So last month I got a new door out of a junkyard with less rust then mine. Found the guy must've backed into his garage and hit the wall- there was bondo under the side-view mirror mounting holes, and a stud from a side view mirror inside the door. The door molding (horizontal, to protect against people dinging the door in parking lots) was also pushed in- the entire length of the molding!

So after stripping it down to metal, I did the Bondo work, and re-painted it. I used Plastikote from Pep Boys- gray sandable primer, color match, clear coat. The primer's final coat (after all the block sanding, guide coats, filler work, and spot putty) was wet-sanded with 320. Then I sprayed two coats of the color-match paint (using the car's color code from the RPO sheet), using a tack rag in between coats. Per the instructions on the cans, I waited an hour, then misted some clear coat over the paint. (Note: no sanding done between coats) Then, per the instructions again, after 5 minutes, I applied a full coat of clear. I sprayed a second coat (not in instructions) along the lower panel of the door, where rocks might hit. Then I waited a week- and parked FAR away from anyone, since I had no molding on the door to prevent dents.

Apparently someone hit me anyway; there's now a ding below the side view.

So a week later (per the instructions- "wait a week before buffing"), I sprayed the door with Total Prep (by Marhyde) to remove all bugs/tar/road crap. Then I wet-sanded the door. I used 1500 grit paper on a flexible sanding block (TIP: my flexible block is really a dish-washing sponge!). Instead of using a hose, I just dipped the sponge with the sandpaper wrapped around it into a bucket of water. After the 1500 grit paper, I washed the door with soap & water, and wet-sanded again with 2000 grit.

Finally, I washed the door again. Got scared; the paint looked like orange peel. I figured I should've started with 1000 instead of 1500, and since it looked like crap anyway, I might as well break out my bottle of "Meguiar's Swirl Remover #9" and give it a shot. See: http://www.eastwoodco.com/email/default.asp?T1=52154

WOW!! That was what it needed!! The swirl remover did an awesome job... the paint is smooth as hell, and shines like nothing the car's seen in a while. I applied the polish (swirl remover) by hand (I didn't have any foam pads for my electric orbital buffer), and when I finished the whole door, I applied a coat of Meguiar's Crystal System, step #3 (carnuba wax).

Yesterday, I took my old molding off my old door. I removed the old adhesive by rubbing it with my fingers, sprayed the molding down with Total Prep, and put new 3M molding tape on it. Before I stuck the molding to the car, I laid down masking tape "above" where the "top" of the molding would be. This allowed me to make a straight line for the molding. (Trust me; don't ever think you can just do it "by eye"!!) After the tape was layed, I sprayed some Total Prep on a rag, and used my finger and the rag to remove any wax along the proposed area that the 3M tape would touch the door. Then I layed the molding down.

Now I've got a great looking door and a poor looking car. I'm toying with the idea of doing the front passenger side fender soon, the spray cans came out so damn good.

Just figured I'd share my results with spray cans!! I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. If you're on a budget, in a pinch, you can probably get a better paint job with the cans then you could at Maaco for $200.

Remember, though: The key is good prep work!! You can't just sand the car quickly and spray the paint on- no way. MINIMUM work for a car with dull, but otherwise perfect (no cracking/peeling/checking paint, no rust, no dents) is:

1. Remove emblems/molding from the car. Put gloves on and use a length of fishing line as "dental floss" to remove the emblems and molding without damaging them. Remove things like door locks and handles and antennas and outer edge window sweeps ("outer belt weatherstrip") and side view mirrors and blinkers and spoilers and ...

2. Apply a paint prep to the car. You can use lacquer thinner; I use a spray-can of Marhyde's "Total Prep", from Pep Boys, $8. You want to remove all tar/wax/oil/grime/bird crap/bugs from the paint FIRST. You don't want to embedd that stuff into the paint by just sanding.

3. Scuff-sand the old paint with 320 grit paper. If the paint comes off right away and you see primer or bare metal, sorry to tell you, but you need to strip that panel to bare metal, and "start over". If the 320 grit doesn't cut thru to metal, you're okay. The key is just to scuff-sand the paint. You could probably wet-sand with 320 as long as you didn't sand thru the paint. When you're done, the car should look as though it has a faded paint job.

4. If you feel frisky and daring, scuff-sand with 400. I tried this once and had poor adhesion; you might not want to use 400. Test it out first.

