Just throwing up a pic, here is my car, went from Maaco White (crap) sanded down and painted Flag Blue (Interlux Brightside).

Its been almost a week, how long until I can claybar it? And, I do not have a random orbital polisher. What would happen if I tried to hand polish it with something like tutlewax polishing compound?

you can rub it out within a few days. polish is ok too. but NO wax for at least 3 weeks!

what would happen if you did it by hand? you'd be the karate kid.

I have waited a bit over three months to do the final wet sanding and detailing on the car. I've mucked around with the hardtop and some other stuff before (and before my accident last year after which I had to re-paint it all again...).

I'm starting with the hood and so far I have spent about 5 hours wet sanding it. I started with a very gentle 1200 sand, basically just to get the crud off the paint and to get through the worst of the orange peel.

Then I spent a couple of hours with 1500 just going really slowly and doing a section at a time until I was happy with the result.

The last couple of hours were spent on some quality time with some 2000. People have mentioned before that the paint starts to get a shine just from the 2000 sanding. You can see what they mean by the pic below.

http://swoolmer.bigblog.com.au/data/...0710215306.JPG

Once I have finished the detailing of the hood I will post some more pics showing each stage of the process. By then my holidays will be over so I'll then have to try and do a panel per weekend until it's all finished. So I hope that I can avoid women in 4x4's for another couple of months....

hrm. for the time involved I'd rather just pay someone. lol

Most people would do the same. But what would they be able to learn and achieve by doing so?

I'd much rather say to people that "I did this" than "I paid someone else to do this for me". That's me though.

+1

And you'd probably do a better job of it yourself since you'd be working on your own car !
You can pay somebody to do it for you but usually they'll just fly through it and it's never a perfect job in the end.

Hey AussieDriver: any updates on your 2000 grit wetsand job to cut down the orange peel? Any new pics or a procedure?

I just put the first coat of wax on the car today. Ended up claybaring it before waxing. Never did a polish job or used any cutting compound. Due to the results posted on here so far I didn't want to try it (or go buy the equipment). I would have nothing against trying to use 2000 grit to wetsand down the car as long as it came out with a polish when it was finished.

Here are some pics of the car cleaned up (note, any flecks that look to be in the paint are actually raindrops, started sprinkling just as I backed the car out of the garage. Yay, Florida summers...):

http://www.grozio.com/images/IMG_2666.jpg
http://www.grozio.com/images/IMG_2668.jpg

damn that looks pretty nice. Out of curiousity, did you primer the car before painting?

No, I had just sanded the car down with 320/400 grit before painting. I also painted over a few small spots of bondo where I filled in nicks and chips, and the badge holes.

oh shit! just noticed the De Lorean across the street ... BAWLA!

Yeah thats my other toy. Had to move it out of the garage in order to get the Miata away from the hot sun to wax it.

talk about a quirky little car eh?

Man, that paint job came out nice. I'm curious to see how well it holds up. I might paint my car like that. Awesome Delorean too.

Thanks for the comments. When you get close up the orange peel is somewhat noticeable and if reduced by a bit would be perfect. Its hard to tell in the pics, my camera doesn't do good up close. Thats why I am looking to see how AussieDrivers wetsand turns out. :)

So far the paint has held up well. The first day I had it out I hit a bug on the nose and didn't clean it up for 2 days (sidetracked w/company visiting). Florida bugs seem to be very acidic and with the paint not fully hardened (only had been on 48 hours but I was rushed) the bug guts ate through the fresh layer (and only the fresh layer). Now that its hardened I wouldn't expect that again.

Also it seems to show water marks easier than before. Probably because its darker and I am not used to it yet. Helped a bit when I waxed it. As we get a rainstorm every day here the marks have been less noticeable since the weekend, and now the water spots wipe right off (post first wax job).

Do you all suggest using a Clear Coat after all the base coats? Or will a wax be sufficient.

depends on the type of paint. some require clear coat, others dont use it.

I am definetely going to do this.

I want more of a semi flat black like this:

http://img.waffleimages.com/751df231...erc_cls_sm.jpg

But the boat company doesn't make flat blacks :(

diffrent i wanted to tru out painting one with black board paint could be quite amuzing wen ur sat outside the pub with ur mates

This looks great. Has there been any problems at all?

My friend just painted his bumpers/CF hood w/ the spray cans, and that was 500 dollars in paint/clear/etc.

Hmm.... my classic red is also looking quite sunburnt pink. I'm going to be respraying in the next month. Maybe I'll try something like this....

I've got an 86 trooper that I'm going to start doing bodywork on one day. I think every piece of the body has either a dent or rust except the new door I just put on it, since the old one fell off. Whenever I get it ready for painting, it's getting the Aussie Special. Thanks for taking the time to do a thorough writeup. I suppose I could do a writeup on my direct port nitrous install one day to contribute to the forum.

