paint booths and professionalism

[tmadden]

There are several paints shops that do great work without a paint booth. Should I be weary? I think I find someone with a booth. Any advice or horror stories.

[Sparky67]

There are several paints shops that do great work without a paint booth. Should I be weary? I think I find someone with a booth. Any advice or horror stories.

You don't need a paint booth to get a good paint job. Here is Scott Sullivan's 1955 Chevy that was painted in his parent's garage. I believe it won Street Machine of the year in 1989. http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicl.../photo_58.html

Actually, mine is painted in a garage too. My friend's dad is doing my 1967 RS Camaro. Really just need to find a good painter.

Jeff

http://www.kodakgallery.com/67rscamaro

[chopshopcustoms]

Id be weary . I was a backyard painter for years and yes , turned out some really nice stuff- in fact my own 56 CHevy custyom was painted in a cover-it tent BEFORE I was a shop owner back in 2000.

Id still suggest using a licensed pro shop. If something goes wrong - you have a profesiional who will work WITH you to make it right.
Also- what if 'Joe Backyard' was working on your car and the city/town found out -shut him down - and took your car?

Ive seen it happen.Not a pretty sight to see the car owner running after the tow truck (NOT Flatbed) while it drives off down the street.

Not worth the cheaper rate IMO.

Plus, there is much more crap in the air unless its controlled.

yes a good paint job CAN be donw that way, but why have stuff already stacked against the jopb before it starts?

Just my 2 cents.

[Sparky67]

Id still suggest using a licensed pro shop. If something goes wrong - you have a profesiional who will work WITH you to make it right.
Also- what if 'Joe Backyard' was working on your car and the city/town found out -shut him down - and took your car?

Actually, if you own the land and the garage door has to be closed. You also have to the right filter setup, actually mine has been approved by the city. You are only allowed to paint on your own cars. The EPA limits the homeowner on what he can spray per year. Of course, you could always lose your car in a professional bodyshop, for example (Unique Performance).

Plus, there is much more crap in the air unless its controlled.

I remember one car that your company did in the past. The photos have been pulled from this site, but hopefully you made it right with the owner. I never seen so much dirt in the paint job. Was you painting that in a booth?

I have been down that road in the past (1985), but the bodyshop owner wouldn't fix the paint job.

Jeff

[dharrod]

If you can paint you can paint ... certainly a true paint booth helps mitigate those variables that ultimately make it easier for the painter (more climate control, better air flow etc.). However most body shops don't have a state of the art paint booth but rather a dedicated area (bay) for painting with some form of air flow/filtering, ability to clean it well, and lighting. I think if is best if you can talk to recent customers that have had their car painted by the actual to-be painter (often different than the owner - shop manager) - if you can verify a reputation, talk to recent customers and vew some actual recent work you'll be fine. I would recommend not only seeing an actual car that hasn't been wet-sanded but one that has been wet sanded and been finished for more than two months (but done by the actual painter). You see if the painter lays a nice initial paint job prior to wet sanding/buffing and you'll see if there are any issues popping-up after a couple of weeks - likely to occur if the prep work wasn't done right and there was an application issue.

[rubadub]

A few years ago I brought in a painter and hung a curtain in my garage, he was a full time body man and painting all the time at a chevy dealer, both paint jobs were show quality, but he was painting every day, brought his own gun.

I guess the secret is who you get and not where he does it.

Rob

[chopshopcustoms]

Actually, if you own the land and the garage door has to be closed. You also have to the right filter setup, actually mine has been approved by the city. You are only allowed to paint on your own cars. The EPA limits the homeowner on what he can spray per year. Of course, you could always lose your car in a professional bodyshop, for example (Unique Performance).

Be glad- we cant paint anything around here on our own property Only using a booth (at least not legally that is). The EPA and local officials would beat down your door with an axe- probably because its city.. Sometimes I wish it were country around here just for the fact peole would be a bit more lenient on things like this- its not like we are dumping toxic waste into the drinking water!!!LOL (which actually is what happened years ago here in Woburn- ever heard of the movie 'A Civil Action" (I think thats what it was called)with John Travolta? That was about the Grace chemical plant a few miles from me in my town- so they have a tendency to go overboard...
Although I personally think thats a good thing. Better safe than finding out you will glow in the dark 15 years later....

[Smock67]

If your going for a backyard job you might as well learn to paint and do it yourself. Painting is not hard the quality of a paint job is more or less determined by the prep work. I'm painting my own car and will more then likely be doing it in my garage with some plastic sheeting up and some filters.

Completely off topic

I think it would be cool to glow in the dark lol

[chopshopcustoms]

Completely off topic

I think it would be cool to glow in the dark lol

a while back my wife found a paint that glowed in the dark by House of Kolor and wanted to paint her scallops with it so when the sun went down the car glowed...

[danbob67]

I paint every day and I painted in a garage once with a homemade booth setup and spent alot of extra time wetsanding and buffing just to make it look good at work I can catch a few nibs and send it on its way looking factory. painting at home has been a thought of mine but just that, it is a bit more work than I would want to do because I hate buffing.

[Sparky67]

painting at home has been a thought of mine but just that, it is a bit more work than I would want to do because I hate buffing.

My friend's dad has been painting cars for over 56 years. Probably the only thing that garage doesn't have is a paint booth. The heater is a sealed radiant tube heater. Actually, he was one of the first people in the area to have radiant tube heater in his garage. Anyway, you need to have the right garage setup to paint cars.

Jeff

http://www.kodakgallery.com/67rscamaro