Tips for rattle can paint jobs

96blak54

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I have never done any type of body work. Any tips you guys have will be great. My plan is to keep it black with mtching color accents to the wheels. Like the ground effects and such.

Here is what ive done so far. Their are a few dings that needed attention. I took some 400grit wrapped around a good flat stick for a block. Almost like a paint stir stick but thicker and much sturdier. I lightly rubbed out the areas at the dings to get an feel for this new adventure. After scrubbing the clear coat I then proceeded to sand out the dinged portion. Then I applied spot putty with a plastic putty edge. Let it dry. Then blocked out the putty in the best direction following body contours. I feel like it turned out great. The panels are smoother. One ding had a raised edge, but I believe enough blocking took it down. Results equal smooth. All the dings feel like part of continuous body flow.

Now im scuffing up the clear coat. Just cutting up the clear, not taking it out. Ive been using the 400grit as well. My idea is to keep this process simple and cost effective.

My next step ill be masking off one area at a time. Like a fender, a trunk lid and such. Are these good ideas? What would some of you do? What tricks do you guys have with spray paint? All responses appreciated, so please reply!
 

Witzy0070

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I feel like some pictures could help.

My tips for rattle cans are shake it, then shake it upside down, then shake it more. Make sure the can is at room temp for a few hours, shoot at room temp, cure at room temp.
 
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96blak54

96blak54

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Where im at now. The pic is lame, but its visual

6f318f49dc6141c5939d1ac41d698082.jpg
 

RichV

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Looks like you're putting a lot of time into this, you sure you want to rattle can it?

A buddy of mine did a makeshift paint booth in his garage, got some gear from Harbor Freight, plus a paint kit, and his car actually came out pretty professional looking. I think he maybe had $200 in the paint job. Not including his time of course.

https://www.paintforcars.com/ (or similar site that sells kits for everything you need) Then just start youtubing and googling what methods and cheap guns work the best.

I did a roll-on paint job one of my race cars. It actually came out pretty good, but you could tell up close. Supposedly if you put on a few layers, then wet-sand you can get the orange peel off but I wasn't too concerned with it.
 
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96blak54

96blak54

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Being not to concerned with it now at this time is my approach, but for what little effort I apply, I do want it to look descent. The dings would have shown after the paint and needed to be fixed.

I do know heating the can to around 100° improves how the paint lays. I did learn this from painting my van. Not sure if elevated can pressure has something to do with it or just the temp of the chemicals. Could be both....idk. Shake like a salt shaker, shake it, shake it shake it.

$200 is feasible! Long story short though....ive been wanting to get the engine in and needs roughly $200 to make it happen. I have to do this in nickel and dimes. $10here, $20there spread out over a little bit of time. Again nothing extravagant, but presentably nice. Nicer than the paint thats there.
 

Thomas_W

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Save your money and take it to Maco. They would do a better job than rattle cans.

You havent mentioned what products you used, as some arent necessarily good for certain tasks. And you have only gone to 400grit nor do you have a consistent base of primer, has it been prepsol'd and tack ragged?

honestly, theres about $200 in products in materials you need JUST to get to the point of being able to spray color. And if you doing any colors with lower pigment counts (reds/yellows/metallics/pearls) the paint job is going to look horrible due to the inconsistency of rattle cans. You also want to paint the entire car using the same mix of paint, same speed along the pass of paint and preferably the full length of the panel/side of the car.

Painting a car is more about experience and prep than anything else.
 

ttocs

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as someone that recently decided to do paint himself I can tell you its not cheap/easy to get into and its really easy to go cheap/easy and mess things up. I have over $400 in the primer/paint/clear and that does not even begin to include the spray gun/compressor/filter/other crap that are needed. If your doing small projects I have great results from rattle cans but for doing the whole car or larger panels its not cheap to do it right.

paint is about the prep and even if your using rattle cans the prep is the same. spray the area with compressed air, then wipe it down with a pre-paint prep and finally just before you spray wipe it down again with a tack cloth. Clean the area you are going to be painting it prior to doing all this and if its just a dirty place in general you can also wet down the floor while your spraying. This will cut down on the crap you kick up as well as help to keep any new pieces that hit it from coming back up.
 
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96blak54

96blak54

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You guys are great! Thank you!

