Doing painting myself...need some advice.

I know where to get a paint gun set for $100 or so...comes with 2 guns and an airbrush, but what I need to know is what type of air compressor am I going to need, and what type of paint will give the best look and last long? I'm wanting to do the exterior jet black...everything black with a really glossy finish. Should I use DuPont paint? What type of clear coat should I use? What type of primer would I use and how many coats? Also, when sanding, does all the paint need to come off? And what can I do about painting the inside edges of the doors (the part that is hidden when you close the doors)...use an airbrush?

those guns are crap for sure, not even worth the 100 bucks.

not to be an ass, but it doesnt seem like a good idea for u to spray b/c u dont seem to know much

i hope you get/have everything supppppppppper straight.. because black will show every lil tiny ding and improfection.. you might think everything is good then you paint it up and it looks like and ocean ripple or a whales ass.. and $100 for 2guns and an airbrush.. that might be ok for practice and painting a lawn mower or something maybe some primer here and there, but i wouldnt paint a car with them..even if you do, i dont knwo what budget yoru on, you better damn sure clean the shit out of them, most those cheap guns spray decent the first time and hlaf a fan pattern the next if not spitting everywhere..
any good/decet gun is going to be in the 250-350 range and over 100 for an airbrush try to find like an old school Sata Nr-95 on eaby thats a good decent all around beginer gun.. then step it up to one of the 2000 sereis or a devilbis

Hey man if you want to paint your car go for it. The only way to learn is to try. Just remember don't try to cover the car in one coat. Keep the gun about 6-8 inches away from the panel. Adjust your fan to about 35-40 psi of air. Be careful of the clear it runs like a stripped assed ape! And cut your patterns in half or 3/4's of the way. Like you lay one line of paint thats 6 inches tall from top to bottom the the top of your next layer should start from about 2 inches below the top of the previouse layer. Thats the way i was taught. But to start out you should use a single stage paint. For a couple reasons, 1) Its cheaper
2) It is easier to apply.
3) The only draw back is, that it dosent shine like base coat clear coat.
4) Between coats on a base coat clear coat you should always tack rag the surface, to get some of the dirt and dust and things that fall on the paint.
5) Before you lay down any color at all though you must go and wax and grease remove the whole car. Meaning you take wax and grease remover and pour a little bit on a cloth then wipe that on the prepped surface then quickly wipe that off with a dry towel. Because the oils on your hands may cause the paint or clear to run.
But remember the only way to learn is to do. So start off small and work your way up to the big stuff. And remember " A GOOD TAPE JOB MAKE A GREAT PAINT JOB" So be sure you don't over mask the windows or door handles, etc.I hope this helps any other questions just im me or email me jrw16@msn.com my name is josh. Again hope this helps a little bit.

Thanks guys. I'll probably just go ahead and take it to Maaco or something. My car does have one or two dings, and I'll probably screw something up. Just need to save some money, but I think Maaco can do it fairly cheap for like a "Presidential" job.

if you go to maaco you will need to mask the car your self. my buddy tried the presidental job and they painted over his windows and then scraped the clean sort of. if you wanna learn go to a junk yard and get a junk fender. buy a book and read it then practice. its the only way to develop skills correctly. good luck man

that paint guns gonna blow ass for 100 bucks . i use a SATA rp gun it cost like 450 or so it does good... in other words youre gonna get what ya pay for cheaper gun =shitty paint unless you got alot of experience

to the guy up there that said single stage dont shine like base/clear..thats completely false..if you are doing a single non metallic color...single stage is your friend..comes out slick as hell and you can cut and buff it just like clear...its great when you use black or dark colors because when you get scratches they dont show as bad because you dont have the clear to show them white....also you can CLEAR over single stage if you want to..dont really need to tho...as for paint guns...i highly recommend either the sata nr2000 or the satajet RP..both excellent guns......as far as your doorjamb question..i would paint your whole cab..jambs and all with the doors off...paint the doors off..hell id paint it all separate..that way u can lay the doors and fenders flat..and lay shit on without having to worry too much about running it .....you wont have ANY tape lines and you wont have to worry about the color not matchin because its BLACK

as far as sanding and primer...if theres not alot of paint buildup already and the surface is in GOOD condition..theres no reason to strip it all off....i would do all your body work.(finished off with no courser than 80grit).sand and feather out everything and prime the whole truck (or part by part)..put a good 3-4 coats on your bodyworked areas...maybe 2 on, block it out with 180 or 220...reprime it.....heres where u can decide to get carried away...u can either block it out again and prime it...then step up your grit to a finer one..then paint..or you can just sand it down with say 320..etch,seal..paint...its up to you...but the end result will reflect the preparation that went into it...