Projekt SE-RRRRRRR

[Dave]

yeah it was M&M. They're 5 minutes from my house so it was hard not to go with them.
Tsuru headlight would go for more, but they cost more and would require me to get 2 new front lights, as opposed to the one. Plus, I already placed the order :-).

[Dave]

so I'm going to do an experiment on this car and paint it. As you can see in some of the pics in this thread, it is extremely faded and the only time it looks good is during a rainstorm. It's also got some surface rust on top that I'm taking care of.
Anyways, I have a dilemma on what it should look like. It is getting red paint, since that is what it has originally. However, I'm kinda feeling some black wheels and black emblems to set off the redness. I just want some people opinions on this.
Car is getting sold regardless, I just want it to look its best. I will also be thoroughly documenting my process and any problems I hit.

[Sijray21]

silver/silver for the wheels personally

black/black if you really want to, but i'd stick with the oem color as much as possible if you're getting rid of it. Plus i think it'll look better.

[Evan]

Let me know how the repaint goes Dave, DIY painting is something I plan on getting into sometime soon

[Dave]

so, I'm going to start my saga of the recent repairs to the SE-R. At the end of October, while coming home from a friend's house, a deer hit my car. The following is the damage:


As you can see, I didn't hit the deer, as it would have been more at the center of the car. It was a 2-lane road with another car coming towards me, which killed my peripheral vision so I never even saw it until I saw it on the side of the road later. Deer actually must have jumped in front of the oncoming car just before we passed; it was dark so I don't really know the trajectory.

Needless to say I was pissed, considering I was about to put it up for sale soon, and now I had to replace the fender (yeah, it was trashed), headlight, and turn signal. Could have been a lot worse though, so I'm not complaining. He must have hit the car very hard, as my neck was a little sore the next day too .

So, I got a fender from the salvage yard down the road, and ebayed the headlights, total bill was pretty cheap for getting the car back on the road. Then, I amassed the goodies to paint the whole car. The black fender made for a bit of an eyesore, and the rust on the top of the car was something I had wanted to fix since I bought the car, so I figured this was a decent way to improve my resale, if nothing else
The Goods:


Lowes was my buddy. I can't find my receipt, but the grand total was under $100.
-1 gallon Rustoleum paint, can be the Professional or regular series, both located in the same aisle.
-1 can of corresponding Rustoleum spray paint
-1 can of primer, if you're doing rust repair (probably didn't even need to do this, but I did)
-1 gallon of mineral spirits
-1 spray bottle for wet-sanding
-1 sandblaster sanding sponge. You won't actually use it for sanding, it's just really good to wrap paper around
-Turtlewas Polishing Compound. Stupid cheap and gets the job done
-Roller, pan, handle kit
-extra rollers
-painter's tape
-1 small foam brush (I bought the big one, but didn't use it)
-sandpaper. for the actual painting, I used 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000. Scuff the paint up with 400 grit so the paint will adhere well, then start painting. Other body work, use whatever is necessary for the job.

Then, ready the entirety of the following threads, the first being most critical:
link 1
link 2

Then prepare yourself for a grueling few days/weeks in the garage. My next post will highlight some of my screwups and things I learned for next time.[/url]

[Maengelito]

rollers?!? now thats awesome. hook up that next post because i'm going to do this to my hardtop soon.

[CaptainHenreh]

rollers?!? now thats awesome. hook up that next post because i'm going to do this to my hardtop soon.

Some guys swear by this method, that it gives a better color without running...but it takes a fucksight more time than a spraygun.

[Maengelito]

rollers?!? now thats awesome. hook up that next post because i'm going to do this to my hardtop soon.

Some guys swear by this method, that it gives a better color without running...but it takes a fucksight more time than a spraygun.

true, but i dont have a paintbooth or spray gun or air compressor handy, but i can go to lowes and buy some rollers.

[HAULN-SS]

post pics

[Feersty]

Sorry about the deer, David. You looking to flip this car?

[BLINGMW]

He must have hit the car very hard, as my neck was a little sore the next day too

heh.... I bet not as sore as his! That's quite a hit. :!:

[PDenbigh]

Holy crap, that's a yellow XR4Ti in that second link!!

[Dave]

Holy crap, that's a yellow XR4Ti in that second link!!

hah, I totally forgot about that. It's been a couple months since I read the threads, meant to point that out to you but this thread was supposed to be up a long time ago too :-).

Yeah, the deer got rocked pretty hard. The door and hood took a bit of minor damage, but the fender was wrinkled really good and rubbed any time I hit a bump.

Car is being sold, but there's no way I'll flip it for a profit, considering the amount of $$ I've put into it (if I factored in my time, I'd never be able to get rid of it). I'm trying to clean it up and make it as good as I can, then get rid of it ASAP. It's a fabulous DD, and has a lot of potential as a track car, just not my taste. Enjoyed it while I had it, time for something else (read: Z)

If a person has the facilities to spray a car, then I can honestly say that is probably the way to go. However, it is more expensive and requires more equipment. I wouldn't do this without a garage, but that is literally all you need to keep your budget around $100. I have a log of all of my hours downstairs, I know I have over 60 in it, including my screwups, prep, etc. but not including buffing and final details. I don't know about this giving greater depth and such, but the results have a lot of potential. If I known what I was doing, this would totally have ended up looking a lot better, IMO, but it really shines now compared to what it did :-). I'll have a breakdown of my work and pointers soon, as well as final pics.

[Evan]

rollers?!! get-toe! and I love it

[Dave]

this is a very quick teaser. I suck with my new camera and I've only gotten to use it a couple times, definitely not enough to practice with the modes, so please forgive the shitty pics. Should give you an idea of how it turned out tho







enjoy!
I'll put up some of my notes and better pics soon.

edit: date's wrong the resize is stupid grainy, I'll work on it a bit

I did a final tally of the number of hours (estimated) that I put into the project between my screwups, minor prep, painting, polishing, and waxing. Drumroll.....

70 hours. Remember, it's an estimate, but the project is definitely not for the impatient. If you do it right the first time, you'll knock a lot off of that time, but it definitely can seem like a never-ending project too.

[Chris]

damn from what I can tell it looks great! keep up the good work man.

[ScottyB]

geez man you nailed it pretty good. looks awesome!

[Mike]

wowow looks really good, dave!

[Dave]

For Sale!!!

[Maengelito]

dave, do a write up of how you applied the paint with rollers to this pile