The Paint your Car for $40 thread

[J____]

So when I was doing by datsun Z project, a friend of mine forwarded me a thread on the Mopar forums about a guy painting his charger with a roller and $40 paint from home depot. Reading through the thread and process, I was convinced I was going to do it. The method? Thin out Rustoleum Rust paint (Tremclad here in Canada) with mineral spirits and roll it in thin layers onto your car. Once dried, wetsand with progressively higher grit sand paper between each layer until the final layer. Finish with a 2000 grit wet sand and polish with an orbital + compound.

Of course, once I started ROLLING on paint out of a can onto my datsun that I spent 2 summers restoring and doing body work on, I was shitting my pants because it looked like crap with the uneveness and marks. I bit my lip and stuck to the process and eventually when the final layer (10th) was dried and wet sanded, I crossed my fingers as I lowered the PorterCable and meguires rubbing compound onto the Home Depot paint and prayed. The result? Truly amazing, and worth every $40 and 20 hours of rolling + wetsanding. The paint was smooth and glossy as can be, with the perk of being extremely hard and rust resistent.











That was done with a final 1000 grit sanding, and there are spider webbing that's visible into the sun. If you go with 2000 final grit, it would get rid of the marks.

Ok so the pros/cons of this method:
pros:
- Cheap
- durable, the stuff is very HARD. it's hard to scratch (and sand compared to normal car paint)
- easy to 'retouch' (if you scrap it, just roll on some more and wetsand + polish)
- can be color matched to any color via Home Depot, I brought my friend's extra Type-R spoiler into Home Depot and had the lady color match 2 cans of paint to Champion White. Everyone was staring as to why I was inside Home Depot with a car spoiler.
- paint doesnt fade or change color, at least mine hasnt.
- and oh did I meantion CHEAP?

con:
- needs ALOT of elbow grease. Remember, it's not how it looks after you roll the stuff, but all about how you prep the surface and ESPECIALLY how you finish it with wetsanding and polish.
- as time went on (it's been 3 years since i did the process) i found a few hidden cons:
- the rustoleum paint (tremclad here in canada) is not very grime resistent. Unlike normal 2 stage autopaint (base + clear), when grime sticks to it, it's hard to get off. If your hands are oily and dirty from working on ur engine and you put 5 prints on your white fender, you cant just wash it off with soap. You'll have to use some sort of abrasive compound like polish or rubbing compound to get it off. Even the exhaust fumes that leave some white car bumpers black can't be completely washed off. You can get off 80% of it, but you can still see the residue and will need to polish it out. This I believe is due to the nature of the paint as well as how i finished it. I only went up to 1500 grit sandpaper so there are nooks and crannies for grime to easily stick to. I'm sure if i went 2000+ grit, the grime wouldnt stick as much.
- as the years pass, the lusture and gloss of the original buff has been lost. Lots of swirl marks and downs look that great anymore. Have to re polish again.

Ok so I'm 100% positive that there's going to some of you who will say, WTF what a waste of time, the time and effort you put into it is worth more than a $4000 paint job. Yes, that's true, but you're not going to learn anything from sending it to a shop and you wont feel as good driving it and telling ppl it only cost you $40 to paint your car with a ROLLER and Home Depot paint and watch their jaw drop as they see the results. Plus I build the car for track so I'd care less if I crash it or scrape it with a $40 than a $4000 one. Now I'm not saying you should go out right now to buy a bucket of paint and roll it onto your Ferrari, but if you do, props to you and enjoy some major bragging rights haha.

So, now that it's been 3 years and hundreds of ppl trying and mastering this technique and lots of failed attempts at finding a better paint product, this guy from the miata forums found a product to beat the Rustoleum. Same technique, different paint. The guy used a marine boat paint called "Brightside". Not sure where to get them in canada/usa but the results look amazing. My rustoleum (tremclad) paint looked fantastic after a wet sand and polish but never to that 2 stage base + clearcoat shine from normal automotive paint. This paint looks amazing though and apparently even harder and tougher than rustoleum.

Here is the thread with the brightside. truly amazing in the shine over the rustoleum

http://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t5199/






here is the brightside company website. Company is called interlux.
http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/default.asp

anyone knw where to get it locally?

1 good thing about rustoleum is you can get it at your local homedepot and they can color match it, I'm not sure you can colormatch this though, however the shine over the rustoleum is worth the lack of color choice.


here's the thread i started on our Datsun forums. It's 11 pages of trial and error and results from the members for those interested in undertaking this method.

http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?...with-a-roller/

[AVS_Racing]

hm.... interesting, i might try this if i ever want to paint my whole car

[ilvtofu]

I'm thinking of doing the front fenders of my Z now >.<
Your car looks (y) what tools did you use? different size rollers? pics?


There are a lot of swirls in this pic though

[GabAlmighty]

Holy shit that came out well. I just don't know if I can put my car down for that long. And this is cheaper than spray paint for me haha.

Nice write up!

[hk20000]

that chromey paint on the miata is also from rustoleum I think.... I've seen it before hahaha.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

tats actually really impressive considering he used houeshold paint on a car



for $40 bux u really cant complain

[Pt20]

interesting, might try this on a beater

[tiger_handheld]

OP is a $40 BALLA!

