baker440ex

My car is ready for paint, I'm going with rustoleum gloss enamel and using a gravity fed paint gun with a 1.4 tip, here's my question. (Hopefully someone who has done this particular lowbie paint job can help me make it look nice)

The label says use acetone, so that's what I bought, but it says don't reduce more than 15% although I read online you want it more like 50/50. So which one is it? Also the label says nothing about how much air pressure to use, so maybe someone who has experience with this paint can tell me what works good?

58mark

iTrader: (3)

i've sprayed rustoluem before, 15 sounds about right.


also the cure time for this stuff is LONG... dont' plan on touching it for a day, and no sanding for a week

baker440ex

Thank you 15 sounds good to me too. How much should I reduce it?

58mark

iTrader: (3)

unless i'm misunderstanding your question.... 15%

baker440ex

Oh ok when you said 15 I thought you meant Psi. So in that case what should I use for Psi? I heard somewhere the consistency should be slightly thicker than water is this correct?

58mark

iTrader: (3)

really depends on your gun, but it's usually around 25-30 with the trigger pulled

there are lots of links for setting up a gun, but here's the basics...

you want a 10" cigar pattern, and spray a horizontal test spray without moving the gun. hold it until it runs. adjust you pattern until it drips evenly for the entire pattern, if it drips from the middle first, or from the ends, DO NOT SPRAY on the car until you get that tweaked


here's a photo of me testing my gun

58mark

iTrader: (3)

that paint I sprayed in the picture was urethane basecoat. the time I used rustoleum I was just spraying a plastic grill. I would never use it on an entire car.

as for the pattern, I probably was happy with the one on the left posterboard, but on the lower right side of the board

reduce it properly, and stir it, and the consistency will take care of itself

haps

iTrader: (4)

Practice on something other than your car first.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

yeah, that's a great point too... painting is an art, an it takes time to get good at it.

fortunately, if you can do a few coats and you don't have too much orange peel, you can usually sand things down smooth and polish to a shine.

I've done lacquer, enamel, basecoat, and single stage, and of those four kinds of paint, I would say find yourself a good affordable single stage paint, get a good breathing mask, and go with that. There's no good reason to spray rustoleum on a car.

baker440ex

I agree with you but here's the thing: The car is a 700 dollar beater. I just got it and I don't even know if it's gonna run good, if I'm gonna keep it, how far I want to go with it...It has some rust on the frame and won't be long before it's off the road for the sake of safety. On top of that, this is northern Maine and spending a lot of money to restore your car (if you ever want to drive it) is just stupid. Even in the summer time, a Camaro just isn't made for the roads around here. Ive been there before with pickups of mine and even the best paint jobs only last a few years if you intend on driving it a lot.

This is a trial/error experiment, and what I'm Mostly concerned with is that the car is all one color. I plan on driving it hard and having fun with it while it lasts, and if I drop a few hundred bux it will likely find its way under the hood. That being said, I'm going with the rustoleum. I've already bought it, and anything more expensive is just not in my budget, I'm still a fulltime student and I don't even have a good job. I go to school for welding (which has a lot to do with a steady hand/proper wrist position) so I'm thinking I can hack this if I paint a hood or something first. I might run into issues with the A pillars and the little bit of metal on the roof of the car, not sure what the best way to tackle this is.

I've been doing some research and Ive seen rustoleum jobs that came out not half bad at all. The results (even if they only last for a year) are good enough for me. I just don't want this thread to to turn into a "Dont do that" thread. I still have other questions pertaining to this project and Ill need your guys' help/advice along the way if you're up to it.

The reason I was wondering about the 50/50 ratio is because I found a website that I've basically been following to a tee up to this point and he says he used 50/50 despite what the label said. His paint came out really nice, if mine comes out that good Ill be one happy camper. He also said the more you reduce, the easier it is for the paint to run. And I understand a lot of of it I will just have to figure out and dial in right before I paint the car, but I need somewhere to start. I want to paint the entire car with 2 quarts so if I went 50/50 I think that would definitely be feasible, but does this ratio even make sense?

FNFAL308

iTrader: (1)

I thought lacquer was a single stage since you don't have to put clear over it. I may have my definition of single stage wrong.

