i just got new/used fenders in great condition, a new front bumper cover, and my 4 3/4" cowl induction hood. i do not have money to get these parts professionally painted right now but i will in the summer. until then i would like to paint it my self so at least it looks all the same color.

i was planning on doing this the cheap way cause i dont have a paint gun or anything like that so im goin spraypaint, yes its "the poor mans way out" but i would rather be driving my car with all the same color parts than waiting forever to get it proffessionally done.

are there any tips on going about this? the fenders need to be sanded and so does the nose, what grit sandpaper should i use?
do they even make spraypaint for autos like basecoats and clearcoats? can anyone tell me step from step on what to do starting at sanding down my parts? (except for the fiberglass hood which i am bringing to a shop to get match painted professionally)

i am hoping to do this this week so any tips would help. thanks

 

i'm not an expert but i needed to do that on mine and it came out decent...

we just smoothed out the paint with some like 1000 grit sandpaper i think, then we slapped on a few coats of black paint and some clear coat

doesn't look great but it looks prettty dam good considering we painted outside with pollen and **** in the air. Some of them came out better than the rest of my car

 

Well, I have not rattlecanned any metal, but I have done a lot of plastic and vinyl and it has turned out well.

If you can find some vinyl primer, then buy it cause it has a flex agent in it, but if not, just get some metal primer, light color for light paint and dark for black, depending on the color of you car.

Then, you need your paint color and some clear cloat, I used plastic/vinyl clear cloat.

Next, take your pieces and sand them smooth, making sure no paint is left, nothing but bare metal or plastic. Then sand with 1000 dry/wet or 800 wet. Spray your primer on, several coats, but not too thick, you don't want it bleeding through. 1000 wet sand then 1500 wet sand the primer, then spray as many coats of color as needed to get it to match up. 1000 wet sand the color then spray 5-8 coats of clear. Make sure they are light coats, not heavy. Then 1500 wet sand until there is no shininess left. It needs to be dull so that you get no orange peel effect. Then get some rubbing compound or Meguiar's Paint Cleaner and thoroughly rub it onto the clear coat. You might want to do a couple of passes with the Paint Cleaner. Then use Meguiar's Polish to give it a great shine, then a layer of wax to protect your paint and depending how much time and effort you put into it, it will turn out as good as factory or better.

You just have to know how to use rattlecans.

Goodluck as well.

 

ok, all those tips are good.. but maybe more expensive than should as all you want it to be is the same color till you can do a better job. Go to a shop, buy the paint you want in a spraycan and primer. You send the whole with 180 to smooth everything and get rid of the cracks and paint dents. You then apply the primer. As said in the other posts, try not to overspray it and make it leak. Go in thin layers, you wait for it to dry for about 5 mins (till the surface is dried to the touch) and apply another layer. You do that 3 times then wait for it to dry completely (about an hour). You then send it with 280 grit to smooth the rough surgace.. and then 500 so the sanding marks won't appear. Spray the paint like the primer (just wait shorter between layers). Try to go in one, constant movement with the spray to have a nice finish... begin the spray before the surface and finish it after. That way you will have the best look possible with what you got... hope it helped

 

thanks for the help....now today i went out and bought krylon primer, basecoat, and tripple thick clear coat (all for the stripes only) all with the fexible additive. when i got home i noticed bubbling in the paint of my rear bumper cover. my car (well the main body) is some kind of silver with black racing stripes all the way from nose to tail. the bubbling is in the silver paint which i do not know the exact color because it was not the original paint when i bought the car. is there any possible way of finding out this silver color? would i have a chance of finding it in a spraycan?

thanks this will help alot

 

first, there is no way you can do something professional with a spraycan. No, you can'T find an exact match as every paint olds differently. If you want something professional you will have to go to a bodyshop to have the painter actualy "match" the paint. You can then have it put in a spraycan if you really want to do it yourself. Otherwise you will have to try with different silvers in spraycan and find the one matching the most

P.S. is painter a word? if not, how to you call someone that paints in english?

 

how much money would i be looking at to get a paint match and then put it in a can?

 

it depends really on how much the garage ask... it varies from every shop... here in Quebec you pay 37 CND for an hour but I think they would do a special quote for the match... you then ask the painter for the receipee and find a autopart that can put paint in a spraycan and have it do it.. that kindof can is about 25 CND here.

note that in order for it to work, you need the bodyshop and autopart to have the same paint or the receipe won't work

I honestly think it is too much of a difficulty for the kind of finish it will do.. but it is the only way I know you could do it