I have an Iroc z that is still in need of a paint job. The front bumper and facia were cracked and started to show the plastic. The clear coat on the rear part of the car has faded away. I know everyone thinks that spray painting your car is the dumbest thing you can do. But i dont have 3 grand yet to afford a good paint job. So is spent 15 bucks and bought me 3 cans of duplicolor paint. I think its looks a lot better for the money that i spent. Here are some before and after shots...please give me your opinions. The first three are before shots and the rest are afters.

 

Not to sound rude, but what opinions are you looking for? "Nice overspray, poor prepwork, get a real paint job?" In all honesty I don't want to come off the wrong way, but you literally spray painted over cracks in a bumper, it doesn't look very good.

 

I didnt really care that much about the prepwork because its gonna be totally repainted eventually...this is just a temporary fix. Yes I spray painted right over the cracks.

 

makes it a hell of a lot better lookin from 50 feet than before

 

Can't do much with not alot of money, but imho it looks about a million times better on the back, and about half a million times better on the front. But cracks are tough on a budget so I wouldn't worry about it

 

exactly what my thought was

 

it's good in the sense that you want to cover up blemishes that can easily be seen. But using a rattle can on the exterior is obviously a quick fix that anyone can spot with a good 'go over'. Regardless, I would do the same thing in your situation, I had a cracked paintjob for over a year and hated the fact that people could spot it out yards away (as opposed to a few feet away). It takes time before you can really lay down the money for a good paint job, whether it be 3k or 10k....once I got mine done it was amazing how much I wanted to show the car off. My only advice to you (and you probably already know this) is to not skimp on cash when it comes to your paintjob...it truly is a market that you get what you pay for.

 

Personally I would have just buffed the old paint. Nothing brings trailer park rumors come to life like a rattle can paint job. However on the front bumper you could sand it down and do a decent spray job and then wetsand. Nobody would know if you did it right.

 

If i knew how to do all that i would but i would have probably made it even worse.

 

Spend 20-30 bucks on sanding equipment/materials, prep the car yourself, drop the car off at a Maaco, pay 400 bucks and then you are done.

Does that break the budget?

 

Depending on the color ive seen some pretty good rattle can jobs on single panels (not the whole car)). ESP if you get a acrylc enamel "factory match" rattle can. Also get that $5 adapter that clicks onto the spray can it will make for a better job.

 

The car will be painted eventually like i said i just needed a temp fix. Id rather save my money and get a decent paint job then waiste my money on maaco. Come on you cant really say that it doesnt look better than before.

 

his car looks really clean and it's really too bad that it had those few bad spots. THe car would look nice with some new paint. I think I'd cry if he had Maaco touch it.

 

I think it looks better that it did, but maybe you could have checked the "poor mans paint job" post on here. It shows you how to roll paint your car and wetsand in between each roll layer.....those cars look almost as good as a good paint job. Allot of labor work....westsanding, but really cheap (under $50) for everything you need. Maybe look at it and you can make your car look even better.

 

Its not so much the spray job its the fact you oversprayed onto the decals as well as door liner. Also you didnt sand the cracks in the paint. Thats the main thing.

 

well those cracks are pretty deep and didnt want to have to sand the entire bumper plus all i had was 15 bucks so there was no money for sand paper and all that stuff

 

it looks better

why would you cry if maaco tuched a car?

Get your head outa your but for a second,

Maaco's are a franchise, while there are some that suck, and some that do decent, and some that do AMAZING work for the money.

 

I thought i would let you know that i went back and took some goo gone and took the paint off the stripes and decals... so no more overspray

 

Looks better. I had the nose of my 85 z pushed back in 2 inches and it cracked all the paint on the nose. So i sanded it down primered it and got that touch up paint from the auto parts and now it almost looks good as new for only about 30 bucks.

 

I agree. People who don't like Maaco are either snobs, foolish with their money, or own their own paint shop.

Oh, and the rattle can does look better than before.

 

Or they just straight up have the bank to buy a REAL paintjob, ever think that's an option?

 

Oooooook, my car actually looks like urs with the spots that need painted bad, with clear falling off and all.....but, spray can? I will be honest, the rear bumber actually turned out to not be that bad, looks a lot better than before. The front, I think it acutally looked better before you painted it, I think it will stand out even more now than before. I can't afford a good paint job right now either, but, mine is staying like it is until I can. Good luck with it man.

 

Well that proves what category you fall into. You do realize they offer few thousand dollar paint jobs as well? They do as good of a job as you pay for- it's not incompetence in most cases when they overspray, don't fix runs, don't prep, etc. Pay them the bare minimum and you're getting the bare minimum for quality.

 

i think if you took some polishing compound and a buffer to that rear quarter panel, you probably could have had the paint looking new again, and then just waxed it to protect it.

 

That does look a bit better. But here is some food for thought. Rattle can paint has NO UV protection. Auto paint does. I bought everything I needed to paint my car and including the paint for less than $100 Interested in how and what? Stay tuned in two weeks for one of my Before and after threads.