Yes, I'm still reading since its a bit too cold and wet to jump in with both feet right now

baker440ex

Well Im no body man but my guess is a "single stage" is an acrylic whereas rustoleum is oil based, but yes, I'm basically doing a single stage paint job, no Clear coat, and the paint is gloss already.

baker440ex

I also want to add I think I'll be taking 58mark's advice and going with 15% (what the label says) and go from there, unless someone else can chime in, because I like the results I see with the 50/50 (although I don't want it to be runny, I do want to make the paint go as far as possible, economically)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Pain...ith-Rustoleum/
This is the article. Click "View all steps" underneath the excerpt, then about 7/16ths down the page he talks about mixing the paint 50/50. Comments???

janson33

idk about other ppl,but when i painted mine i had the psi way over 30.wut i experienced was i started it out at 35 and it was much too slow,i had to stay in the same area for a long time.i always had it between 60 and 80.my reason is because i could paint and move the gun along much faster,reducing the chances of a mistake.watch out tho cuz if its much to high,u can get drips.i was very careful with all this and didnt spray a second on the car till i was used to it.just toy around with it and dont touch the car till ur sure its at the appropriate pressure for u.goodluck!

58mark

iTrader: (3)

single stage is any paint that doesn't require clear. you can have single stage lacquer, enamel, and urethane. Almost always regulated for use wish solid colors (no metallics)

on my car, the stripes are single stage urethane, and look every bit as glossy and professional as the rest of the car

janson33

that's a nice paint job.black stripes look awesome.btw I have seen single stages that do have clear.it comes in a kit and u have to mix everything together.colour,clear,then 1/4 or so of that transparent hardener.I personally like 2 stage

58mark

iTrader: (3)

Even single stage Urethane paint is a two part, or 2k paint. You still have to activate it whether you put clear over it or not

FNFAL308

iTrader: (1)

I'm concerned about the isocyanates. Trying to avoid that at all costs at home. It looks like the urethanes at least have them once hardener is added.

baker440ex

Well here it is. Its probably 10 hours of prep time, I got impatient, haha. Also its been in the 20s the past few days. I think it came out pretty good. There are definitely some things I would have done differently if it wasn't winter. Next time...

janson33

its not too bad.the quality looks similiar to mine lol.i also had to paint in winter ive been told i have to wetsand and polish/buff it and apparently itll look like glass,or at least make the flaws less visible.i havent done it yet but i should get around to it eventually

janson33

btw i meant flaws as in the paint,and how u sprayed it.if there r any screw ups anywhere,such as orange peel.if i can guess correctly,polishing it will make the body work or prep flaws more visible,but id rather have the car more glossy and have the prep a bit more visible then the other way around

baker440ex

There are definitely flaws, as you can see in the first pic you can still see the 80 grit scratches on the passenger fender. At some point I had to stop prepping since I was only getting it ready for cheap paint anyways. But I think the gloss and sheen surpassed my expectations. Its no show winner But at least I wont be scared to have a little fun with it, maybe take it down some dirt roads or hit some jumps. The orange peel isnt bad at all, infact the body imperfections (and lack of prep work) stick out way before the orange peel ever does. Anyways this thread should be useful for someone who is planning to do the same type of job. The rustoleum seems to be versatile and forgiving and to sum it up I think people who bash it (there are a lot of them) are mad they spent so much on their paint..Well everyone's got different plans for their build. One thing I learnd is spraying paint is wicked easy and although I am a fan of rustoleum next time I WILL be using a real automotive paint, just saying for the price/in the moment you cant beat the rustoleum.

baker440ex

This isn't the paint jay you'd want to examine with a microscope but from 3 feet away it looks good and with all the money I saved (and considering the car was 700 bux) Im building my exhaust and getting wheels and tires. The ones on it will be for sale btw they have brand new tires on them. $200 plus shipping

baker440ex

I agree Jansen thanx for the support. Good luck with the motor build I too had a v6 Camaro and dropped a v8 in it If you put too much power to it it will twist just above the top of the windshield but that is only if you are hard on it. I only sprayed one coat on so I dont think I can wet sand but as is has more shine than I expected out of rustoleum. Maybe a good wax, that is probably all I can do.

