Topic: The $50 Rustoleum Special paint job - a scientific endeavour

[MacM2010]

Oh, man, thanks - I was looking for it, but going backwards.

[andy8190]

your welcome

[andy8190]

GRRRRRRRRRR you will not believe what happened. I was working on the bike and fell backwards in the rolling stool i have and hit the chair that the green tank was sitting in, knocked it over and dented the side akhasldkfaskldfjaosidfh i have to start all over now

[Zaipai]

GRRRRRRRRRR you will not believe what happened. I was working on the bike and fell backwards in the rolling stool i have and hit the chair that the green tank was sitting in, knocked it over and dented the side akhasldkfaskldfjaosidfh i have to start all over now

Dude, that sucks big time. Sorry to hear that...

[andy8190]

yes it does freaking suck. use my stupidity as an example guys, dont have the tank laying around where it can get knocked over if it had been my main tank i would have said screw it and road with it. Since its my spare and the dent was right above and to the right of the tank emblem it was super noticeable. I can do it in my spare time and try and get the paint job better than what i had hopefully. Still depressing though, i wanted to cry

[Zaipai]

Well that's good anyway that its a spare and not the primary tank.. Perhaps it happened so you can try some thing different with that tank..?

[andy8190]

maybe, i kind of am thinking i might want to have it proffesionally done. there is a maaco here see how much they would charge or a local body shop. I am going to put up a topic seeing if any member will do it for cheap, and maybe call the junior college body shop class

[Zaipai]

maybe, i kind of am thinking i might want to have it proffesionally done. there is a maaco here see how much they would charge or a local body shop. I am going to put up a topic seeing if any member will do it for cheap, and maybe call the junior college body shop class

All good idea's, if your in a hurry might not want the students doing it. Other wise might be a good lesson for them.

[razor02097]

the collage students would be more pro then maaco.... At least the local maaco does horrible work not sure about others.

[BVCB650]

Them Maaco boys have shot more paint than most people. I used one once, and he learned how to spray in prison. When you take into account he gallons of paint they shoot, can't be anyone more experienced. Their product choice may leave a lot to be desired though. Takes the paint about a year to harden.

[Holdingfast]

maybe, i kind of am thinking i might want to have it proffesionally done. there is a maaco here see how much they would charge or a local body shop. I am going to put up a topic seeing if any member will do it for cheap, and maybe call the junior college body shop class

OH Man! That's an AWESOME Idea! Right by my house there is a school for body shop guys painters whatever.. ! I would have NEVER come up with the Idea to go in there and ask someone if that'd be a project of interest to them! Geez this is the best place to be on the interwebs - when i m not staring at the picture of the CB 550 K that'll be mine soon hopefully.

s.

[dave500]

is that an enamel paint,sounds like our australian "wattyl" brand rust guard or kill rust,ive painted my exhaust headers with proper heat proof paint ,after having them dechromed ,used all the primers etc,took my time,and it only lasted at the hot spot 2 inch mark about 3 months,i had the system off a while ago and thought what the hell(heck)ill paint the pipes with this rust guard gloss black,after i prepped them again,its been on 6 months now ,the hot spot has gone matte and lifted a little but the rest of the pipes look great!all for 1/4 of the price of the super duper flame paint!!

[diskman]

Alright-

Here is my $50 paint job on my 1992 Jeep Cherokee.   Learned quite a bit while doing this project last year...

1992 Jeep Cherokee Sport..  $200 on Craigslist..



Started poking a rust hole by the back wheel and it turned into this..



Shaboom..  1 week later and its all better.  New inner wheel-well, lower metal and internal steel.   Bought a 10foot roll of 18 GA steel.



Removed all the trim.. Masked over everything else.  Sand, sand sand..



First "coat" of Valspar Industrial Enamel "OSHA Safety Yellow"  Thinned waay down to like milk. 



At this point, I am wondering..  "What have I done to my Jeep?!?".



Using a 4 inch dense foam roller...



7th coat..  Sanding every 2nd/3rd with 600 wet..  It's getting interesting....



Another shot of the sanded 7th coat..



Now it's just getting silly shiny...  The secret is in the wet sanding.  Up to 800 grit now..  9th coat.



13th coat.  Wet sanded with 1500 and waiting for rubbing compound..



Here is how it looks now.  Except I have painted my rims black..  The final rub/wax REALLY brought out the depth and shine of the paint.  It's VERY impressive in person..





Here's the before pic of the day I bought the old XJ.




WHOOPS..  Better add some SOHC love..

My 1980 CB650 barn find.  Was neglected for 15 years.  Restored and painted.  Just pulled it out of storage last week after a 4 year wait.  Needs lots of TLC again.  Owned her for 11 years now.  Just turned 20K miles.

