OK, so I have done may paint jobs, and I will say I like spraying 2 stage better, simply because its easier to fix your mistakes.
That being said, if you don't make a lot of mistakes, you don't have a lot to fix lol..
If you are spraying it yourself, I would want it to be done in the minimum amount of steps, so here is how I do cars that are not going to be show cars and don't get me wrong, if you do it right, you can lay ss as good as any base clear, and I can get more shine out of single stage than a lot of cars I see with 2 stage, especially after a few years...
Another thing to keep in mind is touch ups, I would rather touch up 2 stage than single, BUT single is harder to damage..
OK, so buy your self some single stage Urethane paint, don't get too hung up on brand I did a protruding challenger with summit up319 (looks plum crazy to me, with a bit of metallic in it) and I think it was $110 for the activator and a gallon of paint.
but heres the key to this, to keep it simple do yourself a favor and grab a gallon of clausen "all u need" primer, stuff is magical..
So this is what I do-
Sand the car down and fix all body work, leave bare metal, lead, filler, etc bare and don't bother with any glaze on your body work, save that step, I used to use putty over all my filler and board sand my balls off, no more.. Also no more washing it down with reducer, wax grease remover, thinner, etc. Just soapy water..
Next put a big nozzle in your gun and spray the entire car with the clausen, I coat it nice and thick, try to keep it even, pretty easy to do since it goes on uniform and you can see where you have been and how strong you have been there..
Now board sand it out, start at 180 go up to 220, don't burn though just big board it cross hatching to get everything straight and take out any waves..
Now I use sem guide coat (I know some guys use the gun, I use rattle can, because I hate cleaning guns) and block it out with 400, then 600.. Your guide coat will tell all..
After that done, wash it down with soap and water, dry it, tack cloth the **** out of it, and lay the color...
When I tell you this saves me 4 days lol, I used to bust my balls, doing all the body, work then blocking each spot, then filler, then block, then filler, then block, then putty, then block , then glaze, the sand, then glaze then sand, the etching/ sealer / 2K / sand, sand, sand, sand, guide, sand, guide, sand....
screw that noise, I get better results with less time and a lot less money..
Simple, body work (flat and smooth but don't worry about pin holes), then all u need, then block it, guide coat, block it, wash it , paint it...
I am doing a truck for a friend, he couldn't believe the paint and materials was $350, lol... Another friend of mine about a year ago, bought a develbiss finish line gun, a da, set of blocks, some paper, primer, filler, paint, all for under $1000, did the job outside in his driveway, you would call him a liar if you seen it!!! he never held an hvlp gun in his life and it came super nice, no BS, looks like I did it in the booth...
one more note, use rage body filler stuff is amazing.
