I applaud the fact that you are experimenting, all great painters do, but experiment on a filing cabinet, a fridge, something other than a third gen.

 

It's not an experiment. It's a PROVEN method that was done many times before I did it.

 

^^ Some people you can't convince. Your results speak for themselves, and that's the best argument.

 

i guess i should just add this for giggles and to settle it, Third Generation Camaro, the Ak-47 of cars in some sense not gonna get into a argument about whats cheapest lol though as time goes on they'll start to become less plentiful but they are a great start for low budget if you know where to go. Maybe if I was rich enough I would really shell out the cash to repaint mine with some nice automotive paint but I am going to use the local Tractor and Implement store's $15 a gallon tractor paint if it comes in the color I want. FYRCHKN is right it is proven, seen it done a few times with great results, we aren't talking about guys who sand down their Honda civic's crapped paint job and rattle cans the whole thing in flat black to make it look aggressive.

 

Last time i checked, it was HIS thirdgen, to do with as he pleases. Unless you hold a lein on his title, please feel free to go and poo-poo on someone elses paint job thread (that you probably dont have a lein on either).

 

Too change the subject to another controversial issue could you take pictures of the undersides of were your spoiler touchs the decklid

Also the paint is nice what products did you use for any body work if at all

 

You know, you may not like it but the fact is that what he used is virtually identical to old school automotive enamel, so is rustolium and some of the other enamels designed for metal. Add a can of automotive hardener and you have UV protection also, and the finish will be every bit as good and durable as it would be using the same technique with "the right" paint.

The only difference will be that you bought it off the wrong shelf and didn't pay 10x more for the stuff with the automotive label on it.

If you want to bitch about not matching the original color... well most repaints don't match the original color, and if you really care I know my corner hardware store will mix custom colors with the rustoleum base or even their own ace hardware version of the same stuff...

Sure most bodyshops and bodyshop supplies will bitch about it- they make a living on the markup and if the guy doing the work is reputable an will stand behind it they don't want to experiment with different stuff. So what, that doesn't make it right.

I've had it with this "you didn't buy the right part so it can't work" attitude...

I've done it both ways, (well, lots of different ways, I've done back in the day with automotive lacquer, enamel and urethane as well as a few non-automotive paints including rustoleum) and I will tell you that for the most part what you use has much less an affect on the results then the prep done and technique used. It used to be that most normal automotive paints cost about the same as other paints, and I used to use them since most of the painting needed to match or be blended in...

My project currently has rustoleum from a spray can on the back quarters and doors, and has had it for something like 5 or 6 years. Funny, it hasn't faded or otherwise fallen appart, it's covered up some work that I did to get the car on the road when I got it, and has worked well. It will stay like that for a while longer and I'm not worried about it when I get around to getting "the right" stuff on it. Sand it, seal it and go...

What is "the right stuff?" Well right now it will probably come down to mood and what color I want when I get around to it. If it stays semi gloss black (think flat black but a little easier to take care of) that a lot of the car is now, well I'll probably use rustoleum and semi gloss hardener. If I end up going with a metallic I'll probably use Southern Polyurethane's stuff or a few others... though I have been tempted to mix my own metalflake and have seen some killer results using a bunch of the discount paint lines.

 

My car isnt going to be a trailer queen or show car. I want a car that i can actually drive and enjoy, without constantly worrying about parking too close to the P.O.S. next to me.
As far as original color goes, mine is Purple Haze, and i hate it. I know haps will most assuredly be horrified, but I intend to change the color (GASP!) to black. I will be using the method outlined on this thread to do it........or then again I may just go to Home Depot and buy a gallon of BEHR premium and brush it on with a paintbrush from Dollar General. If I decide to go that route, i will be sure to make a thread about it.

 

I think i'm going to paint mine rustoleum hammered gray...

 

Oh, and as far as show cars go, I bet that you could come pretty close to a lot of traditional colors like British racing green.

 

I used some rustoleum primer-filler.....good stuff.

"Certain People Who Shall Remain Nameless" would also probably balk at the fact that im using a Black and Decker "Jitterbug" sander to sand my car. And 80 grit. I use that, then prime with a primer that has some gloss, and it lets me know where to sand. My car doesnt need a lot of bodywork, mainly door dings and such.

I bought some Gloss Black tractor paint yesterday, and im going to paint my wing to see what it looks like.....ill post some pics.....

