Painting your car cheap.(now with better pics under the sun)

[ratheater]

I just finished painting my car, and it turned out better than I thought it would.
The clear coat on my car was peeling away and the color is fading badly. However I can't justify spending $3000 (as quoted to me by a paint shop) to paint my car. Maaco quoted me $1800, still too high. I need to paint this car but I didn't want to spend a ton of money.

Hello Rustoleum.

Supply list.
Rustoleum Satin Hunter green 2qt ($20)
4 cans of light gray Rustoleum primer ($16)
2 cans of Satin Hunter green ($10)
100% mineral spirits (to thin out the Rustoleum) ($9)
Sand Paper 80, 600, 1000 ($10)
Spray gun ($34)
tape ($20)
shop vac ($34)
Tack cloth ($15)
palm sander (borrowed from a friend)
Rent paint booth (about $50)
Bag of white cloth ($5)


Here's the original paint and car.





I spend one full day just removing parts. Bumper, side mirror, mudflaps, wing, wind shield wipers came off.



Many, many hours of sanding, and sanding... and sanding. Hope you have a good MP3 player because that palm sander is loud and annoying. I was listening to Dream Theater!!! Get all the way to the Primer, or metal... and smooth it out.



Then clean the surface using a cloth with mineral spirits. Then hit it with the Tack cloth to get all the loose paint and dirt.
Blue tape all surface that you do not want to prime. Then prime every thing.



I rented a paint booth, many places will rent it out to you. I work on an Air Force Base that just happened to have a awesome paint booth. I painted 2 days for about 50 bucks, which is a great price!
It was a trail and error in the paint mixing department. I kept the gun at 20 PSI, and mixed the paint about 80 % paint and 20% mineral spirits. After every coat, I baked it at 140 degrees for 30 minutes, then applied the next coat.
On the first day, I sprayed 2 coats. Drove Froggie home and wiped it down with mineral spirits. Inspected to see how the paint was and see if I have missed anything. I sanded everything down with 1000 sand paper to smooth it out even more.
I went back again and painted it. This time I move the spray gun much slower. And here are the results.




I got the wing from GANUE and painted it flat black.


I really enjoy this torturous sanding experience. I know the green isn't really everyone's cup of tea... get it? Tea... green... sigh. Satin is much, much easier to paint. I didn't have to worry too much about the shine.
I think the green came out pretty smooth. I will return to the paint booth and spray maybe 3 coats of clear. I will post more pictures of my car in the sun in a better setting.

If anyone wants to do this, I recommend about 5 days off. Patience in sanding and numb hand. Also, I recommend the satin colors, easier to hide mistakes.

[fowljesse]

Cool! Great job. I started a topic about this a while ago. I painted a van silver with Rustoleum years before the $50 paint job thread. It turned out so good, it blinded people. I'm looking forward to more pics, and a worklog

[NSlowbro]

Whoa that looks really nice! Better looking than my car lol

[DeadMaker]

Good job....There is another way of rustoleum paint but more torture..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPJTTRWttQ

[ratheater]

Dead Maker, I did that once and it sucked. I think the roll on is just for someone who actually knows a lot about how paint works. And that wet sanding that he does is messy. It takes longer... much much much longer.
Now, I will never say roll Rustoleum gives horrible results. He did it and it came out amazing. I did it, and it absolutely sucked. Results may vary.

[Daninski]

Just to clarify:
Normally you would thin the paint with some thing that flashes over (evaporates) quick. Paint thinner (varsol) takes a long time to evaporate which means longer periods between coats and more of a chance for the paint to run.
Secondly, if the paint is sound there's no need to sand it off in fact if you ever chipped your paint the paint under it would still be there instead of exposed metal or primer.
Finally, you only need to prime the filler or bare metal areas not the whole car.
Compliment part: good job, turned out real,,green.

[DeadMaker]

You used rustoleum paint like he did on the video or rustoleum for auto application?
What kind of primer you used?Rustoleum too?
In clear coat you might need to sand it with 1000 or 2000 and polish it..

Looks great from the pics.

[DeadMaker]

J
Finally, you only need to prime the filler or bare metal areas not the whole car.

Isn't the filler used to fill some light scratches after the sanding so to have a clear surface?And then you sand the filler..

[Daninski]

J
Finally, you only need to prime the filler or bare metal areas not the whole car.

Isn't the filler used to fill some light scratches after the sanding so to have a clear surface?And then you sand the filler..

Well there's filler known here as Bondo and then to finish you apply Spot Putty to fill any scratches or air bubbles in your filler. Spot putty can also be used for stone chips and such. We have what's called High Build Primer that can hide scratches as well.

[ratheater]

You used rustoleum paint like he did on the video or rustoleum for auto application?
What kind of primer you used?Rustoleum too?
In clear coat you might need to sand it with 1000 or 2000 and polish it..

Looks great from the pics.

I just use Rustoleum Satin Green Oil based Enamel. Mixed it with Mineral Spirits to thin it out and spray it with a spray gun. Using the spray gun, the paint sprayed out so smooth.
The Primer is Rustoleum light gray Automobile primer, rattle can.

This is my first time painting with a spray gun. I am actually very happy with the result.
As for clear coat, I will spray that later.

[ratheater]

J
Finally, you only need to prime the filler or bare metal areas not the whole car.

Isn't the filler used to fill some light scratches after the sanding so to have a clear surface?And then you sand the filler..

Well there's filler known here as Bondo and then to finish you apply Spot Putty to fill any scratches or air bubbles in your filler. Spot putty can also be used for stone chips and such. We have what's called High Build Primer that can hide scratches as well.

Daninski: This is my first time painting with a spray gun. I wasn't sure how smooth everything is. So I primed the whole area and get a new surface to work with. Sanding the primer was easier for me. I looked at the bare metal, old primer, and some base coat and got confused. Ha ha.

[fowljesse]

I rattle-can Rustoleum'd my friend's 626 Baby Blue. It looks great. I want to paint clouds on it when the weather is better.

[ratheater]

Here are some pictures of Froggy in the sun, she looks pretty good (consider how cheap the paint job was).

[wertys]

Try sticking masking tape on it and removing it after to see if it attached to the surface

[DeadMaker]

Try sticking masking tape on it and removing it after to see if it attached to the surface

It's true..You might have some problems with it cause there is no hardener mixed in..

Btw i love your rims