Painting a car

Ok. I do not want to spend $1000 on a paintjob which is just going to cut cut to shit on its first event. Maaco will do an ambassador for $400 or so, but I'm thinking it's gotta be kinda thin for that price. So surfing zee intarweb, I came across this:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

If you read about 1/2 way down, it describes how to paint a car using Rustoleum and a small foam roller. Anybody ever tried something like this?

PAddy

I never painted a car like this but I use to paint steel railings for apartment balconies using Tremclad thinned down with mineral spirits. I use to spray it with a Wagner (sp?) paint sprayer (4-5 coats depending on colour) and the railings came out nice and smooth. People often thought that they were epoxy coated railings.

I have driven by some of the buildings recently where the railings were installed more than 5 years ago and they still look great like the day we installed them.

I would buy a piece of sheet metal or go to a scrap yard and get a cheap fender and then try it with a 1L can of Tremclad, you got nothing to loose.

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...If you don't go off at least once a season you are not trying hard enough...

Paddy,

Ha! The roller is an interesting backyard approach. I saw great results in the 1950's by old timers who used "enamel with a good soft brush on a hot day". Nobody I knew had any money. But everybody used a good sandable primer first. Then, a good "enamel" properly thinned for tempurature conditions was the trick. Wind and cold are the enemy.

I've also seen many people ruin their garage with overspray. And of course there was the guy I bought my RallyCar from who sprayed in his driveway and neglected to notice the overspray drifting across the fence onto his neighbor's Buick. (Ka-Ching!!)

But even with a roller or a brush, it's thoughtful preparation than makes all the difference. And testing your products and procedures first is just common sense. It's unwise to just rush into it.

Another thought... a lot of heavy equipment is maintained in the field with brushwork. Try Catapillar or John Deer as paint sources. (They have more colors than just green and yellow.)

Rich Smith

Vive le "back-yard-applique"

For those unwilling to click on a Mopar link, here's some photos:

http://photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/

Essentially, some other Torontonian has worked out a reasonable looking system for painting a whole car with ~$50 in rust paint. I think I'll give it a whirl on one of my spare fenders once I finish up with the *real* car's bodywork...

Holy shit. One guy on there says he spent $9600 on a paint job!

Anyhow, I did the $250 US Presidential Paint job from Maaco on my old Colt. It's held up well but has had to have a few spots repainted by the new owner, who rolled it twice last year.

Also did the buy cheap auto paint online and paint it outdoors ourselves. Serious orange peel, but it was like $100 and fits the 40/40 rule and the 10/10 rule. (Looks good from 40 ft. at 40 mph, and looks like a 10 from 10 feet)

Mine I'm just going to rattle can though. And I'm not fixing any of the dented panels though either. I want it to be one people look at and think it's a total piece of shit. Then I load the flame spitting engine map for the Park Expose and literally fire it up.

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Grant Hughes

allow meself to concider meself as an amature bodywork guy thing..... i've smoothed cars out and painted quite a few parts including a vintage ducati. the key is prep work. i hate dust. i hate bugs.

i do it all in the garage. i bought plastic sheeting to make a paintbooth. i got all the paints and guns from www.smartshoppersinc.com they are really helpful and have great prices. i'd recomend them to anyone.

but if you are just going to bang your ride on a few trees, i will say that rustoleum will work well. i've used it on my schwinn bike frame and it was just fine.

I'm quite taken by the idea of the Rustoleum paint job for my Golf. But we don't have the Rustoleum or Tremclad products in Denmark (or anywhere else in Europe from what I can gather), so I'm trying to figure out an available alternative.

Does any of you guys in the US know the brand "Hammerite"? And know how it compares to Rustoleum?
I would think that they are in the same ballpark when talking the smooth finish Hammerite. I will do a test to see if it is sandable at all, but if someone knows first hand that it's a dead end I won't bother.

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Brgrds
Brian

Can't say I've ever heard of Hammerite, but I have painted a flatbed trailer with Rustoleum and a roller. The bed of the trailer was that diamond plate stuff, but the fenders were nice and smooth. Easy, flat surfaces for a newbie like myself to get familiar with Bondo and primer. I have to say that the trailer turned out pretty damn good. I would just think that it would be important to have the right roller and paint combo. Too thick a paint and you're going to see little dimples in the paint.

