Paint job for a car.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Have you ever painted your own body work (Bondo patches and such)? Is it difficult?

[kcdave]

I find the painting to be much easier than the body work.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Say it's just one panel you're working on...After primer, how many coats would you say so it doesn't look like ass?

[Left Seater]

I suggest auto insurance. Pretty sure they have it in Canada.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Dude, I'm not talking about collision repair...I'm talking about minor dents and Bondo'ed rust patches.

[Left Seater]

Rust? Try waxing your car a couple times a year and using an underbody protectant next time.

Let the pros paint your whip. They have the tools to do it correctly. If your vehicle is more than a year old the paint on it will be slightly lighter than the paint you would put on it. This will only get worse over time. This is why the pros often pain the entire side of a car when repairing small scratches.

[kcdave]

I would always recommend 2 coats minimum, with a wet sanding in between. However, you left out many important details. Is it base coat, clear coat? What color? Solid, or metallic?
If it is just one panel, I would highly recommend taking it somewhere unless you know what the hell you are doing. I would have included saying, unless you dont give a shit, but the mere fact
you are asking leads me to believe you do. BC/CC paints can be tricky. Metallic paints are very tricky. If it is a decent car, I would definitely take it to someone. I painted for a couple years way back when.
I was pretty decent at it, but not sure that I would even do it now. One panel should not break the bank. Also, I would never do my own body work. I always sucked at it.