Diy Metallic Paint Job

[crunk81us]

I have been thinking lots about how i want my 20 to look, and I really want to have it in metallic blue.

But I need it to be as cheap as possible.

 

I am wondering if anybody has ever used the touch up spray cans to paint a whole car?

 

they are about 20 bucks each (maybe cheaper if i buy 30 or more?)

 

also if you have a prang, you can just go buy some more touch up paint and fix away..

 

I have some limited experience

 

About 7 years ago i repaired 1 front guard using a claw hammer and block of wood, bog, spray can primer, spray putty and touch up spray cans from supercheap. I think it ended up costing me around $80. But it looked absolutely perfect, not a slight ding/wave/run anywhere. It could have been a professional job. (it did take a lot of trial and error... and time!) I finished it with a couple of coats of clear from the same brand of touch up paint. After all my hard work, it never got installed, so i thought I would give the paint a test. I left it paint side up on the dirt at my mums place, -5 degrees in winter and 40-45+ during summer. I forgot about it, and found it a few months back. Checked it out.. still perfect, no cracking/glazing/rust or anything. I washed it and it was just as shiny as when i did it 7 odd years ago!

 

I know people have done export spray can jobs on cars, how many cans would it usually take? (trying to figure out a rough budget)

 

any comments/experiences/ideas?

[Xon]

I've wondered this before, but wow it'd take a lot of spray cans to do a whole car!!

[ke70dave]

i wouldnt bother with cans. ive never seen a good can job on an entire car. (i guess that depends on your definition of "Good" too)

 

only cost me around $400 to do it in acrylic paint, including buying a spray gun. (already had compressor)

[crunk81us]

i wouldnt bother with cans. ive never seen a good can job on an entire car. (i guess that depends on your definition of "Good" too)

 

only cost me around $400 to do it in acrylic paint, including buying a spray gun. (already had compressor)

 

lol I have never seen a good can job either, tho i would like to do one to show it can be done!

Considered acrylic, don't know enough about this stuff. can you do metallic?

[crunk81us]

I've wondered this before, but wow it'd take a lot of spray cans to do a whole car!!

 

i figure i could get it done for under 1k including all bodywork, primers etc. can anyone else see another way of getting a good long lasting metallic paint job for that price?

[crunk81us]

lol I have never seen a good can job either, tho i would like to do one to show it can be done!

Considered acrylic, don't know enough about this stuff. can you do metallic?

 

Actually I'm not sure i can say I have ever seen a good DIY job at all! good to me means looks like a professional did it ;)

[ke70dave]

lol I have never seen a good can job either, tho i would like to do one to show it can be done!

Considered acrylic, don't know enough about this stuff. can you do metallic?

 

yeah mate mine is metalic (have a look through my members ride thread for pics on when i did it, its prolly quite a few pages back by now though)

 

you just need to do clear coat over the metalic.

 

we did about 4 coats of color and 4 coats of clear.

 

then you have to sand it back using ~1500 grit, then hit it with the buffing machine and some buffing compound.

 

we really had no idea what we were doing, the guy at the paint shop gave us a quick 15min demo on the gun, then we went home and sprayed our makeshift spray booth grey primer untill we reckon it was working good. then aimed it at the car. turned out alright though, didnt get any runs or anything. just have to fiddle with the air control knob untill you get a nice spray. don't want to much air or it will cause orange peal, don't want to little or you will cuase runs.

 

also, painting is the easy part, fixing dents and making panels smooth is hard. well not hard, just you need ALOT of time.

 

the paint on my car (in most places) looks awesome, but the dents that i thought "would be covered up with the paint" look terrible:P

 

note: PAINT WILL COVER NOTHING!! just make things look 400x worse.

 

here is a photo just after i buffed mine (few yrs back now)

 

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/ke70dave/shinycar4.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/ke70dave/shinycar2.jpg

Edited November 1, 2010 by ke70dave

[crunk81us]

yeah mate mine is metalic (have a look through my members ride thread for pics on when i did it, its prolly quite a few pages back by now though)

 

you just need to do clear coat over the metalic.

 

we did about 4 coats of color and 4 coats of clear.

 

then you have to sand it back using ~1500 grit, then hit it with the buffing machine and some buffing compound.

 

we really had no idea what we were doing, the guy at the paint shop gave us a quick 15min demo on the gun, then we went home and sprayed our makeshift spray booth grey primer untill we reckon it was working good. then aimed it at the car. turned out alright though, didnt get any runs or anything. just have to fiddle with the air control knob untill you get a nice spray. don't want to much air or it will cause orange peal, don't want to little or you will cuase runs.

