Rattle can painting(my car)?

[iwannadie]

The paint on my supra is getting to the point of no return I think, its oxidized so bad in some spots bare metal is showing. Im going to have to paint it just to prevent rust so Im not looking for 'pretty paint' but rather just rust prevention paint lol. I like the ugly car look anyways so its part of my long term supra plan to not go for a really nice(pretty) paint job. I do want the paint to last and do its job, protecting from rust and is even paint no runs or anything. Im going to stick with a rust-o matte finish paint, either very dark grey or black. I dont want to even consider going for a cheap macco over spray or anything, I want to paint it myself just for the experience of it. I plan to tear the supra apart as much as possible to do one piece at a time.

That being said, Im thinking about rattle can painting but Im not sure about the cost Vs results. Ive seen enough old hot roders and plenty of jeeps do it and looks good enough for me. Ive seen alot of rattle can jobs too that look horrible. Im confident with proper care and prep work I like to think I could spray something decent....

Im torn between rattle can or waiting until I buy an air compressor and then using a spray gun with actual automotive paints. I know rattle can Id need like 10 primer cans and 15 paint cans. Im not even sure what rattle cans cost but Im guessing 200 bucks in cans would be in the ball park? For that amount of money can the rattle can job be good enough compared to a DIY spray gun job?

Would I be better off just using rattle cans to patch some bare metal spots before they rust and trying to polish and wax the rest of the paint up to make it last? I could live with patched paint as I only have maybe 3 small spots that would need done. Then, I could hold out for a much better compressor and attempt a real spray job.

/long winded

Cliff nots;

Rattle can painting worth it on the supra? Has anyone done with it good results? Pics?

 

[ehall]

Clean, sand and rattlecan the bad areas, that'll keep the problems from getting worse and will give you time to really decide what you want to do

 

[BonesBrosChris]

I rattled a old car of mine a long time ago and it turned out ok....... but later I was going to toss some real paint on it and it was a total pain in the ass to sand off "shake can" paint. Even paint stripper had a hard time taking it off.


my .02

 

[sharq]

what a good grit to sand it with?

i wouldnt rattle can a supra. spend the money on a good paint job.

 

[dinorl007]

check to see if u have a maaaco in your area they paint cars preety cheap, if u decide to rattle can it, i would use a flat paint, it doesnt show streaks as bad and will be easier to cover later

 

[ehall]

what a good grit to sand it with?

320 or thereabouts is good for getting the top coat roughed up well, you'll want to move up to 800 or so before you start spraying anything (unless you just want to rattlecan a temporary protection)

 

[Puddin99]

Check this out.

http://earlyxj.com/paint.htm

 

[Matthew Currie]

If you expect to spend that much on rattlecans, consider an alternative halfway between. If you can, find a portable compressor of the sort used for pneumatic tools, and a reasonably cheap "spot" type spray gun, meant for touchup spraying. You'll have to fill it more often, and it won't spray as heavily as a proper gun, but it doesn't need huge air, and can do a pretty good job even on a whole car. Even cheap canned enamel, thinned and sprayed right, can make a better finish than a rattle can, and it can end up being pretty inexpensive.

This is the kind of gun I'm talking about:

http://www.allproducts.com/handtools/chiachung/08-ch115.html

Sears used to have them. Other places that sell cheap chinese tools probably will too, in a pretty similar form. I got one for under 30 bucks a few years ago, and it does a pretty nice job. It's easy to hold and aim well. I did a couple of fenders and other things with it. For plain non-metallic paints it doesn't seem to be very fussy about viscosity and the like.

Sometimes you can get a pretty decent deal on the compressors. The small gun runs on relatively low pressure and CFM, so you don't need a huge compressor to run it.

If you can't do it yourself, I'd go to a cheap car painter before doing that much rattle can work.

When you're done, you get to keep the equipment, a better deal than rattle cans, which you just have to throw away.