You want 2 part paint - with hardener - try a cheap single stage and throw away HF gun - the problem with rust-o-leum type paints is they must be COMPLETELY removed before putting real paint on and they clog sandpaper when trying to sand it off......If you still insist on rust-o-leum get a gallon and cheap gun and get some japan drier to add to it so it will actually dry/harden - the gallon and gun will be way cheaper than the spay cans too.....

 

I did a satin black paint job in my garage. Turned out ok. I was in the same boat as you. I needed to put a paint job on my car but didn't have the money for a professional job. I spent few days sanding out my old paint and then taped off the windows and sprayed away. If you use light a light touch and multiple coats you can get a decent finish. You can also sand between coats if you want. It is what it is for a $60 paint job. Plus you can drive and enjoy the car while you save.

 

this is the car you did in your Garage,,,,, I would say thats a more than decent paint job, thats awesome

 

You cannot lay down the spray from a can like you can a paint gun. When I bought my Springtime yellow 66 it was flat and faded. I found a satin finish lemon meringue color that matched the faded paint pretty good. But it was a 10 footer. Looked good from 10' away. I prepped the body and had Maaco spray it for $1800. I say spray it bc that's all they do- no matter what else they tell you they do or did!!! They had the car for 75 days and it never got it right. Stay away from Maaco in Chester, VA next to RT 288 and across from the WaWa..

I needed to edit my original bitchfest post. Someone else has said choose Maaco carefully. Some are good. The shop in Chester painted an old Accord for me and did decent job for $400. Not so good on the 66 Coupe and I spent 4 times as much. Maaco is a franchise and I did complain to the National sale director. But nothing was done. Live and learn- You get what you pay for. I have to keep the photo of the pin stripe they painted over in the post- how stupid can you be !!!

 

First off, in my experience, Maaco quality varies by location. A lot. Do research, and if you find the right one, it can be a viable option. While certainly a budget option, if you do the prep well and the car lives in a garage, you should be good for a long while.

While I don't love the rattle can idea if it can possibly be avoided, any car that's being driven and enjoyed is a winner in my book. Better to spray away and enjoy than not drive it.

 

Ive seen some pretty nice rattle can paint jobs.

After proper prep work and the proper environment to spray paint, the key is uniform paint thickness (mills) achieved by one person doing the painting, knowing basic painting techniques and following the manufacturers directions.

The handles that snap on the rattle can helps a bunch.

The best I have seen on a budget were rattle can base coat, HF equipment clear coat and 2000 grit wet sanding.

 

The Maacos are franchises so it’s hit and miss. We’ve got a good one locally where the owner does custom work in the same shop under his own name. I think @PA_cob said it best, it is what it is for a paint job like that. Plus side is at least it doesn’t rust and you can drive it. It will fail at some point as that kind of paint isn’t for that job. My only other suggestion is that instead of regular Rustoleum is to hit a Tractor Supply or other farm/ranch supply and see about tractor or farm implement paint. They usually have some basic colors and it will be more durable that regular acrylic rattle can. It’s only a bit more than regular rattle can.

When you go to paint it for real you’ve created more work removing the rattle can but compared to the alternative you don’t have much choice. You could use a more durable touch up paint for autos but that’s several hundred bucks and I’m not sure it would look better but it’s likely to last better.

 

For all the work that it takes i think you can get a better end result with a brush or foam roller than a rattle can. I did it on a sailboat. Each layer will go on thicker and give more to sand back to smooth. with spray cans you can start getting tiger stripes or splotches in shading that are hell to hide once started. I even got tiger stripes in some PlastiDip and could never make them go away.
My opinion now is Id rather drive a car with old failing crappy looking paint than fresh crappy looking soon to fail paint.

 

My opinion now is Id rather drive a car with old failing crappy looking paint than fresh crappy looking soon to fail paint.

Last time the black car was painted was in '87 (may have been early '88). Cost me a whopping $350 dollars! That was at least it's third layer of paint. Once in awhile I've gone out and dabbed a little rustoleum on the chips. Maybe someday it will get painted right but dang it's expensive.

I think if it was stripped I might try it myself. I have a residential HVLP turbine I've used for cabinetry. Don't see why it wouldn't work for automotive paint.

 

Search Google and see how people paint cars with Rustoleum Protective Enamel and rollers. It's very time-intensive maybe more than you think. It takes 5 to 7 coats and color sanding is part of each coat. The results can rival any single-stage paint and it's very durable. The cost is said to be under $300. Color selection is limited.

