enough bad news without beginning to discuss prep's or the fact that while spraying metallics is harder than 'plain' colors, black is the worst of all!

I decided to learn how to shoot paint when I had the bonnet of my classic sprayed and GAGGED at the cost for this small panel. I gained new respect for the profession after taking a class and actually shooting some paint. I stuck with it tho and ended up assisting the instructors at the high school. Just finding out what automotive paint costs was VERY eye opening .... this ain't like buying a gallon or two for the dining room.

Of course, there's always rattle cans and plasti-dip

*********************
I have done some spraying in my garage but as I said it is a GOOD way to blow up the entire house

 

Naww...
Just a good, form reality check....
Getting a good paint job, base and clear without a spray booth?!
Lol....even a skilled painter will get bugs and dust...and a newbie will get streaks, runs, and orange peel.....
A poor OEM paintjob is still better than most any garage shot respray IMO...
Maybe the op has a place, and a helper, but if he does, he would have been told how much paint he needs.
I think CAPTBJ'S POST is on point IMO.

 

Wow, you're really off base with that comment.

 

all is forgiven .......

p.s.

I need to do a patch job on a 'fender flare' on my 79 .... I have the paint and the reducer but needed 'activator'

One pint .... $40

(I only need 1/2 oz but this is the smallest bottle!!!!!)