[the technological J]

i dunno if its been said but DONT GET BRAKE FLUID ON THIS PAINT!!! it might as well be made ofsugar it melts of i have four little drips where the metal shows through... im gonna try to touch it up but holy crap its rediculous

[Zaipai]

Dang that turned out nice.. Did you do the same for the bumpers etc, or did you use rattle can for the black?

.: Scott :.

[77cafe750]

nice work ... any one interested i have a a paint booth have been spraying for 9 years and use ppg or house of kolor and have not had any problems with fuel on a gas tank

[diskman]

Dang that turned out nice.. Did you do the same for the bumpers etc, or did you use rattle can for the black?

.: Scott :.

I used cheap black-gloss spray-bombs on the bumpers and fender flares.  The bottoms of the doors/rockers is Herculiner so no more rock chips there.

It's been about a year and a half on the paint now, and it hasn't faded, peeled, chipped, or exploded like many people said.  In fact, it's held up better than factory paint so far.  It IS due for a fresh wax though. 

[bzr]

diskman, that's just inspiring.

I've decided to go a different route (again!) and build a paint booth in my garage: something small that can hopefully fit on a table or take up half a garage bay. My mom bought a HVLP painter to do some around-the-house projects, and I'll be experimenting with that and seeing if I can get good results.

Any ideas on what paint to use? Such as Duplicolor's Paint Shop system?

[mlinder]

I suppose I better wrap this up with a few thoughts.

Painting this outside on my driveway leads to a lot of bugs and dust that can land in the paint. After spending approx. 2 months continuously wet sanding, painting, waiting, sanding, and laying on more coats only to see more paint issues, I've decided to finish it here and just ride it around like this. Yep, I'm throwing in the towel, and I'm rather ambivalent on whether or not this experiment will be successful for anyone else. I know I certainly screwed it up.





For most people, I suppose it is "you get what you pay for." It's rather naive to think that I could get a million-dollar paintjob with a brush and a spray can, but frankly I expected better results than this.

I don't intend on painting this tank again for a long time, and certainly not by myself, so I'll take it to a body shop in the future and save up some money. It all comes down to a question of do I want to spend this money now, and get a good paintjob and take out some dents while I'm at it, or leave it as is and save up for a paintjob later on down the line (and possibly have to go through the hassle again)? I'm leaning more towards the former at this rate.

Now, stupid question: is it possible to get a good paintjob for under 200 bucks? Is Maaco really that cheap, like $80 bucks? And is there anybody in New England willing to lend a broke-ass member a hand?

bzr, I did this: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=69269.0 for about 50 bucks. I'm not sold on the brush thing.

[FirstPrime]

I am trying this technique on my car.  I mixed Rustoleum with MS (50/50) and am on my 5th coat.  it's not looking that great,so I'm wondering whether I just need to stop and then start over with urethane paint or keep plugging along.  If I choose to start over, would I have to sand off the rustoleum first and then apply the urethane?

[vern401]

Yes you would need to sand off the old to change it over. I believe it would make an orange peel or fish eye paint job if you don't.

[bradweingartner]

Yes, it can be done.

No, you can't skip steps.

Frankly, seeing the condition of the fender pre-paint made me throw up in my mouth a little.

You can't lay paint and THEN decide to bang out dents. You need primer, regardless. If you have a good solid foundation, Rustoleum can in fact look pretty darn good. But it'll never be in the same league as a proper two stage paint with hardener and clear coat. Many argue that once you've gone through all the laborious effort of properly prepping the piece it doesn't make much sense to top-coat it with the cheapest paint you can find.

Which I agree with. A quart of good paint isn't THAT expensive relative to Rustoleum. However, all the ancillary supplies and setup you need to spray it well can cost a small fortune.

I say keep on trying! It'll pay off in the end and you'll be all the wiser for it.

[mlinder]

Again, not convinced. Finally got pics of the xs650 I did with the preval system. It's not that expensive, and you get real auto paint and clear-coat...

[dave500]

i want to do a cheap rattle can job on this,im going to make a ratty but ok bike out of a 550 motor i have,i dont have a roller yet but ive picked up this tank and a 500 motor and front guard with some other bits for $125,its got a ding on the left side and has buggered the badge mount,you can see the filler lifting and today i stripped out that area revealing a minute crease tear hole which is why the filler lifted,ill fix it at work,im going to take it to the fella that painted my 500 and get him to re fill it and primer it so long as i strip it all,i cant lay and sand filler for shyte i just make a mess,who ever did this made a good job of the filler but got paint all on the chrome cap and fuel tap.edit,i took it to him today and $300 to fill and paint it matt black if i strip it,i havent stripped it fully yet,itll reveal more dings for sure

[Bwatson]

Heres my Rustoleum paint job. I use the automotive spray can, Candy apple red I believe. $4 and change at Lowels. I didn't do much for prep other than a quick sand. The paint came out a lot better than planed. I didn't even fill in dents. I'll redo it this winter, I didn't want to be waiting on paint to ride it this year.