Getting it painted...

[Ktulu]

Hey guys,

I really need to get my car painted. It is a 93' milano red civic with nice spider marks and faded paint. The previus owner was nice enough to neglect the paint for me.

Anyway, I need it done cheep. What is the cheapest I can go for a decent job? Can the areas with the spider marks be painted over? Or does it need to be completey sand blasted.

I know that Maaco is really bad, but they are also really cheap. And having a hobby such as detailing, I figured it may not be such a bad idea to have it done by them. I will definitly be better than what I have.

I know that I can knock off some of the price wherever I get it done by doing lots of the prep work myself. But I have no idea what goes into prepping the car for the shop. Anyone have any good links on this subject?

There are some pics of the car in my gallery that look pretty good, but up close and under good lighting it looks horrible.

As you can tell, I'm pretty green with auto painting. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Nagchampa]

Maaco is good if you are painting a beater but if you want it to look decent, you better take it to a pro shop.

If you want to prep it yourself, take off as many lights, mouldings, trim pieces etc as possible. You will get bonus points for removing bumpers, mirrors and glass. Doing this alone can save you big $$ off your paint job.

Since you are not changing the color, you won't have to worry about prepping the door jambs. Just scuff the paint with some #400 paper on a sanding block and leave the dings to the guys in the shop unless you are confident in your skills. You will not need to sandblast unless you are removing rust.