Mechanic Or Spray Painter Apprenticeship

[tanto]

Looking into doing an Apprenticeship in the automotive industry

Though I am undecided whether I should be a Mechanic or a Spray Painter.

I am keen in both professions but I cant make my mind up . Can anyone shed some light on the pros and cons of the two

[Silvia GTR]

I'm neither but I can do both.

My mates a mech and hes worked for a few different places but at the end of the day its a dirty job with f all pay and he hates working on a cars outside of work hours...

Painting is easy once you get the hang of it and I'm not sure how good the pay is if your just the sprayer. I have heard rumors of people getting health issues with working with paints for many years.

Imo it would be easier/cheaper to set up your own spray shop compared to a mech workshop imo...

[mad082]

I'm neither but I can do both.

My mates a mech and hes worked for a few different places but at the end of the day its a dirty job with f all pay and he hates working on a cars outside of work hours...

Painting is easy once you get the hang of it and I'm not sure how good the pay is if your just the sprayer. I have heard rumors of people getting health issues with working with paints for many years.

Imo it would be easier/cheaper to set up your own spray shop compared to a mech workshop imo...

painting is a shit job. not just the painting but the prep work. expect to spend a lot of time sanding.

as for cost of setting up a workshop compared to spray shop, i don't know about that. good spray guns cost a fair bit (few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, and you will need more than one) plus you will need sanders, polishers, a good compressor, spray booth, welder and basic tools (spanners, etc).

a workshop just needs a hoist (they are pretty cheap), basic air compressor, tools.

i have mates in both professions and they both hate their jobs.

moral of the story, if you like working on cars as a hobby, don't do it as a profession. you will end up hating working on cars.

[zebra]

100% agree Marc.

It is why I never went into it as a profession

I would rather build engines for myself etc than deal with joe dick head of the general public

[Silvia GTR]

moral of the story, if you like working on cars as a hobby, don't do it as a profession. you will end up hating working on cars.

Agreed.

[Alkatraz]

Do a heavy diesel fitter apprenticeship, HV sparky apprenticeship or boilermaker apprenticeship, then go and earn $150,000 per year in the mines. I have worked with all of these guys over the years and they all agree that for the money, they are not hard jobs.

Auto sparky working on heavy equipment is another good one.

[Chris Rogers]

moral of the story, if you like working on cars as a hobby, don't do it as a profession. you will end up hating working on cars.

pretty much sums it up. will happily work on them during hours - after hours - forget it . kid time unless I'm, working on one of my toys.

[tanto]

hrmm I was kind of hoping for some positive feedback trying to rethink my plan now

Anyway any more feed back would be good keep them coming.

Edited November 25, 2011 by tanto

[Cowboy1600]

Electrician or Dunny Diver. Let someone else work on your Aston while you lounge by the pool.

[Al Despo]

I was at a crossroads whether to do an apprenticeship and follow in my dad's footsteps but he talked me out of it and now I study a bachelor of mechanical engineering at uni and still keep the passion to work on cars so win win

[gold-3lt]

Yeah i probably would'nt do either if i were you. I'm currently studying diesel fitting and i'm hoping to find an apprenticeship by january sometime if i can. however for my work experience i could only get into a normal everyday mechanical workshop and i can tell already that i wouldnt like it long term. For how dirty you get and how much swearing you do changing CV shafts, lower control arm bushes, V6 engine mounts and all that shit you'd want to get paid a bit better for it in return. every day i get burnt doing stupid toyota oil filters which are right under the exhaust manifold. So i'd say look into deisel fitting or auto electrical areas. even hydraulics would be good.

[33GTRV]

if you can live on a poor salary and evjoy getting flogged every day of the week, try a mechinics apprenticeship. Been there, done that, not something i enjoyed. I drive cranes and am a heights and rigging specialist nowadays, much better pay and much better work, although it can be quiet physical at times.

[t_revz]

auto elec is ok if you live in the city or wanna do FIFO but if you dont there arent that many opportunities. diesel fitting is ok as there is a fair bit of variety in the work and money is usually good. i spent 7 weeks stripping, sanding and prepping my car to do a full respray and i only enjoyed the first day and last day

thoroughly agree about working on cars for a living will make you hate doing it on the weekends