I have owned three Chevys, three Fords, one Mercury, one BMW and four Mopars (I still own the '72 Roadrunner that I purchased back in '79). I prefer Mopars.
No one wants to drive a beater. My truck runs and sounds great but looks terrible. Even if I could afford to have my freind paint it, it would still not be garaged so that would be a bad financial decision on my part.
I was hoping that I could do the bodywork my self, including primer, then it would at least look much better for now. Judging by how much paint has peeled, I feel fairly confident that I could do a better job of prepping than Chrysler did in the nineties (another freind with over forty years experience said that there was some EPA regulations that caused the paint failure). Has anyone else heard of this? I have seen Chevys with this problem, also.

 

Camo spray paint it

 

Yeah, Dodge's and Chevy's had bad paint in the 90's.
It seems white was really bad for both. But silver was also a bad paint for Dodge as it completely disappeared.

Same problem with the dashes, EPA regulations.

 

Holy crap $1800 for Maaco? It's less than half that here in FL. I just had my Trans Am repainted at the local community college. A buddy of mine is going there. Still ended up paying $1000 BUT it was a color change so there was a lot more work involved. Also had him shave the antenna and a few other things. They used Nason paint which I didn't know much about but he swears it's as good or better than a factory paint job. It's also very affordable but still much better quality wise than anything you can get at Maaco. Here's a few pics of the TA. Still need to polish it out a little more and detail but this was right after i brought it home.

 

That looks slick!

Paint has evolved due to emmissions. I am using PPG paint. I bought it in Abilene. While I was in Austin, I went to a PPG dealer and tried to get more of the same clear, but they did not carry it. They asked if I bought in in California, due to VOC content.

There are less expensive paints. I am looking at using a WSherwin Williams paint through www.autobodytoolmart.com that will cost less. I am currently awaiting on spec sheets for this. Good paint and plenty of a quality clear will proling useful life. Manufacturers were pressed to reduce costs significantly in the 90's (I worked for a Tier I autom otive supplier at the time) and I suspect that less quality clears and thinner coats were part oof the cost reduction.

If you have a community coolege near you, as referenced above, that would certainly be worth checking into as a good resource. I would have enrolled if there was one here...and I had time.

 

Just found another site: http://www.autobody101.com/content/

This should provide some info for you, but I dont know, as stated, just found it. (Sorry GD, I didnt know about it )

 

No problem. Learning more is always better!

 

True. Just like the water based paints now. My ASE cert. is still good through the end of the year, but I have no idea about anything having to do with the water based.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

 

I own an HVLP sprayer that I have only used to spray some doors with latex. Is it suitable for automotive use?