Well, since so many seem to have such great luck with the so called "$50 painjob" I figured I would give it a go... My clear is pealing like there is no tomorrow and since i just got a non sunroof top for my car, wanted to paint it before i installed it so... here i go.. Got my paint and started sanding...
Here is my pain, called "safety Yellow", some paint thiner, a foam roller, a paint tub thingy, a sanding sponge and some sand paper...


Here is my roof panel. I am sanding it with my trusty $12 Harbor Freight palm sander... Best $12 i have ever spent.


Here is the panel almost done being sanded down... Next im gonna wipe her down and roll on a coat of paint..


I will post a few more pix later on tonight after i work on it some more..

Well... I always said I wanted my baby to be noticable... But this is just redonkeylous! LoL

First light coat on roof panel.

How much sanding do you figure to get the ripples out?

I dont think it will be too bad. i am gonna let it cure fully after the final coat. probably gonna use my little sander with fine grit and I will be clearcoating it. :-) Should be perfect.

mind sharing your choice of clearcoat? I am on the fence about the clearcoat. I have done some testing on my decklid and wing..... yours is looking good, peace

Well, since im working on a budget... I was thinking about the premixed clear form Dupli-color... Its about $20 or so per quart so... Should work out nice i think... I would like to go professional grade by no money. :-( I think this color will last for year without fading if a clearcoat is applied.

Maybe I'm wrong, seems to me, My experience, Rustoleum takes forever to fully cure, if you put on Urathane Clearcaot, ( dries super fast), seems to me it' will "wrinkle" as the rustoleum dries slower underneith . ?? am I wrong on this ?

quote Originally posted by Lou6t4gto: Maybe I'm wrong, seems to me, My experience, Rustoleum takes forever to fully cure, if you put on Urathane Clearcaot, ( dries super fast), seems to me it' will "wrinkle" as the rustoleum dries slower underneith . ?? am I wrong on this ?

You may be! I have no clue. Like i said, i have painted with normal paint and clear before but in this, im just as lost as anyone else... SO i dunno.... I will give it as much time as i can to dry, a few days if need be... I guess we will find out. I know the clear from Dupli color also dries pretty slow thats why i was planing on using that.

the rustoleum shouldnt need clear it has a pretty solid gloss on its own, you end up with alot more orange peal when you use thinners other then the mineral spirits if yours is orange peeling or rippling then you may consider switching to the oderless mineral spirits and you will barely have to sand at all.

Edit to add:

The rustoleum mixed with mineral spirits dried hard as a rock in about 5 hours rustoleum by its self with more or less stay soft for eternity.

[This message has been edited by FieroFiend (edited 06-24-2010).]

I am not worried about the gloss, i am worried about the durability. Almost all the rustolium painjobs i have read about, owners complain about the paint fading after a while. If clearcoating it will prolong the durability, i will gladly do it. Just for pieace of mind. I am spending alot of time on this, i want it to last.

quote Originally posted by GT86FASTBACK: I am not worried about the gloss, i am worried about the durability. Almost all the rustolium painjobs i have read about, owners complain about the paint fading after a while. If clearcoating it will prolong the durability, i will gladly do it. Just for pieace of mind. I am spending alot of time on this, i want it to last.

I never read of any fading by the people who painted them, just the inexperienced people always said that to put it down.

Just be aware, I believe you are using mineral spirits to thin the paint. I think lacquer paint will have an issue with fish-eyes over that type of paint. You may just want to leave the paint as-is. Also, for the final coat, if you are concerned about less orange peel and more gloss, thin the paint a little more. Most people who do the Rustoleum jobs actually have issues with the paint running because they thin it so much. You put on 1 coat and it covered your primer already which means the paint is very thick. By thinning out the final coats, the paint will flow better and dry smoother.

the rustoleum will not dry hard enough if you dont thin it every coat, the paint fades no faster then regular automotive paints if not slower, Ive seen rustoleum jobs that look as good as the day they were done 3 years later.

this looks like a viable solution for me since i live in cali and they are making everyone use water based paints. I have seen these not last 2 years before you have to repaint in the California sun if it sits out.
--matt

Man, I am catching the bug too, but can't afford it...

quote Originally posted by LitebulbwithaFiero: Man, I am catching the bug too, but can't afford it...

:-) All my supplies ran me $30. Cant beat that.

Any updated pics? I am still working on my technique before I do the rest of the car but I took some pics of the wing and decklid installed temporarily today... peace

Pete

quote Originally posted by GT86FASTBACK: :-) All my supplies ran me $30. Cant beat that.

Ya, can't beat that, but still can't afford it. I need to sell some stuff or get a job

you can see the rest of the car other than the wing and decklid is still crummy looking but the color and the shine of the newly sprayed parts is pretty darn good for a cheapo paint job... I took it to work today and had some fellow co workers that are known to be pretty picky have a look at it and I got some nice thumbs up and go for it comments.... One of them is a professional painter!! peace

That looks great! I just did my 4th coat of pain. gonna let it dry overnight and take some pics in the am

Are you just cleaning and re-using the roller?