 

i painted my passenger side rear quarter last spring with rattle can. only because it had been hit a year before right before the motor went out and then sat. i sanded it and primed it first because i didnt want it to rust the exposed bare metal since it was sittign outside. then when i got it runnign i sanded it all down again and just went back over with oe matching rattle can just so it didnt look so white trash shince i was driving it all the time again. now it is striped again and the whole car is being prepped for paint all i have to pay for is prep material my time and the paint for when it gets painted. a buddy of mine step dad owns a body shop and my friend worked with him for a long time and said we could use the shio to paint my car

 

I think the back came out a hell of alot better than before, but the front is kinda iffy, maybe that is bc of the lighting and your right up next to it or something? or maybe it's better in person and you can't tell as much? but judging from that pic it looks like it stands out alittle bit more than before.

All in all though I think you did a good job, I had an 84 ss monte carlo a year ago during my senior year of high school, and when I had bought it, it was about 4 different colors including its original blue color, it was also grey primer, silver. etc. but I rattle canned that in like a deeper satin black primer finish, and I did the whole car in that color. Man, that, mixed with straight pipes after the cat(no muffler), chrome rims that absolutely shined, and 5% tints all around made for one bad *** ride IMO, and even though it had the cheapest paint I have no doubt in my mind that it was the meanest ride at school and I was proud to call it mine, and from that point on I aws in love with the primer look. What I'm trying to say is all that it really comes down to is how you think it came out and how you like it, like me I loved mine, but when you got a kid whos daddy bought him an 80g mercedes it mite not look all that good to him, btu I still rather be in my car.

Now onto my IROC it's an '87 that I plan on taking to Macco b/c it has alot of cracks in the paint (I attached a pic from when I first got it kinda hard to tell tho), my original plan was to put it in a nice finished kind of primer or that john deer blizzard black, but the red thats on it grew on me alot, so I'm going to follow the advice on alot of members that don't have the $3k+ to lay out on paint, and do the body work myself when school gets out in the middle of decemeber and totally strip it down and bring it to macco and pray for the best. Sorry to ramble but I just wanted to share my experience with spray paint and painting and what I plan on doing.
Nice car though and I hope everything works out for you.

John

 

I know you dont care, but I would have spent a little more time on it to make it look better. For the price, you can't beat it though.

 

The word discount clearly shows that it's not a place you take your ride if you want it to look awesome. Talk to some people that win shows, talk to some people that have sponsors, talk to some people that are banking; they don't walk into Maaco's.

Now of course don't come back here and tell me that you don't own a show car and you don't have $10,000 for a paint-job so Maaco is just fine. Ok, that's cool, Maaco is good for you. Read my first post, it was directed at who I quoted.

1400 pixels across. Either you need to space out the pics or I need a bigger monitor

 

ok I went and sanded down the fron of my car like some of you had said. I thought i had sanded it enought but Its still slightly noticable. I didnt try the front facia yet so dont worry that will get fixed next. I also ran out of paint so i didnt get the entire front end thats why it has a wierd look to it. I guess I could have use bondo or something like that to smooth it out a little bit more. But anyways this is what it looks like now.

 

MUCH MUCH MUCH Better. Sanding shouldnt cost you too much. I go to a discount place and buy a whole bunch of sheets. Only a few cents per sheet. Try a rough sand paper to get the big cracks, and wet sand with 450, any finer and the paint wont adhere correctly. To save some time, try and get a big sanding block. I used this thing that resembeled a trowl, covered a large area with little effort. For wet sanding, its not hard, just keep putting water on, and you will be able to feel when the rough goes smooth. Obviously use waterproof paper.

Last tip, spend $5 more and get some aerosol primer. When you think its smooth, spray that on, wait till dry, and look again, if its smooth, lay on the paint, if not, sand it down some more. Good luck, YOURE ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

 

Thanks. But why wetsand it and what do i wet sand? the spray paint or the body after i have sanded it?....The spray paint tends to leave a sticky rough type feeling is there anyway to get rid of that? thanks

 

You can wetsand the paint, but thats more to get rid of orange peel, you have to use 1000-2000 grit sand paper for that. Dont worry about that, theres a bit more tact to it. First use a rough sand paper, like 200-300 to get rid of the BIG scratches. Once thats fairly smooth, move to a slightly finer papr, 300-400, and so on until you feel its fairly smooth. If you're happy with the smoothness no need to wetsand, but wetsand is a neat trick that will get you a really nice smooth surface. I would recommend it, so do a final wetsanding on the part u just sanded (on the body, before the paint,), and then spray the paint. Wetsanding is also used for smoothing primer, but you dont have to worry about that, just get the body smooth. If its wet and sticky, its not dry. Spray sparingly, and keep moving. The finer you spray, and the more distance you spray with, and the longer you wait between spraying again, the nicer it turns out.

A few questions for you. When you sanded, did you get through all the paint and get to bare body? Are the cracks just old flaking paint? Or is it actually deep ridges in the body panels?

