willard00

iTrader: (1)

so im thinking of painting my car(99 max). i was thinking either black or midnight blue. anyone have any input/other colors that look sweet? and any suggetions on where to get it painted?

Black Maxima

Keep it stock white. Aftermarket paint jobs are trash, unless you want to spend a lot of money. But still they are not perfect. I would say give it another coat of white. Throw on a black front lip.

willard00

iTrader: (1)

ehh im not really feelin the white...plus theres a chipped spot on the back right door so one coat wouldnt really do it, and my bumper is a different shade of white lol

Black Maxima

OOOOKKKAY...

vsamoylov

repaint it and use ppg products and you will be happy. somebody just did it from beige to black. search

97vq30de

you can never go wrong with black..

jman7777

spray paint it with duplicolor. that will work. and have maaco just brush up the spots you couldn't get to. it would look great i promise.

blackbeautyse97

pssssshhhhhhhhh spray paint, OOOOOk your effen dumb dont ever spray paint the body of a maxima

vsamoylov

i got my whole car painted and no regrets.

ethnic6

iTrader: (5)

midnight blue, it looks like black but when the light shines on it, it gives it that hint of blue... ahhhhh perfection

Tim96I30t

iTrader: (2)

I see it says Ma/RI, I know a very good place, Fall River,Tiverton RI line called Wildings' Auto Body on Stafford Rd owners name is Dave. They do excellent work and have good prices and use quality materials. It will cost you more to repaint another color, alot more, almost double a normal paint job. There is alot more labor involved, and remember your engine bay will still be white. They will paint door jams, trunk area, but I don't think anywhere will paint the enigine bay, atleast not with an engine in there. Might be wrong on the engine bay painting, but I don't think so.

96blackmaxSE

iTrader: (30)

Once you go black, you'll never go back....

Garrick

Couldn't have said it better in this month anyways.

glenmoormax

iTrader: (13)

i believe he was joking.... i think you are too after looking into your profile about your list of mods... supercharged with a 2.87 pulley, jwt ecu, stillen y pipe, full 3 inch cattman, jicmagic, much more wow i wish i could see pics of this car...

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Midnight blue of course

Supermax95

iTrader: (2)

eh except the next day it looks dirty

kormax97

I'm getting my car painted dark silver in the summer.

ik95

got with black

willard00

iTrader: (1)

if i were going to paint it myself(my friend has a spray gun and i can get the paint) would i have to sand all the old paint off before painting it the new color?

97vq30de

lol nicely said.

clive

If you paint your car a different colour to the original, you will severely impact its value. Knock at least $1000 off your resale price.

glenmoormax

iTrader: (13)

ive also been interested in painting my car, but truly can't decide what i want. I want black but there are a ton around SLC that are black, also it would be gray half the year because of salt etc... but i think something that you can't get on another car would be cool.. just can't decide.

willard00

iTrader: (1)

ok, not tryin to be a duesh, but honestly...i dont care. my car already isnt worth that much its got 120,000 miles on it and never runs right no matter how much money i dump into it..im just trying to get it looking good with no paint chips and a matching bumper.

so with that being said, my question is still unanswered:

if i were to paint it myself, would i have to sand the paint off before repainting it a different color?

nismos14

iTrader: (56)

Dude do some research on how to do a paint job correctly. You will see that you HAVE to sand down to primer, maybe even re-primer than paint and clear coat.

lilaclucymaxima

iTrader: (16)

Metallic charcoal.

willard00

iTrader: (1)

wawick eh? thats where im living...im at NEIT

clive

OK, OK. I learned the hard way, painting my own cars, but I started on cars that weren't worth much anyway. If yours fits that category, then you may as well learn. Unfortunately the chances of your doing a good job the first time are not good. This will be a long post...

1. priming. First you will need to remove anything in the way of the paint. That includes front/rear bumpers, all door handles, radio antenna, etc. etc.
You need to sand down all the exposed material to be painted, then fix any small dings with body filler. Then you mask off the whole vehicle. Then you prime it. The problem is, that filler absorbs primer, so you'll be able to see where the filler was. There'll be a 'line' around the patch. Sand/paint/sand/paint until you no longer see where the primer patches are. If you use a different primer colour (e.g. gray, maroon) for each primer coat, they will self-reveal how far you're sanding. Use a proper orbital NOT a disc on a drill. Finish by hand using a 3M rubber sanding block, in one direction only. Start with 100 grade wet/dry and end with 400 wet/dry, always used wet. There will be lots of sludge.
NOTE! If there is ANY wax polish left anywhere your paint job will be trash.

