Using old paint as a base vs new primer?

[Bennylava]

This one is for the autobody guys, of which there are many. Or if you just know about this stuff.


In terms of sanding, do you do anything different when you're painting over old paint? I know a lot of guys will like to use the old paint on a car, as a sort of base when they can. But then sometimes, you can't do that, and you have to spray primer instead.

Is there anything you do different between those two methods? In terms of sanding. Or are they both pretty much treated the exact same way? I ask because I have a car that I'm doing the roof and the trunk lid on, but really I can't see any need to primer the whole thing. Just a few spots, and the rest can just be sanded down to match the level of the primer. At least, that is the way it occurs to me. And I've been to the body shop and seen where they had only put some splotches of primer on a car, here and there.

 

[kd3pc]

you don't say what year car you are painting.....older paints are not compatible with many of today's paint and primer systems. primer is more important than you think. It often provides a mechanical bond as well as a chemical one. Sanding is important as well, as some want a 1000 grit base, others more rough.

the pros will chime in,

 

[HMCFab9]

More info is needed to give a good answer.

How "old" is your old paint?
Most new paint is an acrylic urethane. If you are painting over enamel or lacquer, i'd prime before paint.

What are you trying to repair? If you are just doing a re-spray with the same type of paint, primer is probably not necessary.

 

[rsanter]

Too little information given...

Typically I like to leave the original paint as it is baked on, that is unless it is cracking, peeling, or anything funny going on.

The cheap places will paint over the old paint if they can. This is fine if you have a newer car and are doing a repair on a spot area then painting the whole panel.

For a complete job it is always best to primer the car, block sand/prep, and then paint.

Often it is a good idea to tint the primer a color close to the paint color

Ob

 

[sberry]

If this is something you want to fix and use certainly and being economical can be a good thing.

 

[Gerald O]

...
Often it is a good idea to tint the primer a color close to the paint color

Ob

Good point. Primer color frequently influences the paint color accuracy. Most color coats are not 100% opaque.

 

[Bennylava]

Sorry yeah the car is a 2001 honda accord. The hood, roof, and trunk had severe oxidation and delamination of the clear. Oddly enough the rest of the car is fine. But i was able to knock all that off with 80 grit. Now its just dull black paint. I was hoping i could just use that as a base instead of primer.

 

[rsanter]

If the black paint is there and in good shape. You could always respray the clear as an economical fix

Bob

 

[rt dak]

Honestly if you have peeling / delamination the best way is to strip down to metal. Chances are if it's the original paint it's only the clear that's failing but if not, you really never know how deep the problem goes. If the problem is deeper than the clear and you leave it and paint over it your new paint will not last either. Second best would be to sand off the clear that's peeling, feather it all out well and prime.

Either way you're going to need to go finer than 80 grit. If you're going to prime you'll need to go to at least 120 grit, preferably 180. If you were to go directly to sealer then no coarser than 320.

 

[Al Borland]

If you only prime some spots, it will show thru. if you need to prime, do the entire panel,

 

[Nor'Easter]

If the black paint is there and in good shape. You could always respray the clear as an economical fix

Bob

Clear is usually a chemical bond, not mechanical.

 

[Bennylava]

Second best would be to sand off the clear that's peeling, feather it all out well and prime.

Either way you're going to need to go finer than 80 grit. If you're going to prime you'll need to go to at least 120 grit, preferably 180. If you were to go directly to sealer then no coarser than 320.

I think in this case I'm going to have to go with the second best option lol.

So 80, then 180, then 320, then prep and spray? Is this typical for using the old paint as a base? Or is it just typical for primer?

 

[Kevin54]

If you sanded the car down with 80 grit, you definitely need to prime it to fill in the sand scratches. You then want to sand the primer down with no less than 600 grit. And when sanding down the primer, you want to make sure there are no deep scratches left from the 80 grit. I would also mask the complete car off and if it is the roof and the decklid, sand it down complete and do not spot prime. Prime both panels completely.

It's too bad that you didn't ask BEFORE you tackled everything with 80 grit as you may have made more work for yourself. 80 grit is really aggressive and moistly used to take a car down to bare metal.

