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Rattle Can Showoff

11K views 83 replies 18 participants last post by  LiquidSnak 
#1 ·
Okay so I have a TCM right now but want to go for more of a unique look and can't decide between roller and rattle can. I found the roll on thread but couldn't find any for rattle cans so whoever has pics of rattle can jobs please post em here. Thanks in advance!
 
#14 ·
two winters ago me and my two other buddys were at walmart. one of the buddys had a old nissan d21 hardbody and jokeingly i said " dude lets paint ur truck and without hesitation he said ok" so we go some krylon flat black sprapaint and some painters tape. then i proceded to go out and tape off his truck and paint it all in the parkinglot of walmart while being a temp of 5 degreese :)...it was twotoned and two raceing stripes going down the hood and roof. ill try to find pix later
 
#16 ·
That sounds pretty sweet haha

Russ, the pictures didnt know up for me

and since i live in Indy with the snowy/salty winters do you think going with the satin clear would be better, I don't wanna end up havin to redo the paint every spring
 
#23 ·
Difficulty: 4/5 (Why? It's not easy to get it perfect. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience. Follow my directions and you'll be just fine)

Materials Needed
  • Arm
  • Hand
  • Fingers
  • Chair
  • Sandpaper (Grits will vary for every car, but you will most definitely need 2000 grit)
  • Plenty of Rags
  • Spray paint of your choice
  • Paint
  • Tape
  • Soap
  • Water
  • Chocolate Milk

Step 1: Evaluate & Determine Materials Needed
Look closely at the paint. Does it have a lot of nics and scratches? Is it smooth? Is ever body panel a different color?
  • Sandpaper: Most importantly you need to find what kind of sandpaper you will need to use for prepping the surface. If there are a lot of scratches, peeling clearcoat, nics, faded spots, etc. you will need to start off lower than the final grit stage (I always recommend two grit stages anyways). For deep nics and peeling clearcoat, start out with 220 and possibly as low as 180 for deep nics. If the surface is smooth and just needs sanding for abrasion you will only need 400 and 600 grit.
  • Paint: Is your car more than one color? Are you going from one color to another? If so you need to prime. I recommend flat white or flat grey for this. Flat white is $1.00 at Wal-Mart. Flat Grey I believe is $1.50. If you're going white then get flat white but if not go with the grey. If you are going from black to black you will not need to prime although it is recommended. I didn't prime my prelude, but I went from paint code NH-503P to paint code NH-503P. Yeah, the same EXACT color. Also people think clearcoat is necessary for the last step. No it is not. If you by gloss red spray paint it will, in the end, come out glossy. For the prelude I used perfect match paint. It's 6 dollars a can for a medium sized can and it has a matching paint code so my car matches when I'm done. One can of this goes a long way because it is lacquer based. Spray paint from Wal-Mart is water based and isn't as potent. I used a bunch of cans of Wal-Mart flat white and gloss white on my 240 and it came out looking great. It was the cheapest stuff at Wal-Mart. Perfect Match is sold at auto parts stores. Find out your paint code and go look for it if you're just trying to restore the paint. If you go with something new just choose wisely.
Step 2: Prep
You've already determined what materials you need, now lets put them to work.Before you go on, here is proper sanding technique. Some say to use a sanding block. Those guys are idiots. A sanding block allows you to put all of the force of your hand into the paint. DO NOT FORCE THE SANDPAPER ONTO THE SURFACE. Let the sandpaper do the work. I usually rip off a about 7 inches tall and 4 or so inches wide. Fold it backwards in half. And sand with it. It's going to slip out of your grasp, a lot. Deal with it. When sanding you want to do it relatively in the same direction. This is not a huge deal. The most important thing is to fold a small piece in half and use it. When you get bored with one side flip to the other and don't press down hard.
  • For cars with deep nics, scratches and clearcoat peel: Let's say we're painting a fender. Start with 220 Grit. Sand only at the spots that need the attention. This low grit paper is damaging the paint big time and putting scratches in the metal of the car. Don't worry, we fix that with higher grit, but the less fixing we have to do the better. 220 will tear through clearcoat like crazy but sometimes it's just not enough for the deep stuff. Go down to 180 and be careful with it. Sand only the small areas that need it. After the surface is smooth to the touch, go back up to 220 grit and sand through the damage you did with the 180. I believe 320 is the next one up (if not, it might be 340 or 350, you catch my drift, use it). Start with the 320 and go through everywhere you used the 220. You should not have sanded the entire surface of the fender yet, just the parts that need the attention. Once this is done and the blemishes are now unnoticeable to the touch follow on to the next bullet.
  • For cars that don't need extra attention or have already received it: Take a piece of 400 grit sand paper and go to town. Sand the whole surface of the fender. You shouldn't have to do this too much, but if you used 320 grit before this make sure you go over that really well. After you feel the 400 grit has done it's job (paint should be very faded everywhere and your fingers should glide over the surface) go on to 600 grit. Sand the whole thing till you get bored. Wipe off all the dust with a moist rag and let it dry.
  • Tape: For God sakes don't be impatient with this. Tape everything. Twice.
Step 3: Prime
This takes practice and it will hurt your fingers.
  • Priming: The objective of priming the car is too get the whole car one color. If you're car has several different paint colors or a lot of faded spots you will see the difference through the paint without a flat primer. Don't start out spraying too close. Start out by lightly dusting the surface with the paint. It doesn't need to go on thick yet. You have to get a light cover over the surface or it will not accept the paint. If you skip this step you'll get cracks and spider webbing. Do 3 light coats. you should still be able to see the paint underneath but you need to have a good haze covering the whole surface. Spraying from a slight distance is perfect for this. Next few coats should be a little heavier. Spray thicker, but not too thick and not too close. You don't want drips. Just a warning though, you will have drips. Just try to keep your head when it happens. Don't try to fix it. Don't dab it out. Live with it. They are hardly noticeable when the job is done. Do more coats than you think you should, because we're going to have to sand this and we don't want to go all the way through. Once the whole surface is one solid color you will need to sand again, but I thought we were done with that? Nope. Yay.
  • Sanding the primer to create an etch: Well there's no easy way to say this. I'm gay. Beside that, you need to wait a couple days. Don't lose your dedication in this waiting period, it is easy to do. Your primer needs to dry out completely. From the inside out. There are quicker ways around this, but in the end it is not as easy as not doing anything. After a few days (3-5) break out the 400 grit. Yay. It's time to get rid of that wonderful rough surface that comes from water based paint (you will know what I mean, water based paint creates dust and you will paint over the dust and it will look terrible, but that's just cause you're really bad at painting). Sand the whole surface with 400 grit until it's smooth. Move up to 600 grit until you figure out that doesn't make a difference whether you use it at this stage or not. Now wipe it off with a moist rag and allot it to dry.
Step 4: Paint
AKA Drip City. Proving Grounds. Bla bla bla. This is important to get right the first try.
  • Painting: This is easy. Just kidding. You should have a gloss color picked out for this. Gloss paint drips a lot worse than flat paint. So if you had problems with the flat paint dripping, you're going to have a hayday with this. If you're painting a car a lighter color, having a light helps (like a fluorescent shop light you can hold in your left hand, while you paint with your mouth, and masturbate with your other hand. Either way, a light helps.). Paint lightly at first, just like you primed. This will create a rough surface too. The paint will lay on wet and shiny so it's hard to see drips and make sure you cover the surface completely. Just do your best. I believe in you.
  • Waiting: This part sucks. Wait a week. I don't care if you want to hurry up and finish this. If you want it to look good, DO WHAT I SAY. 8====D

