rattle can paintjob

[viktord1]

First of all don't tell me to get it professionally done as it's not worth it on a car that nearly 20 years old and has 186,000 miles.

That being said, I have a '91 pimpster that's in real need of some TLC. The main thing that's letting it down is the paint, which is peeling like crazy on the hood, trunk and roof of the car (doors, fenders and everything else is ok).

I have experience prepping cars and I know the procedure of how to do everything. My main concern is HOW MANY CANS of duplicolor I'll need to paint basically the top half of the car (the line that goes across the side of the car or anything from the door handles up). The car is dark blue metalic and since it would be a pain to match the color I was planning on painting it some kind of black or other dark color on the top, and maybe a 1/2in silver stripe everywhere the blue and black met.

I've been googling around and have seen people use anything from 5 to 35 cans to paint a whole car, so I'm a bit confused about how many I need.

Any info on this or ideas for what color to paint would be appreciated.

Cheers

ps: I'll post photoshopped pics soon to visually explain to you what I'm on about.

[viktord1]

Here's a super rough representation of what I'm planning to do. I spent 2 minutes in photoshop so don't be a hater. I pulled the pic from google and the color on this car isn't the same as on mine. Mine has a much darker blend of blue metalic. Notice the stripe between the 2 colors. Looks super ghetto here but I think it would look decent on my car since there will be more contrast because the colors are darker.

[atobe]

that's probbly something for you to figure out since it's rattle can there shouldn't be a problem if you run out just go buy more.. and it looks weird anyways you might as well just paint the whole car if you're going to do it.

[viktord1]

yea but thats too much $
besides both sides of the car are in pretty good nick. There's only 1 door ding

[Tom 2000]

I did a rattle can paint job on my Celica many years ago. I can't rememeber how many cans I used, but the number of cans really depends how many coats you plan to put on the car.

I can tell you that 5 cans won't cut it.

Also, i would put more coats on the front of the car (leading edge front of the hood) Rattle can just doesn't hold up very well to chips there.

[AlanL]

roll on

http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx

[viktord1]

Originally Posted by AlanL

roll on

http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx

Haha hell no I'm not gonna roll on the paint. Biggest reason is because I already tried on the front bumper, and it turned out very good to my surprise, but it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay to much work. I didn't want to spend the time or energy to roll it on. You have to sand the hell out of it between each coat and then buff, buff, buff, and buff some more. You can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel and you hate yourself for starting the whole thing.
I took pics of the process and I'll post them if you guys want. They should still be somewhere on camryforums.com if you guys wanna check them out.

[viktord1]

Originally Posted by Tom 2000

I did a rattle can paint job on my Celica many years ago. I can't rememeber how many cans I used, but the number of cans really depends how many coats you plan to put on the car.

I can tell you that 5 cans won't cut it.

Also, i would put more coats on the front of the car (leading edge front of the hood) Rattle can just doesn't hold up very well to chips there.

Yea I'll probably end up priming it and doing about 3 coats of paint + clear coat at the end. I was thinking 1-2 more coats of clearcoat on the front should do it.

Do you guys have any ideas as to what color I should paint it? I find the dark blue metalic a bit too sort of specific. It doesn't go well with many colors, except black, and I'm not even sure about that one too.

[JCamry94]

I used some plastic/fiberglass adhesive after I sanded her down, sprayed it a couple coats over, and used clear coat spray. I spent around $50 for every all together and it looks pretty crappy.

I just hope you're not expecting it to shine, or look anywhere in the same neighborhood of OEM paint, cause you will be sorely disappointed!

Good luck though, I'm interested in seeing how it turns out

[toyomoho]

Hotrod magazine did an article on spray can paint jobs last year, seemed to work OK

Used to mix a gallon of paint per car but maybe could have gotten by with 3 to 3 1/2 quarts on a sedan. If 12 oz cans this is 9.3 cans. Some paint will remain in the can say 1 oz, thus about 10 cans.

Try buying all the paint from the same lot to avoid color mismatch.

If using lacquer paint it dries very fast. Not sure if the volume output of the can will allow for good paint flow before it dries. Enamels dry slower by allow dust and bugs to become embedded in the surface.

Suggest you find a scrap hood, trunk lid or door to practice on.