 

Don't do it! For what all the rattle cans will cost, buy REAL automotive paint and use a HF HVLP spray gun. You'll get FAR BETTER results with a LOT LESS work, and nearly the same expense. It will look better and last longer too!

 

I knew someone was going to say it lol

 

I painted my 96 Land Cruiser with a Harbor Freight HVLP turbine, which is an "all in one" unit. If you thin enamel paint properly, it should flow out well and look brilliant. The HVLP turbine unit was $100 or so, and paint and thinner was $50. The finish comes out looking almost precisely like a race car finish from the '60s.

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

www.harborfreight.com

 

Lots of folks much more knowledgeable than myself here but here is something to consider. If you just can't swing a compressor and insist on rattle cans, buy a dozen cans of 2K epoxy primer. The kind of cans that you have to break the internal seal and have limited amount of time to use. This stuff is close to regular automotive without the compressor. Sand down and surface prep everything, go with light coats. Color selection will be limited, probably black, grey, red oxide or white. A flat hot rod black job like PA_cob above always looks good. The epoxy will be fairly weather proof and durable until you can get around to doing a real spray job and can be scuffed and painted over later.

Eastwood 2K AeroSpray™ Spray Paint Epoxy Primer Gray

Performance and Durability of a Two Component Coating without the Paint Gun

www.eastwood.com

 

Hey guys thank you so much for the advice,,,,,,A lot of you guys said that I would have to sand off the paint I am using, If i do it right can Maaco or a painter paint over it. If i do it right

 

No. Rattle can isn’t compatible with catalyzed automotive paint. Layers in auto painting are the key. When a layer isn’t compatible with an adjacent layer proper bonding does not take place. Rattle canning it will have to come off to at least the primer If you decide on a traditional automotive paint job. The exception might be if you used 2k rattle can epoxy primer. Even then you’ll have some issues with UV and element damage that will at least require you to scuff the car and apply another primer coat prior to top coat. Primer has a window in which to top coat and if you miss that or have other damage, UV, elements, whatever, at a minimum you’ll need another coat. Worst case you have to strip the primer off and prime again.

Your best long term bet is to use one of the low cost turbine guy kits and proper 2k paint. The paint doesn’t have to be mega high end. Your Eastwoods or TCP Globals work just fine. If you can do without factory color codes with a basic color in single stage (no separate clear coat) you’d be in a couple hundred for paint and chemicals, plus masking and prep plus whatever you spend on the turbine unit. You may be able to ebay or CL the gun after you’re done with the job to recover a bit of cash. I’d reckon about the least expensive DIY job using this method would be about $500 or so all in plus your time.

 

Rattle can quality varies too, you can check your local automotive supplier to see if they offer a high quality one. Look for a nicer nozzle and don't do a metallic as it will be difficult to keep it even. Slower drying is going to be helpful and a satin finish might be more forgiving too. The 2k primer in black is a good idea as it will give much less drama to the painter later on, but will give you a nice satin finish now. If you can't get around the car quick enough, do a panel or section at a time.

 

I used 12 cans of spray paint on my car when I was in college, dead broke. I was tired of driving around in gray primer. The store was going out of business and I got 12 cans of silver blue for $12. I'd say it was a 30-footer.

Since you already have a compressor, all you need is an inexpensive gravity feed gun, and you can achieve a pretty respectable finish. I used such a gun to repaint the hood and cowl on my Mountaineer, 2-part BC/CC, and it came out better than factory. And trust me, I'm not a painter. All I did was add the thinner and hardener as per directions, waiting 15 minutes between coats. Spray so the mist goes on with some orange peel to it. As it dries and hardens, it'll flow out to a smooth finish. I didn't even have to buff it out afterward.

 

I plan to paint this car but it needs a little bodywork yet.

 

I think if I searched hard and long enough I'd find a photo of my '63 Fairlane and my buddy's '59 Jeep Wagon that were BOTH done with Rustoleum and a brush. No brush marks and shined like Telly Savalas' head.

 

IMO you will probably save more money buying a cheap spray gun on amazon and a gallon of some cheap automotive paint..... just think of how many spray paint cans you'll need!

 

I always remember back to this https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0707-1962-ford-falcon-budget-paint-job/

 

Get a HF paint gun and a gallon of spi epoxy primer. For a tick over 200$ you can have a semi gloss finish that will last for a couple years. The difference being you wont need to completely remove the epoxy primer to reshoot.

