$50 Rustoleum paint job bad idea?

[ed1380]

You need to get your head out of your ass. Not everyone cares about show cars or spending more on paint than the car is worth.

Another DSM is going down the tube. Spraying a car other than factory (unless every bit I.E. engine bay/interior/underside) is stupid and looks ricey. practice on another POS before destroying the car. or save up the 1200 or so dollars and get it professionally resprayed and MAACO is not who you want to use.

 

[ed1380]

You could get urethane single stage for that price.

Where? It was about $140 for paint and supplies of Dupont nason and that was with employee discount. I would have gone with urethane if I could get it for that price

 

[dsm'r sk1mp]

To answer the original question. I repainted my panda for sixty three dollars. i stayed with the original color I did not have to sand to far past the clear coat. the process went sand with 220 then 380, then 600. i then used white primer sealer with a light coat. sanded with 600 again. i did my base paint coat and sanded with 600. then my second layer with 800. I then did my final coat, sanded with 1000. then clear and wet sand with 1200. ALL COATS WERE MEDIUM LIGHT COATS with soft sanding. it shines and looks like a thousand dollar job. that way you save money and the guys that think your ricer for not going with the 1200 dollar paint job can sit and have their fit for wasting the money...

 

[dsm'r sk1mp]

To answer the original question. I repainted my panda for sixty three dollars. i stayed with the original color I did not have to sand to far past the clear coat. the process went sand with 220 then 380, then 600. i then used white primer sealer with a light coat. sanded with 600 again. i did my base paint coat and sanded with 600. then my second layer of paint with 800. I then did my final coat, sanded with 1000. then clear and wet sand with 1200. ALL COATS WERE MEDIUM LIGHT COATS with soft sanding. it shines and looks like a thousand dollar job. that way you save money and the guys that think your ricer for not going with the 1200 dollar paint job can sit and have their fit for wasting the money...

 

[bryanwheat]

Where? It was about $140 for paint and supplies of Dupont nason and that was with employee discount. I would have gone with urethane if I could get it for that price

I've paid in the past about 80-100 dollars for a gallon of single stage from oreilly, around 30 for a gallon of reducer, and 30 for a bottle of catalyst. You really don't even need a gallon if you are doing a re spray of the same color. I've got away with a quart before. If you aren't looking for a matched color than you can get good deals from summit racing also. They have gallons of single stage with reducer and activator for like 100 bucks.

 

[ed1380]

What about clear?

 

[bryanwheat]

That was for single stage paint which doesn't use clear coat.

 

[GRNDSM]

As everyone said, it is all about prep work and if you have never done it before, you will not do a very good prep work or your first (or second, or even third...) car. In many cases, it will look better than before, but that isn't saying much

Personally, I have had good luck with Maaco's $400 paint job (NOT their cheapest!). Most shops spend $500-800 on just the paint and materials and charge $2000-$3000 for a typical paint job. Maaco can afford it because:

1. They use cheap(ish) materials, though corparite buys in bulk, so they still do not pay as much as small shops.
2. All of their cheap paint jobs are a single stage (getting clear coat usually doubles the price).
3. They skimp on the prep work! This is a big one! They mask (poorly) EVERYTHING, because it is faster/cheaper than removing the parts.
4. They count on the fact that your car will need additional work. That additional work will not be cheap or very good.

But... If YOU do the prep work, removing EVERYING that can be removed (thus minimizing their crappy masking). Do all your own body work. They can do a decent spray job which will last 4-6 years!

They hate customers like me, because I leave haing paid them $400 and not a penny more.

But then, people are amazed by "my" Maaco jobs, so they take their cars there . But if they do not follow my formula for Maaco success, they regret it.

 

[ed1380]

That was for single stage paint which doesn't use clear coat.

Didn't know they had single stage urethane.

 

[GRNDSM]

Most cheap Maaco paint jobs are single stage urarhane.

But... I wounder how they are affected by new water based paint requirement?

 

[ed1380]

I called mine and their $299 is acrylic enamel and the next step up is urethane at $599


I used 1.5 quarts just for door/trunk jams and engine bay.

 

[BigTyla]

You painted your car with latex paint?

Sure did. Sounds crazy, huh? I would not have done this had this car not been my budget project car, but the results far exceeded my expectations!

 

[Tha Fella Dylan]

I'm vouching for Bryan, as he told me how to spray bomb my hood. Turned out pretty good on a scrap piece of aluminum. I'll be doing the whole hood here soon. You can make it look good of you put the prep into it.