Yes, its not cheap, but I have to make it cheap. Plans are to get it together sometime soon and while its in limbo, I can move forward using cheap materials along with elbow grease to improve the exterior. I didnt know about any pre-prep products and ill check out the tack clothe. Thanks again !
 

ianmcc

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I have painted the front bumper on my old Focus with rattle cans.
Prep work and taking your time will help. The biggest issue I see is overlap-I think people try to stretch a can out and it results in streaks.
I also pre-heat my cans by filling an ice cream pail wit h hot tap water and soak the can in it for 30 minutes. I find it helps to lay out better.

This was done all with spray cans.

 

Orange 94

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Tip: don't use a rattle can.

It looks like you did a lot of work, I wouldn't half ass it now.
Compressor and gun are expensive, but I have like $800 of supplies on my car.

That's just my opinion though.
 

hondarocks61

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You could try to rattle can it....


ooooooooorrr you could shop around and pick up a decent used turbine for a couple hundred bucks and blast the whole thing in the garage without the need for a compressor.
 

g36 monkey

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I started rattle canning my dads truck, and honestly, it came out awesome. I laid it out thick enough that I was able to wet sand. I sanded up to 5k and then buffed. No orange peel or anything.

I do recommend getting one of those handles that goes over the can so it feels more like spraying from a gun. Helps a ton with fatigue.
 
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96blak54

96blak54

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^Exactly my approach! Thanks for responding. And yea, ...my finger iiiiisssss sore!...lol
 

g36 monkey

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I did prime it and wet sand with 600 before spraying. I will say, prepping it yourself and taking it to get the $200 maaco job probably would not be terrible, especially after a good wet sand and buff.
 

ttocs

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Maaco does a couple of different qualities of work depending on what your looking for. If you want something slapped on they will do it but I had them install/paint my side exhaust kit and let them know I wanted it done right and they went further then anyone I have seen installing the skirts.
 

mcglsr2

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Rattle can jobs can come out really well. There's different approaches mentioned here, such as getting your own paint supplies and stuff. I think it all comes down to 2 things:

1) what level of "show quality" are you looking for
2) absolutely without a doubt do not skimp on prep work

For a "normal" looking car, rattle cans will work just great. if you take your time, prep really well, and lay on the paint properly it will come out really nice. I'm willing to bet if you put two cars next to each other, 1 that was rattle canned (but done well/properly) and the other that was done using buy-your-own-paint-equipment stuff, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The other big difference is in the clear coat that you apply afterwards. It's easier to get a quality clearcoat with the DIY paint equipment as opposed to rattle cans, but not impossible.

The biggest factor, and it's true for whatever level of paint job you are doing, is prep work. If you prep the car properly, even the rattle can job will look nice.
 

hondarocks61

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What kind of cans are you using??? Single stage enamel? Lacquer? 2k clear in a can over base from a can?

Sent from my LGL22C using Tapatalk
 

ttocs

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personally myself when I use rattle cans and want a good job I go for duplicolor and have had good luck with a color/clear. If your not afraid to do a light wetsand/buff you would be surprised what you can do from a can.
 

hondarocks61

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You can get very nice results from a can, but the single component paints simply wont have the longevity or chemical resistance the 2k stuff has. A good combo is regular base coat with a 2k clear over it. That should last as long as anything else! Pricey though...

Sent from my LGL22C using Tapatalk
 
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96blak54

96blak54

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All very good info! thanks guys. The knowledge base here is awesome! The intellect very welcoming. You all are the best!

I chose Walmart available Krylon Bronze metallic for a black rustic satin look. Wheels look like crap,(I should say not my idea of "nice") so I shouldn't pour my efforts out over the body paint job. I do have 4 kids under the ages of 12 and a pretty car existing in our home....HA yea right! Our Durango was real nice before our kids rode in it.

So far ive managed to mask the car out and dumped 4cans on the driver side. I feel like ive achieved what I wanted. Yea...im happy with it, cause I know their will come a day when funding allows(kids on their own) ill get it painted right. Besides this engine build still needs to go in along with what ever other concoction builds I come up with and damage to a pretty paint job will sicken me.

So im thinking a crap load of coats and finally wet sanding to even it out. Sounds like a lot of work but work on my end is cheap...lol
 

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