Rattle Can Paint Job

[Kittamaru]

Well, as I get nearer and nearer to having my truck back on the road, I have to consider the last thing I need to do - with all the rust patches I'm going to have repaired, I will need to re-do the paint. After 20 years, I doubt I could accurately color match it... so...

 

What I want is to do a full strip and re-paint, original color (a metallic dark grey w/ silver specks), same decals, etc.

 

Now, is this doable via spray-can, or is there a better method I could do at home? Obviously environmental concerns would arise from mass-spray can use (not to mention having a silver driveway afterwards, lol) as well as sanding down the clearcoat and paint.

 

Can I clear-coat it myself after I repaint it?

 

Or is this something best left to the pro's, bending over and just taking it in the wallet?

[TerranoNZ]

I know of cars being repainted with rollers...Might be a better option for you IIRC it was JJbigshoe that posted something about it

 

But you can spray can a Pathy, 23 cans IIRC

 

[jj big shoe]

You won't be able to do a metallic paint with a roller. The metallic flakes need to be sprayed or else it'll look clumpy in spots and bare in others. And I would guess it would look like it has stripes of you tried with rattle cans unless you has correct "gun control" and overlapped each pass properly at the same speed. Plus spray cans tend to "spit" when they're getting low which will put more metallic bits in one spot. If you were to try it, you might want to practice on a scrap hood or some other large flat metal. And practice with the hood standing up and laying flat since you'll be spraying in both planes on the truck.

Hmm...don't they make a sparkley clear spray paint? I don't know why but somehow that seems easier to do evenly. Maybe a metallic clear over the smoke base would be the way to go. Make sure the base and clear are compatible, though. Good luck.

[Kittamaru]

Mm, true... I wonder what a good paint gun costs...

 

I'm decent with a spray can, and can get an even coat on small areas, but never tried anything as big as a vehicle before, lol.

[JamesRich]

The problem with painting a vehicle with a rattle can is over spray. With flat colors the over spray blends in so it doesn't mater but a gloss paint job would look nasty with shiny and dull spots. Most of the work with a paint job goes into body work and all the masking off the parts you don't want painted. To prevent over spray when painting the entire vehicle you must spray it fast enough to cover the whole vehicle while its still wet. You could try one panel at a time but you would still need to be fast and be in a closed in area with no wind. If you can paint decent with a rattle can get yourself a cheap harbor freight spray gun. It's considered junk by professionals but will definitely spray better than a rattle can and has much higher flow rate so you can prevent the over spray. You must mix the paint correctly for it to spray good but you can look all this up on google.

James

[MY1PATH]

get yourself a cheap harbor freight spray gun. It's considered junk by professionals but...

 

 

lol

we have some really expensive spray guns...

 

this ones my favorite & I think it cost more than my yamaha;

http://www.duxarea.com/gravityfeed.htm

prolly buy a paint job for less than that tho.

Edited June 20, 2010 by MY1PATH

[Scaramoche]

well...being poor, and on disability, I rattlecanned my pathy Oo. my 2 cents

 

First,

if at all possible do earl schibs or something lol. I will in future.

 

now that being said, I couldnt even do this, so here is what i did

 

sanded to metal, if this seems to much a pain in the arse, then i would at least get to the primer, and sand with a fine grit(after larger grit to get to primer)

 

Next I tapped everything off

Next I primered it with rattlecan self etching primer. I did 2 coats, dont know if thats good or bad, but thats what i did. I also sanded inbetween.

 

After priming and sanding(fine grit) I used rustolium paint in spray paint cans(ive heard people use a roller brush instead)

 

To paint(spary) i did multiple "light" coats. In all i believe i did 5-7 coats(been a year since ive done), after the first 3 coats or so, i wetsanded(NOTE all the sanding i did was wetsand) with a very fine paper, i sanded 1-2 times more between coats. Once i had my final coat, i sanded again with i believe 1000grit or 1200grit paper. I then used some rattlecan UV protectant clearcoat. I have been pretty happy with the results, but all said and done i spent like 300.00 to do this, which if i would have just sanded, primed etc, and taken to 300.00 paint shop they could have done it

 

either way, the paint has held up pretty well, only 2 flakes(one near door handles) and near the bottom door jam, they were very small, and easy to fill.

 

Well thats my story

pic below is my pathy with rattlecan job

 

As a note, it seems rattlecan jobs look better when you ahve outlandish colors aka like yellow , but if your trying to get a pearl white or black, i have mixed feelings if this can be done(i have seen some people who have pulled it off, and others completly trash it)

 

Scara

[adamzan]

I rattle canned my passenger front fender with matching spray paint. Then I sanded with 1200 grit and put like 4 coats of duplicolor clear coat on it. I still have to sand the clear a bit with 2000 grit but it is NOT bad at all for the time I put into it. Plus it matches the rest of the 15 year old paint.