I am getting ready to get real serious and have some money saved up to finally spray with rustoleum... Has anyone experimented with mixing rustoleum to make something similar to the factory metallic teal look. I aint looking for perfect match but something that will kinda look decent with the door jambs and all. I know green and blue but just wanted to see if anyone has already tried to figure out the correct mixture.

something just wrong with that sentence if your serious and you got money why not use car paint?

Why not save a little more and do it right the first time.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/au...paint-job.html (My "budget" paint job.)


A few hundred dollars to get it done right now compared to saving for a few years riding around with rust primer and flaking clear coat.

Plus I mean by looking at the cars that was done with the method posted above it looks very impressive for the do it yourselfer on a low budget. With 160,xxx on the clock I got more important things for the major money to go to in the future.

Real automotive paint only costs a few hundred bucks too. What costs alot is all the prep work that needs to go into the car which you'll have to do anyway.

The way I figured it up is the best price I could find for professinal job was $1000.

If I go rustolium

Sander - 60
Wagner power painter - 100
Paint and misc - 50

and if its something I can do in my driveway and sandout the blemishes and imperfactions within a weekend

Even if I tried to use automotive paint myslef I would have to still get a sander and then primer/paint/clearcoat and its not as forgiving if I mess up

they make single stage car paint, single stage paint is like rustoleum and aint that expensive to, goes on just like rustoleum to

you can have it custom colored and get darn near factory teal

they sometimes call this kinda paint "Fleet" paint or "industrial"

No, it isn't

Single stage paint is acrylic enamel with a (added) urethane hardener (for gloss and durability).

Rustoleum is a shitty indoor/outdoor, general purpose, oiled enamel paint. Your car isn't lawn equipment.

Save a few more dollars and use the right paint for the application.

I'm not trying to be a d--k about this but, if you are even remotely serious about having a modest DIY paint job on your car... use acrylic enamel (Kiriker is one brand for example).

If you car is half ***... fine.. half *** the paint on it.

If it's something you care about... at least make an attempt to do a decent job.

Except it's designed to be a vehicle finish. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have to put lots and lots of thin layers on if you go the rustoleum route? Really you are going to be doing a lot of prep work whichever way you go and it's going to take you more time than a weekend if done right.

It took me 3 years to save the money for my paint, and I would wait another if I had to. I got a friend of a friend to get me a $10k paintjpb for $3k plus paint (another $1200), and it was well worth the wait.

But, I could have went with stock teal green, mixed at Napa for under $500 for the paint, and it would have dropped my paintjob labor cost to ubder $2k - so a real paintbooth job with real factory paint can easily be had for $2500 or less, depending on the body work required (I had at least $1500 in body work that had to be done to my rear quarter panel - without that, I could have used factory teal green and come in under $1000 for a stock paint job).

Reconsider the Rustoleum - if for no other reason, think of this ... You can't paint over it with real auto paint - ever - real paint won't stick to it. ie you'll never be able to paint over it in the future - it'll have to be sanded back down to where it is now which will cost a fortune in time and money.

... typical.

OP, don't let them discourage you, just go for it!

In fact, check out this forum dedicated to this method...

www.rolledon.com

LOTS of great information there, even some info on mixing custom colors...

hince the work "like" as in its not a base coat, clear coat paint

but i half and half agree with rustoleum being crapy, but i have also see a few rustoleum paint jobs that look real good

but im not sure about mixin rustoleum to get an exact match, but i know you can get a dang close match with a single stage automotive paint for not much more that the rustoleum

I agree with slave. The cars that were painted in that thread look really good especially considering they were such low budget paint jobs. $150 vs. 3 or 4 grand? I don't think anyone has that kind of money around to throw at something like this right now but if you do by all means get a professional paint job.

Exactly. And while I completely understand saving up and waiting for a "Real" paintjob, this is a great COST EFFECTIVE alternative in the meantime.

I understand that conventional automotive paint may not lay on top of Rustoleum, but if your saving up for (or have the cash readily available for) that professional $$$$$ Show quality paintjob, you had better be going down to bare metal anyways!

If we all followed the conventional wisdom of saving up for that "Real" paintjob, there'd be ALOT more ugly 3rd Gens on the road, lol.

