[meford4u]

well nos, as I work for FORD and I am a painter for the Freestar, I can tell you about the paint on your car.

They paint cars in the factory in a three step process.

1. The car is literally dunked in ecoat and the car and paint are electrified to get into every nook and cranny. The ecoat is the most important step. If the car has oil on it or the ecoat gets sanded to the original metal, this is where your care delaminates and casuses excessive rust. The oven dries the car.
2.The car is sent through prime for it's first colour of paint. Oven dried again.
3. The car is then sent through for the final two step stage of first it's final colour and then clearcoat all in one step. At the factory we apply the equivalent to three coats of clearcoat from a paint/body shop.

We don't get into wet sanding to fix clear and paint blemishes, but this step can make a paint job look incredible. I would not suggest this for the do-it-yourselfer.

If you are planning on keeping the car the same colour, then you really don't need to do the door jams and under hood. Not painting these areas will greatly reduce the cost of the paint job.

Ford red sucks, as does many red paints. Why?? It covers very easily and is a great colour that flows on like a dream for a painter, but it fades in the sun so easy because--it flows on easy for a painter ---ie--it takes a little amount of red paint to make a job look good. White paint in all factory paints are painted twice. It is the hardest paint coverage on a vehicle and the thickest.


As for cost to get the whole car painted, it's a case of the more you spend, the better results you can expect--usually.
The shop needs a well ventilated down draft booth, and if they have spent the money on the booth, it should be controlled with humidity through a water system.

I made the mistake years ago of having a car repainted in a mom-and-pop shop and what a mess they made. The vehicle never survived 5 years after they painted it.

Take a really good look at what you want to do with the car and what you envision the car looking like in 3-5 years. Maybe you should just consider saving your bucks for the body kit you want, if you want one that is, and doing everything when you have your vision and money in hand.

If you reply with your location, I will try and find a good paint shop near you. But do your own research too.

Hopes this answers a few questions for you.