 

[jared_gibbs]

Honestly a $50 budget to do a good looking job at all sounds very unreasonable. I painted one of my cars with rustoleum and it took probably 20 cans of spray paint and maybe more to cover the car. Just for the color coat! It's not that much more cash to just get the good stuff from an autobody shop. I sure wish I had. All that work to come out with a sub par look. I actually sanded mine down and primered it with good autobody paint first and then put the rustoleum on because I really liked the color I found. I spent probably spent over 20 hours on my job and it turned out okayish. Not very satisfied for the amount of work I put into it. Good learning experience.

Basically:
Absolutely try to paint your own car. Don't let people tell you you're crazy.
Practice on something first. The hood was the hardest part for me. See if you can't paint a spare one first (see junk yard)
Get good paint. It's not really that much more. 30 cans X $4/can = $120. Decent paint: $200-$400.
Take your time prepping.

Good luck!

 

[bryanwheat]

Honestly a $50 budget to do a good looking job at all sounds very unreasonable. I painted one of my cars with rustoleum and it took probably 20 cans of spray paint and maybe more to cover the car. Just for the color coat! It's not that much more cash to just get the good stuff from an autobody shop. I sure wish I had. All that work to come out with a sub par look. I actually sanded mine down and primered it with good autobody paint first and then put the rustoleum on because I really liked the color I found. I spent probably spent over 20 hours on my job and it turned out okayish. Not very satisfied for the amount of work I put into it. Good learning experience.

Basically:
Absolutely try to paint your own car. Don't let people tell you you're crazy.
Practice on something first. The hood was the hardest part for me. See if you can't paint a spare one first (see junk yard)
Get good paint. It's not really that much more. 30 cans X $4/can = $120. Decent paint: $200-$400.
Take your time prepping.

Good luck!

It all depends on how well you put the paint on, the prep job and if you wetsand and buff afterwards. The hood and bumper were done with rattle can paint and clear on this car.

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I called mine and their $299 is acrylic enamel and the next step up is urethane at $599


I used 1.5 quarts just for door/trunk jams and engine bay.

I don't think that the acrylic enamel covers near as well as the acrylic urethane single stage. I used about 1/4 of a pint to put 2 coats on this engine bay and still had some left over in the hopper.

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[ed1380]

Yea I'm painting a white car black and I spray heavy coats.

Where do you get your paint from?


prep, prep, prep, and when you're done, prep some more.

 

[bryanwheat]

Yea I'm painting a white car black and I spray heavy coats.

Where do you get your paint from?


prep, prep, prep, and when you're done, prep some more.

I get mine from oreillies. You should of got a quart of sealer to spray over the black paint and you could of gotten away with using half the paint that you are.

 

[Squirrlee]

Ok........Here's the deal with the $50 paint job. IF you have the equipment...guns/space/Air compressor spraying Rusto can turn out very nice. On the other hand if you intend on using the roller method I can say from experience that it can look good. I did the Trunk lid on my 70 Nova as a test panel with the roller method. I did 3 or 4 roller coats and laid ONE Rusto rattle can layer then put 2 more roller coats on. I went after it with the buffer and got a little happy in one spot and managed to buff through the 2 top roller coats and hit the rattle can layer and you can see the difference. So don't try using a rattle can to "Fix" anything you do with a roller job with a rattle can.......it won't match.

That aside the roller method can look real nice if you put in the effort. Getting the right consistancy of the paint is very important. I went with a 50/50 Paint/Minerial Spirit ratio and found that worked for me. DO NOT use the milky mineral Spirits use the clear stuff....it really makes a difference in the thinning of the paint. The milky stuff seems to not really thin the paint correctly so it seems thicker than it should be and makes the paint look more foggy.

Now when it comes to the sanding of the last coat....use 1500 or better and keep the water moving because and crud that gets stuck in the paint will cause very ulgy scratching when you loosen it and it gets rolled around on the paint. The moving water helps flush these bits of grit away and keeps the sand paper from getting gummed up also causing scratches.

Once the sanding is done use a good compound like Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and finish up with a good polish.....I suggest Meguire's Ultimate Polish. No I do not work for them or sell their products but I have found them to work very well. It will make Rusto paint look like a mirror and fix some older paint issues better than you would think. The rear bumper on my Eclipse was nearly faded to PINK and it brought it back from the dead. My neighbor asked if I got it painted? I told him to walk around to the drivers side where I had not done yet. He was rather shocked that it was just compound.