"Paint your car for 50 bucks" I am going to try it.

Thanks! Hope this inspires others to tackle paint on their own

DissFigured said:

Looks great.
From the pics, it looks like it matches too.

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It doesn't quite match, but I just compared it in my garage, and no one will ever see that comparison. The point is, as it seems it was with this thread, that you can get an adequate/impressive result for very little $. I couldn't be happier with my new valance and spoiler - for about $150 including spoiler, valance, and paint and primer, I've got a brand new part that matches my paint as much as I need it to, a much improved look, and all because I was encouraged by the various Rustoleum threads out there. Not a full car write-up, of course, but just to say - if you've got a valance to do, front or rear, try matching with rustoleum.

Why does the driver door look a different color?

vandalism in high school

that's why the driver door is different, somebody kicked a dent in my driver door. Didn't know enough to go to a good painter to get it to match, so took it to the local mustang shop where they put in a door from another '70 and had a "painter" "match" it.

So my 66 is down to bare metal, So I was thinking about the roller method. I figured on using rustoleum auto primer in a can, guide coating sanding filling any low spots re priming with a guide coat and when smooth proceed with the roller application. Does this sound like it will turn out?

Thanks

My understanding is it should work fine but the quantity of spray bombs is something to consider. A good source for info on the subject is the 3 original threads on moparts.com. There's some links on there to some summary pages some of the guys there have created for this. I don't have the links avalible right now or I'd post them for you. They may be listed elsewhere in this thread. On a side note, I've bought a gallon of rustoleum industrial paint for my car and will be painting my 69 when I'm finished with the bodywork.

Did it

I bought the stuff, after testing the blue, I am going with the regal red,

DissFigured said:

So I have read all of the threads about painting your car w/ a can of rustoleum and I have to give it a shot.

I have setup a website to document my progress and I will take lots of high quality photos so folks can get an idea of wether this will really work or not and what realistically should be the expected result.

Here is the link:
http://bryanswebpage.com/50DollarPaint/


Sample results:

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Only $15.oo for the DVD on how to paint my classic w/ oil base paint, NO THANKS PAL!!!!
If anyone's even considering this DON'T ruin your car.

I've sprayed the oil based paints over older non classic junkers and within a year or less the paint has lost all shine and will continue to despite any efforts to renew the shine.
I can spot and oil base paint job a mile away and so can most.
Truck and Tractor Supply co. sells an oil base that sprays easier in a gun than Rustoleum does. By can, forget it.

An old trick in the past was to add leaded gas to the paint and you'de get a great shine, it worked as I used it on a friends roll off dumpsters when I painted for him to help him out for a few weeks.

If anyone tries this post your horror story and pics after.

I just finished painting my '83 using Rustoleum and rollers. For me the thing I didn't realize before I started was that buffing and polishing at the end is a critical part of the job (as it would be with any paint job). I also have a black car; I'd say that black really shows flaws well.

Most of the things I've read talk in depth about the painting, but say very little about buffing and polishing. I still don't think I'm qualified to tell anyone how to buff and polish a paint job.

However, having said that, I'm very satisfied with it. I think my paint job has a lot less orange peel than many new cars I see on the road. Mine is nothing near show quality, but it's fine. My car will be more protected from the salt this winter. I also learned a lot in the process and I didn't spend thousands of dollars, either.

If you have the time and aren't afraid of hard work - if your car looks bad or is starting to rust/has bare exposed metal - I'd say go for it. I'd be more likely to use this process on a driver or beater than a collector car, though. Also, I wouldn't use spray cans or primer. Just follow the Hot Rod article is my advice. It worked well for me.

Oh, and you definitely want to roll the coats as thin as possible to reduce the runs. The roller should be as close to dry as you can get it when you finish working the paint onto the car. That's how I had the best luck.

edit: Here's a link to some pics. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2359257/1

DissFigured said:

..................... I just hate that I busted my ass trying this, the results for me thus far have been way better than I would have thought, and you are saying it is a waste of effort and almost denying that I could possibly have good results. I worked my ass off on this, and I am quite proud of my effort and my results.

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"Allmost" denying it can be done?, yes, in part I am by the "average person" that has very little to no experience working w/ paints, especially oil based.

I've painted w/ auto paints as well as oil based on vehicles. The only time I used a roller and brush was on an old Chevy pickup that got a new coat every year and another plate welded to the rusted frame to keep it going. I'd spend a few hours the next day adding tri color stripes and yea mine looked great to from 20' but it wasn't a CLASSIC of any value.

I just went thru your entire website, the main thing that I take issue w/ is your comment that "I think it looks as good as any paint job I have seen at the local car shows", now come on, that is an insult to any proffesional painter that does custom paint jobs for a living. If your talking about do it yourselfers then I might agree w/ that.

I saw that you put in a lot of effort that it takes to do it right, the wet sanding, buffing etc..., and believe me I can appreciate that as I've done it myself. Now you know why a shop wants good money to paint a car. I do agree w/ your thinking that most shops are insane though, charging 3K for a single stage paint job that is prep, primer and paint only, w/ no body work to be done.

I'm not knocking the job you did, if you feel that way my humble apology (seriously) , no, I was just saying oil base shouldn't go on a classic unless it's close to junk, your car didn't look as bad as you make it sound (at least from the pics).

I would only recommend as well using a spray gun w/ compressor if someone did want to try the oil base. There may ba an additive that will help hold the shine longer but I'm not aware of any. Like I said, leaded gas was used in the old days.
I generally use a method like you did, paint one area of the car the finish the second half incase of unforseen problems that can arise.