I actually wrap the roller in a plastic bag between coats. It keeps it moist and I wont have to fully clean it till i am done.

Cool. One post I read said to get 7, and that was with doing the whole car each coat, then 1 for each coat. I was wanting to do a panel at a time, so that would have got costly.

Thanks man, I am pretty excited about how it is looking, the paint once sanded and buffed out really takes on a nice shine and is very smooth looking. I think the wetsanding does an awful lot for making it look even and smooth. I got some more work to do before I can shoot the rest of the car but I did buy another can of the sunrise red paint.... it really is a beautiful color of red, the pictures do it no justice.... I have seen a bunch of yellow cars too on the forums and it would be my other best choice, it seems to really look nice once buffed out... I have always liked yellow but my car is already red and I kinda like it that way..... perhaps another fiero and the yellow paint? Good luck and please post pics!!!! peace

Pete

Hey! That's my old roof you are painting yellow! YELLOW??!?!!

hahahah.. good stuff, man. Should I drive my car back so we can paint it in your garage as well? I did not realize you are using a roller - that's amazaing!
I'll be spraying mine, the old fashioned way, I guess. I just need to get that bigger compressor before I get started. Mine will be dark smoke gray metallic. (Ford color from late 90s, early 2000s) I just love the way it looks in the sun, it's my favorite car color in the whole world.

By the way, if anyone is interested GT86FASTBACK and I did the roof removal on the longest day of the year, 1st day of summer.. it was fun! Here's the "writeup":
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/109675.html'

Keep it up, I want to see constant updates!

quote Originally posted by tbone42: Hey! That's my old roof you are painting yellow! YELLOW??!?!! hahahah.. good stuff, man. Should I drive my car back so we can paint it in your garage as well? I did not realize you are using a roller - that's amazaing! I'll be spraying mine, the old fashioned way, I guess. I just need to get that bigger compressor before I get started. Mine will be dark smoke gray metallic. (Ford color from late 90s, early 2000s) I just love the way it looks in the sun, it's my favorite car color in the whole world. By the way, if anyone is interested GT86FASTBACK and I did the roof removal on the longest day of the year, 1st day of summer.. it was fun! Here's the "writeup": https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/109675.html' Keep it up, I want to see constant updates!

LOL!!! I told u i was probably gonna paint her before i put it on. I am pretty excited, it looking absolutly great. All i need is 2 more coat, some wetsanding and some clear and Ill be right at rain... Any pain gurus wanna chime in and let me know what kind of clear i should use??? All recommendations are welcome... I was thinking of using the ready to spray duplicolor, but i am not sure how its gonna get along with a oil-based color like the rustolium.

Updating from my hotel room... been out visiting family so I haven't updated my own roller paint thread but I'm pleased to see others trying it

You really ought to be using mineral spirits to thin the paint, but if its working for you as-is then its all good. The mineral spirits will thin the paint nicely so that it lays flat on its own as it dries. You shouldn't be getting any marks left in the paint from the roller and if you are then either your thinner is evaporating too much, its thinned too thick, or you're pressing too hard on the roller.

I would highly advise against clear-coating, at least for quite some time. Leave the last coat completely alone for at least a few weeks to let it sit and bake in the sun to get it nice and hard. Then, just wet-sand with 1500 or 2000 grit paper and buff it to a nice shine. As-is without sanding/buffing it should have a nice shine anyway. If you clear it, you'll hinder your ability to make repairs to the paint and like others have said there may be some incompatibilites between the different materials, depending on what you use.

If you do use a clear, paint up a couple of spare body panels for testing. If your get good results after they've dried with no problems, then go right ahead.

Wow the color on your camera is way off... that is definitely not the red color your car actually is.

I have done this on a car (not a Fiero) and I did it about three years ago before it really blew up on the net and everyone started doing it.

I can tell you what the main problem with this paint job is - there is no UV protectant in the paint. If the car is one that will sit outside for any long amount of time in sun it will eventually bake the paint to a lighter color. It's a strange 'bake' too - not a normal peel style bake, but it can actually bake as if it were flaking away. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about it if you're unfortunate to not have a garage or a cover car port.

