google results say that you need a compressor that puts out 15cfm to paint a car.

my cheap turbine puts out more cfm than that.

are we comparing apples and oranges here?
help me understand

Completely different operating parameters. Compressed air is high pressure with lower demand CFM.... turbines are low air pressure with high output CFM. Compressed air is depending on the explosive release of refrigerated air into a wamer atmoshpere with the by product being atomization of the fluid gobules. Turbines are taking fluid and adding a bit of air pressure which is "heated" at a great volume of air production. The gobules are atmomized because of those factors and the warm air. It's not just apples and oranges... it's more like apples and basketballs....