What to do about fading/cracking paint (all over)

[emerald_gen3]

ok, i've been debating this for a while and i thought i'd see what the TN croud thinks of it... My poor gen 3 cam is in desperate need of a paint job... I cant afford to drop $$$ on a professional job, so i was thinkin of sanding it all down myself and painting it with rattle-can flat black primer. basically im askin u guys (and gals) if u think it would look cool, or just gay. at least untill i can afford to have paint sprayed on it... could be up to a year

[Nick]

what's with everyone and flat black primer, if you're gonna do that and leave it, at least prime, then use some actual paint that's made to be exposed to the elements

the paint on my hood was chipping and i made a mess trying to fix it, now the clearcoat and paint is chipping off my factory spoiler

[Rapeacivic]

Dude if you do that you will be able to see every defect on your car(Dents, etc.)

A good way to make your paint look better is to wet sand the car and buff the car

[SmokingTires]

^
There's your answer.


However, if you are that poor, and that desperate, there is another way. My friend painted his entires truck with more expensive spray paint (after sanding). And on contrary to what you might think, it looks really good. From far away, you would never know it wasn't a pro job. And unless your face is 1 foot away from it, you can't tell the difference. It's worth a try if you are that insistant on it

[emerald_gen3]

hmm, wet sanding? buffing? excellent idea... see thats why i posted here, cuz i never even thought of that thanx guys, i'll check into that... no black primer i promise

[Bhavesh]

Bump because I have the same problem on a 97LE and I want to see what other options are out there.

I also tried some wetsanding and polishing with a finish restorer, but all it did was "fill in" the cracks with the white paste, making them more noticeable. The result was worse than before.

[ryuji16]

wet sanding will probably fuck up the cracked areas even more. if the paint is fading because its already wearing down to the primer, forget about sanding youll just make things worse.