2. Finish. You'll need to use a clean-air fed breathing mask or you will be glue-sniffing all the time you spray. Not good.
Decide what finish to use. 2-pack cyanoacrylate is quick and tough but the fumes are very toxic, it sets like epoxy, hard to finish-sand, I don't recommend it for a beginner as it is very unforgiving. Choose a good medium-air-dry enamel. Tell the paint shop it is for open-air not a paint oven.
You MUST get a book and read up on this, to avoid 'orange peel' and so forth, paint finishes are subject to many difficulties. Only spray on a fine dry warm day. Blooming is caused by too much humidity.

3. Final. My car is a three-cap paint finish so I assume yours is too. This means undercoat, finish coat, clear-over. So after the finish coat hardens you need to kiss it with the rubber block and 800 grade paper, wet. Then you wash it, dry it, wait awhile and spray the lacquer. Either use straight acrylic, easy to use, about 3 coats should be fine, or 1 coat of the 2-pack chemical setting lacquer; unforgiving to the beginner and horrible to sand. But it sets very very hard and lasts a LONG time.

4. The next day, inspect, un-mask everything, put all the stuff back on the car that was removed.

I would gess it's going to take you a week or two. Do not use junk electrical spray kits, you must use a decent spray gun and a serious compressor with a filtered feed for your air mask.

Still fancy taking it on?

Or you could drive it down to Mexico and have a complete 3-cap paint job done for $750.

Tim96I30t

iTrader: (2)

Unless you have a dust free room with fans etc. paint job will not look professional. I have seen many home paint jobs, honestly they look like Macco quality 199.00 paint jobs. Good from far, then you get close and really see and feel the mistakes, all depends on materials/workspace/experience.

BlackMaxdout

I painted my nissan pickup myself. It's doable if you are going to do it the same color. Don't skimp out on paint and gun quality. Shoot a good urethane primer with a cheap paint gun so you won't ruin a good $300 paint gun. Get a good uretane, they are usually hard as nails. Then shoot your basecoat, and then the clear topcoat. Take your time, and be careful. It's more work than you think!
A gallon of primer, reducer, and hardener for me was $150 alone, and primer is cheap!

willard00

iTrader: (1)

hmm well, heres what im thinking...is it possible to have a place paint just a few parts of your car the same color? cause i need my rear bumper, trunk, back right door, and front bumper painted...that would be cheaper than having then do the whole car...right?

lilaclucymaxima

iTrader: (16)

Nice, a few of my buddies go there.

BlackMaxdout

yeah, you can do that. But take it to a shop that can blend paint well. It will be cheaper, but there is a small possibility that the two paints will be slightly different in shade. But with white paint, I think you'd be all set.

dabodyman

If you want to drive up to NH I can take care of you.

willard00

iTrader: (1)

where in NH? and for how much?

dabodyman

What shape is the car in? Have you decided on a color?

willard00

iTrader: (1)

im thinking the same stock offwhite pearl. and its in pretty good shape, i got bondo on the trunk where the holes for the spoiler used to be..thats why i need the trunk done, rear bumper is a diff shade of white thats why i want that done, rear right door has a bit of a dimple with a paint chip, and from bumper has bondo(cause im retarded) and paint chips.

dabodyman

I can paint the bumpers, and trunk for $250-300, the holl car would be alout more to do it right. What do you want to spend?

willard00

iTrader: (1)

i was thinking about $200-250...what about the door?

dabodyman

need a pic

clive

Yes... and no. If you have a straight colour, then yes. Metallic, I don't recommend it. The problem with metallic is the 'grain' of the paint particles. When you spray metallic you should do it with a gun that has a serious throughput; I used to use one that could cover the entire side of a car with one pass. The direction of spray determines the way the paint looks. So when you spray a panel only, it will look 'odd' even if the colour match is perfect (and that isn't likely, either) because the particles won't be lined up like in the other panels.
However, what you're really after is to save money by the look of your post. Now, 90% of any paint job is in the prep. The prep is really really boring and takes a long time which is why it costs serious money. The finish coat is what takes the real skill. You could save a bundle by doing your own prep, give the car to the paint shop in perfect primer so they only have to finish coat and clear-over. You need LOTS of patience. Get a silk glove; if you put a silk glove over your hand you will find that you can detect any irregularities much more easily than with your bare fingers. Painting is fun; the moment when you start passing the finish coat is pure magic. I once did a finish in black, with Mirraflake and 14 coats of lacquer. It was amazing. Then I crashed and smashed it all up 2 weeks later.
I don't want to put you off. I used to use Metalflake(tm) and have achieved terrific results in the open air, but when you've just finished the clear over, and a load of flies come and stick themselves to the finish... and be warned: due to my spraying without a pressure-fed mask, even in the open, I have been left with hypersensitivity to solvents.