The paint is very durable though. I experimented with many different variations of application, and found that mixing about 40% mineral spirits into whatever paint I was using gave the best coverage and paint drying time. This is a very good thing to do if you have a beater Fiero and plan on keeping it for a while and want it to have a very nice looking uniform paint job without spending a lot of money.

ya know I have read all sorts of posts about people who claim to have done this and had problems.... I am sure that it is possible some do. However there are MANY MANY people on specific forums that have painted their cars with this process and have then owned the car for many years without any problems. The best part is that they have PICTURES!! Progress pics, long term pics, and even pics that show whatever problems they did have. I have been reading about this idea for awhile now and it never fails that someone will come on and say they knew someone who did this or that and that they think you are crazy to try this and whatnot but if you REALLY read thru all this stuff there is a lot of hype and then there are people who actually tried it, did it the right way, and polished it properly, and used proper care of their paint job and they all seem to have had good results. The most telling thing for me is that a great many of them that actually show cars they have painted and their progress pics and then go on to either say they are gonna paint another car this way or actually show pics of another car they painted this way. There are a few guys on the Rolled on forum that have had their cars painted this way for many years and have pics to prove it and they do not seem to have the problems many seem to talk about. I have even read where Hotrod Magazine painted a car this way and had some good results with it. They called it the $98.00 paint job and they painted a Falcon with red and white. They were pretty candid about their observations on this process and explained what they did like and what they did not like about it. I am also understanding they intend to show long term progress on it as well....

I have painted my decklid and my spoiler, I am doing some body work on the car currently and I have some body mods I intend to do that will take some time. In that time I will be driving the car everyday and I will see if I can see ANY problems with the paint. I will say that my car DOES sit in the garage every night and I do expect to get a decent looking paint job from this that I would feel good about driving to local weekly car shows and just plain look decent driving around. I DO not expect to be able to compare it to a $3500.00 paint job from a pro shop nor do I expect to get the super high luster of a pro quality cut and buffed job. If I can get the rest of the car to look the way the decklid and wing look now, and if it will look that good without touchup for more than three years I would be very happy. The best part about this process is that IF for some reason you do get some fading or worse, a high luster is just a high speed buff or at worst a recoat of the last coat away.... For my small cash available for this project, I would rather spend my limited funds on the 3800scII or other custom mods I intend to do than on a custom paint job. What I see so far on my personal car with this process and the positive comments others, some of which are very critical, have for it makes me feel pretty good about it. I have not even done the full proper polishing with the recommended products that others have shown is what really makes these paint jobs shine.

All of these things are not just me talking, search around, read thru the naysayers, and seriously look at what people have ACTUALLY done and I think you will see that this is a real viable paint job for pennies and as long as you take care of it, will last a good long time.... peace

Just a little update... I now have 7 coats of paint on my roof panel. Took some pics. :-) Looks great!!!

It looks like orange peal but its not, my phones camera went nuts with the sunlight...


I got a great color just what I wanted and a nice smooth finish.


Rust-olium makes a clearcoat that i will be using on all my new painted parts so it will shine and last for a long time. I will be wetsanding with 1000grit before the clear is applied.



So far my cheapo pain is going absolutely great!!! I cant wait till its all finished. I have been thinning the paint as needed with thinner and have found the dry time to be really fast. it lays down really nice. Biggest problem i had with this project so far is keeping the bugs off my fresh, wet paint. :-)

Just out of curiousity, why didnt you just spray the same paint. That would take you a few hours instead of a few weeks of going piece by piece.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Just out of curiousity, why didnt you just spray the same paint. That would take you a few hours instead of a few weeks of going piece by piece.

I have another car to drive so i dont mind if it takes a while... I am gonna do it one pannel at a time so I can get every part a close to perfect as I can. :-) It would be much faster to spray it, your 100% right, but I want to get it as nice as I can and carry out repairs and mods as I go along.

UPDATE: Well my idea for clear is going up in flames... the only clear i can use on this is the rustoleum stuff and they only make it in a rattle can... As all of you know... its almost impossable to paint a large are like a roof with a rattle can and have it come out half decent so... fail... prob will have to sand it all down and start all over again. Wrote Rustoleum a email telling them to make clear so you can shoot it out of a spray gun. lol

86GT.... Please post some pics of the clear when you get done and the can if you can as I am on the fence about wether or not to clear this paint. I am getting a VERY shiny look without the clear. I would think that if you drained rattle cans to clear the car you would use up quite a few of them. That could get pretty costly, any idea what the cans run? Another idea is to find out if they make Tremclad in clear coat as Tremclad is the same brand as Rustoleum in Canada... peace

Pete

I'm getting a pretty nice gloss out of mine too without a clear. BUT... if the clear works for you and you have a way to get enough to spray it out of a gun then I'm curious to see the results

Rather clever to just release the air out of the can and dump the liquid of several cans to spray large areas

I am gonna try to finish it up tomorrow and take some pix for you guys. Like i said. its coming out like a mirror finish with a HVLP gun. I wont even have to wet-sand or buff my final coat. Cans were about $4.50 each at Lowes. One can will do one complete, thick coat on the entire roof panel sprayed from the gun. I am sure your paints look amazing, I just wanted to get some clear on there, just to make myself feel better about the protection factor. :-) Will post pix tomorrow. Also, sprayed from a gun, the Rustoleum clear dries to the touch in about 5 mins. :-)