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UPDATE: 0-3/29 @ 5PM : Daytime Pics added

Finished the second paint job on the car. Came out much better than before, but the first coat (sealer) had some shitty runs on the rear drivers 1/4 panel and a could spots on the door, but after spraying 3 coats base & 2 clear the orange peel & runs from the first sealer coat were almost nonexistent.

Still gotta sand the clear smooth but it will be way easier than the last paintjob in the titanium metallic color.

Car looks a bit goofy. Didn't have time to sand/spray the front bumper and the weather SUCKED the past couple days, too humid / rainy to spray the sunroof, door handles, mirrors & spoiler so I just sprayed them with primer for the time being.

Sorry if the pics look like the camera was dirty. It was SO FARKIN HUMID outside when I took them so the camera lense must have fogged up:















This is what happens when you put shrouding over top of the car after 6 hours of dry time. I pulled the plastic off an hour later to find it messed up the clearcoat a bit. Luckily its so light that I can take some car polish & remove the haze easily. You can see the orange peel on the right of the pic....not too bad at all.

Pics I originally posted can be seen here:

http://www.projectmazda.com/host/noblegreen/

Whats left to do:

Obviously sanding & spraying the front bumper, & the front & rear mudguards, spraying the fuel filler door, spoiler, sunroof, door handles & power mirrors.

I also need to remove the doors & hatch & hood and spray the underside of all of them. The door jambs & underneath of the hatch needs to be sprayed as well but that will requrie a lot of taping off of the interior & exterior so I will wait to do that.

I am gonna write a how-to on painting your own car with some tips that i've learned doing mine twice. I honestly believe that now I could spray a car with a better-than-factory finish with the s--- i've learned doing all this crap & I must say, finding info on how to PROPERLY paint your own car ON A BUDGET is nonexistent on the web. Only places that came close were hotrodder forums that had over-the-top procedures that would take days to complete & cost LOTS.

SO look out for it, i'll try to write it this week if I don't get a shitload of skewl werk tommorrow.

That'd be awesome, Gro. After all my go-parts are in, I'll install a body kit and paint it at the same time. I have a paint shop to do it in, it'd be nice to have your experience under my belt.

Hey Gro, looking good!

From what I can see, you've got an MS front and no side skirts. That was the road I was considering going, but I was worried that the front bumper would hang down too much closer to the ground than the sides of the car, and it would look weird. It's hard to get good pictures of that setup, so it's difficult to make a good judgement.

As someone who owns and sees it in person everyday... what is your opinion? Is it terribly noticeable?

-Tim

dude thats a sweet color i like a nice dark green like that.

Absath wrote: From what I can see, you've got an MS front and no side skirts. That was the road I was considering going, but I was worried that the front bumper would hang down too much closer to the ground than the sides of the car, and it would look weird. It's hard to get good pictures of that setup, so it's difficult to make a good judgement.

As someone who owns and sees it in person everyday... what is your opinion? Is it terribly noticeable?

-Tim

Hate to Hijack a thread- but in reply to how the MS bumper look swith no sideskirts:

This is Justin from MOCA with this same setup and it looks perfect!







Hope thats what you are looking for....

BTW-- Cars looking nice Gro. That noble Green metallic is a rare color.

ya, the MS bumper, if anything, is a lil higher than the stock GS bumper w/lip attached. You can still curb it if you drive like a tard but it isn't that low.

I am still trying to source some skirts that will go with the car. I tried fitting up some EGT skirts and may use them if I can't find anything else, but it'll be tricky to attach them up & look right.

BTW i have front & rear mudguards that aren't on the car...they aren't painted yet, and I wanna prep them GOOD and paint them w/a flex agent so they don't chip off.

I am not a big fan of green, but that dark green....all greens should look that nice! Good job.

Updated the pics to daytime ones...still looks hilarious with the primered mirrors & missing mirror on the one side (didn't feel like assembling it & risking breaking the glass again :-/ ).

And yes the car is wet. I just hosed it off, but apparently the dirt is still on it (look at the rear pic & the finger marks on the hatch).

looks good Gro..... you got guts, i'll give ya that, not many people would paint their own car

My front bumper needs paint, and u are starting to inspire me

How much did the paint cost ya and where do you buy it ?

Yeah, that was my problem. I haven't found any sideskirts that I really like. Most everything offered for our car is way too aggressive and ricy for my personal tastes.

But thanks for the pics Atlanta and especially the daytime pics Gro. I'm a huge fan of green and your car is looking awesome. Can't wait to see it after paint is completely finished.

-Tim

good job gro u r definitely looking to a professional at painting first time was a little rough but looking good this time u r in desperate need of some new seats though.

I can't believe I found someone who has seats that look worse than mine...but yeah, you have inspired me to paint my own car, lookin good man

the paint still has flaws. But whatever..you can't really see the runs unless you are VERY CLOSE to the car and they aren't that major anyways. You can't even feel them when you run your hand over the areas.

I'm going to write a howto fo sho tho on it so stay tuned...won't be super in-depth but will list the do's and don'ts to doing it yourself & the problems you will likely encounter and how to prevent runs, orange peel, fish eyes and other paint defects to the best of your ability.

And yes, I hate my seats...i want them to die!!! The a-- cushion on the drivers seat is flat...as if some fat chick had been driving the car prior to me buying it or something. The side bolsters are torn up too