But bottom line is....you cannot use what you have as a base coat before you paint it.

 

[gahrajmahal]

Bennylava, I used to paint professionally and have painted as recently as 2010. Paint has not changed that much with the exception of water borne paints, used mostly on the west coast. Down in Texas, your Honda with its original finish was probably solvent based paint applied wet and sprayed at the factory. Since your finish experienced delamination I would strip the finish to bare metal. I would then apply an epoxy primer as a base coat. If keeping the same color I would probably leave the door jambs and under hood, trunk areas as is. If you are changing colors purchase a nylon wire brush in a fine grit. You put this in your cordless drill and it will scuff all those uneven spaces good enough for the epoxy primer.

Continue with your 80 grit to remove the paint. It just works faster. You are using an air DA sander aren't you? You should at least be using a orbital sander. No need for hand sanding for paint removal. Once you have the old paint off, sand the whole car with your power sander and 220 grit. Then spray your epoxy primer. Starting with 320 or 360 grit wet or dry sandpaper, block sand the whole car, but do not sanding any sharp creases at all. This grit and sanding with a block will expose any areas that need work. Body work all the lumps and bumps. Re-prime any thin or repaired areas. Sand all over with 600 grit using the block and now hand sand the creases gently. You will then be ready to spray 95% of the paints out there. If your paint has a different requirement, follow it to the letter. The same goes for the reducer and hardner recommendations. The main challenge with a home spray job is not the lack of a booth, spray gun or other occurrences. It is the temperature swings you can get in a days spraying time. It is easy to gain or lose 20 degrees in temperature over 4 to 6 hours of spraying. You can adjust for hot temps or cold temps, just not wide temperature swings spraying without a booth.

And the most important thing is to buy the best respirator you can afford. You cannot tell your sensitivity to the toxic chemicals found in modern automotive paints.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/pictopaintsaga-flat-pearl-fades-winfield-style.539437/

 

[Bennylava]

Thanks for the replies. So let me see if I have this straight:

I can just sand the paint off with the 80 grit. Then, I can simply spray primer. No need to switch to higher grits, between the 80 grit, and spraying the primer. So sand with 80, clean it up, and then spray primer. Is that correct?

 

[Fcvapor05]

Good point. Primer color frequently influences the paint color accuracy. Most color coats are not 100% opaque.

Most OEMs paint with one primer color, or maybe one light and one dark. If you're trying to match an OEM paint job, sand until you know the primer color and just use what they used.

 

[ilovevocs]

At a min. once you do your sanding prep you need to spray on a sealer.

Personally I would sand with 240, wipe down with wax and grease remover, tack rag, prime, sand 320, wet sand 600, wax and grease removed, tack rag, color it up and clear it. Black has excellent coverage, you should be fully colored in two coats.

If this is your first paint job, you may consider going single stage. Seems like you are price conscious and single stage is more forgiving for the first timer.

When you spray it hang the deck lid so the biggest surface is perpendicular to the floor. I'm assuming you don't have a professional spray booth. It will minimize contamination from dust as it isn't sitting horizontally.

Wear a respirator the entire time, your lungs will thank you. Personally wont spray catalyzed clear without a positive pressure hood.

 

[Bennylava]

At a min. once you do your sanding prep you need to spray on a sealer.

Personally I would sand with 240, wipe down with wax and grease remover, tack rag, prime, sand 320, wet sand 600, wax and grease removed, tack rag, color it up and clear it. Black has excellent coverage, you should be fully colored in two coats.

If this is your first paint job, you may consider going single stage. Seems like you are price conscious and single stage is more forgiving for the first timer.

When you spray it hang it so the hood surface is perpendicular to the floor. I'm assuming you don't have a professional spray booth. It will minimize contamination from dust as it isn't sitting horizontally.

Wear a respirator the entire time, your lungs will thank you. Personally wont spray catalyzed clear without a positive pressure hood.

Sorry but what is the "rag" you're referring to in the post? I have the tack cloth and the wax and grease remover, but I don't think I've heard about the rag part yet.

