i'm trying to get an idea of how much paint i will need to paint my 1940 ford coupe.. i'm most likely gonna use a single stage flat paint that i can paint in my garage.. i don't want to buy more than i have to... has anyone painted one lately? pics would be nice too!!
Need some more information. How much of the car are you painting? Just the exterior, or inside the trunk, doors and jambs and the underside of the hood? All of the bumper brackets?
what gun? what paint? if spraying over a color matched primer with a decent paint and an H.V.L.P. gun, you could probably get coverage with a couple quarts.
Is the car all together or all apart? You use a lot more paint if the car is apart. A car like that all together. Starting with a car in one color primer, mostly all together, quality single stage paint, siphon gun, with some experience painting, (whew!) you should be able to get good coverage with a gallon of paint and 2 quarts of reducer. 6 spray-able quarts Gravity gun you will use a bit less paint, I would still buy the gallon as it costs the same or less than 3 quarts and you will need more than 2 quarts. If the car is is all blown apart you can double that. Cheaper paint you will use a bit more paint.
I always get a little extra paint.Its a ***** if you run short of paint .Don't ask me how I know. LOLBruce.
One gallon paint should cover most cars. Years ago I painted a Chevy Nova, we did the door jams, under the trunk, and the whole exterior of the car with 3 coats and still had a little left over. Have fun
The way paint is priced, might as well go with a gallon. You'll have some left over for touch up or other small projects. Paint will keep a long time.
thanks for all the replies fellas.. i will be painting under the hood, under the deck lid and the door jams.. the car will be apart
At least one gallon of paint, which as was said, will give you one and a half gallons of product. And a 40 deserves shines paint, imo. Color of the primer will affect how much paint you need too. A dark primer will be a little harder to cover if you use a light color paint. Good luck. Painting is one of the more satisfying elements of a build for me.
Under hood deck and all jambs, 1 gallon is NOT enough. Unless you have an HVLP (more than just a gravity gun) and have primer that's the same or similar color (black primer, black paint) you won't have a single drop left and will likely be light in places. If you're using a production formulated color the odds of getting a good match 2 years later when that ***hole hits your fender at the auto parts store are better but still slim. Going flat you'll need to keep mil thickness down which can hamper good color coverage. Too thin no cover, too thick won't go flat, or at least flat consistantly overall. The fix is 2-3 coats, gloss or not, sand/surface nice and smooth after cure then 2 nearly perfect coats to avoid the stripes of semi-gloss to flat. If it's a color other than black buy 6 qts. Solids are 4 to 1 catalyst to 1/2 reducer so 5 1/2 ready to spray. ***ume 1 qt in the gun and 1 gun gets you about 2/3 of the whole car, then top off to finish with at least a pint so you don't run out. Do that 3 times. If it goes flawless without a hitch you'll have less than a pint left over, 1 error or miscue you're out of material. If you end up with a leftover qt you win. Same batch/mix/color/blah/blah. At least you can fix what that ***hole did to it later on, even 5-6 years later. If you sell it, having exact paint to go with it is a nice bonus to a prospective buyer. All easily worth the few extra $$ for a little paint.
again, the hambers helped me make up my ever changing mind.. 6 quarts of paint it is.. i will also have my friend help me with painting (he just don't know it yet.. hehe).. he has top of the line equipment.. im not quite ready for paint yet but getting close
I agree, if something screws up and you need more paint to be mixed, you got a 50/50 shot of it matching what you have already painted. Also seal it so you have one uniform color to start with. Doing bottom side of hood and deck lid can be up to 1/2 a gallon alone because you are trying to get in the grooves and edges. Especially if you are not painting every day. Alot of us who spray every single day can stretch 6 oz of paint out for a whole front clip. Better to have and not need it, then need it and not have it. Sent from my SM-N920V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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