The way I look at it since my car is high mileage and critical parts breaking is inevitable it will honestly be 5 years before I have the money to just drop on a pro paint job. I could always income tax return or take out a loan for the paint job but then again what good is a nicely painted car with a thrown rod parked in the driveway. I know as soon as it was painted something would break and that would happen. I have the entire top half of my car rattle can primered now just to stop the rust, it aint looking pretty. When ever I do get a pro job its going to need to be sanded down to the metal to get the best results for the most part.

I have the up most respect and joy for my car, I don't intend to make it half a**, just simply do the best for it with what I got. I mean I guess I could keep using rattle can primer on the spots that are chipping paint for the next 5 years and make it look really crapy with spots all over it. Or I could improvise and use a alternative method that has had good results that may not be as conventional but is one color and protected.

Having that said other than someone wanting to go in on cost with me and spray it I would say this is my best bet. I have no experience painting and with this method its alot cheaper to fix mistakes than regular automotive paint.

Here is the stupidity of the paint argument:

Rustoleum = $150

Pro paint = $3-8k

Rustoleum, fine... $150 in PAINT materials.
That isn't TIME, tape, paper, TIME, sanding, TIME, paint, sanding, TIME, paint sanding. Add infinitum... to get a at best, a half _ss paint job.

You're seeing material costs. $150.... uber cheap paint job.
how much is your time and sand paper and buffing materials worth ?

Pro Paint, $3-8k = LABOR.... you're PAYING for someone to prep your car for paint. Thus LABOR=hourly cost= expensive paint job. It's not the paint that is costing s--tloads. It's LABOR.

Yea, rustoleum looks great in a fresh laid, digital picture.
Unless you maintain it, like a lacquer paint job (buff, wax, out of weather), just how long will it stay nice looking ?

A GALLON of the worst automotive (which is still rollable) paint is still better then the most high dollar quart of rustoleum.

But hey, you want to just boil it down to basic $$.... go for it.

You're the one that has to ultimately deal with the decision in the long run.

All things I dont mind spending on my car, isnt that what this hobby is about??????

Nor is it a single stage, acrylic enamel automotive paint. It's an oil based paint, as in what you paint pressure treated lumber, lawn equipment, your yard barn, or most things that are not your car, with.

By 'like', do you mean it (rustoleum) has some shine and looks like new paint ?


So, you consider your time free but, you should pay $50-80 and hour to a paint shop ?

You're time is still valuable. That is why a PRO paint job costs money... you're paying someone for THEIR time to do the labor for you.

Do you think that your time is worth nothing if you spent the same amount of time prepping for a budget paint job ?

Would you disregard that time if you sold the car ?

Probably not.

So why is your time on a rustoleum not calculated into the the paint job ?

If your time isn't valuable, why not speend the $300 for single stage paint and have actual automotive paint on the car ?

If you're going through all the steps for prep, layers coats, sanding, buffing.... why not use good paint to make an even better end result ?

You're time is free after all....

ok let me get this straight,
rustoleum = $150
acrylic enamel single stage = $200
rustoleum = oil based, 3 times the work to look good, and you still spray it.
acrylic enamel single stage = REAL CAR PAINT.
both require the same amount of prep and real paint aint worth it?

with having no expirence spraying odds are I will have to resand and spray over a few times to get it right and the price to buy more rustolium compared to car paint conly be like 8 bucks.

go to a shop and get a little bit of paint they screwed up, you can get it dirt cheap. use that to practice on a junk peice of metal

I could but then I would have to either rent a booth or buy all the necessary equipment where as with the wagner I can do it outside and wetsand the bugs out haha. I'm telling yall look real close at the pictures from the guys that have done this already. If I could get a pro job I would but by the time I can afford it I wont have to worry to much about sanding cause all the paint will have flaked off by then haha. These guys are claiming to have good long lasting life out of these paint jobs and when I consider the time factory all I can think about is riding around like it sits now for 5 years...