5. Use a tack rag. "What's that?" A cheesecloth that's super-sticky. It picks up dust from the surface, and usually sells for $1.25 at Pep Boys or similar. Get a box from http://www.eastwoodcompany.com , the tack rag is your new best friend. They say you can also use lacquer thinner on a cloth. Wipe the surface to be painted with the tack rag until no dust shows up on the tag rag. Tip: You can keep re-folding a tack rag to expose a new surface.

6. Mask the car off. Tip: Buy painter's masking tape- and not for houses- for cars. Usually sells for $6 at an auto parts store for a small roll. This stuff is not as sticky as normal masking tape, and won't pull up old or new paint when you remove it.

7. Use your tack-rag AGAIN on the paint surface.

8. Use your exact-color-match spray cans, following the directions on the cans. I used Plastikote from Pep Boys, it's an acrylic lacquer, as is their primer. Remember to stick with the same name brand throughout your entire procedure... doing something silly like putting lacquer color over an enamel primer will make you cry! See http://www.plasti-kote.com/plastikot...uide/index.jsp for a color guide...

9. After waiting the appropriate length of time, follow through with wet-sanding of the paint, using steps similar to what I did above for my door.

 

Need pics to be useful... Fear the rattle can!!!

 

ah wtf, you make me read that loooooong post, and you don't include any pics?

 

idk what u say, but i highly doubt spraying ur whole car with spraycans would be better than a 200 dollar maaco, lol, unless u were just joking around??


it'd help out A LOT if there were like a pic or two maybe 3

 

i think it's quite possible. it sounds like he put a lot of work into it, he didn't just spray it on and forget about it. with the proper prep, take your time, do it right, and you'd be suprised how well it can come out. while agree that the paint quality just doesn't match that of real paint, but that stuff is designed to match factory paint. with maaco, first off they have a bad reputation for prep work. add that to the fact that with the $200 paint job, you're definately getting some really low quality paint. i'm no body man, but i would still take my prep work, my time, and my dedication to making my car look nice over maaco putting poor quality paint on top of poor quality work. luckily i have a friend of a friend who is a painter at 2 reputable shops, and will paint my car for the price of materials and maybe just a little more when the time comes.

 

I'd be interested in seeing how long it holds up. Because that paint doesn't use a catalyst, it will never be as tough as regular paint. Another problem I noticed with the "rattle can" paint is that it dissolves in itself. If you ever find yourself putting more paint on it, it will probably lift.

I also see that you put carnuba wax on it when it was all done. Your not supposed to wax paint untill about 60 days. But like I said, keep us posted on how it turns out.

 

yea, but still, in my opinion i think maaco is better, it may even be a fact, cause if u do ur own prep good it will turn out and last, but yea it depends on which maaco u go to, there are some bad ones and there are some good ones, i was bout to get a maaco paint job till i saw that on the news, where i was goin to get my done, they had so many complaints, and they showed some of the cars that were done there, omg so many run marks, my 3 year old cuz can paint as good as those people , but i guess it depends on who paints it, but i still dont see how spray paint can be better if done right! thats why i would like to see pics to change my opinion!!!

 

GMTech, 60 days? The cans said to wait a week before applying polishing compoun... oh- polishing. Not wax. So I might've hindered the evaporation of the thinners (aka "drying")?

Man you guys really want pics! Well hopefully tomorrow will be the day. If all goes well (and it's not too cold) I'm going to try to paint my adjacent fender. Found a $25 Pep Boys gift certificate in my desk... wondering what to spend it on (not about to buy Fast and Furious stuff!), and realized- Paint! Primer!

 

Using regular paint, you could begin polishing the next day. Like I said, rattle can paint doesn't use a catalyst, so it takes forever to dry.

 

my dad stopped at some palce that professionally mixes the paint and it is a lot better than the Pep Boys stuff, I used that on my spoiler, and it never gets glossy, and it never polishes up. The stuff my dad got was $50 for six huge cans, and it turned out pretty good on what I've done so far, and trust me you are probably doing a better job than Maaco. My friend had his 60' Ford Falcon painted there, big mistake.

 

MAACO IS GOOD IF YOU GO TO A GOOD ONE, SPRAY CANTS SUCK, NO WAY THE QUALITY WOULD BE BETTER THAN A LOUSY MAACO PAINT JOB TOO