miataspeed1point6

iTrader: (1)

When it was 4 years old it was in winter storage, and someone for some unkown reason spilled some yellow paint on it. The paint bonded the dust cover to the cars paint. When it was pulled away it ruined the paint across the trunk and rear quarters. The car went in for a full quality respray.

That is where my problem is. The respray was great, but it was not factory mariner blue. It was a custom mix that was...close. Since I bought it this poor car has been hit 3 times which screwed up the bumper paint front and rear, been egged, hit with countless rocks, and scrapes here and there. The hardtop paint is already chipping off and is heavily orange peeled (had that resprayed a few years ago). The worst spot is the drivers door. Some old lady in an old Caprice backed into my drivers door. I had to replace it and spray paint it...it doesn't match.

The car is good from far, but far from good. I'm not paying for a quality respray since it's just going to get messed up again (no garage and a college parking lot). What I really want to do is spray the car orange, and the wheels black. My problem is the car still looks alright. I know it's only a Miata, but anyone else think it would be stupid to respray? I don't plan to ever sell the thing, I know I wouldn't make any money on it.

I would rattle can and wetsand like a mother. I figure the paint looks like **** now anyway, at least then it will be in a color I like. I helped do my friends bike that way and it turned out pretty nice. I've had some painters look at it and was quoted $750-1200 to fix it. I already know the new paint wouldn't match, the hardtop and door don't.

Sorry for such a long post. Someone took a chunk out of my brand ******* new K1's with a palet mover today. I'm tired of being embarassed about the drivers side of my car because it doesn't match. My thought process is do a decent job now to cover up the exposed primer and chips so they don't rust. Later down the road have a pro repaint it if I really want to.

Here is a pic of it. I can't help but feel rattle canning is stupid because the paint looks good from a distance. But up close it looks like ****. I guess I'm just looking for opinions since I can't make up my mind. I can take pictures of the damage if it will help. It was freshly waxed here, doesn't look like that now.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Either a clean respray, or leave it alone. If it were me, i wouldn't touch it. Looks good imo.

NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

I'll trade you mis matched mariner for faded and mis matched classic red. My bumpers are faded to ****, and the rest of it is faded and scratched to ****. Looks fine to me, but its hard to tell in that picture.

Cspence

iTrader: (11)

The car looks good to me, but I know where your comming from. I actually have like 10 cans of duplicolor Black and 10 of White to do my car this summer. For what I use the car for I just want it to be like a "5ft" car and have all my panels the same shade of white. Right now its probably a 10 or 15ft car, but I don't care at the moment because its too much fun to drive. If you take your time I have seen some nice rattle can jobs, but I wouldn't touch your car if I had it......maybe its just hard to see the defects your talking about in the pic above...either way the decision is yours. If you do it, make sure to make a diy thread about it so I can learn from your experience, lol

Qckslvr

iTrader: (6)

do not rattle can your car. When you do decide to paint your car it can cause a problem. If any thing you can go to your local pro-paint supply shop and see if they will mix you a small batch of mariner blue. From there you can have it loaded into an aerosal can, or buy an aerosal bottle kit. Will most likely cost you about $25-50, this is how I did my veil side bumper on my red miata. And when you do decide to paint your Miata your body shop won't be scratching there head because of paint reactions.

5 coats from an aerosal loaded with PPG Delstar, and then wet sanded. Lasted 6 years (Nephew rear-end some one and destroyed bumper)

icantthink4155

iTrader: (12)

I will gladly trade for my destroyed paint, countless scratchs and dents and flakes of paint missing. I wish I could afford to paint it, hope someone shoots the PO.

miataspeed1point6

iTrader: (1)

But the car isn't mariner blue, thats the problem. I already did that, and it doesn't match at all.

I don't mean to come off like a dick. I know my paint is better than some, but the flaws keep staring me down. This was my first nice car that I was proud to drive. When I got it it was flawless and I loved it. Thanks to morons and normal wear it looks bad to me. If the door at least matched I could look past the rest, but the new paint won't match. The $1,200 quote was to repaint the door with a close match, then spray the surrounding body with the same paint to blend it in. Then touch up a few of the problem areas.

