Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I'm just curious, my car has been rattle canned by 2 previous owners(no prep work at all). The first time primer grey and the second time white and black. In some spots it's starting to peel and reveal want looks to be a fairly decent maroon paint job. Now I'm sure it's really not in that great of shape underneath it all but it's just got me wondering, if I wanted to, could I sand all this rattle can crap off and bring out the original paint?

Even if possible, I probably wouldn't want to do this, but I'm just curious. I planned on sanding it down and giving a "decent" rattle can job in the next couple weeks. Please don't flame, broke mofo here. Can't afford a new paint job making under $200 a week and whats currently on it is horrible. I spotted the maroon earlier and now I'm wondering if this would be an option.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Ohh man theres no shame in a temp rattle can job! What they did is something to be ashamed of. Mine is being rattle canned primered so my body work I am doing stays some what intact.

Yes you can bring it up but you will have to be careful on sanding and on edges. Similar thing with a Tacoma that a previous owner painted a hulk figure on it. I would sand it to the paint and see what made them rattle can it, I would think it was just clear coat peeling or some rust work? Who knows.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I'm thinking it was the clear because the pieces I can see looks fine. I do know that the passenger side fender has been replaced, maybe they just wanted it all one color, and decided it would be better sprayed grey, I don't know, I just know I wish they never woulda done it. lol

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Attachment 412833

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The paint looks really good underneath. I'm betting the clear was just screwed up. My questions is, for anyone who knows paint & body, would it be worth it to try and get the original color back out, or just sand it down and give it a prepped rattle can job to the best of my ability? Professional paint job is out of the question and I don't have access to the stuff to paint it right myself, so it's one of those 2 or nothing and I just can't look at this anymore.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

well if the clear would be bad, it would be just as bad. the paint would then actually just wipe off. (only because of time exposure)i say strip all that off and primer over the old and then paint.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Cool. I guess maybe next week I'm gonna pull one of GFX pieces off and sand it down and rattle can it. This car is my DD and it just looks horrible. I know rattle can is looked down upon and all but damn, this is bad. lol

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Do it, mine is gonna be rattle canned and maybe driven a bit until I get situated and get it painted. My Cam actually looked decent besides the rear wheel rust as you can see but thats all just visible things, look under it and you will be disgusted.

Before:
Attachment 412819


After:
Attachment 412820

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Yeah man that doesn't look bad. I'm gonna pull one of my side GFX off next week probably and give it a try. I'm actually gonna try and paint it white tho. I've seen some look pretty good. I know there's gonna be flaws and all I just want a 10 footer. Anything will be better than the way it is now.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Artic white is an amazing color. It was actually the color I was gonna go until my father gave me the idea of gunmetal silver.


Is the Cam good rust wise? I went ape on my and pretty much took everything off and I see mine was really mistreated. I found rust from the bends of being jacked up near the back front wheels near the gfx and behind/under the rear bumper rubber supports. I am glad the floors were in awesome shape.


Keep us updated on any progress!

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

You will never save that paint, do not waste your time, strip it! Repaint it.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Just paint it with Tremclad(Rustoleum)and a roller like mine.This is with only 2 coats...1 more to go.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

The only rust I've found is on the floor where the back seat was. It isn't that bad though and will be fixed as soon as I can stop the damn leaks.

Man that looks great. I thought about doing this but I've read about people having hell with orange peel. Looking at those pics makes me think again tho. Do they sell this paint at walmart?

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

You can buy Rustoleum paint at most hardware/building stores...not sure about WalMart.I used High Gloss white.The trick to keeping orange peel down is to put it on really thin with a professional 4" foam roller.You will still get some orange peel but wet sanding/buffing will take care of that.I have spray canned cars before and i would say it will take 14-16 cans to do it right.At almost 10 bucks a can its just not cost effective.A gallon of Rustoleum or Tremclad will run you about 38 bucks..i only used just over a half gallon..much cheaper.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Well it looks amazing. I'm gonna look more into this. Did you spray any primer on or just sand it down to the factory primer and roll it on?

EDIT:: is this a second account? I think I might have seen another thread (roller thread) with this car in it.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Nice! Good to hear, Rust is a bitch to deal with & Yes its at Walmart. The one near me its next to the enclosed rattle can section.

If you want to look more into it, just beware that it is very time consuming. Check out http://www.rollyourcar.com/ if you are interested in more but it seems the site is down. Also theres alot of projects on here with people using Rustoleum some rolling and some spraying it. Just type in Rustoleum in search and they should pop up. :thumbsup:

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Thanks man. I'm kinda torn now. I really don't know what I want to do. The roller looks damn good. I also read the thread where the guy sprayed the Rustoleum on with the wagner and it turned out pretty good. Unless I could find a really cheap sander all of my sanding will be done by hand so that might be a deciding factor. From what I'm reading the roller involves alot of sanding, it just looks so damn good though. lol

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Check out Walmart, I picked up my sander for $20 and it does the job fine. I do still use the block sander for more delicate spots. Its the same as this one from Amazon. For $20 its awesome, my neighbor has the smaller half size one or palm sander and he came to borrow mine and said mine is better. :p


Also the sanding paper you find at Autozone/Oreillys works on it too.

Attachment 412809

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Sounds good man. I'll check walmart within the next few days. Since I'm a broke ***, I'll probably pick up a sander and sandpaper within the next week, then get the paint and whatever else I'll need with the next check. Pretty sure I'll be doing the roller job now.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

i think it would be good to atleast give the roller job an try since what iv seen doesnt look to bad. btw i might be wrong but for an rattle or roller job wouldnt it be better to go with more of an "quite" color other then something bright so it hides flaws i would think better. something more like a grey, darker white, medium blue, etc.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I have heard the best way to hide flaws is with a brighter color thats why I am considering yellow for my 86 now instead of black

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

once i think about it, that could be right??? but it seems stuff like orange peel and if there is any roller marks would be brightened up from an lighter color but it does hide scratches better.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I've always been told that it's harder to see flaws in white. And I think I will give the roller a try at least, it seems to turn out the best.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

If that primer isn't bonded to the original paint good, you may be able to use a pressure washer and just blow it off. Just a thought.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Id imagine from far away and not upclose.

