<VV> Well, so...

[Alan and Clare Wesson]

> I figure after that, just drive the damn thing down to
> Maaco, and get a spendier paint job from them(use the
> money I saved by doing my own body work on a better
> quality paint job) and then I should have an okay
> final product.

This actually makes a lot of sense - there's a lot to be said for doing all 
the prep yourself and then getting someone else to do the top coat - that 
way you have some kind of come-back if the finish is poor or there are 
problems (although they might try to blame the bits you did), you avoid 
paying for almost all of the work charges (shooting a coat of paint or two 
is quick and easy and the paint is quite cheap), you have better control 
over the quality of the dent removal, filling, sanding (or 'snading'!) and 
blocking - 99.9% of bodyshops leave ripples (always look down the sides of 
the cars they have just finished working on, to see what kind of job they 
do!), because at the end of the day they are working on someone else's car 
and not their own, and so they are not incentivised to be perfectionists but 
to compromise with what they can get away with. You, on the other hand, are 
preparing your own car, and you know that the more time you spend on it, the 
better the job will be - there is nothing to stop you spending an infinite 
amount of time on it and making it infinitely perfect! Mind you, watch how 
they mask it - poor masking often ruins cars.

This way, you also avoid problems like micro-blistering from water droplets 
in the paint - this once happened to me because I rented a compressor and 
the water trap was cr*p - I ended up having done a lot of work and spending 
a lot of money, and the car had micro-blisters. If I had paid someone else 
to do the job I could have saved myself the work and the compressor rental, 
I would have had a better job - and the final cost would have been about the 
same (because I had to strip it off and do it all over again with another 
(rented!) compressor!

You also avoid problems like the neighbours coming round to complain about 
the fumes (been there, done that), the need to have an oven and a dust-proof 
booth, etc. I don't know about the USA, but over here the regulations (if 
you take any notice of them!) are closing to shutting down paint hobbyists.

Cheers

Alan