Quote Originally Posted by stovens View Post
Since we've deviated to the home paint booth, and I'm still on the fence about trying to paint the truck myself, Have any of you used a portable car canopy to use as a paint booth? My problem is the truck leaves about 6 inches room in front and back when parked in the garage making it very difficult to get around it not to mention no clearance on the driver's side. So I was thinkng of using one of those outdoor portable garages to have more space to move around I'm just not sure how much room on each side I would need. For that matter I could build a frame out of scrap wood and use visquene plastic for the sides. My biggest worry is actually how to spray the paint, how much to use and the whole process of sanding and buffing. I wish there was a paint for dummies book for cars!

Steve - you need at least 3 and better 5-6 feet all the way around a vehicle to be able to walk and operate the gun successfully while attached to an unyielding air hose while you are dressed in a shoot suit and at a minimum wearing a carbon filter mask. Can you get by with less, yep, and some will say that they did, but what did the paint look like?

As far as building an outside booth, with wood and poly plastic - works fine, but it does have to be strong enough to withstand any wind lifting or ballooning the sides and kicking the dust off and keep out any breeze blown crud.

Books for "dummies" - there are a couple of pretty good ones. I'll see if I can round up my favorites and take a picture and forward later.

It really isn't difficult, just requires patience and GOOD materials. I have my preferences, as do many others and for sure am no more then an amateur painter. I tried low end sand paper, now only Norton(fave) or 3M. Epoxy primer, SPI(fave) or DuPont/PPG. Filler - only Evercoat Rage or Rage Gold. Base coat, DuPont (fave) or PPG/HOK/Sherwin Williams. Clear coat, SPI or DuPont also the others listed for base Spray gun, Iwata (fave) also Sata/DeVillbiss and others and so on. You develop a preference to what works for you, not necessarily what someone suggests. Regardless, pro level paint IS NOT cheap. Mine is listed for ~$650+/gallon and I needed 7 quarts (I have about 1.5 left to paint my hood side panels) plus reducers. Regardless, I still figured I saved over $12K by doing it myself even after buying everything.