 

what made you go with valspar? or could you use any tractor paint? i have a blue 89 and id like to keep it blue, and i feel that ford blue is too light (and contradictory) for me lol

 

their Trailer & Farm Equipment Enamel is available in dark blue... you can always also mix some black with the ford blue...

 

In the interest of education and a last ditch effort to keep this thread from being locked, I'll recap and let this poor horse die.

-Education is your friend. Rent a video, take a class at a vocational school or community college, look over the shoulder of a guy with lots of gray hair. Preferred methods have been established to yield lasting results.
-Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice on a locker, an old oven, road sign, something other than your third gen. Then when you get the hang of it, shoot a car.
-Lastly, don't skimp on costs. Proper prep work to a vehicle is no joke. It takes lots and lots of time, cost, and patience. As Crossfire eluded to, it's the foundation of a refinish that is most important. To do that much work to a vehicle then cover it with the lowest cost alternative baffles me. There are plenty of affordable alternatives on the market to maximize durability and longevity.

 

Last time im gonna say this.....MY CAR. Do what you want to YOUR car, oven filing cabinet.

 

just how much cheaper is this tractor paint vs decent auto paint (for an entire car)?

i have a huge air compressor and harbor freight sprayer so i was considering trying to paint my car myself

i dont care about orange peel or minor defects etc, i just don't want it to start chipping a couple years later... paints paint to me.. should i not bother and just take it to maaco or try something like this?

 

Since haps is the "great all knowing" when it comes to paint and body work I'll pose this question. What type of paint was used on the cars from the 40's-50's and even into the 60's? I'm pretty sure it was the "wrong" type in his eyes too. Isn't it strange that the remaining survivor cars from those eras that are still wearing the original paint still look good?

Before I sold my Firebird a little over a month ago I offered anyone a crisp $100 bill to find and point out a flaw or any orange peel anywhere on the car. Guess what? I never had to pay!

To answer the cost question. My tractor paint was $29/gallon. With naphtha and hardener it was around $75. The cheapest "right" paint that I priced out came out to around $300 at sherwin-williams. That was single stage and the guy at the paint store told me that if the car wasn't garaged then I would probably have to strip it and repaint in 2-3 years because it faded bad in the sun.

Again, I went with the tractor paint for DURABILITY since it is PROVEN to withstand the elements. The low cost was just a huge bonus.

I guess the paint that I used was good enough for $80K tractors but not good enough for a 20 year old Firebird with 250K miles on it?

 

thanks fyrchkn thats a bigger $$$ than i had thought and i see your philosophy about prioritizing durability, im on the same page

still not sure if im going to try this yet but if i do ill try to post my results

 

for "paint guys" who have a trained eye for all the different shades and sparkly 17 coat metallic whatever the hecks im sure thats true but we all have our different priorities with cars and where we wanna spend money.

I'd gladly take tractor paint if it looks at good as the threadstarters car and means freeing up another several hundred $ for my engine/chassis and lasts a long time (which youd figure tractor paint would). I personally cannot tell the difference between his paint and the stuff people pay for at the shop.

 

hey FYRCHKN i gotta question for ya... how does that paint hold up to every day idiot drivers who do not know how to parallel park? im really thinking of going with this tractor paint.. but i need to know how it does in day to day situations...

thanx

 

I cant wait to do this to my third gen. Even though its not the "right paint" it still looks better then rust, and cc peal.

 

I wish they made that paint in my color (medium green metallic). I wanna respray the factory color and it would be nice to save the $$!
That seems like the biggest downfall to the implement paint, limited color choices.

 

Thats my issue lol if there was a place locally to mix in the metallic and get it the proper color id do it in a heartbeat

 

This whole matching thing is ridiculous... go to a autobody supply shop and have them mix the right paint code and it won't match your 30y/o paint... yea, a _really good body shop might manage to match and blend it well, but you'll pay big $$$ for that kind of work. If you're doing a complete repaint, just find something close and run with it.

 

Hey FYRCHKN, would you use the valspar clear as well if you did? Just like sticking with the same kind of primer and color

 

Oh I know, but I've looked at the colors available, and none of them come close enough to let me not repaint the door jambs and everything.

 

Yay for new engine bay paint! Does it have orange peel? YES! Does it have other imperfections? YES! Do I give a flying rat's a$$? NO!
Done with the tractor paint.........I will be painting the whole car with it once i get the engine in.......