 

Thanks. Those are old paint cracks. I thought they were smooth enough when i went over it with my hand but i guess not...but you got to learn some how.

One more thing what does orange peel mean I have heard it mentioned before but I am new at this and have no idea what it is?

 

If you really have to spray paint your car, here is a guide used for computer case painting. The methods used are the same for cars as they are for computer cases. click here
The guide runs you through what you need, and what you need to do to get a really nice finish.

 

Not bad man. I completely understand spray painting it for now so you can save for good paint later.

Here's some pics of when I did mine:

Started with:






During the work:






Finished product:




And that still wasn't enough prep work to be honest. It could have turned out alot better with a few more coats of primer, base, and clear. I am pretty damn happy with it for a spray paint job though.

Next I am going to do my hatch, around my windshield, re-do my front bumper.. (drunk ******* backed into it and stress cracked everything. ) rear bumper and my fenders. All of them need touched up pretty bad, cracking paint all over and faded really bad in other spots.. then I can start saving for a compressor and spray gun so I can do a real paint job myself.

 

thats pretty tight man....I probably should have sanded down my whole front end like you did. But im too lazy haha

 

oh and what color black did you use? I am gonna paint the eyes next cause they are kinda faded.

 

Read this Thread, aerosol gets expensive quick. But if you are too lazy to sand, dont do this.

Orange Peel is exactly what it sounds like. Ever seen an orange? Notice the texture on the skin (the peels?) Its all bumpy and not smooth. Stop at a newer car next time you walk by. The paint looks shiny and new, but get in close, it doesnt look like a mirror, it looks textured. You cant feel it because its not that rough, but you can SEE it.

To get rid of it, you gotta do some wetsanding, and you will end up with a mirror finish. Thats the part where you sand the paint not the body.

Read this.
http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

 

I just bought some cheap gloss black from the shelf at Wal-Mart. Can't remember the brand at the moment.

But, that only took an after-noon of my time. I figure it was well worth it.

Online170 is right though, it could get expensive quick. I spent about $20 on that.

4 cans of primer grey, 4 cans of gloss black, and 4 cans of clear coat. I used all of it besides 2 cans of clear. Even though it's pricy, I still plan on doing some more work on the rest of the car simply because it's the easiest way. I would love to try that $50 paint job, but I don't have the time since the car is my DD right now.

 

I'm gonna add my 2 cents..

My car was fugly 80's gray, complete with pinstripe. I sanded the whole car with 220 down to the factory primer, smoothed it out with 320. I then fixed some body panels, cracks, etc. Then sanded everything down with 400.
I then painted the inside of the fenders, inside of the light assemblies, and
other things that are NOT exterior related. I'd say about 80 hours of work into it, plus running around picking up supplies.

Prep costs:

1) 4 boxes of 50 count DA discs @ 25 a box $100
2) 3 Packs of paper (100 count) @ $30 a pack. (220, 320, 400 sheets wet/dry paper) $90
3) One Quart of fiberglass/SMC filler $25
4) One tube of glazing $4
5) 2 bags of clean rags @ 10 a bag $20
6) One gallon of prep wash (wax/grease remover) $12
7) Bag of black beauty to fix a few rust spots on frame $10
8) Two rolls of body tape @ $4 a roll $8
9) Primer $40
10) Quart of paint $40
11) Quart of reducer $10
12) Misc supplies, buckets, etc, $40

Total prep stuff: $399

Then we towed it to Maaco. $30, (So we're up to $429).

Maaco then went over the whole thing, and found a few small waves I missed. And sanded them out.

Maaco costs:

1) 2k primer / sealer, sanding, guide coat, resanding $179
2) Basecoat / clearcoat, finish sanding $799
3) Door jams, etc $300

Maaco total: $1278
+ prep stuff: $429
So far: $1707

Buff + wetsand time:

1) 4 hours wetsand + buff finish @ $45 an hour = $180

Total: $1887

Heat for my shop:

1) 40 gallons of kerosene $ 2.48 a gallon $99

Total: $1986

Now this is what it cost *me* to do the job, but remember I have 80 hours of prep time into it + I have all the tools to do the prep. Let's assume you don't, lets add 80 hours of prep (totally removing factory finish, fixing dings, etc).

1) 80 hours of prep work @ std shop rate $34 / hr $2720

Total with prep labor: $4706

Now, looking at an estimate from a local body shop (that was oddly enough dead on with labor hours to what I did), the "shop supplies" that I spent $429 on was $989, and a few other things were higher which made the quote come out to just under $5500.

And after I just explained and itemized all this, I think everyone should have a good understanding of why a 'good' paint job is about $5500, and where you can save money by doing 'some things' yourself.

-- Joe

 

My paint job cost less than $250 look at my thread on the body board for details.

$5k is a small price to pay for quality. Beauty is only paint deep :P

 

Ya, I have to agree, now that you have sanded down the front, looks a hell of a lot better.