Rustoleum paint job project on 01 SC-2

[NGKTECH]

I wanted to show the results of my paint project on my 01 coupe I'm going to be painting.

I bought the car a couple months back for $1100 bucks with only 70k miles on the clock, but it needed a new front bumper, had a cracked drivers fender, and had scratches and scrapes everywhere.

So I figured what the hell and I'd try the Rustoleum paint job on it because if nothing else it's a good story.

I won't be rolling the paint on though I will be spraying it. I was going to spray it though my regular HVLP top feed gun but while at Lowes my friend convinced me it would be funnier to spray it through a Wagner HVLP power painter, so i picked one up (I needed it to spray my deck anyway).

The car is all ready to be painted and last night I actually painted the door handles to test out the paint and equipment. The handles turned out great and the gun seemed to do a decent job. Last night I reduced the paint with the recommended Acetone to about 30% which gave me the right voscosity to spray an enamel paint.

When painting the actual car tomorrow I will be using an automotive reducer instead of Acetone for quicker dry times and better gloss and I will also be using an automotive enamel hardener in the paint to help as well. From what I have seen online this should turn out well and once the paint cures after a week or two I will then be wetsanding and then buffing/polishing to really bring the shine out.

Heres a price breakdown of supplies

Rustoleum gloss black-1 gallon $28
Automotive reducer - $16
Acetone - $7
Hardener - $15
Wagner Power painter - $60
Sand paper - $15
Bondo - $8
5 minute epoxy - $5
mix cups - $3
Auto tape x 2 - $8
wax & grease remover - $8
tack rags - $2

Not including the power painter thats only about $115 in paint and materials and I will have enough paint and reducer leftover to do a second car.

[cloud819]

Interested in seeing this project happen, thanks for posting.

[themrfreeze]

Richpin just put up a video on YouTube of him painting his dad's Tercel with oil-based Rustoleum. If nothing else, it's interesting!

[PurdueGuy]

The pictures aren't loading for me...

[Mustang4fn]

FYI

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79mas...llarpaint.html

[NGKTECH]

I've done a lot of research on this and it seems if you srapy it on like I am and use a quality automotive reducer and hardener it will turn out decent.

I just painted the rear trunk piece where the license plate goes and the first coat looks great, great shine, little orange peel, and full coverage after only the first coat. Ill be applying one more coat in about 30 more minutes and see how it turns out. Hopefully it will be fully dry by tomorrow morning. The door handles I painted yesterday (without hardener) were not wet but were still lightly tacky today on lunch.

I cant wait to get the entire car painted tomorrow, I just hope I dont have any runs so I can have it all knocked out tomorrow and get on to painting my wheels friday and then assemble the car Saturday afternoon and start driving it on Monday

[Bill Murray]

Interesting plan.
For those less ambitious, I got my S Coupe repainted at MAACO on sale for 300 bucks (white plus clearcoat - the original color is white but one side and the trunk were replacement panels in dark green after a brush with the freeway center cable barrier) and the job exceeded my expectations.

After a year, it still looks quite good.

[samjack56]

Originally Posted by Bill Murray

Interesting plan.
For those less ambitious, I got my S Coupe repainted at MAACO on sale for 300 bucks (white plus clearcoat - the original color is white but one side and the trunk were replacement panels in dark green after a brush with the freeway center cable barrier) and the job exceeded my expectations.

After a year, it still looks quite good.

I was considering a maaco paint job but decided I'd like to do it myself since I'd learn something, it would be cheaper, and much more rewarding. I'm interested to see how the rustoleum holds up with your Saturn.. I may consider it.

[sleepersatty99]

all i see are RED X's. I would like to see this.

[NGKTECH]

I got the car painted on Thursday. I had some viscosity issues with the paint and the wagner sprayer. The directions with the wagner recommended a pretty thick viscosity (25-40 seconds with their voscisity cup) and it caused a ton of orange peel on the first couple coats, no matter what I did I couldnt get the paint to go on wet at all and it was looking terrible after the first two coats (tons of orange peel).

So on the third coat I decided to thin the paint and follow a ratio I found online that was 8 parts paint to 4 parts reducer and 1 part hardener.