If you do all the sanding and body work and then do all the prep work and purchase the paint (Exactly what you would have to do with rustoleum), you could probably have a pro just spray the paint for minimal $$ in their booth. Then you roll the car out of the booth and remove the paper and tape and do your own wet sanding and buffing. The actual spraying of the car isn't what costs big money it's all the prep time and labor that goes into getting the car ready. For not much more money than painting with rustoleum you can have a nice automotive paint finish.

single stage acrylic urethane was used to paint cars for years and years will before BC/CC paints

rustoleum is what you paint yard stuff and tractors with

they both do not use a CC there for the are applyed in the same manner not a BC/CC set up and at $40 for a gallon then reducer and hardner is not much more than rustoleum, if you can paint w/rustoleum you can paint with single stage, as a BC/CC system is a little harder

What would be the better effective and costly method though after messing up... having to start parts over from scratch rustoleum vs automotive paint I have to get it done before it get to cool here in NC.

But even if I do all the prep work myself I still have to find a professional to agree to do the spraying only for a good price which I would guess would still be a few hundred with there time and equipment factored in. Right now my job is getting ready to be really busy do to the time to overseed grass so from now till November I will be working 6 days a week. So I really need it to be something I can get the majority done in a day and a half or so.

I painted my bf Chevelle with RM.I got a gallon of green mist metallic, a pint of green pearl, a quart of clear basecoat, a gallon of clear, a quart of clear hardner,and a gallon of reducer, a roll of 320 and a roll of 400 block sanding paper for $800.
Yes labor does cost a lot.I think you should just do some research and find out where you can get a decent paint for a decent price.
I know your car has high miles and blah blah blah but you did say you have the utmost respect and joy for your car.
Feels like the 80th time I have posted this so sorry if I sound like a broken record...
Summit carries a full line of paints.Including urethane bc/cc systems.
http://www.summitracing.com/search/B.../?autoview=SKU
And you dont need a sander.You dont have to take the car down to bare metal to paint it.320da paper slapped around a red scoth brite pad will do.Finish it off with 400 and wet sand with 6 if ya wanna go crazy.Good luck with your project!

Yeah I seen that summit paint and it looks like a good deal and matches pretty good but I would hate to get that money invested to do it right only to find out that since I have no expirence that I would have to take it back off and redo it again.

Wetsanding with 600 will get you a shine???

Wetsanding with 600 gives metallic colors a nice surface to lay down on.Im not sure what you mean about shine.SOrry

This is some pretty good humor. Painting a car with a roller, Painting a car with a wagner power painter. I hope its not a metallic. How exactly do you get the paint to atomize. How do your metallics look after being applied by a roller or wagner. You cant even get a spray can to atomize metallics properly let alone a roller, brush, wagner or whatever your gonna use. you can try whatever you want and the best of luck to you. Body and paint are expensive because it takes years and thousands of hours to perfect. Do yourself a favor and save a little more money. do the body work, block it out by hand, take your time and get it as straight as you can. Bring it in and have someone spray it for you. You will be much happier in the long run. Good luck on your project.

if u want a decent job for the meantime u might as well look into a cheap macco paint job... find a good shop tho, ask around ur area, they're hit or miss

I painted my car with Sherwin Williams paint. The Paint was crap... color matched to 70% rather than the 90% I was promised. Lots of orange peel, paint started cracking a few months after and a hail storm wiped the paint away like a paper towel.

I ended up paying a shop to do it right. $3500 just in paint!

Anyhow, my buddys roomate just painted a motorcycle with Rustoleum gloss black, no clear, sprayed through a cheap Advanced Auto paint gun. Here are some pics... Definitely workable in my eyes...

Can't really tell the quality with those crappy phone pics. Aren't most or all of those parts plastic though?

Look he wants to paint his car with whatever he wants to paint his car with. I want my car to look nice but not have to pay out my bum to get it that way so this would be my choice as well and no one is talking me out of it as I've seen too many people paint too many cars and have them most turn out really well. There are a few here on the site that inspired me to do so and after seeing their cars I'm all for it. And is my time as valuable as a professional painters? No, it isn't cause I've never really painted. Can I just go out to my garage on some saturday afternoon, drink a few beers and spray and sand my car down? Yes, I can. Not only will my car be getting paint that I can afford, I'll also be getting experience that I will benefit from. I like learning new stuff and getting hands on with things, if someone doesn't then maybe this isn't for them. There are just too many nay-sayers on this site that won't take the chance...

