Thread: First time painting....

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Hey i have question for all you seasoned paint techs out there,
I'm thinking about trying to paint the monte myself, never painted a car before. what kind of advise do you yall have besides have somone else do it? Now i plan on experimenting on some sheet metal first with different types of primers and paints, everyone has to start somewhere and i am thinking about spraying my car myself. Thanks, Joe

What color?

Not too sure, i was thinking about maybe like a royal blue with some metallic in it and a layer of clear over it. more than likely itll be royal blue. I havent seen a 71 monte in anything other than black or red. i also dont want to show off too many imperfections in the body also. Idont know how this car will look in blue.

A pic

One of my best friends had a light metallic blue Monte like this, that we used to run around in. He's gone now. Brings back memories.

As a general rule, medium or light non-metallic colors are best for rough bodywork. A dark metallic would probably show anything very noticeable.

For that color I would recommend a basecoat/clearcoat urethane. You'll need good bodywork, and good finishwork on the paint.

Sorry to hear about your best friend. it seems the ones closest to us leave us too soon. as far as the bodywork, yeah i still have a ways to go on it. but i plan on having it pretty good before painting it.

I would go for a pearl white,,with some appropriate pin stripe work. if you want to hide imperfections in the bodywork.

I think the blue sounds like it would look good just be careful with any of your heavy metallic and pearl colors because unless your experienced in spraying um your bound to have modeling after your clear goes on, it can turn a beautiful color into a mess real fast.

I’d try and stay in the lighter color spectrum for it hiding factor and low amounts if any pearls or metal flake for it’s ease of application.

Rick.

I have an oppinion on this whole thing. HOTRODPAINT will help you with the paint thing since he knows way more than me and I am a begginner as well. But yeah lighter colors are better if you wanna hide imperfections but I say FIX the imperfections. It only takes a little money and quite a bit of time but it's worth it. Plus a light color on that car will make it look bigger than it already is. Remember a dark color makes a vehicle look smaller than it would if it were something like white or such. Don't believe me then get the EXACT same car in white and another in black and you will notice. I never seen a Monte (especially a 71) fixed up like that. Looks good man, I don't care for them because they are big and look wide, etc but that one looks awsome. There is one near here under a car port covered up and the house it's at is a small shed like thing and a guy lives in it and uses a C10 to drive everyday. I think it's a 71 as well.

Go to the local library or Barnes and Nobel and get some painting books. How To Paint Your Car by David H. Jacob Jr is a great book to learn all the basics on body work, paint prep, masking, etc and goes into good detail and then there are the others that I haven't gotten to read all of that have a bit more detail. The first one I mentioned is a bit old but still good and I'd recommend reading it and understanding the basics and how to do the stuff and then practice it on a hood or something you wont be using like you said sheet metal...

Good luck!

I have a 68 chevelle I would to paint red, I thought of doing all the body work anf buying the paint and maybe renting a compressor. And then try to find someone that maybe works for Macco or somthing like that to do the acual painting. Do you think a 100 dollars cash would be a fair price? I wounld also do all tapeing and glean up. John.

You may wanna find a REALLY good friend if you want someone to do it for 100 bucks...