How much paint needed for a 72

[Wicked72]

Depending on my budget im either going with kirker or step up to dupont. Ill be sanding the car, hitting it with eastwood epoxy primer, do my filler, high build probably a 2k, seal it with either the eastwood epoxy (grey) or a thin high build, base coat, clear coat. i have enough epoxy for 4 gallons so im good there. how much high build, base coat, and clear do i need to do the car? it will be a medium gray metallic. thanks!!

[Baldwinvette77]

Wish i could help, but only ever held a spray gun once in my life 

I did just buy one though, and a bigger compressor 

[jaak]

It all depends on paint coverage too. I used OMNI on the RT and it was thin as water. I had 2 gallons on hand (it was single stage urethane, not bc/cc) and it was barely enough for my Charger. Another thing too, is check the tech sheets on the paint you are using, Like I said I used OMNI, It mixed 4:1:1 (paint, activator, reducer) Which should give u a gallon and a half sprayable material. Not so, after mixing the first cup, I had to omit the reducer because the paint was already thin. Now PPG on the other hand mixes 1:1 with its reducer, plus a quart of activator which gives u 2.25 gallons of sprayable material. I simply looked at the price of PPG versus OMNI, and didn't take that in consideration, I wound up having to buy twice the materials using the cheaper paint. Just something to consider. I will say this too, I have used Kirker paints before for smaller stuff and for a cheaper paint, it is pretty good stuff. Eastwood and Summit Racing paints are Kirker products, relabled.

But Long story short, I used 2 gallons of OMNI on the Outside body, door jambs, trunk jambs, underneath hood. I had actually painted my engine compartment a couple of years prior to the rest of the car, and I used a quart on it and some small parts (battery tray, marker housings, hood hinges, etc.)

Jason

[Nacho-RT74]

with my 74, blue, used a gal and a half... including engine bay, interior and everything ( achrillic )

[Mopar Nut]

with my 74, blue, used a gal and a half... including engine bay, interior and everything ( achrillic )

How many coats?

[Wicked72]

im probably going with kirker. and ill doing the entire car so i guess to be safe if i get a mix of 2gal or more ill be ok. now im not sure what im going with for a base coat. either an actual base coat or a single stage and clear coat over it

[Lord Warlock]

It really depends on how well you can spray, if its a solid color and not metallic, and whether you're doing the jambs, inside the trunk, and engine bays at the same time.  I could get a single coat on the entire exterior of the car with a quart (1.5 quarts mixed) of Nason Polyurethane enamel, mixed with 50% fast dry reducer, and a pint of hardner.  But to make sure you got all the jambs done, engine bay, and trunk, I'd recommend a minimum of a gallon and a half, or better yet two gallons.  Inevitably, when color sanding you will find a thin spot where you will cut thru the color and have to recoat, so its best to have a couple quarts extra just in case.  

Dupont is a superior brand, superior quality, and does coverage as good or better, I'd buy a gallon to start with and get more as needed, its a bit pricey to buy too much.  I got a quart to paint my hood on my new challenger, and only used half of it to do both sides of the hood with two coats.  

House of Kolor is as good if not better than Dupont, and as expensive or moreso.  I love using HOK, but its a basecoat clearcoat solution, I'm pretty decent with single stage paints, I'm great with basecoats, but have to admit i'm not near as good with clearcoats, I always get a run  somewhere with clears since you can't really tell the coverage like you can with a color coat.  It seems there is a different tactic to laying on clears than doing base coats or single stage paints.  

I usually try to put 3 full coats of basecoat or single stage on over a 3 or 4 hour time frame.  Allowing flash time between each coat to semi dry the surface before each new coat.  But I don't have a paint booth, and great ventilation systems,  just fans in front of the garage pulling air out, and another hi volume vent fan pulling it out of the air from one side of the garage about 6 feet up.  

[Silver R/T]

There's too many variables. Which color you will paint it with? Lighter colors need more coats to cover. Cheaper paint such as Omni doesn't cover as well as Deltron does. You might consider using sealer under paint, ie if you're shooting yellow use white sealer. Lighter colors need white sealer, darker colors need gray sealer.

[Lord Warlock]

strangely, the factory primer under y3 was red. 

[Wicked72]

im painting the whole car. primer sealer will be gray. color im going with is kirker medium gray metallic. comes in both base coat and single stage. ill be lining my garage with plastic and setting up some box fans. would i be better off with a base coat or single stage? ill clear coat what ever i put on as a base.

[Silver R/T]

Base/clear is better product, however you can clear coat single stage as well, if you're clear coating single stage might as well get base and clear it and you'll be done. You can definitely wetsand clear and make it looks nice. You shouldn't wetsand single stage metallics.
I painted a boat several years ago and owner was on budget and I've shot it single stage. It was metallic blue paint so I had to make sure I sprayed it even and wet without sags/runs but at same time it needed to go on wet. It turned out decent but I wouldn't want to shoot single stage metallic ever again.

[Lord Warlock]

If you plan on clearcoating over it, there is no point in using single stage paint, the basecoat/clearcoat will work easier, as the color base goes on pretty easy, just make sure the car has full coverage and doesn't show "banding" from  where some sweeps of the gun didn't provide full even coverage.  Darker metallics tend to show the streaks/banding more than lighter ones do.  You also shouldn't have to wetsand after the base application, you definitely do not want to wetsand metallics or pearls as it will damage the flakes in the pigment.  What worked best for me was to put two coats of clear on it, let it dry for at least 24 hours, then wetsand the clear, then put a 3rd coat of clear over the smooth surface.  I also prefer to use different tips for basecoats and clears, smaller hole for the clear for a finer finish.  Most cheap guns sold only come with one tip, dual gun kits you get are usually for primer and color coat.  If i plan to do a base clear on a car, I'll make sure i have one gun set up just for clears, and don't use the same gun for base and clears.

I have found that when shooting metalflake over a basecoat, you add the flake to the first coat of clear, then bury the flake surface with two coats of clear afterwards.  I've got some blue green mini flake i plan on using on my stealth paint job in the next few months.  Flake does tend to clog up the guns, so make sure you thoroughly clean the gun as soon as you finish spraying.

Don't buy the cheapest paint you can find.  I tried some ebay single stage paint that was total crap and wish I'd never tried using it, the pearl came out blotchy and never flowed out like the better quality HOK pearls did.

[jaak]

Using a metallic color, I would use a BCCC, (using an actual base and clear) because single stage metallics are very easy to "tiger stripe" when painting, and single stage metallics are next to impossible to sand. There are some that say it can be done, but it is extremely difficult (I for one can't do it).

Going back to your original question, Grey Metallic is a dark color so color coverage should not be an issue. It all boils down to how much of the car you are gonna paint. If its just the outside, I say a gallon should be enough. If doing the jambs, engine compartment etc., I would buy more paint.

Jason

[Wicked72]

thanks for the info!! ill be going with bccc and two gallons. do i need two gallons of clear as well?

[Nacho-RT74]

with my 74, blue, used a gal and a half... including engine bay, interior and everything ( achrillic )

How many coats?

two for engine bay, just one on interior parts over old paint ( was just to match better everything ), and I think 4 on body from thick layer to thin.... EXCEPT roof, since was to get vinyl roof... it got 2.

[Lord Warlock]

As for clearcoat, you won't need as much of that, it tends to go a long way compared to color.  1 gallon should be plenty.  I can clear most of a car with 1.5 quarts.  After wetsanding a single stage it gets very tempting to just clear it rather than buff it out.