 

Looks good

 

That's probably great stuff to use in the engine bay! If only it came in my cars color...

 

that engine bay's paintjob looks better than 99.99% of third gens' front fenders do

 

Yeah.. the sad part about this statement is just how true it is. Hahah.

 

Prep was done with a wire wheel. I actually primed the crossmember because i wasnt going to paint it for a couple days, and i didnt want it to rust again. I need to adjust my gun, cause all of that was ONE coat. (about half a quart). Gonna do the doors and jambs next. Ill post more pics.........

 

lol the before picture kind of looks like mine.

 

I dunno if it's budget but It cost me 1200$ to redo the exterior of my car (4 coat basecoat - 4 coat clear)
From this :



to this :

 

It looks good, but $1200 isn't budget. That's roughly 12X what I spent on mine.

 

Hey Fyrchkn so im getting close to painting my car and figured i would try your method out, what i was wondering is if you wet sanded the entire car when done? Or was there not a lot of orange peel, if so what did you do to minimize that?

 

There wasn't hardly any orange peel after I sprayed, but I did wet sand the entire car to get it perfect after the paint dried. Then I buffed it out.

 

Ya thats what i was planning on doing. I know you said that a couple of your pictures dont show the red off the greatest, do you have one that you think is the closest to what it looks like in person? Im thinking about using the same color red but im curious to see what it looks like

 

the problem is that even if it doesn't look right on his screen, it might on yours and vice versa... there really isn't a way to accurately share colors on a computer unless you're not only calibrating the displays, but also agreeing to a standard (there are many color temp standards, the most common in the computer world are PC, which is pretty blue, Mac and Broadcast)

 

Just wanted to say this has been very informative and much thanks to FYRCHKN for letting us all in on it. I'm new to auto paint of any kind and wanted to know if there are any opinions on what sort of respiration setup should be used when working with the tractor enamel/hardener? I found this googling: http://www.ytmag.com/cgi-bin/viewit....bwork&th=15763

 

Anybody know if any tractors came in canary yellow?

 

I know the old-school mini's were yellow, could check into that and see if it is close enough for you. (mini's as in minneapolis tractors)

 

all i know is im attempting this on my 89 vert because this is my first venture into painting and sanding really but im picky and have learned alot so far so if it comes out as good as i expect it to be ill be happy. gonna go with the semi gloss black and even if it dosent come out great i can always do it again till i get it right. i feel pretty confident in painting. the biggest thing for me is i like to learn new things. hell i bought a 80 gallon 2 stage craftsman pro from my local sears outlet for 729 instead of the 1300 they had the new ones for and this one was new too..lol anyways my point being if i get good enough to paint with the cheap stuff i will move on up to the expensive stuff so i can get my color. which will be like a cortez silver. awesome thread

 

Thanks, I found this..http://www.amazon.com/Auto-Paint-Sin.../dp/B000CP58VY

 

this is great. I am deff. going to try this on my black z. But I Have big paint spots chipped off of my front and rear bumpers. How do I fill that in or smooth it out before painting with this paint?
The rest of the car is ok and still only has the original paint, so I was just going to scuff that to paint over. just don't know what to do on the bumpers.

 

Break out the sandpaper and get down to work, thats about it, filling a chip in with paint shows and filling with a bondo or duraglass mix has to be sanded anyway so you may as well just do it

 

Not wanting to buy a "decent" compressor, or water separators, or other stuff, I found this: http://www.unifireusa.com/retail1/it...lkNO=3580-3683

 

Here are all of the colors offered that interest me: Allis Chalmers orange, Equipment yellow, Ford blue, Ford gray, Ford red, gloss black, gloss white, International Harvester red, John Deere green, John Deere yellow, John Deere antique green, Kubota orange, low gloss black, Massey Ferguson gray, Massey Ferguson red, New Holland red, New Holland yellow, Oliver green, and Transport yellow.

 

Might be cheap but its definitely shiny unlike most cars I see these days. Has anyone looked at the new camaro? They have all sorts of Orange peel in them but there shiny! The only new cars that I've seen without Orange peel is the $40,000+ cars point being looks good and only he and whoever he tells will know its a cheap job. Would I do it? No, but that's just me.

 

If anyone is interested. This is what the kubota orange looks like on my ford pinto demolition derby car. And after 3 derbys there is no cracks or spider webs in the paint.