Thinking about DIY autobody repair/paint as a hobby FIRE skill

[Sayonara925]

With bids being so high for blemish repairs on my (older) cars, I'm thinking about just buying some autobody repair/paint equipment and DIYing it.  I'm currently FIREd and I think it would be an enjoyable/useful hobby skill.

I have a 2-car enclosed garage, high capacity air compressor, and a lot of typical DIYer tools, but no specialized autobody tools to speak of.   I'm prepared to buy spray guns, sanders, hand tools, quality paints, etc, enough to get decent results.  I have lots of time to learn, get my operation set up, and do the actual meticulous work.

Does anyone here do this type of work and can offer suggestions where to begin?  Equipment or website recommendations?

[nereo]

curious to hear what other people say.

My biggest recommendation would be to invest in a good chemical respirator and air purification system if you plan on doing a lot of spraying and sanding.  That stuff's seriously not good for your health.

[Sayonara925]

Right.  Thanks.  I should have added "safety" equipment to my post.

Also, if there've been previous good threads on this topic, please mention.

[Fishindude]

A buddy and I used to do quite a bit of this when we were younger.  His dad ran a body shop, so we had a lot of help and good advice.  Painted and repaired our own cars, friends cars, tractors, etc.
We had a pretty amateur set up, just a clean heated garage, compressor and some basic sanders, paint gun, etc.   Would clean the garage real good and wet things down prior to painting to keep the atmosphere as dust free as possible.    If you know what you are doing, you can get decent work, but it's almost impossible to get a really good quality paint job without a good paint booth.

It is a fun hobby and pretty rewarding to see your work.

[kendallf]

I did a lot of my own and friends' cars years ago.  A good HEPA filtered respirator is a must with modern base/clear paints.  If you want to spray final coats in your garage, Fishindude's advice below to wet things down will help.  Many areas have booths for rent, or if you have military base access privileges the hobby shop often has a booth (ours at NAS Jacksonville does).

I don't think basic small collision repair is a viable hobby business, for a couple of reasons: much of it is insurance based, and you'll have to jump through a lot of hoops and have a licensed business to get paid; and most jobs involve a lot of parts sourcing and panel/parts replacement rather than repair.  Also, people expect very short timelines (2-3 days) that aren't realistic for a solo operation.

Doing repaints on hot rods, street rods, and the like can be a great small business; it's all cash based, you generally have to repair panels since you often can't buy them, and the timelines can be "whatever it takes".  I have two or three acquaintances who do this, and one of them has painted all of my recent project cars.  He painted my 73 Century in a pole barn with a dirt floor; it looks pretty damn good because he took his time and wet sanded and buffed the clear.

[Sayonara925]

I don't think basic small collision repair is a viable hobby business,

This will be strictly a FIRE hobby, no intention of trying to do it as a business or anything requiring a license.

I should look into creating a makeshift, ventilated paint booth if it's not a huge effort.  I'm thinking this hobby won't go further than my attached garage.

Thanks for the helpful replies.  Hope to hear more suggestions.

[wkumtrider]

My dad painted cars at his house as a side gig for as long as I can remember.  He has a decent size shop, a good air compressor with oil/moisture filters, and nice spray guns.  No paint booth, but as others has said, he would clean as much as possible and wet everything down before spraying.  Also put fans in windows to help evacuate as much over spray as possible, and a good VOC or organic vapor (not HEPA) respirator is a must.  He painted a ton of cars and did a really good job for not being a pro.  In his peak he had more cars to paint than he could handle, had to turn people down.  NOw that he is retired he does more of full restorations for friends.  A few of his buddies are into the MGs and he restored two of them.  He enjoys it and it keeps him busy in retirement.  Good luck!