Rusto-roller paint tutorial

[Dave]

The Goods:


Lowes was my buddy. I can't find my receipt, but the grand total was around $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 60,100,150,220, and 400 grit so the paint will adhere well, then start painting. THis will also give you the chance to remove rust and any other imperfections. Other body work, use whatever is necessary for the job (Bondo, dent puller, etc).

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.

Here's a few hints that I've learned so far:
-Doing a whole car is exhausting. Your quality will diminish the longer you drag it out. I'd recommend doing the front (fenders, bumper hood) at one point, then the middle, then the rear. Breaking it up might make it tougher and end up dragging it out longer, but it lets you stop and take a breather between sections.
-Use the Bondo. You're going to be up close and personal with the these peices and will see every imperfection numerous times between the coats of paint, sanding, and polishing.
-Don't just scuff the paint at 60. I did this on the SE-R (cuz I'm an idiot and was anxious) and it took forever for the paint to fill it in and make a smooth surface b/c it is so thin (with the mineral spirits).
-Remove everything off the metal. This includes sanding off the pinstriping; the paint will not be thick enough to cover this up so you can't see it. You won't have to mask anything off and won't have to work around anything. It's tough enough working the contours of the car. Don't make it harder or you'll hate it more.
-Anything you do mask off, don't let the tape sit forever. Eventually, it won't want to come off. Pull it off and put fresh down every 4-5 days. Not only will this keep the adhesive fresh, but it will also let you see where paint is seeping through and you can try to clean it off, prevent it before it is locked in.
-Be sure to mask off the bottom if you want it a different color. I was going to leave the SE-R stock gray on the bottom and said "It won't get down there" to myself. WRONG. It turned out looking better anyways, but was just more work.
-The wet-sanding process is what determines the final appearance and shine. I'm not convinced that you have to do so many coats and so many sanding levels, however you have to really SAND it in order to get rid of the orange peel. Use a light up close to be sure it's all gone. It's also important to be doing this even at the first sanding, since it will only get worse as you put more paint over it and you'll have to sand a lot more down to get rid of it. Hopefully I'll get this part right this time, as there are certainly a few spots that have some orange peel on the SE-R.
-Be careful about edges when you're sanding. This stuff is thin, you can sand down to metal real quick if you aren't careful.
-Do a test peice first. Find something at a scrap yard and go through the whole thing. It will take like 10 minutes each coat and will let you perfect your technique, figure out the paint consistency, etc. It's worth it, plus you'll be able to determine if this is really what you want to do.
-RUSHING + NO PREP = DECREASED JOB QUALITY. These are the only two factors in this job. The materials are cheap and all that really determines how the final product turns out is the amount of time you want to put into it.

I'll add more as I think of them...

[Dave]

so, on to the truck fenders:
PREP WORK:
sanded at 60 grit. I actually ran out of 60 and just switched over to 100, did just fine. A cheap, 1/4 sheet sander is definitely your friend on the prep work. Anywhere there is a rust pocket, be sure to get down to the bare metal.
60/100


sanded again, this time at 220


finished sanding at 400, and immediately primered it to prevent any oxidation from beginning where bare metal was showing.


then, I set up my paint booth to start laying coats down:


As an aside, Rex was over this weekend and we decided that it wouldn't hurt to put some coating on the inner fenders to prevent further corrosion. I'm putting new inner fenders on b/c the others can barely be called sheet metal b/c there's so much rust. For $4/can this is some good shit. Doesn't like drying in sub-freezing weather though.


comparison of sprayed and unsprayed:


one can did both inner fenders. If I was doing lots of driving and off-roading, I'd probably have put 3-4 cans worth just to build up a thick layer. Good stuff here.

I'll update as the actual paint process progresses...

[ScottyB]

this is awesome, thanks for posting this.

[white_2kgt]

You're painting car parts with Rustoleum? and why do you have a pumpkin in February?

[Maengelito]

chad, you apparently missed all of dave's other page. its all about ghetto-tastic paint jobs that apparently look good.

thanks for this dave, i will be using this as a reference for some paint action

[white_2kgt]

chad, you apparently missed all of dave's other page. its all about ghetto-tastic paint jobs that apparently look good.

thanks for this dave, i will be using this as a reference for some paint action

Apparently. I have no doubt you can 'roll' on some paint and make it look good, but making it shine and last are two completly, different things.