Try using lacquer first and determine how it goes on the amount of over spray, if you can rub this out with compound and are happy with the results.

If you practice on a predetermined size of part you can use this to determine you total paint requirements based on the total surface area of the car.

Have a helper shake the cans and test spray. Try having someone spray a second can in following up rapidly to your first to get those missed areas. Again the amount of paint coming out of a spray can is minimal compared to a paint gun.

As the can becomes lower in paint volume you will need to tilt it upright more and more to get paint to come out, plan for this.

Suggest if you cans to limit the spray area by doing individual parts as much as you can then covering over them.

[viktord1]

Originally Posted by toyomoho

Hotrod magazine did an article on spray can paint jobs last year, seemed to work OK

Used to mix a gallon of paint per car but maybe could have gotten by with 3 to 3 1/2 quarts on a sedan. If 12 oz cans this is 9.3 cans. Some paint will remain in the can say 1 oz, thus about 10 cans.

Try buying all the paint from the same lot to avoid color mismatch.

If using lacquer paint it dries very fast. Not sure if the volume output of the can will allow for good paint flow before it dries. Enamels dry slower by allow dust and bugs to become embedded in the surface.

Suggest you find a scrap hood, trunk lid or door to practice on.

Try using lacquer first and determine how it goes on the amount of over spray, if you can rub this out with compound and are happy with the results.

If you practice on a predetermined size of part you can use this to determine you total paint requirements based on the total surface area of the car.

Have a helper shake the cans and test spray. Try having someone spray a second can in following up rapidly to your first to get those missed areas. Again the amount of paint coming out of a spray can is minimal compared to a paint gun.

As the can becomes lower in paint volume you will need to tilt it upright more and more to get paint to come out, plan for this.

Suggest if you cans to limit the spray area by doing individual parts as much as you can then covering over them.

Thanks for doing all the math for me Since you said about 10 cans I figure it will be more like 13-14 because of overspray and because not all of it will actually get on the part which I'll be painting. I'm probably just gonna practice on the back bumper, as it's a bit deformed from too much sun exposure, and when it comes time to paint the car I'll just run to the local junkyard and grab one with the same color for like $20 that's in much better condition than mine.

[viktord1]

Originally Posted by JCamry94

I used some plastic/fiberglass adhesive after I sanded her down, sprayed it a couple coats over, and used clear coat spray. I spent around $50 for every all together and it looks pretty crappy.

I just hope you're not expecting it to shine, or look anywhere in the same neighborhood of OEM paint, cause you will be sorely disappointed!

Good luck though, I'm interested in seeing how it turns out

Yea when I rolled on the paint on my bumper it looked very dull, but some 2000grit sandpaper and turtle wax scratch removal wax fixed it. It looked seriously good even from up close. I could see my own reflection . I never really bothered with buffing compounds or whatever and even now 2 years later it's still one of the most shiny parts of the car

[bcp477]

Why not ? I say go for it. After all, as you already said, a "professional" re-spray is not worth the expense, for a car worth as little as yours. If there is not too much contrast between the painted areas and the original ones, then I don't think it will look too bad. In any case, you'll be protecting the sheet metal - and you can always have a professional job done in future, should you decide to "restore the car".

Actually, I am considering turning my '97 into a bit of an "art car" myself. It has lots of miles (229,000+), but still runs very well. The paint is that ugly "champagne" or dull gold colour, which I've always hated - and the paint is in so-so shape. So, I am considering some kind of muted, multi-colour pattern, something similar to the old "Dazzle" camouflage they used on ships during WWI. I would keep the colours muted and somewhat complimentary and try not to get too crazy with it, but the idea of doing this with rattle cans, newspaper and masking tape is intriguing to me - exciting, really. The car isn't worth anything, but still does well for me as a daily driver....and I am in the process of mechanically restoring it, as I've decided to KEEP it (SCREW new cars !!!) . Anyway, as I said above about your plans - why not ? At least it will be different - which is what I am leaning toward with mine.

[JCamry94]

Pics??????

[viktord1]

Originally Posted by JCamry94

Pics??????

I'll get around to them one of these days. I have to transfer them from my other PC and I have like 3 mid-terms this week before Wednesday so I'll be a bit busy. I'll put 'em up by Friday.