This ratio was fantastic! I was able to apply the paint very wet without any runs very easily. The wagner power painter works very very well with the right paint viscosity.

So to conclude I was dissapointed that the car turned out with a terrible orange peel finish (which was no fault of the gun or the paint but user error/inexperience), but next week after the paint is fully cured I'll do a full wetsand, buff/polish and the orange peel should be gone. I used an entire gallon of paint on the car so I should have plenty of material to work with as far as sanding polishing goes.

[NGKTECH]

Pics

[02SC2drvr]

wow nice work for 50 bucks or so! I was planning on doing the same myself to my 02sc2 and throw 2 colors in it for the 'tuner' look. would you reccommend the rustoleum paint? I was just gonna 'Dupli-color' mine.

BTW.. sand that paintjob down with 2000grit paper and buff and wax that and it'll f-ing shine! good job!

[PurdueGuy]

looks like a world of orange peel to me...

[Mustang4fn]

Looking forward to seeing how the wet sanding turns out.

[almoore]

The car looks good.I am sure when you get done with the wet sand and buff job,it will look great.
But I really got to give you credit ,for doing it yourself and taking the time to share your story.You are "DA Man"!

[NGKTECH]

Originally Posted by 02SC2drvr

wow nice work for 50 bucks or so! I was planning on doing the same myself to my 02sc2 and throw 2 colors in it for the 'tuner' look. would you reccommend the rustoleum paint? I was just gonna 'Dupli-color' mine.

BTW.. sand that paintjob down with 2000grit paper and buff and wax that and it'll f-ing shine! good job!

Ive never painted with rustoleum before but I would recommend it as long as you use the automotive reducer and hardener. Without the hardener Ive read it takes forever for the stuff to dry and cure. I cant say anything about the durability but i doubt ill own the car longer than 2-3 years and i imagine it will last at least that long, especially since this car likely wont be seeing winters here.

[NGKTECH]

Originally Posted by PurdueGuy

looks like a world of orange peel to me...

Again as noted earlier there is a metric-**** ton of orange peel. However, to clarify it is not in any way because of the paint or even the paint gun, it was because I didn't reduce the paint enough.

The best combo to spray it wet without running is

8 part paint, 4 part reducer, and 1 part hardener

[sousa632]

Originally Posted by NGKTECH

Ive never painted with rustoleum before but I would recommend it as long as you use the automotive reducer and hardener. Without the hardener Ive read it takes forever for the stuff to dry and cure. I cant say anything about the durability but i doubt ill own the car longer than 2-3 years and i imagine it will last at least that long, especially since this car likely wont be seeing winters here.

Not really. I did it on a bumper and a fender on a corsica that I had and it came out pretty well, and didnt take all that much time to cure. I was able to get about 3 coats on per day. I was rolling/brushing so I was trying to keep on top of the orange peel. I think I put on like 7 coats wetsanding betweek every 3rd. The last coat wasnt sanded and it looked almost like glass.

If I needed a paint job on the REAL cheap this is a viable option.

here's how my front bumper ended up.....




Started with this....




ended with this

[02SC2drvr]

Originally Posted by NGKTECH

Ive never painted with rustoleum before but I would recommend it as long as you use the automotive reducer and hardener. Without the hardener Ive read it takes forever for the stuff to dry and cure. I cant say anything about the durability but i doubt ill own the car longer than 2-3 years and i imagine it will last at least that long, especially since this car likely wont be seeing winters here.

Cool man thanks for the heads up! i hope yours turns out.. you'll def have to throw pics up when its all buffed and waxed and whatnot!!

[NGKTECH]

Update*

I started sanding the car last Saturday and have been slowly working on it over this week. Its all sanded down with a combo of 1500 and 1000 grit...finally.

Tomorrow morning I should be able to spend a few hours on it going back over it with 1500 and 2000 grit, and then be able to start with my rotary and 2 different rubbing compounds, and then if I have time a black polishing compound.

This color sanding has been a **** load of hard work so I hope it pays off and looks decent.

Ill try and get pics tomorrow after I finish