 

[ilovevocs]

Sorry but what is the "rag" you're referring to in the post? I have the tack cloth and the wax and grease remover, but I don't think I've heard about the rag part yet.

Tack cloth, the older guys I learned from call it a tack rag. Use your blow gun as you tack rag it. Blow all the dust out of the out of everything that could trap dust and be released while painting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bennylava]

Alright well I'm still an autobody noob so I have to ask this question again:


I can just sand the paint off with the 80 grit. Then, I can simply spray filler primer.

So sand with 80 grit, clean it up, and then spray primer. Is that correct?

 

[SteveH-CO]

I think 80 grit is WAY too coarse to fill with any primer. I would re-sand with a finer grit first. Also, mix up a small batch of primer and try one panel and see what you get. I would not put primer over anything more coarse than 320-400. You also should spray the primer on a small area first so that if there's a reaction between your primer and sanded surface, you'll see it in a small area first. (I doubt this will happen, but it's possible..)

 

[Bennylava]

Thanks steve. Can I jump from 80 grit to 400 grit? Or is that a bad idea?

 

[rustyjames]

I would go with 180 or 220 next.

 

[bdelmar2]

This is an '01 accord.

If you do it 'right' the cost will probably exceed the value of the car.

If the paint you have left is solid and tight it can be painted over, its pretty common practice to hit a car with 320 and spray it.

The 80 may have been a big aggressive for removing the cracked clear, so you probably went down to bare metal in places, you will have to prime that.

Epoxy primer is great stuff, also a little expensive. Any modern primer will work for your application.

Primer over 80 is a common practice also.

Then 120, 220, 320 and paint.

Whatever you do, your new paint isn't going to match the sides that well. They may look fine, but it is faded. Just not as much as the parts that had direct sun constantly.

Trying to blend into old paint is a challenge, so try to go to body sections wherever possible.


I had a friend who sprayed for maaco and we did a paint job or two a week on the side quite often.

Process was, Wash the hell out of the car, then wash it again.

Something like your car we would 120 (and sometimes carefully scrap) the cracked clear off. Have to get it all off.

If there are rough spots, then 80, and prime them with regular primer where you hit metal. Then 120, then 220. Then 320 the whole car.

The 320 has to dull the entire surface, anything shiny at this point will not hold paint.

For black you might want to go to 400.

Thing about black is, it will show everything. If it isn't sprayed right it will stick out like a sore thumb.

Any little dings will also stick up, so you will want to fill those, 80, filler, primer, 120, 220 and then 320 (maybe 400) with the rest of the car.

We used single stage. Cheaper and less worries about dirt in a less than perfect environment.


This is about as cheap as you paint a car and expect reasonable results.

If whoever is spraying the car is good and you do the taping and detail work well and neatly it will look good.

If you use decent paint and you absolutely for sure scuffed every last millimeter of it, it will stick and last.

This is providing what you have left for paint hasn't turned into powder.

If you put some thinner on a rag and wipe it at some point no more color should come off, if it keeps giving off color, it will have to be removed completely.


We did a lot of cars this way and never had complaints. We avoided black cars, and dinged up cars, or told them to expect to see imperfections ahead of time.

Its not the 'right' way, or a resto level paint by any means, but its a practical functional alternative. Something like you would do for an '01 accord.

I think its the pretty standard maaco paint job actually. Budget version.


You do need to ask yourself if the car is worth the effort and expense, or if you are actually buying yourself a learning experience.

If this is a 200k plus mileage beat up accord you might want to consider just trying to spray clear over what you have. Still likely to cost $200 to $300 by the time you buy paper and cleaning material, tape, paper, and the clear.

No matter how you slice it, painting a car is expensive and a lot of work.

Worth it for a $1000 car?

 

[Bennylava]

Thanks for that reply. Very helpful and informative.


Yeah I bought the car for $250, for the purpose of learning to do body work. Put a new (used) cylinder head on it myself, because the previous owner managed to break the sprocket off of the camshaft. So with the head, and a gasket kit, water pump and timing belt, now I'm into it for about $600. Had to get the car running though, so I can actually sell it once I'm done with the autobody.