[Maengelito]

meh, dave's using it for a truck and perhaps you forgot what my hardtop looks like. i dont think we need this to be showkaa quality

[white_2kgt]

ok, not knocking dave's ghetto fab way of doing cool stuff, but....single stage paint isn't that expensive. No matter WHAT kind of paint you are throwing down the prep/post work is the same, sanding, bondo, primer, wetsanding, buffing, etc, so the cost there is even. To spray some single stage all you need is a decent HVLP gun and a clean area to work, no, the gravel driveway won't cut it. You can get a decent HVLP gun for ~50-$100. I guess I just don't understand the reason for spending that much money on a MUCH more inferior paint job when a higher quality job can be obtained.

[Maengelito]

well my main reason is that i dont have a paint booth, paint gun, or air compressor for that matter.

[Dave]

meh, I thought it was fun, cheap, and pretty good quality.
The first picture is from back in October when I initially started doing this on the SE-R. I didn't want to take another pic of all the crap for the truck's job.
I liked this idea for several reasons.
-I don't have a paint booth, and can't make my garage into one since I'm renting and have no desire to have fix anything I screw up.
-This is also designed for those people that don't have a compressor. Again, I'm not keen on spraying since it isn't my house.
-It's easy and cheap. Anybody with one arm can do this job. Not to mention, my full tab was less than $100. Please, keep the receipts for everything you have to buy in order to spray slimer and we'll compare receipts.
-This actually does shine quite well. Rex can attest to it, he saw it this weekend. You can also see it in the pics in the for sale section for this car. This is the exact same as a single stage job and you can put a layer of clear coat on it if you want (I might even try this on the truck's fenders). I fully agree, prep work is the same, so if you factor out those costs, you spend $50 for a gallon of paint and supplies, as opposed to $100 of paint + $50 for the gun, compressor, materials to "make" a booth, it's adds up fast.

I really don't want to defend it. The SE-R looks a ton better and it wasn't that hard; most importantly I'm happy with it. Now that I've done it once, my results will only get better. The biggest appeal to me is that it's perfect for DIY guys and track cars. They get abused and paint is not exactly important for many of us. I can go buy a $3 spray can at Lowes and touch up where somebody rubbed on me and it won't look bad, blending is a whole other ballgame when you're spraying with a gun.

[white_2kgt]

Ok, just so we are not missleading people.

1) Single Stage paint is CHEAP. Figure ~$50 for a GALLON, plenty to paint a car. I'll let you know how much I have tied up in slimer, I'll tell you this, it won't be much .

2) Most cars these days come with a clear coat, putting an acrylic enamel over the clear coat (and bondo) is going to cause the clear to 'lift' and eventually peal away. So expect to repaint often.

3) Even if you manage to get all the old clear off, and spray over top of the original color it's still not going to stick nor be as flexable to expanding/contracting metal during climate changes, car bodies are THIN, its not like that iron bench you painted at grandma's house with this stuff.

4) If you DO manage to get it down to bare metal you are going to REALLY have your hands full prepping bare metal for painting, this means a GOOD etching primer/filler primer that will bite into the raw metal and give your paint something to stick to, then you still have all the same problems as #3.

5) You can get single stage paint in spray cans, so if you want to do a little touch up at the track you have that option. The proper color in a can cost ~$15 though, so it's not as cheap as Hardware store rattle can, but 1 can should last you years (unless you are racing Spec Miata). For bigger jobs just pour some in the HVLP, blending isn't that hard.

For not much more $$$ (Air Gun/compressor rental/few large drop cloths). You can spray on the single stage paint and it will last more than a year. Dave, I'd really hope your paint job holds up, but I'll be VERY interested to see what it looks like next year at this time.

