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TR2/3/3A DIY paint job? vs leave it to the professionals?

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I painted cars for a living many years ago. If you have never painted a car before, the last color I would use is black. The color black shows the most imperfections of any color. A bunch of non pros like to paint their own cars, but sometimes their idea of what looks really good and those who really know how to paint are two different things. Good luck to you if you take this on.
 
I paint at home in my dirty garage with a relatively small compressor and a low CFM consumption hvlp gun (Eastwood).
I am happy with the results that I can achieve. To be honest with you, I’ve seen much worse “professional” jobs. As mentioned, good prep is the key…

Cheers,
Tush
 
M_Pied_Lourd said:
I paint at home in my dirty garage with a relatively small compressor and a low CFM consumption hvlp gun (Eastwood).
I am happy with the results that I can achieve. To be honest with you, I’ve seen much worse “professional” jobs. As mentioned, good prep is the key…

Cheers,
Tush
Click to expand...
As you probably know Chef Tush knows his stuff and more than that he shares his knowledge and has been painting his latest project.
see here
 
If you are going to all the trouble to do the prep and prime yourself the reward for all the hard work is the final paint, you will be forever disappointed if you give it to someone else to finish. This is what restoration is all about, you start with a sow's ear and finish with a silken purse if it goes wrong just start again you've nothing to lose

Graham.
P1010075.JPG
 
Always love your pictures Graham. So very true, the main cost of a paint job is the prep work. Does not matter how good a painter, he will not make bad prep work look good.
Joel, if you can do the prep work and you are happy with it then you can paint the car. I would hate to do all the prep work and then be disappointed with the out come. If you do the prep work I would seek additional council to check the prep work before it gets painted. A different set of eyes a different set of hands feeling for the slightest ripple or a dent that got missed. Frank
 
Graham H said:
If you are going to all the trouble to do the prep and prime yourself the reward for all the hard work is the final paint, you will be forever disappointed if you give it to someone else to finish. This is what restoration is all about, you start with a sow's ear and finish with a silken purse if it goes wrong just start again you've nothing to lose

Graham.View attachment 71555
Click to expand...
If I had been painting my Healey a solid color, I would have been tempted to shoot the paint myself. At least you can sand down and reshoot over your mistakes if you make them. With a metallic, I was just concerned with tiger striping the whole thing and having a big job ahead of me to fix it. After all that blocking and sanding, I just wasn't willing to take the gamble. Of course a lot of pro painters won't touch painting over someone else's prep so you may have to look around. The TR looks great.
 
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