Thinking of (eventually) getting the mongrel totally resprayed. The idea will be to use the same silver, or a silver as close as possible to it, and use a fair bit of extra metal fleck to make it glint in the sun. Not changing the colour much means I can avoid doing the engine bay and behind doors, boot, etc - Just do all visible external bodywork. Any thoughts how much this might set me back? I'm thinking around

Thats about right, maybe a tad pricey. You could save a bit by doing some of the prep yourself.

If your balls are big enough have a crack at the job yourself. Cost about half that for the kit and paint

I have a mate who has a compressor powered spray gun, but I'm not sure about letting him loose with it. You're right about the prep though. I could start by smoothing over the many chips and stuff. I need to have a chat with "another" person I know who's made a career out of this though.

It always helps to have a mate

I have sprayed a few cars over the years using my old mans kit. Now most paints are water based it is less of a chore but it's still an artform to do it well. You get an amazing sense of satisfaction out of getting it right though.

Buy good paint/thinners etc, do a bit of practice (Take bonnet off and do it separate ) and you will soon get the hang of it.

Less is more

if you decide to spray it at home or at your mates house using his air compressor. make sure you fit a water seperator unit to take the condensation out of the air lines..

you need about 5 litres of paint to spray a whole car

It would be in my mate's garage if anywhere. He's not got an oven there though for drying off. I think that's a handy thing to help make the paint go off post-spray? I will see. I just don't want to do it if it's going to be a

An oven is handy but not essential. Ovens are mostly used to get the job done quicker and help make sure that the air doesn't get dusty/moist etc

As said Jason, it's all in the preparation.

My mate is a painter, and he spends most of his time flatting and filling and masking up, when his real skill is in painting.

Do most of the prep. yourself, and be on hand to help masking etc and save yourself a lot of money.

For a full respray. I think your cutting the price a bit ... I would say it would be nearer the grand mark.

Well my Mini would cost

Well, I think the paintwork is in pretty good nick now, so am tempted to just get the panels done which are affected by chips, etc. However, that means basically every panel anyway, so why not get the whole car done while the paint is wet?

Yeah, you would have fun matching them!

What do people think about just using a the spray can? Not to do a car but maybe a bumper.

Also do you have to wet sand aftwards then polish/buff?

Got a spare bumper to play with.

you would need a fair old few spray cans to spray a bumper.. better off using a spray gun

it depends on what sort of paint you are using, but you would probably need to lacquer it afterwards

Its going to the fabia black. So primer + metalic + lacquer.

Was planning on buying the cans from skoda but not sure. Its only for a play to see how it goes. Need to sand the bumper down first.

About $50, if you follow this bloke's

Technique!

Phil

For a full respray. I think your cutting the price a bit ... I would say it would be nearer the grand mark.

I would agree. Depends on what kinda job you want really, you pay your money you takes your chances. At the end of the day id rather pay