Step 5: Magic
This is what separates you from the rest of the idiots with crayons, spray paint, and even maaco jobs. Yes, I just said that. This will look better than a maaco job.
  • Wet Sanding: You're car looks awful right now. You're wondering why you have done all this work and you're paint is not glossy, despite the name on the can. You're paint is still rough to the touch like it was with the primer. It looks bad. Spinks is an idiot. Let's form a mob at Yogli Mogli and crucify him. I should probably start telling you how this is done. Get your 2000 grit sand paper and put it in a bucket of water. Keep this bucket handy. Soak the paper for 30 minutes to an hour prior to starting this. Get a spray bottle and fill it with water. With these pieces of sand paper I always cut them in half, then fold them in half. Spray your surface down real quick and go to town with the sandpaper. It's VERY important to keep the surface covered in water. The more you sand the easier it will be to keep water on the surface. You will need to wetsand until the sandpaper feels like it's doing nothing. dry it off. It's still going to look awful. So don't get your hopes up for this. Look closely at the surface and look for imperfections. (There WILL be imperfections). Wetsand them out. Dry it off again.
  • Polishing: This is it. Everything you've been working for comes down to this moment. Get some scratch and swirl remover and do a quick hand buff. If you don't know how to do this. Get a MICROFIBER rag and dab the swirl remover on the surface or the rag. Apply pressure and do very fast circular motions against the surface. Do it for a full 10 seconds for each small area. Wipe it off. Shiny. Do this everywhere and then wax. If you don't know how to do that then look at the back of the wax container. Every wax is different.
 
#24 ·
Here are some pictures.

240 Before any prep work


240 (door and quarter panel) after gloss coat, before wetsand.


Again, this is after the gloss coat, and before the wet sand.


This is after wet sand and polish.




Just the front end


Prelude (fender had no clear coat) before prep.



Faded Hood


Tape


Before the paint dried


After the paint dried. Before wet sand


After wet sand, before polish.


After Polish








A lot of you probably wonder how this is possible. Wet sanding is one of the most important reasons. Real car paint is great and all, but in almost all cases you will end up with a think called orange peel. Do you know what the peel of an orange looks like?


Every car has this. Almost every car anyway. Wet sanding removes this. That is why when you wet sand your spray paint it comes out looking better than regular car paint. Especially Maaco car paint. Their orange peel is really really bad.

Any questions feel free to ask. Follow this and post your success!
 
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