Everyday I see how oil base looses it's gloss. My neighbor bought a van I painted w/ it 2 years ago. If it's kept up if might hold longer.

At least you now have an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into paint, I think you did a good job on your car from the pics but I know working w/ oil base is a SOB and I don't think most guys trying it will have your results. Painting and preping a car for any paint is a pain in the a.. Don't think I was insulting your work, not the case, I didn't sign up here to insult anybody.

I'm posted a pic of my Silverado I painted this spring using black urethane auto paint, cost of paint was $160.oo, truck hasn't been wet sanded or buffed yet but shine is good and will hold. Think your back hurt, try moulding in an L88 hood scoop along w/ the other prep. Anyway, good job you did, you got it from the effort it takes.
(pic won't upload)

Has anyone tried this with the Brightside boat paint mentioned in the mopar site? I'm interested in it for my beater 76 Maverick, since it is a single stage polyurethane paint. I've used Brightside on 3 boats with increadible results. The last one is a 13' Boston Whaler that I've owned for 18yrs now and treat with the utmost disrespect and the paint (put on 15yrs ago) still shines when cleaned. Just curious if it's more on par with the cheaper single stage paints used on low end paint jobs.

JDS68Stang said:

I've sprayed the oil based paints over older non classic junkers and within a year or less the paint has lost all shine and will continue to despite any efforts to renew the shine.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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If anyone tries this post your horror story and pics after.

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If I remember correctly, the Charger guy from the moparts board said the orange charger was painted years ago and I think he did a beetle that he said looked good after many years too. And there's the white Corvaire that reportedly still looks good after 1 year and lives outside. http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

What brand did you use? And how'd you mix it? It would be good to know the details behind the successes and the failures.

I just went thru your entire website, the main thing that I take issue w/ is your comment that "I think it looks as good as any paint job I have seen at the local car shows", now come on, that is an insult to any proffesional painter that does custom paint jobs for a living. If your talking about do it yourselfers then I might agree w/ that.

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I would compare it to any factory paint job or your typical repair job. In my experience you can achieve a better quality paint job with this method than most repair shops put out daily. There are shops that put out very high quality repairs but those are usually very expensive and insurance jobs are usually in and out. Shops don't spend the extra time or go that extra mile to make sure the car is taped right or to fix a bad spot in the paint. A lot of people can't afford to pay the premium cost of a high quality job. This method allows enthusiasts to spend their labor and time instead of money to produce a good paint job. The level of quality is then dependent on their attention to detail and the amount of effort they put into it.

These cars came from the factory with alkyd enamel paint as well as most cars before them. The method of application doesn't matter, roll or spray, as long as its done correctly. There are only 2 reasons an enamel paint job won't last and no different from any paint job, poor prep and failure to care for the finish. I've sprayed two of my own vehicles and several trucks at a previous job and have been around the painting industry since my early teens. I've had cars repaired and painted by different shops, private (Independent is the word I was looking for) and car dealers. I'm no expert but I've seen enough of a variety to have a positive opinion of rolling the paint. In fact the only reason I can think that anyone would be negative towards this method is they feel directly threatened that they'll lose business because of it.

So applied 2 coats to the hood, got questionable spotty coverage over most of the hood. The only spot that looks good is an area in the center that had bare metal and glaze applied. the rest has rustoleum primer on it sanded . Any thoughts, should I not prime?

Fireman255 said:

So applied 2 coats to the hood, got questionable spotty coverage over most of the hood. The only spot that looks good is an area in the center that had bare metal and glaze applied. the rest has rustoleum primer on it sanded . Any thoughts, should I not prime?

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There's no reason to prime. Rustoleum is meant to be applied right on the bare metal. However, when I painted my car, some of it was bare metal, some primer, and some paint was still on the car. I painted right over all of it and the paint worked fine everywhere. I also painted the plastic trim. The paint seems to me to work great on all the surfaces.

Two coats are not enough. Be patient and keep going!

CochinoFilipino said:

If I remember correctly, the Charger guy from the moparts board said the orange charger was painted years ago and I think he did a beetle that he said looked good after many years too. And there's the white Corvaire that reportedly still looks good after 1 year and lives outside. http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

What brand did you use? And how'd you mix it? It would be good to know the details behind the successes and the failures.

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Yea the corvair did still look good after a year. On white paint Ajax will get the paint super clean and "appear" at least to leave no scratches, it doesn't work however I've found on other colors that I tried it on regarding old junkers. That's at least one tip if anybody does go with an oil base white. A good wax after will also help keep the dirt out after as well and help keep some of the shine.

The van I painted with Rustoleum gloss white, and used a spray gun. I mixed as they suggested on the can with the reducer they recommended (don't recall exactly what it was), probably mineral spirits. I did 2 coats, after the first coat I wait till it flashes, I check that by touch in an inconspicuous spot on the paint, then shoot the second coat. Any more than two coats and it would probably be an hour or more for flash time before I'd do a third coat.

I never went to the extreame of wet sanding and buffing an oil base paint job because it made no sence, if it was going on a vehicle in the first place it was because the vehicle wasn't worth the investment of a higher quality paint.

If your going to try it practice on some old sheet metal and get the feel of how that paint is going to respond to what you want to do, ie; vertical, horizontal. Sand it, polish it after, if you like what you see then try it if you choose.
The one thing I don't understand about using a roller, a roller is not going to reach into a lot of areas, then what?

JDS68Stang said:

SNIP>>
The one thing I don't understand about using a roller, a roller is not going to reach into a lot of areas, then what?

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A good method is to have a small foam brush and the roller both available as you paint the car. The foam brush can remove excess paint as well as get into crevices.