 

also, painting is the easy part, fixing dents and making panels smooth is hard. well not hard, just you need ALOT of time.

 

the paint on my car (in most places) looks awesome, but the dents that i thought "would be covered up with the paint" look terrible:P

 

note: PAINT WILL COVER NOTHING!! just make things look 400x worse.

 

here is a photo just after i buffed mine (few yrs back now)

 

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/ke70dave/shinycar4.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/ke70dave/shinycar2.jpg

 

 

That looks pretty good Dave

 

When I did the guard, i did the repairs, primed, putty'd, and put on some paint only to find more small dints etc.. so i would fix them until they looked alright and paint again, to see some more little bits that were wrong, and repeated that process till it was right. I think i would probably do the same when i get around to painting the whole car.. maybe use some cheaper paint until i'm happy with the body work then do the metallic over that.. assuming that won't cause problems? I found I am a bit of a perfectionist.. Reckon it's gonna take me AGES!

[7FOUR7]

if you were a perceftionist you wouldn't be using spray cans. Good luck though

[crunk81us]

if you were a perceftionist you wouldn't be using spray cans. Good luck though

 

I really did get very good results with the spray cans.

 

It is supposed to be a very BUDGET street/odd race car build.. I can see it ending up costing lots taking forever and being a a super neat street/show car :rolls:

 

As I said though I don't know bugger all about car paint, after seeing ke70Dave's job for $400 I reckon 'stuff the spray cans, I'll use proper stuff' ;)

 

I'll have to do a whole lot of reading on metallic painting... I'm sure I saw somewhere that you have to be uber careful when stirring/mixing/shaking metallic otherwise you get lots of flecks in one section, and little in another..

[ke70dave]

 

I'll have to do a whole lot of reading on metallic painting... I'm sure I saw somewhere that you have to be uber careful when stirring/mixing/shaking metallic otherwise you get lots of flecks in one section, and little in another..

 

i too thought this about metalic

 

but the dude at the paint shop said there is no difference between spraying metalic and non metalic, you have to mix them both with thinners anyway so no need to worry about "Getting all the flecks at the bottom". and the thinners/paint mix is REALLY runny, its simliar consistancy to say....coffee. (2 parts thinners, 1 part paint...if i recall correctly) so it gets pretty damn mixed up.

 

just make sure you give the can a good shake before you start mixing it.

 

it really was a whole lot easier than we expected (the painting part) you have to go a bit nuts to get runs. Just becareful around places like your fuel cap, the paint can get into the gaps and build up, then when you take the air away, the paint runs out down the side of your car = bad medicine.

 

best bet is to go and see a paint shop or even your local spray painter, my neighbour is a "professional" DIY painter, been doing old holdens for years, so he gave us alot of good info.

Edited November 1, 2010 by ke70dave

[crunk81us]

i too thought this about metalic

 

but the dude at the paint shop said there is no difference between spraying metalic and non metalic, you have to mix them both with thinners anyway so no need to worry about "Getting all the flecks at the bottom". and the thinners/paint mix is REALLY runny, its simliar consistancy to say....coffee. (2 parts thinners, 1 part paint...if i recall correctly) so it gets pretty damn mixed up.

 

just make sure you give the can a good shake before you start mixing it.

 

it really was a whole lot easier than we expected (the painting part) you have to go a bit nuts to get runs. Just becareful around places like your fuel cap, the paint can get into the gaps and build up, then when you take the air away, the paint runs out down the side of your car = bad medicine.

 

best bet is to go and see a paint shop or even your local spray painter, my neighbour is a "professional" DIY painter, been doing old holdens for years, so he gave us alot of good info.

 

good to know.. I guess trial and error will work in this case too.. Can't wait to get started..

[7FOUR7]

lmao sorry about the bad spelling regarding 'perfectionist' , my iphone "corrected it"

[Sloth]

I think a mate of my did a spray job a couple of years back with touch up paint that he had..... acquired over time. I didn't get to see the car properly after it was done (was always in the garage) but from the photos it looked pretty cool. He spent ages planning it though, lots of prep work and had a spray painter friend helping him out.

[SLW42]

My ke70 has only ever been painted in spray cans, after the factory painted it, some of the panels came up overrated some not so much, I love how my front guards came up though, like a "professional" had done them IMO, but thats me I love spray cans and will only paint my corolla in spray cans, I am trying to prove a point that spray can jobs can with some time and effort into the prep, come up wicked,

 

Good luck with it mate i'd like to see the finished job