baker440ex

Best part is when everyone wants to play cuz it still says 2.8 on the bumper but really has a 350 under the hood

janson33

I know I said I'd get outt here lol but I gott tell ya.wax isn't really meant to change ur paint appearance like that,wax basically just protects it.for ppl that have a show car or absolutely love there's,they will polish it once(u probes know polish removes a tiny layer of paint) then they wax it regularly for the cars whole life,and maybe use the polish once in every long while.that's wut ima do when I have my paint exactly how I want it

janson33

Actually I'm gonna be getting chrome "350" emblems on eBay but that's a funny idea.so it'd be like a sleeper

baker440ex

Hell yeah sleeper all the way!! The 350 emblems will attract bigger fish, whereas the original 2.8 decal will attract small fish, like 58 with his v6 hot rod.

baker440ex

That being said I cant say 'I've never painted a car' anymore so next time things will be a lot different! (and on a different car. Im not sanding that crap off haha)

janson33

Even if u were to sand that crap off itd be really quick.my paintjob took 4 months cuz I wanted to do it once,do it right.I had to redo one of the fenders and I had to sand off the paint I sprayed on it a week before.it was 3 coats paint,then 3 coats clear,and I got it off very fast.getting one layer off would take a second.but I can't understand y u only put one coat...

janson33

It would look like a sick sleeper if it was still bare metal and u just put a coat of clear over it for rust protection hahaha

Edwardgp

You could go with the flat black rat rod style.

baker440ex

Looks like the thread is back on track, great. Ill try to answer some questions. Iave a few things that come to mind: Well first off I only put one coat on because of lack of materials. If I was more concerned about the finish, I think I could add more coats (Like 4 or 5 more) Then wetsand till smooth. That would be sufficient enough to fill the scratches seen in the pic. The fact that I didnt prep enough really doesn't get under my skin, knowing I could have sanded more (and stage past 180 grit) will be helpful on my next project. Consider this an experiment. When I find that body that hasn't already been mudded by previous people, etc, I will definitely spend more time prepping and use better materials.

The biggest concern I had was spending 100+ hours of prep work to get that perfect surface, then (with 0 spraying experience) mess up the paint, mix it wrong, have some weird effect happen because it is -10 outside, etc would irk me more than knowing that the second time around is destined to come out better. Being the first time I think it would be stupid for me to spend money I dont have on expensive paint, and 4-5x the materials I used to achieve a finish I wasn't looking to get.

Some people are in to immaculate body work, that's great, and I can totally appreciate that, but I dont know how else to explain that because of this experiment I actually feel more knowledgeable and confident to paint than if I would have bought top of the line materials and have the possibility of something not going right. For one all the **** and dust and dirt that is in my paint just from spraying it in the dirty garage (if you cant tell from the pics) would have made my blood pressure go thru the roof if I had done all that. I woudn't say this a half assed job, that would be a true injustice, but I will fairly say it is 3/4 assed. Its not that Im not capable of producing better results you guys just need to understand in this instance its not worth it to me to spend hundreds of hours on a car that Im planning on beating on. Period. Some day when Im in my 50s I will have lots of time and money to spend on the right vehicle and not have to worry about getting my hands dirty with a rust bucket.

I do appreciate your guys' interest, some of you like Jansen and Edwardgp have made cool suggestions. This is why Im posting. Just so you know Edward I do like the rat rod style. That is kind of what Im going for actually, I just decided to go blue instead of black. There are a lot of black camaros around here and I wanted to do something different. The clear over bare metal also would look cool. But I like my blue. When I get my wheels and tires, and play with my stance, and clean up some other things on the car I think you guys will have a completely different out look on my vehicle's appearance and also how little time/money I have into it and also the fact that its not something you'd be scared to get a lil crazy with.

But bottom line, the Rat rod, poorboy-gofast look is what Im all about. Not ALWAYS, just with this specific project. I dont think there's anything wrong with that, infact I think its more of a waste to put top shelf ingredients into a vehicle with a passenger car running gear than it is to put a cheap spray job on a REAL muscle car. I don't treat my car like ****, I use it the way it was meant for, and when something breaks, I fix it, therefore I give it all the respect it deserves.

baker440ex

Infact if you notice the blend issue in the rear quarter, that is because i hit it with a can of rustoleum black to cover up some surface rust just before the new owner came to look at it. Kind of a nice feature of having cheap paint.