How To Paint Your Car Like a Pro: Ultimate Painting Guide

The first step of this process involves cleaning your car thoroughly and getting rid of any rusty bits or debris.

Using a pressure washer isn’t essential, and you can do this by hand, but it’ll save you plenty of time and effort.

If choose to do this outside, do it in space with plenty of empty sky above – doing it under a tree is just asking for leaves, twigs or bird droppings to land on it!

Yep, you really should be this concerned about dust! If dust falls onto the newly-painted car before it has finished curing, you could end up with an uneven surface. This can be rectified in the final stages of sanding/ buffing, but I’d suggest using a dust collector where possible. It essentially filters the dust out of the air and collects it for you, and keeps the area clean and tidy.

Painters Tape

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get good quality painters’ tape. Painters tape is preferred over masking tape because it doesn't leave as much sticky residue.

Thinner 

This will be used with both the primer and the paint itself, most likely, so double check with the store assistant that the product you’re buying will be compatible with both.

For a small car, I’d suggest buying a gallon of primer; for larger cars, around a gallon and a half. This will be used in the early stages of preparing your car for its new paint job and can be thinned if needed according to its instructions.

I’d go for wet-and-dry sandpaper, around 1200-2000 grit, which you’ll be using to sand away any excess primer.

Automotive paint is easy to find in most hardware stores. Speak to an assistant for more specific help, but you’ll want to buy enough to cover the whole car, so take note of the measurements.

I’ve listed below before you take a trip to the store. If you want to repaint your car in the same color, it’s easy to find out the color code from the car manufacturer.

Work on the basis of three gallons for small cars and four gallons for larger cars.

You’ll probably be using an air compressor with this.

I’d recommend an oil-free compressor, which eliminates any risk of oil contaminating the paint and ruining your hard work.

Look for something that can run for a long time, you’ll need it!

You’ll be using this in the final stages, so opt for something high-quality to help add a final shine to your paintwork.

Clear Coat Varnish - Lacquer

This will be used in the final stages to add a high shine to your paintwork.

Make sure it’s compatible with the automotive paint you’ve opted for!

Small cars will use around two gallons; large will use between three and four.

Now that you’re fully geared up, it’s time to prepare your car for its transformation:

Have A Nice Scrub

It might seem like the most boring part of this task, but it’s one of the most important.

Get rid of any scrappy bits or rust that has been hanging around the metal. 

Make sure your canvas is totally free from debris before you start. Use a pressure washer to clean the car thoroughly before you begin.

If possible, strip the main body of any trim or moldings, which should be easy enough. If not, it’s better to leave them and work around them than snap something off by accident!

Time to sand the main body of your car, taking off all the paint until you hit the original metal or primer. Getting back to matte means there's more for the fresh coat of paint to stick to and will also offer a more even finish. Use circular motions and work your way around the car in order to cover as large an area as possible, quickly.

I’d suggest using gloves, if you haven’t already got them on, to protect your hands as well as to avoid smearing greasy fingerprints everywhere while you clean. You can use the thinners listed above at this stage to get rid of any last bits of paint or debris.

Use the painters’ tape mentioned above to section off everything you're painting from everything that needs to remain paint-free.

Essentially, tape the windows, handles, mirrors etc - anywhere you don’t want paint needs to be thoroughly taped-up so there’s no chance of accidentally spraying it, or leakage/dripping occurring if you overspray.

Unlike a lot of other DIY projects, car paint is more specialized, and there are several different types that you will need to use for a single, finished application.

Let’s take a look at those paint types now.

The primer is the base coat or the paint that you will put on the bare metal. Primer acts as a binding agent between the metal and the colored paint. You will want to pick a primer color that is a similar shade of your final paint. Lighter primers, like grey or white work well for bright colors, while black primer is best for darker finishing colors.

The base coat is the paint layer that has the actual color in it. The base coat does not offer any protection to the base paint, primer, or metal underneath. Because the primer is porous, the base paint will stick well and minimize blemishes, but it offers no moisture protection, which can result in paint chipping, bubbles, and rust.

The clear coat is the finishing layer in multi-stage painting. It protects all paint layers beneath from moisture, wind, and general erosion. Most clear coats also come with UV inhibitors to help prevent sun damage over time. In modern car painting, the three-stage painting process is what is used, with a primer and base coat paint followed by a clear coat.

Acrylic paint isn’t used on cars much anymore. It is considered an antiquated painting method and is generally reserved for restoration projects of older cars. Acrylic paint, unlike a base paint, does offer the shine and protection to the primer layer and metal beneath.

With acrylic paint, there isn’t a need for a clear coat layer. This is why acrylics are sometimes referred to as single-stage paints.

These types of paints are rare. Metallic paints are mainly used in sports cars for an extra sheen or flakes of shiny metal bits to add glitter or shine to the final project. Chameleon paints appear to change color based on the way the sun or lights hit it.

Often turning from a green or blue to a purple or black, chameleon paints are rare and used mainly in exotic or street racing style cars. Acrylic enamels are extra thick and will need to be thinned to allow spraying through a spray gun. These paints are hard to come by and are often known as Acrylic Named paints because they are specialty paints for early model cars and trucks.

If you are restoring a 70’s model Dodge, for example, you may want to use a named paint such as HEMI-Orange acrylic to bring back the original appearance.

The overall costs of painting a car have too many variables to give a specific answer. They type of paint, the number of coats, damage repairs (if needed), and the time frame for project completion all go into the final cost.

Also, you will need to consider the year, make, and model of the vehicle. Custom jobs will cost more (over $20,000 possible). However, on average, for a newer car, with a simple, single-colored paint job with a primer, base, and clear coats, will cost between $1500 and $3000, according to CostHelper.com.

The best car paint brand is highly debated. There are generally two tiers of paints, budget, and premium. Budget brands like Rustoleum and Dupli-Color are among the top brands used by DIYers.

Premium brands generally come from the Manufacturers themselves, But premium paints like Meguiar's, do extensive research and color matching to get you the best possible genuine color.

The number of coats will depend a lot on the type of paint you are using and how thin you need to make it for application. In general, a car needs a minimum of three coats, one each for the primer, base and clear coat.

However, with a proper paint job, sanding and repainting are a part of the process, and for a showroom quality paint job in your garage, you can expect two to four coats for each paint used.

Again, the time it takes to paint a car is determined by your patience level, how much extra care and time you take to prep, check and sand or buff trouble spots properly. You can have a car painted in as little as one day.

However, each coat of car paint should dry for 24 hours to be tacky (touch-dry), and the final product will remain wet for up to 10 days after you finish painting.

It is legal to change the color of your car. You can change the color at any time, for any reason. What will vary by location, though, is if you are required to report this change immediately.

Some states and jurisdictions will require you submit a registration update (some can be done online) with the new color as soon as you paint the car. Other areas of the country only require you to notify the DMV with the change when you do the annual registration.