And, I'm considering doing the rulstoleum paint job that everyone seems so fond of. There is a guy on the old chevy truck forum, who's truck still looks pretty good after 7 years. Rustoleum paint job on it. Another thing I've noticed, which works out to my advantage to some degree, is that the rustoleum paint job looks somewhat faded. Not a lot, but it doesn't have that "brand new" paint job look. It looks like it has been on there for several years already, even if the execution is flawless. This would help me out a bit.

Plus, the doing the rustoleum paint job would save me a good deal of money, as its known as the $50 paint job. The car does have 220k miles on it, so yeah its about a $1000 car, once its ready to go to a new owner. But I bought it to get a handle on autobody work, and it should serve that purpose well. It looks like I'll at least get my money back out of it, maybe pocket $50. But learning the skill will make me a lot more money than that, on other cars in the future.

Any thoughts or opinions on all that?

 

[K13]

Be fore warned Black is not always Black. There are 1000's of variations of Black out there on cars and the chance that Rustoleum is going to be even close to the same colour as the factory black is slim to none.

 

[SteveH-CO]

But I bought it to get a handle on autobody work, and it should serve that purpose well. It looks like I'll at least get my money back out of it, maybe pocket $50. But learning the skill will make me a lot more money than that, on other cars in the future.

Any thoughts or opinions on all that?

Great thinking. I have done the same. I used VanSickle Tractor/Implement paint (from Big R stores) on a pickup bed trailer and am appalled at how quickly it faded and fell off. I used the same paint on my tractor (stored indoors) and it is holding up fine. But with paint, you get what you pay for. If you buy el-cheapo paint, it will lack durability in the TX sun. Because this is a beater car, it doesn't matter quite so much.

A great quality paint job with poor masking will always look bad. A cheap/poor paint job with excellent masking will look pretty good. So, take your time removing or taking off trim and your job will look much better, no matter the sheen or other issues.

Since you're a painting newbie, go get a couple of dented hoods from a junkyard and test-spray them, and pattern your gun on them. Spray it dry, spray it wet, spray vertical and horizontal, spray until it runs or curtains. Learn your gun before you start on the car itself. Also, if there are tricky areas on the car (like way down low, or wheel well lips), dry-run the gun first, to be sure you can get your body and the gun into place to shoot the paint. It's tempting to just start shooting, but all the time you take to rehearse is time very well spent.

I spent $400 on Dupont single-stage enamel and a good paint gun in 1990 for my FJ40 Land Cruiser, and it's sitting in the parking lot at work today sporting the same paint job, 26 years later - still looks excellent. I spent 80 hours on priming, sanding and painting, and it was worth it.

 

[bdelmar2]

Yeah, I've read about the Rustoleum paint job. I'd take a pass on that one.

If you read about it some more you will see why.

You do have some other alternatives though, one is the implement paint mentioned above. I painted my car with something similar, Lic 40 I think it was. Its the same company that makes the paint for Cat engines. Its single stage and cost about $100-$125 for 3 quarts with reducer.

Another is miss mixed paint. Most auto paint stores have some around. It wasn't quite the right color, or the customer never picked it up, or whatever. They will usually sell it cheap.

If you have the option in your area visit some paint stores, you might get lucky like I did somewhat recently and find an owner who is also a body/paint guy and likes to talk.

I got out of painting for several years, and then needed to do a little to sell some cars, and decided to do my olds, and maybe my truck later on.

Like you it was mostly a learning experience for me. I had/have the prep part down pretty good, the spraying is another story.

I also didn't want to spend a lot.

So I read a lot and talked a little with a couple body/paint guys I know. I called around for somebody who would mix small amounts of paint to match with a reasonable price and that's how I found the paint store.

Autobody101 I think is the name of a good site, or close to that.

Hotrodders.com body section is also good though not real active, but the guys that are there know their stuff and will answer you. Check out the big rust repair thread.

Mpcshopprojects here is also a good read, but more of a goal to shoot for than being of immediate use to you, still there are things to learn there that will help you. Its good to know how the high end is done, even if you are on the low end. Can't hit a goal you aren't aiming at.

