The Poor Mans Paint Job

Step 4 Final Result

My final result is absolutely amazing. Yes, you can see some brush strokes if you look hard enough. Yes, there are some spots that are not perfect... but for $74.74?? I would say that this is a damn good paint job. I feel very proud of what I have accomplished here as well which is one of the more rewarding aspects of the entire project. Not too mention a very sharp looking freshly painted car. Plus, knowing what I know now having painted the car from scratch I can easily re-paint any panel or part should it be severely chipped or damaged. After it was all said and done I had about 10 days worth of work or a total of 40 hours into this job. I guess I can let the final pictures speak for themselves.

Comments

[wstarvingteacher]

I did this with an old trailer made from a pickup bed. It worked great but I had a lot of drips and sags. I did not use mineral spirits to thin the paint. Your job was better.

I have an old car that needs a paint job and will try again and steal a page from your book. btw rustoleum looks good and holds up for a long time.

Thanks

[tigerphoenix86]

For a $75 paint job this looks fantastic. Im glad that there is someone who can show poor folks like me how to paint their car. Being a single mom, with 3 kids, and an original paint job on my 86 mazda 626 thats very faded? you bet im gonna try this method! I'll post pics once I get a chance to try it. Thanx for posting :)

[klane2]

Styluss thank you SO much for this tutorial! This is a SIMPLE way to paint your car, without all the BULKY EQUIPMENT associated with spraying. The paint job looks GREAT! I'm going to use it on my Cabrio and can't wait to see the results! Thanks again!!!!

[atsuruta]

Is it safe to use chemicals on it? say you got some tree sap or tar is it safe to use solvents on it?

[mhj555]

Great job! I plan to do something like this to my old ride. I think colors like white, yellow, silver and gold do a great job of hiding imperfections and would be ideal for this technique. Gloss black is probably the worst. On another topic, I had a car painted professionally once and they recommended not waxing it for a whole month after the paint job. I guess the paint continues to off-gas for a while.

[pfred2]

The metallic colors, silver and gold are the hardest paints to apply and get right. It took me 3 tries to get silver right and I'll take their word on gold. Pearls are pretty tough as well. I've only done stripe accenting with pearl paints so far. I guess what makes pearls so hard is you have to get it right 3 times. There is a base coat, a candy on top of that, then a clear over it all. It takes automotive paint a while to get hard enough not to haze which is why they told you to wait. A month is about what everyone says.

[no_fear]

I can't see any brush marks at all. It looks really good. I gotta try this on my car sometime soon. I have all kinds of crappy faded paint on the hood and the roof. By the way, that's an amazing house. I wanna live somewhere like that....

[Styluss]

First of all... not my house! That is the Manor House here in Littleton, Colorado. An old, historical home that is now an event center for weddings and such.
As for the paint compliments, thank you! Painting your roof and hood will be the easiest parts to do!

[bFusion]

I have a feeling that house is from an advertisement of the same car for comparison with his paint job in pic 5 :) I'd like to live in that house too though heh

[Styluss]

That is the Manor House, an old historical building near where I live. It is not my house I assure you!

[bFusion]

If you took the picture then, it's very well done, looks like it could be in an ad :)

[fretted]

Just as an aside you can use farm impliment paint by the gallon for about the same price and they have a wide aray of Colors to choose from From John Deer green to deep woods purple and the stuff is twice as durable as other stuff including rustoleum

[thebon58]

This is so funny because I am doing my 88 beretta and you have a beretta ha!

[dalton72]

Sweet paint job. You've inspired me to give it a try on my '93 Corolla!

[pmet]

If that isn't a good paint job, then I don't know what is. I wish I could pull off a job like that. Great job. -pmet

[RMER1956]

You've got to be kidding,that looks great.

[osgeld]

i think it looks pretty darn good