DIY/Rustoleum/body work suggestions

[88K5Jimmy]

I have a lil Mitsubishi Mirage red rocket that has been previously wrecked so part of the car has a "decent" paint job while the other part of the car has the original faded red. Thre clear coat is coming off the front bumper and there is a dent that would have to be taken out by a body shop because I don't have the tools or skills to get it out. Would the Rustoleum method be worthwhile in my case? I know it requires a lot of sanding to get it to look decent but would the red hold up in full sun?

What kind of grit paper would I use to start off with and end up with before I'm ready to paint?

Or do you guys have any recomendations other that the Rustoleum?

Thanks

 

[ryoken]

sand the whole car with 220, wash with hot, soapy water, dry and start coating... 2 coats a day usually.. light sand the next day (Rusto may take longer to setup being uncatalyzed) with 320..

2 more coats. repeat. rinse. wash, etc.. nah just kidding, once you've a good amount on, start sanding with 400 and be more extensive with your sanding before your last coats..

the key to a quality roll/tip job is having your paint thin, LOTS of sanding and patience to get enough coats on........

don't do it in the sun... foamy roller, and a QUALITY brush, or foam brushes...

 

[Blue85]

Keep in mind that you can get useable spray from a $40 Harbor Freight spray gun. Even if you don't buy a couple hundred $$ worth of real auto paint, it can make your rustoleum application way faster and save you a lot of sanding.

I know a guy who claims he can lay rustoleum on like glass with right amount of thinner in it.

Oh yeah, for the price of having a body shop fix the dent, you can probably buy some cheaper tools. Pull the dent yourself, apply some filler and prime. It probably won't look perfect, but it doesn't sound like that's what you're after.

Maybe something like this? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3223

 

[76zimmer]

I would think if you thin it too much, with a spray gun it would go on real dry, so be careful how much you thin.

 

[RudyO]

First saw this on Moparts.com. They had to start another thread for it. That thread has gotta be some kind of record. Its still going last I saw.

Rustoleum = USA, Tremclad = Canada, and Brightside is a marine type paint. Those are the ones you will see mostly. If you look on the Rustoleum site, they only have about 10 colors of paint and around 3-4 shades of each. The Brightside site would probably have more, but didn't check it out yet.

For the "Reader's Digest" version of how to do it (with pics) try this site www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

He did a Corvair with clear and simple instructions, and also supplied pics of the equipment, before/after, and out to about a year. Even talked about a lil damage repair and bird droppings at about 18 months. That's listed to the left on his site.

Gonna do this on my Blazer in orange.

 

[kaharshs]

I sprayed this stuff on my $200 honda civic and it works great. I used a $26 kragen/checkers/schucks hvlp gravity gun. Did want to spray this stuff through one of my good guns. I used ace hardware high hiding white tractor paint thinned out. This is basically the same as rustoleum who now carries flat black in the quart. Just put on a couple coats with about 10minutes between each coat and then just a little wet sanding and bam new paint. I went with the high hiding white because it was semi gloss and i didnt want to do anymore body work. It hid alot of the dents and went on with good coverage. I have been using this car daily to drive to work and the paitn has held up quite well. Some chippig on the front but that is normal from the road. I clean my car with a scotch brite and dish soap to but I do that because its a semi gloss and makes the paint look new again. This paint does take a week or longer to fully harden maby less in warmer weather or a booth with heat.