Then there are car specific forums. I have a '79 Silver Anniversary Trans Am that has some serious rust issues and I may one day restore. Transamcountry.com has a lot of info there for bodywork/paint. Have to search a bit, look for rocker repair maybe, or keywords like that. There are people who have restored ta's from rusting hulks to showroom condition, and everything in between.

There are similar forums for Camaros, Mustangs, etc....

The SPI website has good info also.


Some quick notes on tools, takes a good air compressor. Have to be careful not to burn up a smaller cheaper one. Duty cycle is important here.

I originally got the harborfreight da (actually palm sander) for like $60, it came apart in a couple years of light use, I now have a Hutchins that was only $125 from my paint guy, probably last me forever, should have bought it in the first place.

I have one of those hf purple guns for primer, its ok once I got it to quit leaking, but I got the low end Iwata from the paint shop for less than $150 and its a way way better gun. I use it for paint and clear.

As mentioned, prep has a huge effect on final appearance and durability.

Honestly I think you would be better off painting the whole car instead of trying to match what you have and trying to learn to blend into panels and all that in one shot.

Advice I got was to prep one section at a time, get it in primer and move on.

The spi epoxy is more expensive than plain ol primer, but it has a long hold time making it a lot easier to work with and it will last mixed for like 3-7 days, so is probably cheaper in the long run. Otherwise you will end up wasting a lot more.

 

[Bennylava]

I'm sure you're probably right on all that. The only thing is, this is a car that I paid $250 for, and will be likely selling for $900-$1,000. On this particular car, its not such a big deal. I wouldn't do rustoleum on this SUV that I also have now, that I'm going to be selling for $4,500. I'm just using it to sort of get my feet wet. First autobody work, I don't want to spend much. And as for the paint matching, any black will be a huge improvment over the white delamination that was all over the hood and roof. Plus the rustoleum does have a tendency to look a just a bit faded, even when brand new. So I have hopes that it will match at least ok. But even if it doesn't, and just looks like new single stage black paint, its still a night and day difference in the car's general appearance.

I feel more comfortable doing it the 'po boy way to start. Once I've seen that I can do it, I'll feel better about moving up to greater methods. Plus if there is some kind of screw up, like filler or sand scratches, well I didn't spend a whole lot doing it anyway.

 

[bdelmar2]

Rustoleum actually makes 'auto' paint.

They have the primer, base, and clear.

Its not any cheaper than any other 'value' line paint, and more expensive than several - especially given its 2 stage.

The other option, their regular paint is what, $20-$25 a gallon?
And you have to thin it a lot to get it to spray, so another $8-$10 for thinner.
Then you need a compatible hardener, so $12-18 there. (or it will take forever to dry -between coats and final coat)
So $40 to $53 for paint with no uv protection.

If you are thinking you can do it with the spray cans, well you can I guess, but the paint in spray cans is thinned a lot. Both in order to get it to spray and to keep it useable over time. I once painted a bumper cover on a full size mercury with spray cans, white. Took $48 in paint cans. (plus adhesion promoter) For just the bumper cover. And you had better be good with a spray can besides.

Which I am, I have used a lot of duplicolor over the years to fix little dings and scratches and even small dents over the years, or to brighten up trim areas. Its cost effective for that kind of thing on a cheap car, but that's all.

For right at $100 I got 3 quarts of LIC40, reducer, and activator. Color mixed at a paint store.
http://licindustrialfinishes.valsparautomotive.com/products/LIC40.html

I painted my whole car with it (94 olds 88) and still have enough to probably paint it again. Actual automotive paint covers much better than lawn furniture paint.

I'm sure you could do what you want with a quart. So like $33.
Probably get by with with a quart of the rusto also, and I figure a gallon there, so cut it down to say $20.

Painting a car is a lot of work. A lot of work. Why would you maybe save like $13 to put questionable paint designed for another application on top of all that work you did?

I also suspect I spent more on the LIC40 than you need to, I needed a mixed color and bought it at a autobody/paint store. You could probably just buy black premixed and order online.