Also just a warning, some say sanding/removing the roller paint is a beeotch, So beware of even more headaches if you decide to take it off down the road for a better paint job.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Sorry i didn't answer sooner,i was having trouble logging in.Yes the car was primered about 2 years before i painted it.I wet sanded the primer with 600 grit by hand using a 3M block,washed it,used a degreaser and then a tach cloth just prior to painting.This is my first time posting the car,it was just painted 3 weeks ago.Here are a couple before pics.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

One thing you can do that i seen some of my buddies do years ago is take some automotive paint thinner and wipe down the car with it. They found the rattle can paint wipped off pretty easily and the factory paint was basically untouched. A good buff and wax and it looked like new... just work small sections at a time. I have actually done small areas with just regular paint thinner and worked pretty good.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

This is possible. Find out what the stock paint is. If it is a urethane, usually you can get away with this. Just use lacquer thinner. Spray can auto paints are usually lacquer based, which the lacquer thinner will soften and the base urethane will not be affected. Test it in an area that is hidden.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

So any updates on what you did? :waveman:


I currently have mine in sealer and well, I hate it! Its too damm sensative and gets dirty too easily. :lol:

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I know this sounds silly but try it on your gfx...DUCT TAPE!! No really...some times when I get a car at work that is a peeler I take duct tape press it on and pull it off...it usually takes whatever paint that is flaking off.Be prepared to have spots where the paint actually bit into the clear which you should be able to wipe off with lacquer thinner.Some great advice here.If you do get all of it off and your maroon is all there you could sand it with some 1000 and take it somewhere to just get re cleared? I know you said you were on a budget though....
and I agree with Carlos' post-"Also just a warning, some say sanding/removing the roller paint is a beeotch, So beware of even more headaches if you decide to take it off down the road for a better paint job. "

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

If I were you, I wouldn't do any color besides white if you are rolling it on or spray painting and you expect it to turn out nice looking. My dad rattle canned his truck with white primer, you cant even tell its primer from a couple feet away, it looks good. If you used a roller, then wet sanded and buffed it out I am sure it would turn look great. White is the absolute best color to hide flaws, and paint in general. Trust me I have been debating on whether to paint my GTA white or black when the time comes. (Professionally sprayed) But I got told it was going to be around 4K, and the paint that is on my car is still very nice so I can wait a while. Someone said bright colors besides white hide flaws better but they don't. I am talking from experience, not out of my *** when I say colors like yellow, red, and blue show everything almost as bad as black does.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Finally got around to giving it a rattle can job. 18 cans of walmarts 98 cent stuff. It was looking really really bad so I just sprayed it. Didn't even sand.

Attachment 405194

I didn't get the hood or deck lid before I ran out of paint. I plan on sanding it down and doing it right fairly soon but for now, it looks 10000x better than it did.

Oh and yeah the exhaust is crooked. Got my catback temporarily hung with coat hangers so don't hate on the trip hazard in the back. haha

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I can honestly say ive seen more rattlecan paint jobs on this site than real paint jobs. If you don't have the money to do something right, it's better to just not bother doing it at all IMO. At under $200 a week, you would've been better off sanding it all off yourself and by the time you finished prepping it yourself, you would've had enough to have a crappy Maaco paint job.

It looks good for a rattlecan job though. Make sure you paint that rear windshield trim and door handles/lock cylinders black too.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I've been there. Personally, I would rather put in the elbow grease right now and work on cleaning off the bad rattle can paint and then coating it with primer to prevent rust until you can save your pennies. Remember, if you ever want to get a good paint job, every coat of stuff you put on there besides primer will need to be removed. Cheaper paints are very thick and don't paint over good so they have to come off.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Agreed, the other thing to consider is that every coat of paint on there (now at least one real coat and three rattle cans, but probably more than 4 coats realistically) makes it more expensive/difficult to strip later when it comes time for a proper paint booth job. Just something to consider, I think it would've been cool to see if you could at least get it back down to the maroon underneath.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

I'm rattle canning this 90 vette so far have like 37.00 into the paint job

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...e/badarea1.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...xedwhite10.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...versdoor20.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...versdoor25.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...versdoor24.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...xedwhite14.jpg

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

^^That vette is looking good.

Well, I don't see this car ever getting a professional paint job. I'm in the market right now for something new and this is just going to be my toy. I've been daily driving this thing for far too long. After I get a new car this thing isn't going to come out for much more than the track/back road.

I did sand down the spoiler, sprayed, then sanded in between each coat and it came out looking great. I'm gonna go back and do the whole car like this and I'll be satisfied.

And to all those saying get a maaco paint job, I live in the middle of nowhere. No maaco's.

Re: Car has been rattle canned, can I bring out the old paint?
 

Do what I did and get yourself a case or so of SEM Bumper Stripper. I thought this stuff would take the paint off of my bumpers right down to the bumper material itself, but it only removed the rattle can paint that was over the factory basecoat/clearcoat (and it's like $9 a can :mad: ). Didn't even touch the Bird emblem on the front bumper (under the rattle can paint). You may want a powerwasher to help get the paint off before it dries again.

It's either that or that B-12 Chemtool that is similar to SeaFoam that they sell in the auto parts store. That did the same thing on my headlight doors.