I have no experience here. I do have a garage I can tape off. I have a smallish compressor, but can get a bigger one if needs be. I really want new paint (original color) on my car, and don't think it's likely I'll be able to put aside the cash to get it done right.

I want good results, though, and I'd rather not spend more than a couple of months with my car in pieces. Am I crazy to consider a DIY approach?

Thanks,
Paul

 

Do most of the prep, then have a pro spray & clear it in a booth ? Black is tricky.02. T

 

It's only a GTS...nothing to lose ...? right?. LOL....

It can be done (John Davis here painted his track car in his garage and with lots of elbow grease..color sanding etc it turned out pretty good).

You could also do all the prep (body part removal and re-assembly) and save money that way

 

You can do it. It's a piece of cake!

 

Your much braver than I am. However, I'm sure you can do it. Great knowledge from folks here!

'80 911SC Black/Tan (owned 5 days)
'89 S4 GP White/Black
'76 912E Silver/Black

 

With no experience, no booth, little understanding of the process, no body work sanding experience. You would be LUCKY if you managed to turn out a finished product which looks as good and lasts as long as a $1,000 Maeco paint job. Lacking a forced air supply mask you might seriously damage your health.
B C did his own early car and managed to get it TOO SMOOTH or had incompatible primer and paint and has said the color coat chips off far too easily.
Paint and body work just LOOKS easy to do. If you have a community college near consider taking a class in auto body often they will allow you to paint your car in their shop !

 

OK, so it's a little tougher than a piece of cake.

 

The first car anyone should do paint and bodywork on should be something which they do not really care about. It is a skill which must be learned. Like golf, tennis, roller skating, playing the piano. You can read all about it, get lots of advice but at some point it requires practice even if that means you paint strip and repaint the same parts until it looks right.
I can only guess how many hundreds of hours Dean has in his project.

 

Not a good plan IMHO . I buddy and I once painted his moms car , she had to drive around in a car that looked like a melted ice creamcone for the 2 years it took for the paint to harden up so a body shop could redo it .

 

I did do all of the work up to the color. I worked for 6 months on weeknights and weekday to go from several horrible layers down to metal, stripped all the way to the aluminum and the galvanized steel. Then started with the proper (at the time) aluminum treatment. I have that thread up still with all the pics. I did not do the color and clear - so I don't know if its what I did, or what they did. I worked hard, read the directions, asked pros, and I don't think I screwed anything up. I think that maybe one layer of primer may have needed to be laid down before the color for adhesion, but I don't know.

It was all PPG. I THINK that maybe there is some sort of adhesion issue, but honestly the car has not seen sun or been driven as, well, time and life moves on quickly sometimes. The removable panels will be used on a separate car and I will try and match the rest of the car to them and the original body (non-sunroof) will probably be repainted.

I think I may actually do it all again with the painting needed - even the color coat.

 

Put a glossy wrap on the car in the color you want..

 

The paint on my 24 year old car waxes up very nice and nearly everyone who asks what year the car is, is STUNNED when I tell them.

Porsche did an outstanding job of painting the two I own..... I think a pro would be hard pressed to match the quality. I am sure it can be done...... but at what cost to the resale value?

Course maybe you are an owner like me who has had the car for 21 years and is looking forward to the next 21 years.

 

My paint does not wax up nicely. It has star-shaped cracks through much of the paint on the roof, chips all over the place, gouges in the wing, a weird discolored area on the right B pillar, and is peeling off from a large area of the front bumper cover. It has been repainted at least partially in the past, and not well. It needs new paint.

 

So you need to budget for a new paint. Doing it yourself on a GTS and within 2 months is extremely ambitious if nothing else. You may have to cut a few expenses and wait a little longer to do it, but the end result will probably net you a better value for your car as well as good results.
Go big or go home so to speak.

 

Yes, you are crazy to consider this. Practice on a car (or cars) that you don't care too much about.

A good paint job can be really expensive so it's tempting. It is really hard to make it look "great."