do the prep work yourself, and yes, if you have a steady hand paint it yourself, with a 1/2 decent spray gun and a compressor.
You have to remember that they are painting your car for about what you'll pay for the paint if you go buy it. If you know anyone who works at a body shop try to get some paint at cost. It will save you a few bucks.
It is all 100% in the prep. the best paint jobs in the world are multi-coated over perfect prep work. Single or even 2 coat jobs over decent prep work will come out nice.
You can prep it yourself and take it there, finish the prep work, and just have them spray it. If I were you, I'd even have them call right before they were going to spray it and go there with some fine grit paper and some solvent to scuff and clean the surface right before they paint, then when they lay it on, it will stick better.
Also, I know the paint they use takes a little longer to fully cure. A decent paint will take about 3 weeks to cure pretty well, some never fully cure unless they are sun baked or oven baked. So make sure you find out the curing time of the paint they use, so you don't wax it or do anything you shouldn't before it fully cures.
and finally good luck and put up before and after pics!
You have to remember that they are painting your car for about what you'll pay for the paint if you go buy it. If you know anyone who works at a body shop try to get some paint at cost. It will save you a few bucks.
It is all 100% in the prep. the best paint jobs in the world are multi-coated over perfect prep work. Single or even 2 coat jobs over decent prep work will come out nice.
You can prep it yourself and take it there, finish the prep work, and just have them spray it. If I were you, I'd even have them call right before they were going to spray it and go there with some fine grit paper and some solvent to scuff and clean the surface right before they paint, then when they lay it on, it will stick better.
Also, I know the paint they use takes a little longer to fully cure. A decent paint will take about 3 weeks to cure pretty well, some never fully cure unless they are sun baked or oven baked. So make sure you find out the curing time of the paint they use, so you don't wax it or do anything you shouldn't before it fully cures.
and finally good luck and put up before and after pics!