[Dave]

hrm, I'd heard paint was more expensive than that. Never really looked in depth b/c at this point I had no interest in getting all the appropriate tools. Someday I will, but not yet.
I think it's safe to say that I got the clear off of the truck's fenders :-p , but I do understand what you're saying and it makes sense. The clear was peeling off of my old 240 coupe.
For 3&4, I think that the mineral spirits is supposed to help make it more flexible. I know it helps the paint level out, but I imagine it also affects the paints chemical qualities and flexibility may be one of them. Supposedly the properties of Rustoleum also help in the bite into the surface. There are guys saying that you don't even need to primer anything, just rough and paint. That's a bit much for me so I primed a lot of it and layed some extra primer where the metal was showing through.
Didn't know it available in spray cans. Would this be custom tinted and just poured in the bottle? One of the biggest advantages, IMO, of the single stage is the unlimited color selection, which is one of the biggest disadvantages of this method to me.
I challenge you to a duel (slaps Chad across face with Lindsey's pink mitten) :-). I am interested to see how it holds up. If the person that buys the SE-R or truck stays in touch, I guess we'll find out. The Z might get this treatment, just depends on where I am in life when it gets to this stage.

I like this discussion, as you have obviously researched the painting aspect (and we all know you're a perfectionist ;-) ), plus you're equipped for it. If nothing else, you can point out to any skeptics that there is flaws. I never said there weren't, but this has potential and can definitely come out better than paying Maaco $1000 for a crap job. If nothing else, it lets you control most of the aspects of the task at hand.

[white_2kgt]

Didn't know it available in spray cans. Would this be custom tinted and just poured in the bottle?

You just tell them the paint code and they send you a can, not sure how they get it in there.

I challenge you to a duel (slaps Chad across face with Lindsey's pink mitten) :-). I am interested to see how it holds up. If the person that buys the SE-R or truck stays in touch, I guess we'll find out. The Z might get this treatment, just depends on where I am in life when it gets to this stage.

Sounds good!

I like this discussion, as you have obviously researched the painting aspect (and we all know you're a perfectionist ;-) ), plus you're equipped for it. If nothing else, you can point out to any skeptics that there is flaws. I never said there weren't, but this has potential and can definitely come out better than paying Maaco $1000 for a crap job. If nothing else, it lets you control most of the aspects of the task at hand.

Why do you think Maaco does a crap job in _painting_? If you do all the prep work, sanding, priming, taping you can have a VERY nice maaco job for ~$200-300. You just have to find the right Maaco store to work with you.

[HAULN-SS]

I painted the inside of my fenders on my SS with single-stage rattle can paint. It shines pretty good and has held up quite well. That was with no prepwork at all other than cleaning.

[HAULN-SS]

Also - I've never seen a good lookin maaco paintjob, or schieb, or any other mass martket place. A REAL body shop will spray your car (no prep) for 1000 - 1200 and it will look a ton better. If you do the prep work before you take it there..you will get a show quality job for that price range. (well, show quality spraying and paint...assuming your prep work is adequate)

[white_2kgt]

Also - I've never seen a good lookin maaco paintjob

Now you have.

[Mike]

Also - I've never seen a good lookin maaco paintjob, or schieb, or any other mass martket place. A REAL body shop will spray your car (no prep) for 1000 - 1200 and it will look a ton better. If you do the prep work before you take it there..you will get a show quality job for that price range. (well, show quality spraying and paint...assuming your prep work is adequate)

i have. do the prep yourself, talk to the guys, see some of their work.

[HAULN-SS]

Im pretty sure they dont do ghost-stripes in their 1000$ package.

edit: Also, lets see that paint in 5 years. A lot of those jobs look OK the first 2 years, but eventually the use of cheap primer, mixmatched primer-paint, or cheap paint will start to show in the form of swirl marks, fish eyes, orange peel, etc.

[.RJ]

Im pretty sure they dont do ghost-stripes in their 1000$ package.

You totally missed the point here.

will start to show in the form of swirl marks, fish eyes, orange peel, etc.

Swirl marks generally happen due to poor care (i.e. drying your car off with a beach towell) and orange peel is poor prep work.

[white_2kgt]

Im pretty sure they dont do ghost-stripes in their 1000$ package.

That's not what you said, you said,

Also - I've never seen a good lookin maaco paintjob, or schieb, or any other mass martket place.

There is no magic button Maaco has that says, ok this person is only paying X, crap job it is. Give a certain group of people, the price to spray paint is a constant (unless you are talking a custom paint shop, I'm talking regular old body shops). What is poured into the gun isn't nor is the work put into prepping the surface. The same guys work at Maaco that work at any other body shop you pick out of the phone book. If you use the same paint and do the same prep work there is NO reason you can't get a good looking paint job at Maaco.