I painted my car maybe 3-4 years ago and it sits in the direct florida sun. I can see a bit of fade on the hood, roof, and trunk if I look for it, but not bad.

Pretty sure if the paint they use on Catapillar engines is fading a little, rustoleum would have been cooked off a long time ago.

I have actually sprayed black rustoleum through a hf car paint gun. That's how I know you have to thin it at least a third. We did probably 225' of wrought iron pool fence with it. We didn't use hardener and it did indeed take a long time to dry.

That was about 2-3 years ago and its faded and chalky now, and was within a year, even in partial shade.

The plan at the time was to move the pool, so the fence paint was just a fast solution to keep the hmo ppl happy and the children safe.

I tried to talk my friend into using a different paint, but he was convinced it would be way cheaper to use rustoleum, it wasn't, and now it isn't for sure.


Plus it seems you disregarded my suggestion to check autobody/paint stores for mismatched paint. Back when we were doing the budget paint jobs on the side we once bought a pickup bed full of paint for $150. Granted it was a ranger and just full to level, but that's a lot of paint. Lots of weird colors, but still made a ton of money from what we could use.

The place I go to had a couple gallons of mismatched paint, they would have sold them to me with reducer and activator for $25. Sadly both of the colors they had at the time would have looked awful with my interior color.

Im sure I could have looked around and found some that would work at another store, but I do value my time somewhat.


So the 'po boy reasoning doesn't work, its functionally not any cheaper and quite likely more expensive.

Plus if you want to gain experience, you should probably work with the actual materials used in this line of work.


Now a little more of a look at the time thing. For what you want to do, you are going to have to tape off almost as much as if you were painting the whole car.

You are also going to have to learn how to blend the paint in, at least around the rear quarters, and that's not likely to go well with totally different types of paint.


Honestly you might as well just go ahead and paint the whole car.

Its not going to cost any more to speak of.

Materials like sandpaper are much cheaper (much cheaper) if you buy them in rolls, those little packs at the home improvement stores might seem cheaper, but they are actually crazy expensive, something in the area of 3 to 4 times more or worse.

And if the sides of your car are in good shape, all you would need is some more 320 anyway.

Wax and grease remover is cheap, and you aren't going to use much more tape or paper, but also cheap anyway.


So, same price of materials within a few dollars either way, you don't have to try to blend anything in, and when you are done it will be all the same color.

If you can get a mismixed color, you can also get around spraying black as your first experience. Black is hard to make look good. And you will actually end up spending the same or less on real automotive paint.

Jambs might look a little off, but once again, $1000 car, and depending on interior color and/or what color you can get might be fine.

Plus the experience you gain will be actual car paint/body experience, not kinda like it.

 

[Bennylava]

I didn't ignore your suggestion, I simply don't have any way to spray any mismatched paint that I may be able to get from the autobody store. No spray rig, and I'm not really looking to buy one right now. When I buy one, I'm going to buy it right and get a decent gun that I can use for years. Can't afford that right now, have to sell some cars first.


But I do have a question about this pic. This is a pic of the trunk lid. Got my primer laid down, and went to wet sanding. Let me first say that I was not pressing down too hard. I know better than to do that at least. I was just sanding gently, as you're supposed to do, without pressing real hard. But, some of the primer came off and now shows through. There is only old paint beneath it. Would I be ok to just paint over that? Or should I spray some new primer in that spot? I've seen a lot of guys doing work where some of the primer got sanded away.


This is after 220 grit

 

[bdelmar2]

You don't 'need' primer except where bare metal is showing through, providing whatever you are sanding is solid and hasn't turned into powder from the sun.

Primer is used to promote adhesion to bare metal, fill slight imperfections, and perhaps help with coverage/color if you use correctly tinted primer.

You appear to be using white primer, which you then are going to try to cover with black spray bomb? Rustoleum no less.

I really don't have any advice to give regarding that. I've never tried to do something like that.

Not on that scale with a spray can, and never using something other than automotive paint at least.

I suppose it will stick to whatever you do more or less, for as long as its going to last anyway.

 

[Gerald O]

I'd just get an estimate from MAACO. If they can paint an entire car for $399, then seems you could get just the trunk lid done for not a lot.

