The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How Much Paint

I have a 49 GMC FC 101 pick up. It was a frame off project. I am now dry fitting the body back on the frame (when I took ownership it was completely off frame already and was delivered in parts).

I've completed 90% of the body work (dings, nicks and small dents, it was a desert truck and had very little rust).My plan now is to finish the dry fit, then disassemble, final prime and sand then paint. I've painted a 75 VW and a 69 Camaro and they both took about 1 gallon of paint plus reducer. This truck appears to have considerable more surface area and I'm not sure how much paint to buy. I am considering Eastwood paints and they are sold in 5 quart kits (4 paint and 1 reducer). I don't think this is going to be enough, yet 2 kits (10 qts) seems way too much.

Has anyone painted this size truck and how much paint did it take. I will be painting the cab interior with the same paint but the engine compartment will be satin black.

Thanks for any advise you can give.

Tom

10 Qts is too much. Sounds like BB/CC. Consider SS acrylic urethane (8 qts). At any rate, the other option is another paint or vendor. Local paint store will sell in quantities you need. They can mix any color. PPG Omni is a good choice or other medium priced good brand.
I guess you can put on more coats and use the rest for touch up. Either way, do the math and don't worry about too much paint. Worry about not enough and having to wait for delivery.

Skip Eastwood and buy real paint from a real paint store. Eastwood doesn't make paint, last time I checked...
Don't buy the 2nd tear paint like Omni because it's [censored] thin and you will end up spraying more coats to get coverage and end up spending as much money as good paint, not to mention how much more time it takes. BASF, Sikkens, Dupont/Axalta and others have 2nd tier [censored] thin paint too, so don't be all offended I dissed PPG.

I was in the paint business for over 20 years and can assure you that there is not such thing as good, cheap paint.

To answer your question about how much to buy; it all depends on the quality of paint you buy. The real paint jobber store will be able to tell you how much you will spend to paint your truck and then hand over enough, after you pay them.

They will also give you over the counter solid advice if they are worth their salt.

Tip: talk "sprayable quarts" because that is what really matters... not what the mix ratio is. 4:1:1 and 5:1:10% is irrelevant when pricing it out.

Tip#2: buy more than you need because if you run out and have to buy more, it won't exactly match the first batch.

Eastwood does not make paint. Meaning that one of the good companies you mention makes it. Everybody has their favorite paint and method. The post is how much paint. Whether online or local purchase to eliminate waste but have a ready supply. Medium priced options were mentioned because I believe Eastwood is someone's medium priced paint and poster has decided on that price point. Trying to answer the question rather than a full blown "who has the best paint" discussion and the expletive deleted verbage. Providing he's not painting white over black, 5 quarts should be enough.

It's backwards, but leaving the inside last means that you can wait for more paint to arrive and a slight mismatch to the exterior is impossible to detect. Painting inside and outside same color makes the backward OK.

You really seem to know what you're talking about. What's the mix ratio on your 5 quarts to make it a sprayable amount?

4:1= 5 sprayable quarts. 10%-20% reducer can be used if needed. My comment of 5 quarts being enough is my opinion, no one can say for sure. Not knowing how many coats. I based on two base coats and using a proper color primer. If the poster uses local company, that will be safer unless he buys 8 qts SS or 10 qts BC/CC from Eastwood. I advised him to do the math if he is on a tight budget.

All paint companies sell different qualities of paint. The coverage of each quality in each brand will not be the same. Even the color choice between brands can make a difference. For example, some paint brands have very good coverage with their yellows, but their red's are not as good as some competitive brands/qualities.

A friend of mine painted his Model A (not including the fenders!) with Omni and it took 4 quarts because the color is a maroon and Omni doesn't have good coverage in that particluar color so he spent far more money and time buying and spraying several coats to get the coverage he needed. The cost per quart seemed reasonable, but having to buy 4 quarts made it more expensive than if he'd just bought the Envrio Base instead.

My point is that unless the OP goes to a paint store with knowledge of the color he wants, there's no telling how much paint he needs.