 

a lot of great advice guys,,,,,,thanks a lot

 

I get your situation...you don't want to drop a lot of dough on the car, and you have no confidence in your ability with a spray gun.

I have confidence in your ability with a spray gun though.

So I'm trying to give the best advice to keep you closest to where you want to be. I would ditch the spray can, you will have mottling and striping like you wouldn't believe. At least spray it out of a cheap spray gun. It will take a lot of sanding to make it look good though, and rustoleum doesn't sand well...really plugs up paper. And it will chalk and fade with not a lot of time.

The next step up if you want to drop a little more cash but get a substantially better job is to shoot the entire car with 2 coats of black SPI epoxy. This would run $269 but it would be pretty shiny, very durable, and is one of the best automotive epoxies on the market. They are adding UV stabilizers in it now because so many people are using it for exterior purposes.

The next step up from this gets you putting single stage automotive paint on the car, and you can get an entire kit for $174. You'd still need to put this over an epoxy primer. I'd still recommend SPI in that case, it's only about $20 more than the Urekem material (after shipping is accounted for) but is a superior product.

https://shop.thecoatingstore.com/UreTop-Pearl-Urethane-Topcoat-15-Gallon-Kits-URETOP-PGC-GKIT.htm

 

Thank you ,,, Thank you, Im going to try it whats the worst that could happen, Ive already got the compressor, Thanks

 

When spray paint was relatively cheap back in the early 70s I painted the hood of a 65 Mustang I used to have with a number of cans of Krylon red paint. I put an even but heavy coat of paint on the entire surface. When I was finished and the paint dried it didn't have the high gloss that I expected it to have. I began to buff it out by hand with rubbing compound. The more I rubbed, the deeper and higher the gloss got. When I was finished the paint looked really deep and had a very high gloss like a professional job. It was a lot of work and decided I wasn't going to paint the rest of the car that way. I got lucky, no drips, no runs.

Likewise around the same timeframe the neighbor across the street painted his 66 Tempest with a brush and yellow paint. He did tape off the areas he didn't want painted. My housemates and I were laughing watching this figuring the brush marks would stand out. He took an orbital buffer and some rubbing compound and the care was a 10 footer when he finished. It looked pretty good when he was done.

 

I'm not sure if your area offers it, but another cost effective option is to check with any tech schools in your area. By us we have a few tech school within 100 miles that welcomes classic vehicle projects for their body shop technician program. It's kind of a win / win for both parties. The students have a supervised project to work on, and all it cost the vehicle owner is materials. They can only accepted a few cars a year though.

Since I have too many projects in the works for me to do myself right now, we will be doing this with one of our 68 coupes in our local tech school starting in July 2020 (when new classes kick off) getting some minor body work done and then it will be painted by the students. We just signed up for this last week so I'm pretty excited since we were one the few vehicles to get in for this upcoming class.

The gotcha is time, if you're looking for something to be done quick, time is not your friend....In our case the body/paint program at the school is a 1.5 year program, so that is about how long it will take to get the car back since a group of students are assigned to the vehicle and that is one of their projects over those 1.5 years, but it's a relatively inexpensive route if you can be without your car that long. The other thing is you need to deliver the car to the school. In my case the car is already down to the shell so there isn't a lot of prep work for them.

Since the school partners with the local body shops who ultimately ends up hiring these students, the school gets their paint at discounted rates through the body shops so it's a good deal. The paint job will run me about $1,000 (base & clear), I will supply any sheet metal needed and there is no labor cost since its through the school.

 

That is a great idea, we have a trade tech not far from here, will check with them and see what they got.

 

Ok all, after Lizers inspiring words, I am going to try to spray it myself. So here is the question, I have done a moderate amount of prep work and plan to do more. Can I spray epoxy primer over the paint job i already did or do I need to go pack down to bare metal.

 

What paint did you already put down? Unless it’s proper auto paint or primer it’s going to have to come up. Whatever material you buy should have a tech sheet that will tell you how to prep what you are painting. My only concern is that a gallon (of anything) will properly cover a classic Mustang. Best case you’ll use every bit of that gallon, worst case you’ll need another quart or two.

How big is your compressor? If it’s smaller than 10 cfm you’ll have to do the car in panels as the HF gun takes a bit of flow to paint large areas. Still far better than using a rattle can. I used the HF guns quite a bit before I bought a set of pro guns. Can’t beat the price. It will be at least as good as home rattle can and probably much better even with no experience.

 

The spray can paint job? That has to come off.