[Johnrb]

Originally Posted by J____

here is the brightside company website. Company is called interlux.
http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/default.asp

anyone know where to get it locally?

I picked mine up at Steveston Marine
http://www.stevestonmarine.com/

It is a bit pricey though.. 2 quarts came up to 70+ dollars

I also tried the roll on method and got tired of the horrible texture..
it was a little too much wet sanding for my lazy ass

so i went and bought a harbour freight 2 stage turbine hvlp sprayer and I'm now getting much better results



here's how my car looked after the first coat with the gun:


that's with tremclad^
im doing my first couple coats with tremclad and my last coats with brightside


btw
here's a good site to read if you're considering doing this http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx

[J____]

^^ nice spraying is alot easier, gotta make sure you dont put on too thick a layer though, the rustoleum paint takes a long time to dry if you go too thick.

here are the rollers. get them at home depot






they come in packs of 6 i think which is good because you cant really 'reuse' them after each new layer because when you wash off the paint with solvent, it fuks up the foam. Water doesnt dilute this paint.

[J____]

Originally Posted by ilvtofu

I'm thinking of doing the front fenders of my Z now >.<
Your car looks (y) what tools did you use? different size rollers? pics?


There are a lot of swirls in this pic though

ya cuz i only sanded the roof with 1000 grit cuz i got lazy haha. The more you put into finishing (finer grit sandpaper) the nicer and more mirror like it'll get.

[Johnrb]

Originally Posted by J____

^^ nice spraying is alot easier, gotta make sure you dont put on too thick a layer though, the rustoleum paint takes a long time to dry if you go too thick.

Yeah I'm still learning..
I have a tendency to sometimes spray too thick and get runs

in the end it should amount to less work compared to when i was rolling

i just have to get the technique down

i really do love my sprayer though
a 90 dollar alternative to a compressor + gun and i don't have to worry about moisture in the line/hose



oh and props on your paintjob!!
proof that it really can turn out nice.. now if only i had a porter cable >.<

[tofu1413]

Originally Posted by Johnrb

Yeah I'm still learning..
I have a tendency to sometimes spray too thick and get runs

in the end it should amount to less work compared to when i was rolling

i just have to get the technique down

i really do love my sprayer though
a 90 dollar alternative to a compressor + gun and i don't have to worry about moisture in the line/hose



oh and props on your paintjob!!
proof that it really can turn out nice.. now if only i had a porter cable >.<

how much was the sprayer...??

[Johnrb]

well I've seen it on princess auto's site for 169.99 but never in store
http://www.princessauto.com/air/pain...m?keyword=hvlp

you can normally get them for 89.99US at harbour freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44677
they sometimes go on sale though.. or you could use a coupon code or something

I've never actually been to HF so idk where they are in the states
edit:
BELLEVUE, WA 14506 NE 20TH ST
EVERETT, WA 5231 EVERGREEN WAY
KENT, WA 18128 EAST VALLEY HWY
LACEY, WA 4520 LACEY BLVD #30
RICHLAND, WA 305 WELLSIAN WAY
SPOKANE VALLEY, WA 15312 E SPRAGUE, BAY A
SPOKANE, WA 6506 N. NEVADA ST
TACOMA, WA 5401 6TH AVE #B407
VANCOUVER, WA 7809B NE VANCOUVER PLZ DR


thing is.. a good compressor driven gun is going to do a waay better job.

this is only a two stage turbine with a cheap gun
it suits my needs perfectly however..

[JSALES]

that looks amazing, i'd be way too scared to attempt that on a project car i've been working on for so long haha

[J____]

^^^ haha grow some balls! jk

[Peturbo]

Thats awesome. Never heard of this before.
I might want to try this when I repaint my front lip instead of doing it the regular base/clear.
It takes quite a beating.
Do you have any idea how it holds against scrap and flexing?
My front lip is polyurethane.

[J____]

my air dam is polyurethane too and it's pretty good with flexing. i had my car towed once and the idiot hooked the winch to a part of my car that when he tightend the winch, he bent my whole air dam down. When it popped back up there was no crack. However when i parked once, the curb was on an angle and i hit the front ride side, that did crack it.

[yellowpower]

You should get someone to pay you $500 to do it. They save money and you make money ahah

[Jobo]

oh my god, that looks incredible. I'd do it, but the cons throw me off

[J____]

Originally Posted by Ferio_EG

oh my god, that looks incredible. I'd do it, but the cons throw me off

the cons is only with the original tremclad paint i used. I dont think the dirt will stick to this marine paint as much. however it still needs alot of work to get it looking nice like that. So dont expect to roll it on and have it perfect without proper wetsanding and polishing.

[Mancini]

That Z is nice! More pics?

[Pumbaa]

WOW, OP your insane...That look amazing.
Can you paint my 22inch wheels for me ? lol

[CP.AR]

LOL OP did you get dirty looks from your neighbors thinking "WTF IS HE DOING ROLLIN' PAINT ON HIS CAR"

[J____]

Originally Posted by Pumbaa

Can you paint my 22inch wheels for me ? lol

if they're all chrome, then yes i will be there right away to paint over them


i painted it in my garage so they didnt see haha. The other good thing about this technique is you dont have to mask + setup paint booth which saves ALOT of time, mess, and cleanup.


i have other pics, i'll make a blog post tomorrow so it's easier.