How to paint on a budget

elius

Taken from another forum.. Top work though... Might suit some of you in time was bucks are tight...

here's how i painted my car for about $50, it's actually very easy and the results are amazing. First off, get a can of tremclad real orange (or what ever color u want) in the can, not spray, yes tremclad, it is a acrylic/enamel paint which is very durable. next prep your car as if was any other paint job, fix all the rust, ect....no need to prime the car since the tremclad allready contains elements which allow it to be painted over bare metal. next, after prepping the car get a small 4" professional FOAM rollers, it's tiny and has one end rounded off, and the other cut straight, and is a very high density foam. u also need a jug of mineral spirits to thin the paint. The thing i really like about this is that there's no mess, no tapeing the whole car, just key areas, and u can do it in your garage, since your not spraying there is virtually no dust in the air, just clean your garage first, also it does'nt really smell at all, dries overnight and it super tough paint. also it you decide to paint the car professionally later, just prep and paint, there's no need to strip the tremclad. i have done this to a few cars, and i can say it works amazing, u just have to be paitient. next u thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker. get out the roller and paint away, don't get the paint shaked when u buy it, enamel is stirred, otherwise you'll have bubbles in the paint for a week!!! after u do 2 coats, wet sand the whole car, then repeat, 2 coats, wetsand, 2 coats wetsand. i painted the charger using a can since your not spraying the car u use all the paint and not spray 50% in the air, use progressivly finer sand paper each time. it's not really that much work, cause u can stop and start any time, u can do just a door, or the hood, ect. do one panel at a time, and don't stop once you start. once your done the final coat, wetsand with about 1000 grit to a totally smooth finish, and then using a high speed polisher i use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound. do the whole car with this, and i'm telling u, depending on the amount of time and paitence you have, the results are amazing. laugh if you want, but for $50 ($30 for paint, about $20 for rollers, sand paper, ect...) it really looks good. also you can do these steps overnight, paint one evening and by morning u can wet sand. i have personally done alot of painting, mostly single stage acrylic enamel, and i've sprayed several cars in my garage with really good professional results, just it stinks, it's a real pain to do, easy to make a mistake, messy, and expensive. The tremclad is awesome paint, the "real orange" is an amazing hemi orange, and almost looks like it has some perl in the sun, awesome color right out of the can. I used this technique on my 1974 beetle also, here are the results:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/Picture10.jpg
the car before:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/IM000475.jpg
another after pic:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC00164.jpg
here is a car i sprayed (71 beetle, midnight blue metalic):
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC00194.jpg
here is the car before (71 beetle):
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/Picture1.jpg

here's a few pics of the charger done:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC02764.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC02769.jpg

well that's my 2 cents worth, sorry for the long post. i was borred lol
i painted the orange beetle in 1999, and it still looks like the day i painted it, the 71 blue beetle i painted in 2000, and built the car for my dad, i used the same paint on my charger, maybe one day i'll spring for a good paint job, prepping is 90% of the work, stripping the car, sanding, ect.....painting is overrated!!!
So if you have TIME, then i'd say go for it, the worst that could happen is that it does'nt turn out and your out $50, but if your paitient, and expriement with lets say just the trunk pannel and if you like it do the whole car, if not just get it done by someone else for $4000. i don't know about you guys, but i would rather spend the $4000 on other parts like getting the mechanics sorted out and new chrome, cause when u have really nice paint and crappy bumpers, door handles it just sticks out more.

101sean

Saw this posted on LRA where the general concensus is the the equivalent of Tremclad would be Tractol, shed paint or coach enamel. Seen it done on older Land Rovers with reasonable results.

rrv8

Just painted a Range Rover in tractrol , admitidly sprayed it , best its looked in 20 years and only cost €28 to do the whole rangy ,

Deadly Dave

rrv8 wrote: »

Just painted a Range Rover in tractrol , admitidly sprayed it , best its looked in 20 years and only cost €28 to do the whole rangy ,

Sounds good. What sort of spray gun did you use ??

oflynno

I like it

my brother did his type camper with a roller too and some paint he got from england,it looks okay as he has only done 2 coats,no sanding and fecked off around the world for 12 months without the camper

the rusty bits were treated with rust converter,filled and painted

great post;)

i did the boot of the cortina with tractol,i did not realise what it was until i googled it
ford tractor blue!
i also have abbey orange for a slurry tanker,which i used on a minidigger
it costs about 15 yoyos a litre in atkins in cork and bandon.

rrv8

Deadly Dave wrote: »

Sounds good. What sort of spray gun did you use ??

Just a cheap (€29 ) HVLP gun , thinned it 25% with white spirit , but the seceret to spraying it is to heat the paint , thin it then stick the tin in a bucket of boiling water for 15-20 mins then spray with it warm rather than thinning it too much , takes ages to dry hard but does the job
Ideal is a hot sunny day but that wont happen around here

elius

I have started the front of mine as a tester. I had already primed it with etch so i gave it the first coat today so far it ant bad. But will need at least 3 coats for a finish..

First Coat wing had been Etch Primed and i have also used normal acrylic primer.



I gave the wing a light sanding with 400 grit paper, Again i applied a second coat and am happy with the results so far.
I still wreckon it will take 3 coats...





Another we update i got a little carried away with myself. And in doing so painted the hole front end

So here's an update all has got three coats of paint next im going to rub down with 1200-1500 grit t-cut and polish




Front a little dressed up..

Deadly Dave

rrv8 wrote: »

Just a cheap (€29 ) HVLP gun , thinned it 25% with white spirit , but the seceret to spraying it is to heat the paint , thin it then stick the tin in a bucket of boiling water for 15-20 mins then spray with it warm rather than thinning it too much , takes ages to dry hard but does the job
Ideal is a hot sunny day but that wont happen around here

Thanks. I think I will have to give it a try :cool:

oflynno

what yo goin painting davey?

Deadly Dave

oflynno wrote: »

what yo goin painting davey?

My Lux needs a tidy up and my Surf will need a colour change if I ever get time to start work on it.

tinofapples

elius wrote: »

I have started the front of mine as a tester. I had already primed it with etch so i gave it the first coat today so far it ant bad. But will need at least 3 coats for a finish..

First Coat wing had been Etch Primed and i have also used normal acrylic primer.



I gave the wing a light sanding with 400 grit paper, Again i applied a second coat and am happy with the results so far.
I still wreckon it will take 3 coats...





Another we update i got a little carried away with myself. And in doing so painted the hole front end

So here's an update all has got three coats of paint next im going to rub down with 1200-1500 grit t-cut and polish




Front a little dressed up..

How did this finish up ? Any pics on the finished job ?

kincaid

hi, dont you need the shed or garage you are painting in to be warmed up with a spare heater first too or will just warming the paint up do the job ..

jonnynitro

Deadly Dave wrote: »

My Lux needs a tidy up and my Surf will need a colour change if I ever get time to start work on it.

jasus dave have you still got the lux
(slilux;))

oflynno

he sure has got the lux the lucky baxt4rd.

we should have kept our ones chief,theyd be handy for the snow and the ****ey weather

Deadly Dave

jonnynitro wrote: »

jasus dave have you still got the lux
(slilux;))

Hows the boys ?/ Yep, I still have it. I did the enamel paint job on it too. Its a good job