much better paint than this new water color stuff.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

I have to agree with above. It is surprisingly good for a roll job, but Toyota beat too much appearance into me, and the coating is hazy. You would see the haze better if you put it in a garage and shined a flashlight on the finish.

Needless to say, it is very good for a roll job. I am impressed.

Also, avoid Rustoleum paint. It is designed for metal on bridges (industrial grade) and lawn furniture (residential grade). It does not have the durability or appearance for cars.

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___________________________________________
2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

Very nice work. Congratulations on that. I painted my 240D with Rustoleum Regal Red. I opted not to use the roller method and got a secondhand (but never before used) Wagner HVLP electric turbine spray gun. Shot the paint in no time at all. My prep work wasn't great, and I really should have thinned it out more. But I get compliments on it and I'm happy with the results.

The day I bought it in 2012:


After 2+ years of on-off bodywork and rust repair, prepped (as best I could) for paint in 2014:


The day I shot the paint:






Completed project - October 2015:









Bonus - I also used the Rustoleum wheel paint, though I opted not to clearcoat them:




The paint needs more upkeep than real auto paint, but I'm sold on the price and the process. I shy away from real paint because of the extremely toxic isocyanates in the hardener. I used a respirator for this, for what it's worth.

That's impressive.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

This stuff is safer than isocyanates, but you really do need something better in red. It looks really rough. Red is a tough color to make.

Why don't you try lacquer? I think that is still available, and would be easier to put on than rustoleum.

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___________________________________________
2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

beautiful red,love to do my old 83

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

You're concentrating on the first picture, taken when the paint was still wet. This was my first try, and in retrospect, I should have thinned it out more than I did before spraying. Regardless, it did smooth itself out a bit while drying. I spent the next few months working the car's interior, as I recall. Once the paint had cured for a few months, I wet sanded it and then compounded the car with a rotary polisher. Its far from perfect (once again, my first try). I'm well aware of the imperfections, but I painted the car two years ago and got the car on the road almost a year ago. I'm very happy with the results.

Also... I don't personally have the bodywork skills to properly smooth out panels. The fresh paint revealed some un-evenness in the metal I wasn't aware of. Once again, I'm aware of it, and I'm still happy with the car. I don't need it to be perfect to be happy with it.

I started this project with almost no budget. The point was for me to take a junkyard-grade car and make it something I could really enjoy. Mission accomplished.

Two reasons - first, the job is done. This car is a daily driver/commuter - not a museum piece. I really don't know anything about lacquer. Also, the Rustoleum was actually really easy to apply. Remember - I sprayed it through an HVLP electric turbine sprayer. I should have thinned it out more, but application was pretty painless.

Thanks. The color is Rustoleum's Regal Red. It's very close to factory Mercedes Signal Red.

Nope, I am looking at the last picture. The red is quite hazy. There was a time when every solid white and a lot of the solid red cars made by Japanese manufacturers in North America were designed by me, so I have a professionally trained eye for these things. i could bore you with the numerous technical reasons for the haze, but the main reason is way they disperse pigments in industrial paints. They are are mixed together and ground in the same batch. Automotive pigments are ground separately and then mixed after dispersion. Red pigments are very tricky to disperse to get an automotive quality appearance.

Spraying Lacquer would be easier, and you would get a better looking, more durable job. Solid colors are not hard to spray. A local paint supplier would probably give you some tips the next time you paint a car. Since you sprayed the car instead of rollering it, you would just need to use the correct paint and have an appropriate tip size in your gun.

__________________
___________________________________________
2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

You make some good points, but, I think you're somewhat missing the point of trying to do the job as cheaply as possible. I'm very happy with it, despite the flaws, based on time and money spent painting it. Plus, I'm not afraid to park it anywhere - always a major plus in my book.

As for the next time... I hope the next time is a long way off.

If there is haze that is only seen by an 'expert' on a 40 year old diesel with a $50 paint job. You did OK

Don't bother with laquer, it does not last. This is why everyone stopped using it many decades ago.

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With best regards

Al

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to make you all aware of our Spray Gun Kits in our newly renovated Accessories section. These are all high-quality kits and excellent alternatives to getting an expensive paint job. Let us know what you think!


-Dmitry

i think this thread was started as a way to show people with little resources how to paint a old car,and have something nice to drive.Trying to sell hundred dollar spray guns and supplies does not belong here.not everyone has a $300 compressor out back.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

I have to disagree here. Roller painting a car with oil based paint for $50 is kind of a novel idea but incredibly laborious and prone to failure. Spraying the same paint (or better still a real automotive paint) with a hardener will create better results, in 1/50th of the time and last much longer.

This is a DIY forum so I'm going to guess that lots of us have access to a compressor, even if we don't own one.

__________________
With best regards

Al

The last response is correct.

Also, waterborne coatings in many (if not most) waterborne coatings are now better than their solventborne counterparts. The regulations have forced so many changes to the solventborne, that they are not as good as they used to be. The one major exception so far are clearcoats.

The only way I know around the regulations is to take your car to Mexico and have the paint applied there. I know some folks in the boarder areas that do take their cars to Mexico for application.

With that being said, I had my Prizm sprayed with high quality waterborne 5 years ago, and there is no sign of failure. I live in one of the most corrosive environments in the world, so you do not have to worry about premature failure with waterborne coatings if they are applied correctly.

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___________________________________________
2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

I hear this one a lot. I actually don't own a compressor, let alone one capable of running a paint gun. Despite the many car guys I know, I actually don't know anyone who has a compressor.

It certainly wouldn't be impossible for me to source one, even if it came down to renting one, but it's never been worth the hassle for me. I did just fine for my purposes with an electric HVLP turbine sprayer.

Don't get me wrong - for a more proper restoration on a more valuable car, I absolutely would choose better tools and materials. But, if you see the first photo I posted, know that my car was a rat in and out, through and through when I bought it. My task was to have fun spending as little as possible to make the car as nice as possible.

I doubt anyone anywhere would ever suggest Rustloeum for a proper restoration. I would spray it. The only place I differ with most people on this is that I wouldn't roller the paint. Aside from the door jambs, which took more time, I painted my whole car in an afternoon with an electric sprayer.