ou want to paint your own car, but you don't know whether to use lacquer or enamel, and you're not sure if you should wet sand between coats. To find answers to these questions and more, stop by the Paint FAQ Web site created by Bob Story, a professional auto painter who freely shares the knowledge and skill he's accumulated over the past 20 years.

If painting your own car sounds like a subject with limited appeal — not to mention a recipe for disaster — Story's site has received nearly 18,000 hits since he started counting two years ago, and he still averages half a dozen new questions weekly. As far as helping amateurs tackle a professional's job, Story says, "As long as they have a bit of knowledge to start with, they should be okay." One piece of advice Story offers to painting novices is this nugget: "Painting is relatively simple, so don't get a swelled head over a nice glossy finish. A trained monkey could get a similar result. The mark of a good painter is the ability to fix your mistakes."

Advice from the Spray Booth
Story, 46, lives in western Canada in a small town 40 miles east of Edmonton and formerly owned his own body repair and paint shop. He now works in someone else's shop. When he entered the body-repair business more than 20 year ago, Story didn't originally have his sights set on working in the spray booth. "I just always ended up being the painter. Now, that's all I do," he says. "I guess I have the right temperament for it. Painting is a headache. Little things can always go wrong — like some insect might get into the paint. I don't fly off the handle over things like that."

Not long after he started painting cars in the late 1970s, Story — who admits to being a "computer nerd" — bought his first personal computer. "When the Internet came on, I had to be the first one on," he says, recalling that early on he surfed with a 300-baud modem. "That's just the way I am." He joined a newsgroup for technical questions about cars (rec.autos.tech) and started fielding inquiries about painting and body refinishing. "People kept asking the same questions over and over again, so I just put it on the Web," Story says.

Glossing Over Painting Terms
The Paint FAQ site, which Story owns and maintains, has a glossary of painting terms and, as the site name promises, two frequently asked questions sections, with all the questions having come to Story via e-mail. The FAQ's answer key questions about equipment, techniques, health and safety issues, types of paint and protection of a car's finish. For example, Story recommends warm water and dish detergent for removing tree sap and flatly rejects extra-cost paint sealants sold by car dealers, unless he says, "You like that particular salesman and feel he should go home with a little bonus in his wallet."

The first FAQ is better organized, with a list of 25 questions that makes it easier to find a particular topic. The second section just flows from one topic to another. Story apologizes for the inconvenience and disorganized nature of the site in general: "It would take a lot of time to organize it better, and time seems to be a problem for me these days." Lack of time also derailed Story's plan for a comprehensive list of DuPont vehicle paint codes to help owners match colors on their cars. The list includes only a handful of car brands and doesn't cover all years. "I am preparing to revamp my site completely, hopefully this time with a proper structure," Story promises.

Reported by Rick Popely for cars.com

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DATABASE OF PAINT CODES
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PAINTINGS OF CARS
View one artist's airbrush paintings of cars.