My friend who Knows Stuff says 1 qt of base/clear is enough
to paint my car. Of course the paint place says I need a gallon.
That is a big discrepancy.

I want to order 2 quarts each of base and clear.
Is that enough to paint my car and give me a little buffer to not
run out? It's a disaster to start and run out.

My budget is not unlimited and 2 qt is obviously half of a gallon.

Also, I do not understand this idea of sealing the primer.
I was thinking 2 part urethane primer was enough.
I plan to buy the house paint from here www.tcpglobal.com

I have painted before but this is the first time of base/clear with
an hvlp gun so I really do not have a feel for how much is needed.

2 qts seems plenty I painted before with acrylic enamel which came
out like a firehose and used 3/4 gallon but I have to be sure.

I will be painting an 87 CRX, which is basically half the size of a normal car.

 

It is better to have too much than not enough

 

I've decided to buy two quarts.
I'll spray until I run out or finish.

The main thing is to not have to explain to the wife why I spent
$600 on paint when I only needed to spend $300.

 

I painted my entire car, door jams and everything and used just over 1 qt of basecoat...but again different brands of paint reduce differently.

I got just over a half gallon sprayable of basecoat out of just over a qt of color. 1:1 ratio.

Coverage plays a role too...different colors cover better/worse...etc etc. There are a lot of variables. But a Gallon of ANY line of paint, even economy basecoat is way way way too much for a Mini lol.

EDIT: Just saw you are doing a CRX...sorry misread. But yeah my logic still stands. Small car, 2 qts will be plenty! My 95 Taurus SHO when I did a color change on that, I didn't even use a gallon of basecoat, and i did EVERYTHING!!! Door jams, bottom of the hood, firewall, even inside the trunk.