I just can't see spending $1,200 on a 93 Miata paint job when its a summer DD. Then again I'm not 100% confident a rattle can job is a good idea either. Sometimes I really hate this car. I'll post the damage pictures in a min.

miataspeed1point6

iTrader: (1)

What got me so pissed. 6 months old and someone took a nice chunk out of it.



Awesome chip thanks to a shopping cart handle. A bubble from the paint job next to it.



Wonderful bumper cracks from ******* who backed into it in a parking lot. There were witnessess but no one got a plate number.



A chip from the same guy. This is where his bumper bolt hit, thankfully the bumper didn't deform, just cracked the paint.



Exposed rear primer. No idea how this happened, but I don't want it to rust.







The wonderful door. It doesn't show as well in pictures, but in person everyone always notices it doesn't match. There is some rust on the front of the door, and it is a really shitty spray job. I didn't want to drive around with a dark blue door on there. I'd do a much better job if I painted the car.

I just can't decide on what to do. I've been on edge with this for a while. I have access to a spray gun and a makeshift booth, but I'm not sure how long I could use it. I have an air compressor in my garage, so I guess I could get a gun and just do a panel at a time.

I sold my shitty Honda Accord in the spring and picked this up. It was a single owner, 4.3 v6, 2wd, 124,xxx. I love it to death. Its rusty, but the floor and frame are solid. I'm going to put some fenders on it soon and practice my painting on it. I guess I'll see how well I can pull it off.

$500 and everything works. Nothing wrong with it except that its ugly.

nicacus

iTrader: (7)

I know flat black is super played out/over done/ricer
but you can get somewhat decent results with a rattle can if you are careful
My friend and I just did his CRX a couple weeks ago and you can't tell it was rattle canned.. several people have asked how much the body shop charged for the paint job.

He spent at least 3-400 on paint/primer alone

If/when my car paint ever fades gets more dents/scratches I'll probably go this route minus the flat black.

And yes his car is mad ricer

jsisco

iTrader: (7)

Probably so they know how bad you got screwed. (just kidding) I applaud the DIY effort, but flat black always comes off as cheap looking to me.

Look up Don's paint thread. He kind of disappeared a little while ago, but he painted his classic red in his garage. He did a really good job, but it took a lot of time.

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t3501/

nicacus

iTrader: (7)

I personally am not a fan of it, but it's better than any of the other flat black rattle can jobs I've seen in person...

That picture doesnt really do it justice, he took that with his iPhone I'll have to see if he has any other pics of it

miatamania

iTrader: (9)

I really like a satin black.


That said, I wouldn't rattle can the car because of those imperfections.

driverdog

iTrader: (2)

I have seen a lot of good looking cars that I would say are 50/50, meaning @ 50 feet away and 50 miles an hour they look great!
These people did a fantastic job of sanding/ taping and painting but the paint itself is crap.
The individual now has invested the same labor that a professional would have in preparation (or more) but then doesn't pay for the good paint and wonders what they could have done differently because the outcome is less than desired.

My advice is to do it right the first time and buy the best paint. I buy and use Dupont Chromabase system. It costs more than I wish but the product is like OE in terms of gloss (in my opinion better) and maintenence charactaristics. It is easy to apply/predictable and you will have no regrets later.

I have tried some other manufacturers but they don't compare.

The professional painters I talked to (many years ago) said the hardest thing they had to do was to get the spraying technique down so that they wouldn't get "sags" or "orange peel" in the paint or clear coat. I have learned the better the product, the less you have to worry about either.

I have the utmost respect for you guys making the finish look that good using "rattle can", but think how good it would look if you used the proper paints.

P.S., stay away from Sherwin-Williams automotive paint, it's a poor product for not much less.

l_bader

Regardless the route you go, pro-paint or rattle can, the prep work will make or break the deal.

Since you have another potential DD, get a sanding block and sheets of paper then get to work. Touch and fill where needed, prep and prime when ready, then follow Qckslvr's lead, grab some Mariner Blue from an Auto Body Shop and then shoot the entire car yourself.

It will take time and elbow grease, but will get the best results shy of spending $1000-1500 for nearly the same result...

- L