Hey guys, i have a 2011 mini cooper that is white silver, we bought the car with the intentions of changing the color.

i assume i would need to scuff, lay down some sealer than base coat.

my dilemma is the amount of paint i need to buy, i've found on the forum a rule of thumb 8oz per panel, this seems like a lot for a cooper.

the roof will be untouched as it is black, all the jambs will be repainted as well as the inner doors, hood, tailgate.

do you have any recommendations on the amount of paint i should buy? paint i believe will be limco supreme plus bc/cc with limco 4000 clear the base coat i believe is 2:1

thanks in advance.

What color are you going to paint it? 2 or 4 door?
Coverage varies depending on color.

Colors also vary the cost.

sorry, it's a 2 door hatch. color will be porsche orange. i dont think it's metallic.

7 to 8 ounces per panel, per coat of material. For a small car you can multiply your answer by 0.85 as a reasonable adjustment. Figure 3 coats for that orange and min 2 coats of clear. Count the jambs/inside door edges as one panel:

door edges/jambs (1)
doors (2)
fenders (2)
hood (1)
hatch/rear quarters (1)

7 panels so 56 ounces of sprayable material per pass as an estimate. Factor it down for "small" and you are at 48 ounces so 1.5 quarts. Therefore you need 4.5 quarts sprayable for base - maybe you can squeak by with an even gallon. Minimum 3 quarts sprayable clear coat. Same for primer/sealer.

Look at your product tech sheets to get the mix ratios required to get sprayable material.

You'll probably find that buying a gallon kit of clear (like the awesome Tamco HC-2100 we sell at the site here) will be a more economical option than buying quart kits.

Also you will want a consistent color under that orange. Personally I would shoot 3 coats and then check that you have "true color" before shooting your clear.

thanks for all your help, i will update this later, the person is unsure of the color, so i will be painting some mirror caps for the time being.

so i painted the mirror caps, i was having some difficulty. definitely needed 3 coats to cover. the paint and clear seemed to run, if i held the gun further away it would be dry and orange peeled, close i got such a nice gloss that the clear ran.

my gun was setup with a 1.4 tip 29 psi at the inlet with trigger pulled. i had the fluid and the fan wide open, i dialed the fluid in a little which seemed to help, overall not a bad outcome.

how do you guys get a nice gloss without the clear running and minimal orange peel?

was it my fan pattern all the way open shooting the little mirror caps?

I find orange a pain in the back side to cover so you may need to factor that in.

As for your clear running... As your fan pattern was wide open what was your over lap like? maybe it was too small.

that's what i'm thinking, it was my overlap