Poster says he, himself, painted a 69 Camaro. Says it took a gal. Says the 1949 short bed, he has right in front of him, is a considerably larger area. He has painted at least two vehicles with some brand, and knows the coverage of whatever color family he used. Seems as though he is the better judge than any of our guesses or a paint store's guess. No one can pin it down to no. of quarts. It's a non answerable question. Everybody who does DIY painting buys too much or too little.

So 5 quarts might not be the correct amount then? I'd agree with that.

30 years ago I used a gallon and a half of Deltron painting one and just had enough. Painted interior and exterior the same color, painted all door jambs, etc. May have had half a pint left at the end. For what it is worth, that paint shot nicely and held up well and I'd use it again. 22 years ago I painted a 1957 Chevy 2 dr hardtop. Bottom red, top white. Used one gallon on bottom, one quart on top. Catalyzed urethane.

I just painted a 1959 Chevrolet Apache short box step side and I used 6.5.sprayable quarts of single stage catalyzed urethane from Eastwood. I also used about a quart of white for the roof. I am painting the inside a different color from body and I have to do the wheels yet with the body color. I bought 8 quarts of sprayable paint and will have about 1 quart left for the engine firewall area and? This was 2 gallon cans which are only 3 quarts of paint and mixed with 1 quart of catalyst making the full gallon. Some reducer adds a little more. I also used clear coat over the single stage for some extra protection and more shine. It came out good. All these paints were from Eastwood and while I have not painted with this paint before I liked it. Certainly not a pro but I have painted a few cars and trucks and living in a very rural area the ease of ordering and delivery was also a good thing for me.

I have the same question, and talked to many, whom I believe to have adequate experience. Such as a friend who paints cars professionally, a former restorer, paint store, others on here, etc. I have gleaned that there are too many variables.....coverage of the particular product, primer color, paint color, number of coats, how much you spill, excess overspray, any boo boos along the way. Colors change lot to lot, custom mixes are hard to duplicate, even if you go back to the same place, same code, same operator. Like I said, lots of variables. Its never bad to have an extra quart. Who knows, you may need to make a repair someday. A scuff or a nick in assembly, a ding on the road. Just shake and flip the extra every month or so.

It takes too much effort to go cheap on the final step. get the best guess, buy extra. The last vehicle I painted was a jeep. Bought a gallon, exterior only. Ended up short because I managed to spill a quart along the way. I was half a quart short.

Lucky find on a desert truck. Minimal rust is a nice find, especially on a vehicle of that age. Good luck!

If you're buying paint from a professional paint supplier, please don't forget to check the mix ratio. Not doing this is like trying to bake a cake with no recipe. The paint stores supplying body shops are going to sell you full cans of paint, full cans of reducer and hardener and expect that you know what you want and how to mix it. Not paying attention to the ratios can and usually will cause you to buy the wrong amount of paint. I point this out because yesterday I was at English Paint and a person was complaining he had bought too much paint (which obviously isn't returnable). He apparently hadn't considered the mix ratio at all.

For example, I am spraying some catalyzed PPG paint and it is based on a ratio of 8 paint, 6 reducer and 1 hardener. (Be sure to ask for the proper temperature of reducer as it will make a difference in your work--right now you need medium temp reducer or 70-85 degrees) Say if you wanted to have 7 sprayable quarts and the ratio was the same as the PPG above, you would need to buy 4 quarts of paint, 3 quarts of reducer and 1 pint of hardener. For the math experts, yes, this is 7.5 quarts, but you're going to lose a bit to overspray, cleaning, paint sticking to cans, funnels, strainers, stirrers, etc so you want to factor that in also.

Good luck!

If you go to a reputable autobody supply house that has been in business for several years, the counter person (or someone in the supply house) will be able to help you decide the type of paint, the proper reducer, mix ratio and how much paint to buy. They deal with these questions all the time and usually can offer solid advice.

This discussion, my friends, is why I stay far and clear from anything requiring paint other than rattle can paint for the interior or the black parts.
Everyone who has posted is likely correct, but one certainly cannot tell from reading each of their different interpretations as to what to do.
Bless all of your hearts for your patience to paint.

Amen, Carl