Just repainted the Riv. Not 100% professional but as good as you can do for DIY backyard sort of thing. Shrinkwrapped a 10x20' tent frame for protection from the elements. Spent about 2 days prepping the car. Sprayed it today.

Couple pics below:





It needs some wetsanding. I'll wait a a few days to take care of that. For now I'm pretty happy with it.

Nice Job.
I like the creative "Spray Booth"
May have to steal your idea for other paint project's I have planned for next year.
I have one of those 10 X 20 temp garages out back for storage and the vinyl cover is getting old but the frame work is solid. Never thought about using it for a spray booth. Thanks for the idea.

Pretty damn good Rick. What spray tools did you use to accomplish that finish? Can you share some pics of the equipment ?

Let me take some pics of the products I used. My buddy did most of the work. He's sprayed a few cars previously. I do recall that the spray gun was a Sharpe but that's about it.

not too shabby! love the booth

Are you gong to paint the lower grey area black?


Looks sweet!

Nicely done! Especially the makeshift booth!

How did you prep the old paint? Chemical stripper, sand down to bare, leave the oe paint in place?

I left the plastic underparts flat gray/black.

To prep the paint, I hit the whole car with 400 grit wetsand. I primed the areas where the clear was failing and hit that with 400 grit to blend them. Some spots had rust so I ground them down to the metal and primed them as well. The biggest thing was making sure the paint was 100% smooth and making sure I scuffed up all the areas (in the seams, cracks... everything) so the paint had something to adhere to. After all the sanding was done, I used a degreaser/wax remover with lint free rags to clean the surface. After that, I hit the car quickly with a tack rag right before it was sprayed.

Luckily, the person who helped me had already sprayed 4 cars so he was on top of everything. He knew what ratios to mix the base with the reducer and how to mix the clear with the hardener. Now that he showed me how to do it, it all seems pretty darn easy. Without him there, the whole thing could have been a little overwhelming.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with the way the paint laid down on the car. The stuff is made so well that a lot of the imperfections were hidden quite well. The clear really makes the finish pop. We laid two heavier coats of clear so that wetsanding will be easy.

The worst part about the whole thing was the next day when the wind picked up my spray booth and gouged the paint in a couple spots. I hate mother nature. She's such a @#$@!#$. The wind wasn't supposed to be crazy but I guess one gust is all it took. Oh well. It's only in three areas so I might just respray those if the temps ever get high enough again.

I've painted enamels before the basecoat/clearcoat systems came into the picture and swore I would never attempt it again, the two part systems seem like it's much more user friendly.

You did a couple coats of clear which from my understanding can be sanded with 2000 and then buffed to a mirror finish...good call.

What type of paint was it waterborne or solvent based and what was total cost of materials if you don't mind me asking. Very nice job!

It was solvent based although I hear waterborne is the way to go for basecoats these days. It cost $200 for all the sandpaper, filters (for gun), gas mask (and filter cartridges), clear, hardener, base, reducer, bondo (elastic filler). There were probably a couple other items in there I forgot but that covers 90% of what we got.