Not really sure what all this means? It seems to me that most have given advice here. If your asking people for advice and there oppinions that is exactly what is being discussed here. Doesnt sound like nay-sayers to me. Sounds like people that have experience in this area. What was it that you were contributing again ? How much beer you can drink on a saturday afternoon. No one wants to talk you out of anything that you want to do. Im sure with all your vast knowledge in paint and body we would just be talking on deaf ears!!!!! As for people on this site that wont take the chance as you spoke of above. seems to me everyone but yourself has taken a chance on paint and body. (quote) "Ive never really painted" Thanks for all the advice and have a great day.

God, these threads always get junked up this way. You've all made your points clear, AGAIN. We dont care, so take it elsewhere!

ANYWAYS!

OP, hows it going? Get any info on getting a mix?

I haven't bought any yet to experiment but what its looking like will be royal blue mixed with hunter green... I'm sure it aint going to come out factory teal but with some trial I may get close.

Good luck with your paint job, you really seemed committed to doing this low budget paint job, so do it. As always you'll get the good with the bad when asking for advise. Later

And thanks for contributing in such a mature manner!!!!!!!
OP,Any decisions on the direction that you will be going ? Are you planning on doing a complete paint or doing touch ups? It would be the deciding factor on which system you should be using.

Well if I don't do a cheapo paint job myslef I will be riding in optimus primer for the next 5 years haha you be the judge

Its going to be full on paint job aside from door jams and engine bay. I bight do the top inside of the inner fenders just enough to match it with the rest of the car when you are driving down the road.

I looked at the pictures and yes you do need paint. If it was me and i was trying to make it look fairly decent the cheapest route would be to use a off brand acrylic enamel.Lots of brands to choose from. check your local auto parts dist. You can use this system with or without hardner, which is expensive. benefits would be higher gloss and durability if you use it. You would need to paint the car complete. Not a good system for blending. You also would get a correct mix for your color.

What exactly is your budget? Might make it easier to figure out what system is best for you!!!!!

My budget basically is as little a possible. I have no air compressor or garage so thats why this Wagner's power painter job really got me going. Decent finish with no shop and minimal tools. I have been shopping around for someone to fix the urethane cracks and grind my 4in cowl hood down to fit then I am going to by a $60 craftsman sander and I see the Wagner's power painter for 100 so factor in paint/mineral spirits sandpaper $210-250 so I would set the budget right around $250

Your very welcome

Just trying to get this guys thread back on track. Always seems to go off the deep-end every time the Rustoleum paint job comes up...

OP, for being in primer she still looks good! Now just slap some paint on there, and she'll be beautiful. I think you may be on the right track with the Royal Blue and Hunter Green mix, may just take some trial and error getting the right ratio. Now go pick up a quart of each and practice, I cant wait to see where you take this!

Pm me if you need some help. i just cant compete with slaves intelligence.

YES!!! i get so tired of people defending the rustoleum paint job because it is cheap and they don't mind doing the work on it. do the same amount of work that you would be doing on the rustoleum job but spray it with acrylic enamel!! it is cheap and if you have an automotive wholesale paint supplier near you it is super cheap! i did my first paint job with that stuff and it turned out great. everyone keeps talking about the big $$ and the "show car paint".. you know.. you can paint a car with automotive paint and still do it cheap.. that is all we are saying! no one cares that you don't want a show car shine.. just respect your car enough to use automotive paint on it.. after all.. it is made for cars!! what a concept.

Well post some pics up of the paint job you did and give us some tips and what materials you used, how much it costs and stuff like that.

Lol, OK dude.

It's just a different way of doing things, that works. Period.

It does not mean that the person that does this has less respect for their car, in my eyes it shows more respect due to the dedication/time required by this method to make it look good. More respect for not leaving it a primered mess that other people on the road see and just attribute more dislike to the Thirdgen.

True, it is not for everyone, but for some it is worth the work and the good results that can come from it. We defend it because it does work. We defend it because of closed-minded people who cant seem to think outside the box constantly tear it down.