I have a question for you though. I read all 7 pages and it seems you don't primer any bondo work before painting. I'm planning on using enough bondo on my trooper to justify buying stock in it, so I'm thinking I'm going to primer the whole truck before painting it. That way, any imperfections will show before I begin applying the finish paint. Is this a good idea or not? FWIW, I've probably got around 150 hours of experience painting houses, interior walls, decks, concrete slabs, boats, and other projects with a roller, but I've never tried painting a car with one, though I've considered it before.

Thanks!

i say use some thick filler primer to cover any sanding issues. I thought I was careful enough when i did mine, but apparantly that wasnt enough.

If you're using a lot of bondo then I would agree that using a primer would be a great idea. Just make sure that you use the correct primer for your chosen top coat.

And get really particular with your prep work. The slightest imperfection will stick out like dogs balls with your top coat.

Well, I'm planing on using the Brightside that you recommended. They also sell a primer for the brightside paint. Should I use their primer? I'm sure it's fine for their paint, but I don't know if it can be painted over bondo.

I'm definately going to try to get it perfect before I put the finish paint on. That's one reason I was wanting to prime the entire truck first, as any flaws will show up when the primer is applied. When I paint, I usually will prime the surface and then get some 500 watt lights out shining on the work. This seems to be a good way to find any imperfections before the topcoat is applied.

nice

Has this thread gone dead ?
Any updates out there ?

I know this thread hasn't been touched in a while but any long term updates? I might try this on my Saab...

you and grassroots motorsports. the last 2-3 issues go into much detail about painting a saab baby-shit brown with spray cans.

Which issues?? I haven't got mine from my parents house for awhile.. did it turn out?

pretty much all the saab ones... i forget what issues and dont feel like digging next to my toilet at the moment. here's their blog though:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/new...aab-99/page/6/

I think I need to tell my parents to send me my mags.. :mad:

I love grassroots. I think I am due to renew my subscription... I was more looking for info about the Brightside paint jobs though.

I'm about to do mine. I've done solid before with no problem any suggestions for doing two toned? Racing stripe, or otherwise?

thats phat paint my car for 100bucks lol

amazing. I would have lost a ton on money on a bet that any of the good jobs wern't done by air.

I'd have done mine long time ago if I can find a place that has no dust flying around.

Nice job, looking good!

Any updates ? Any pics out there ?

I'm going to be joining the 'Roller Crew' soon.
I located a supplier for the 'International Perfection' paint here in Ireland.
It's a little more expensive at nearly 60 euro a tin ($94) but should be worth it.
I'm still waiting on a few body parts to arrive so I can't do anything until then, they could take up to 3 weeks to arrive (and I'm still trying to locate one part in USA to supply to IRE).
I'm not looking forward to the hours & hours of sanding AT ALL....but I'll get over it.
The body of the car is very very good, only a few tiny dings and virtually no rust (Jap import). The paint has come off in a few spots already so there is gonna be a LOT of prep work to do I think with the old paint.
I'm hoping that the original Roller Crew pop in from time to time and may be able to give some assistance/advice if I need it. I don't really think I will from all the information on this subject online but it's nice to be able to run somewhere lol
Rockin & Rollin sooooon.

I dunno man - a buddy of mine did this, and i have to say, I didn't like the results. If you can get an hvlp gun and thin it out, and spray it, you might be able to get a decent result, assuming you have a porter cable and a couple hundred in cutting and buffing products.
rolling it, you are going to see brush marks unless you are incredibly dedicated like the OP was. Even then, I'm not so sure you would not be better off taking some dupont single stage to your local maaco equivalent and paying $400 to have them spray for you.

Bear in mind i am not some hater. I have a gallon of this stuff in my garage. I abandoned the idea when I saw the results in person. Aussie's may look good, but chances are that your job will look more like my buddies than aussies.

Yeah I've seen some horrible pics and read some deadly storys out there on this :ugh:
I'm still gonna go ahead with it though, I think I can get it down :)
I don't think anyones tried the 'Perfection' paint, at least I haven't read of anyone using it and it's suppose to be excellent.
Orange peal, bubbles, paint not bonding, bubbles, blurs, no gloss, paint fading, bubbles.....it's all coming my way soon :noes:

Ah crap, they don't have the Perfection in the colour I want.
They have it in their 'Toplac' paint but not the Perfection.
There's nothing about using that silicone alkyd enamel paint.

does anyone know if you can mix two brightside colors?
I'm thinking about ordering some red and black, as i want a darker red
I'm afraid it will come out purple.

Oh well, guess i'll give it a shot.

wondering what the general consensus is on this now? I am thinking of doing a fresh coat of white over my already white car. I am wondering if this is an effective, low cost solution for me. I just did a ton of motor work on my car and the whole front of the car has engine grease embedded into the paint. I also have a few dings that have rusted that I want to fix and paint over.