Rattle can FTW.

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Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

wildert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm quite taken by the idea of the Rustoleum paint
> job for my Golf. But we don't have the Rustoleum
> or Tremclad products in Denmark (or anywhere else
> in Europe from what I can gather), so I'm trying
> to figure out an available alternative.

In the original link posted I believe there is a discussion waaaaaay in there (like, page 10+) where they emailed Tremclad to find out what it's sold in Yurrup as. Could try their global website and see what the brand is at least...

Paddy a friend of mine has been doing this for years. I forgot about the roller idea. I did spray the engine compartment with a Wagner and some rustoleum. Can't say I like the Wagner too much. It works fine for awhile and then will clog unexpectedly. But really puts the paint down well. I'm going to try the roller. The pictures in those links look pretty good. And that post must have been a world record. There were over 20 pages.

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Scott Manley
Spokane, WA
86' XR4Ti
37

Can't believe I forgot about this...

Last time I had the motor out of my Talon, I *did* use a flat Rustoleum black on the engine bay. I went all ghetto fabulous, too, merely pulling lines and harness away from the firewall long enough to coat with paint before laying them right back where they went. I've been driving this car for eleven months, now, with a blown HG that leaks oil all over the place in there and the paint is still holding up very well. In fact, the entire engine is rattle can - from the Duplicolor 1200* engine enamel on the block/head/header to the Duplicolor wheel paint on the valve cover to the Rustoleum that surrounds it all. So far, only the wheel paint has chipped and that is likely due to prep work. We used this really nasty stuff called Jasco to strip the paint off the VC and likely did not rinse it as well as we should have before priming.

All of this has held up well to high temps and petroleum exposure.

http://az2gnt.net/DR1665/Daisy/420A/Daisy3.31.05.jpg

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Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

DR1665 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We used this really nasty stuff called
> Jasco to strip the paint off the VC and likely did
> not rinse it as well as we should have before
> priming.
>

> Brian DR1665 | Phoenix, AZ
> 97 Talon (NT) | 91 GVR4
>

Brian- for stripper, try Citrastrip. Works much better the the Jasco products and smells better too. According to the label it was invented for stripping auto paint boths. It will stay active for 24, not 45 mins like the Jasco stuff. I do use "Jasco Metal Prep and Prime" for rusty and bare metal. Works awesome.

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Scott Manley
Spokane, WA
86' XR4Ti
37

PAddy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wildert Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm quite taken by the idea of the Rustoleum
> paint
> > job for my Golf. But we don't have the
> Rustoleum
> > or Tremclad products in Denmark (or anywhere
> else
> > in Europe from what I can gather), so I'm
> trying
> > to figure out an available alternative.
>
> In the original link posted I believe there is a
> discussion waaaaaay in there (like, page 10+)
> where they emailed Tremclad to find out what it's
> sold in Yurrup as. Could try their global website
> and see what the brand is at least...

Went through the whole sha-bang, couldn't find any info. I did figure out however, that it should be somewhat similar to the Hammerite product. Probably not same manufacturer, but same basis, etc.
It actually turned out that another Dane had found his way onto the Mopar-board, so I emailed him too - haven't heard from him yet though.

The thing about the Hammerite is that it is available everywhere over here, which brings price down due to competetion. I got 2,66 litres for something like 35$ a couple of days ago - and cost of living is higher in Denmark mind you. So pretty cheap all in all.

Thanks for the help!

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Brgrds
Brian

I am so tempted to try the roller technique. I wonder if Rustolium would work, if it has the self leveling characteristics.


Ponders..... Ponders..... Ponders.....

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Cheers
M.Samli
Phoenix AZ
Gaylant VR4
EVO III GSR (Stolen)


Rallies are no place for traitors

It sounds like to much work to me. Paint, sand, paint, sand, for eternity. I'll just stick to spray paint for now.

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Grant Hughes