Project Question and Answer with Rhode Island School of Design's Michael Lye

[thebeerbaron]

To divert this thread around the threadjack....

I was wondering this morning if more panels would make it easier or harder to paint the car - do any of you who've been through the painting process know if it's easier for the shop to paint ten small panels or four large ones? I assume easier means cheaper, but maybe not.

I'm thinking that hanging ten panels in the spray booth and being able to cover a single panel with just a few simple movements would be fewer painter-hours than dancing around a large front clamshell, then a rear clamshell, and the like. Maybe it would even get you better results.

Again, not exactly an aesthetic decision, but perhaps an important one.

[kach22i]

I'm thinking that hanging ten panels in the spray booth and being able to cover a single panel with just a few simple movements would be fewer painter-hours than dancing around a large front clamshell, then a rear clamshell, and the like. Maybe it would even get you better results.

I cannot claim to know about professional painting. I do know a guy with an old Porsche 356 Speedster which took a hit. The insurance company wanted to do a touch up of the damage, but their were no joints or stopping points in the panels. They ended up painting the whole car, the owner insisted on it. To make the best of it, the insurance company featured the car in their magazine as a feel good story.