Another idea I had was to paint the windshield surround black, which i would definitely do at the same time as my roll job.

I am a perfectionist, and a pretty good painter (at least the walls in my apartment seem to think so) ... my concern is with the required detailing, which i have no experience with whatsoever.

Can anyone chime in with some more info/pictures of successful/failed jobs? Nobody's pics are showing for me except for the OP and the guy who did steel gray. I'd really like to see some closeups and whatnot of how this turns out.


Thanks.

go to the junk yard and grab a $20 fender off of some random car. paint it and get an idea what your skills can produce. we have guys that have gotten fantastic results and others that have gotten terrible results. at the end of the day it all comes down to the person doing the work.

I on the other hand intend to paint my next car this way... because I won't give a damn how it looks anyways.

If I was to go buy a compressor in order to spraypaint etc, does anyone know what size/power compressor I'd need to get ?

Rolling is fine, Just takes quite long time to finish.
Just did my car with rustoleum sunbrust yellow. If the prep and masking was done better I would be pretty happy with the color.

hrk

I have six quarts of bright red Brightside paint available if anyone is in the mood to try it. :)

Got any pics ???
I was thinking of yellow myself !

So I've bought a 750ml tin of Toplac 'yellow 101 amarillo', rollers, sandpaper etc.
I was gonna test it out on my hard top but the buddy wants to hang on to that for a while longer (ex slashed his soft top).
Got two mudflaps to try it out on but really wanted something 'bigger'.
Well, here we go..........

Pretty damn good for $40, I'm impressed..

I managed to get the hardtop back from the buddy a few days ago !
Well, I'm very surprised at the 'Toplac' paint. I've just tested it out on my hardtop.
I spent over 4 hours yesterday wetsanding it and the surface was like glass, the prep was perfect.
Since it was my first time using the Toplac paint it was a real sharp learning curve.
I rollered the top of the hardtop and just used an ordinary paintbrush on the narrow part along the lower end of the glass.
I did not thin the paint BTW.
The difference in the finish between using the brush and using the roller is HUGE.
Using the roller brings on the dreaded bubbles and even trying to lightly roller them out makes even more, I can see why it would need to be thinned and more than one coat would be needed that way. Even just using the weight of the roller itself to pop the bubbles doesn't work.
Using the paintbrush to just slap on the paint and then 'pull' it out/down/across/whatever gives a perfectly smooth glass-like finish !!!!
It self-levels so when you 'pull' the paint getting it roughly even it smooths itself out and the finish is F'n AWESOME ! No bubbles, no brush lines, nothing.
It's REALLY really glossy :)
I'm gonna give it a quick sanding when it drys and put on a second coat JUST using the paintbrush.
I'll be back.....with pictures :)

can we get an update on how these have held up?

40 dollar paint job
 

How do you eliminate roller marks?

use self leveling paint.

Im using toplac, which i believe is self leveling, do i just need to thin it more?

Thanks

I've seen guys using hair dryers on low with no heat to pop the bubbles after laying down a coat. This technique is for the Enamel by Rustoleum. Haven't looked into the Toplac.
My replacement top is due and I will be doing this method for painting. I've done the Krylon out of a can and it has lasted for over 3 years now. Looks fine and has a deep shine, but I cannot express how many hours (days) were spent to get to that point. The maintenance to keep it that way sucks too. Looking for a way to cut down on the application time.
Too cold now, but come Feb. I will be Micheal Angelo'en mine again.

Read the whole thread from start to finish and several other threads elsewhere. I'm going to try this with Rustoleum... in small steps.

Yesterday I put the first coat of red on a Honda CT-90 frame. It's looking pretty red so far.

If I'm happy, then the Miata's mirrors will become Rustoleum Sunrise Red. They look like kids with peeling sunburn right now with the clear coat peeling off.

Next step is the rear bumber cover--probably in a few months. Spray for plastic in the same color. I have to read more on the plastic welding process to make some repairs.

THEN, maybe later this year, I'll think about turning my old Jeep Cherokee yellow.

The red paint on the '04 Miata is doing fair for now, and I'm going to leave the main body alone for a couple more years unless I get really bored.

So far the CT frame isn't looking bad at all--it's red, anyway. I can tell you that a foam brush is NOT the way to go for small, hard to get to places. Lots of runs with the primer. For the red I used a bristle brush, with real bristles not some synthetic, and hit the fiddly spots with "fencing" strokes: jab jab jab jab swipe. The paint was thinned out to about 20% thinner and 80% paint, which is leveling more nicely than I would have thought.

Thanks, Aussie Driver, for a lot of good posts and good documentation of the steps you used!!!
Keith