What do you guys think?

So I am picking up my Jetta that needs a paint job and am going to do a "Do It Yourself" paint job thanks to Harbor Freight having all the equipment that i need. I am stuck on some colors that i really like, but dont know which one to choose... Duplicolor has both for the same price, so its just deciding which one.

First, from working at Lotus, ive taken to the "Storm Titanium" color. This is it:

The second color i am considering is the Audi "Dolphin Gray", saw it on a A4 and would think it would look good:

So, what do you guys think?

Are both metallic? I can only offer that every first-time-DIY paint job I've seem that did so with a metallic color had it come out a bit splotchy. I think I would chose a more forgiving color. Otehr than that, I guess I like the darker color better.

The Louts color. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it seems to pop and look a little better than the Audi's somewhat tame color...

It wouldn't surprise me if the Audi looked a little better had the picture been taken outside.

The Audi color isnt really a metallic... this is more like the color for Dolphin Gray...

MHO: I have a buddy with a Miata similar in color to the Lotus. We sprayed the wheels with the rattle can duplicolor metallic stuff closer to the color of the Audi, and it came out E36 M3-hot, in that "tone on tone" kinda way. It's enough of a difference in tone that it's obviously deliberate.

Also, the HF HVLP sprayers aren't bad if you keep 'em clean. The 'detail' sprayers are really good for touch ups in tight spots, and I think they're on sale right now for $15 or so...at which point, there's almost no point in spending an hour cleaning it when you're done.

Too good for roller applied hammertone paint? Jeesh!

lotus. The other one just looks grey.

I've always liked the Dolomite Gray available on TTs:

poopshovel wrote: Also, the HF HVLP sprayers aren't bad if you keep 'em clean. The 'detail' sprayers are really good for touch ups in tight spots, and I think they're on sale right now for $15 or so...at which point, there's almost no point in spending an hour cleaning it when you're done.

Awesome! Thanks for the tip! After im done with Pull-A-Part, stoppin in HF to check em out...

got our plans for the "DIY Paint Booth

Lotus color!

HUGE difference between painting some wheels and painting a whole car.

But.. if you're to throw caution to the wind and try anyway, a couple of comments about the paint booth.

Mainly, it needs to be wider. MUCH wider. At least 12'... maybe 14. I say this because you really need to be able to see what you are doing when painting the sides of the car. My garage is about 12' wide and when I park my Jetta inside, I can just about open the doors without them hitting the walls. I have just enough room to do service work on the car (pulling tires, brakes, etc). This was the down-fall of a friend who painted his Spitfire (a narrow car) in his garage (much wider than 12'). He couldn't see the sides of the car well enough and when the car is out in sunshine, you can really tell when the spray over lap is. If foxtrapper happens to see this thread, he knows who and what car I'm talking about. If you are space limited, perhaps put the car on dollies and push it to one side of the booth and paint the sides separately.

Light. As much light as you can rig up. I'd consider multiple 2L flourescents mounted on stands pointing at the sides of the car. Look at pro paint booths. Those have just as many lights on the walls as they do in the ceiling.

In reply to Ian F:

Thanks for the advice. ya, we were taking those plans and were planning on adding to the overall size to get the Jetta in there. We have our giant shop here to use so we have all the room to mess with. Awesome tip about the lights, ill have to add those to the lsit that i have...

Ignore this if you have alot of experience pantiang cars, but... I used to go to a college that had an autobody program and i saw alot of cars painted by people who hadnt done it before. If you are going for something better than roller rustolem (and arent planning to match the stock color nesessarly) get PPG base/clear paint in a plain (as in non metallic, etc) color. Those were the paintjobs that looked good, most of the ones that people tried to do with fancy colors ended up looking pretty bad, same with cheap paint.

The darker the paint, the better the body work has to be.

Check some current mags for HF coupons. They have their 20oz gravity feed spray gun for $9.99 with the coupon (I know Honda Tuning April 10 issue has the coupon). I've used the 6oz (I think it's 6oz) touchup gun and it's pretty good after some adjustment.

I'd go with the Storm Titanium, though both are great looking colors to me.

Buy an extra quart or so and spray a junk door or hood or something to get the feel- particularly if you are gonna shoot a metallic. REALLY easy for an beginner to stripe his car.

67 Impala 4 door hardtop, metallic green is how I know.

Any kind of blemishes on the metal and it'll show. I helped a guy paint a Wagoneer about 15 years ago, and it fisheye'd like a mofo (oil.) Do a lot of prep. Go gray.

Beware of cheap spray guns. Also be sure the gun you buy has the correct needle size for the particular type of paint you plan to spray. It was many moons ago but I found Sata gravity feed guns to be very reliable.

Do some test panels. Junk yards will almost give you the stuff that is a little beat up. Then you'll be able to get a feel for how the paint lays down, or if you'll need different reduce. Get slower reducer for warmer days and faster for cooler days.

Personally, I dont care much for metallic paint, except on vintage sheetmetal. Id say go with a lighter, solid grey, and if you can mix in a tiny bit of orange, the bronzey grey that comes out can be really cool, but Im no good with paint at all, so my advice for mixing paint should be taken with a grain of salt...or a spoonful

-EDIT- Also, Im becoming more and more a fan of a matte clear coat, this can hide a lot of bad paint technique. Im not calling you a bad car painter, Im just sayin...

Timeormoney wrote: The darker the paint, the better the body work has to be.

truer words were never spoken, thats why we painted the track rat white!