Painting your own MX3

[MX3-Life]

Well I recently got the urge to have my car painted RX-8 Blue.
Now i haven't done much investigating into the price it would be to do this at a professional shop and if anyone has any ideas that would help
but i was also thinking of doing it myself, Would that be a wise decision? and if it is is there any good guides out there for doing it.
All i know of to do would be
Sand, Primer, Paint, Clearcoat.

Thanks.

[mitmaks]

sure, everyone thinks they can paint their car nowadays. Most people dont realize how much effort goes into prep work. masking, sanding, and of course painting skills. If you never touched paint gun you better let someone else handle this. Some people think that doing their own prep work will save them money but I would not paint their car since I dont know how good their prep work is. You could take off moldings, door handles, etc, that would save you some money and save painter time by not having to do all of that himself.

[Ryan]

I agree with mitmaks... We've had long discussions on painting, and he knows his stuff... the best you can do is take out the stuff you don't want painted and give them the colour code, which is not "RX-8 Blue" do you mean the Phantom Blue Mica? or the Electric Blue Mica?

This is if you want a sharp looking paint job. If you want it terrible and to fade or chip in six months, do it yourself with about 12 rattlecans. At 25 bucks a pop... I wouldn't waste my money.

[hgallegos915]

Its not impossible.. however you need someone that knows about it GOOD or even paints for a living. The way I learned is myuncle, he paints car for a living. sanding and prepping was HARD. I mean really hard! you have to leave everything smooth, no little tiny inperfections or it will reflect in the paint. after its prepped you have to primer it good, also no imperfections.. then you have to sand the primer ... smooth.


then comes the paint.. you cant mess up here. After you painted you have to wet sand the paint. After thats done, comes the clear coat. After that you also have to wet sand the clear coat and add any desidered extra coats.


then you have to buff it all out.


I painted mine with 200 dllrs everything included.

However The paint job I got is hard to do, so any little scracthes and its hard to paint match it. 2 years later i need a new paint job as i scratched this one.. :/

Next time Im putting double clear coats.

[mitmaks]

Its not impossible.. however you need someone that knows about it GOOD or even paints for a living. The way I learned is myuncle, he paints car for a living. sanding and prepping was HARD. I mean really hard! you have to leave everything smooth, no little tiny inperfections or it will reflect in the paint. after its prepped you have to primer it good, also no imperfections.. then you have to sand the primer ... smooth.


then comes the paint.. you cant mess up here. After you painted you have to wet sand the paint. After thats done, comes the clear coat. After that you also have to wet sand the clear coat and add any desidered extra coats.


then you have to buff it all out.


I painted mine with 200 dllrs everything included.

However The paint job I got is hard to do, so any little scracthes and its hard to paint match it. 2 years later i need a new paint job as i scratched this one.. :/

Next time Im putting double clear coats.

when it comes to paint you cant mess up? lol ok.... how about runs, sags, your overlap, laying out metallic evenly. You do realize that you cant wet sand metallic. You only wet sand and buff clear coat to get rid of orange peel, dirt. Oh ya, you just cant pick up random grit sandpaper and go at it, you need to know which grit to use for particular application, clear, primer, etc or you will end up with a bunch of scratches in your paint job once it's all painted (not gonna look pretty).
Ive graduated in this field so I know what's it all about. I paint for living.

Next year you're putting double clear coats? Im sorry bro but it doesnt sound like you know much about painting. So youre saying you only put on 1 clear coat lol? You need more than that unless you work for Maaco....they usually wont put any on their "ambassador; paint job lol.

[MX3-Life]

Hmm, Yeah i will probably get it done professionally and i did mean the Electric Blue Mica.

But roughly how much would i run up for a job like this (No custom paint job just a single colour of Electric Blue)?

Thanks.

[mitmaks]

2007 colors
http://www.carsdirect.com/2007/mazda/rx8/colors" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2008 colors
http://www.carsdirect.com/mazda/rx8/colors" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[marcdh]

when it comes to paint you cant mess up? lol ok....

Think hec meant 'you cant mess up' as in there is no margin for error - ie sags, runs are easily done but a pita to fix! Not 'you cant mess up' its so damn easy. Just how I read it!

I resprayed my front bumper with my spray gun and cellulose paint, looks great for now, but I wouldn't do my whole car IMO Not really the sort of thing you can just get right first time, like you can follow a manual and rebuild a klze, but to me spraying a whole car is a combination of knowledge, technique, time, experience and something of an art. Plus a spray booth with the extractors, heaters, the equipment blah blah...

Professional resprays are expensive, but most of the time it is very much justified! In UK/NI it would probably cost about $3000 for something respectable

[s1zzl3]

i agree with mitmaks
the prep work is the hardest part and is the most important..
and another thing, u dont have to primer the whole car unless the colour is a dramatic change jus sand the car with 600 grit before u apply paint.
painting itself is not too hard tho u do need a steady hand.
do nice long even strokes & keep track of ur coats haha
especially if ur doing a tri-coat but i believe the mica blue only has a base coat and clear coat
pearls are tri-coats (the pearl being the mid-coat) and i dont recommend doing that unless u know someone whos done tri-coats before (very very difficult)

heres basically wat ur looking at for pricing

3 quarts of mica blue ~ $350
gallon of base maker (combine with base) ~ $150
gallon of clear coat ~ $150
activator (combine with clear coat) ~ $75

ur looking at around $725 as opposed to paying a shop to do it for a good 2 grand+
its good experience just find a friend whos done it before and u shouldnt have a problem.
also be safe! wear the proper equiptment
wet the floor around the car so all the excess paint sticks to the floor
ventillation is important! (if doing it in ur garage) use a large square fan pointing outwards and have the garage door rest on it

[mitmaks]

painting in your garage has some complications
You dont have enough ventilation to remove overspray effectively (mostly when repainting whole car, small spots its not so bad)
Neighbors can report your to EPA who will fine you thousands of dollars if you dont have the proper filtration system.

[Matt]

34J is the paint code for Electric Mica Blue (04 Mazda 3 Blue) I actually was looking at a couple codes last week at mazda myself. Decided against the mica though.

[s1zzl3]

yeh thats true
the best way i can think of to get rid of overspray is by wetting the floor and using a fan
it worked for me but i cant garantee it.
also i have sum pretty nosey neighbors too
if ur worried pick a day they arent home lol
but it is illegal to paint in ur garage jus to let most of u know

[npspears]

but it is illegal to paint in ur garage jus to let most of u know

why is it illegal to paint in your garage? the fumes?

[mitmaks]

Im sure your neighbors don't really like smelling paint fumes and all the vapors that will be released into the atmosphere when you paint. EPA would just love that.

[neli_nael]

if you do decide to paint it yourself just don't get a cheap gun. invest in a good gun, it will make a big difference.