 

[Bennylava]

You don't 'need' primer except where bare metal is showing through, providing whatever you are sanding is solid and hasn't turned into powder from the sun.

Primer is used to promote adhesion to bare metal, fill slight imperfections, and perhaps help with coverage/color if you use correctly tinted primer.

You appear to be using white primer, which you then are going to try to cover with black spray bomb? Rustoleum no less.

I really don't have any advice to give regarding that. I've never tried to do something like that.

Not on that scale with a spray can, and never using something other than automotive paint at least.

I suppose it will stick to whatever you do more or less, for as long as its going to last anyway.

Thanks for the reply. Good to know I don't have to respray that.

But yeah the lighting in the picture is probably at fault for that. In real life, its a good deal darker than what that pic shows. I'd say its a medium grey primer, definitely pretty far away from white.

To address something else, I won't be using a spray can, I'm using the roller technique. What convinced me was a thread on the old chevy truck forums, where a guy did roller rustoleum on his whole truck, a 1971 chevy truck. 7 years later, it seems to look fine. He says it doesn't really have any problems that he can see. It seems to be a pretty popular budget paint job. It does kind of look like single stage paint. But for a $1,000 car, which will probably go to the graveyard sometime within the next 5 years, I think its just about right.

 

[bdelmar2]

I read quite a lot about the amazing $50 paint job.

I think perhaps you might want to read some more about it.

There are a few articles and photos on the net about how wonderful it is. There are way more articles about how poorly it turned out for the people who tried it after reading the articles about how amazing it is.

I'm not sure why those don't show up more prominently when you search it, but if you poke around a little deeper there are lots of them.

I wanted to paint my car as cheaply as possible, so I spent some time investigating rustoleum.

I came up with odds of 50/50. Lots of ppl say its wonderful and lasts like you say, and lots of ppl say it never looked that good and faded fast, like 6mts.

I have worked in body/paint shops where we did restoration quality work, and I've worked on cars we painted in a small garage on the side, and I've sprayed some myself, mostly small areas and a couple front clips and one full paint job.

One thing I've learned from my relatively small experience in the field is that its a lot of work no matter how you slice it.

Way more work than I'm interested in doing for 50/50 odds for sure.

Speaking of work, my advice on sanding grit and what you can get away with don't apply to a roller rustoleum paint job.

Sanding up to 320ish and spraying single stage paint will work if you do a good job of it, as a budget paint job anyway.

Its not going to work for rolling rustoleum though. For that you need to roll multiple very thin layers and sand in between each one with fine grit paper.

So 320 scratches will stand out like crazy. I think the initial is something like 600?

Also you have to wait a long time between each coat for it to dry, and protect the paint from the environment while it dries. Like 12 to 24 hours each coat I think it is.

Although some of the people painting this way didn't mind the bugs in the paint. Says something there doesn't it.


In any case, disregard any and all advice I may have given regarding the painting process, I don't know anything about actually doing a roller rustoleum paint job and I never will.

If I were you, I would find somebody else to spray the car the regular way. Lots of starting out body/paint guys will shoot paint at it cheaply.

You probably wont be able to get anybody who actually paints for a living to spray it, they won't trust your bodywork/sanding and don't want their name attached to such a project.



If you insist on going the route you are on (and it appears you are set on it), I would find one of the several more detailed examples of people who have actually done it and follow their procedure.


I would be interested in seeing how it goes for you though, and how much it really costs. I suspect the given numbers are way on the low side, halfway decent sandpaper isn't cheap.

 

[Bennylava]

I think when they call it the "$50 paint job" they're just referring to the paint itself, some thinner, and a roller. At least that would be my guess. As for the other costs, when it comes to me I already had everything else, including all necessary sanding grits. I do a lot of light restoration on cars, usually painting trim pieces and just general touch up. All that stuff comes in very handy for that.

For the rustoleum process, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. 5 light coats, sanding in between coats. The 12 hours between coats, could be lessened by using acetone instead of mineral spirits, apparently. But I don't think I'll do that, unless I do this again on a fender or something.