# how many cans of spray to paint the car



## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

that's question 1.
question 2 is how to prep. I know how to mask the car off, the question is old wax and pin striping.

I will wash the car with soap to clean it. But should I use thinner anywhere to remove old paint or clear? Should I light sand to make for a better adhesive surface?

Also if I go flat what type of care is necessary for a flat paint car?

Seth


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Spray is not recommended, to say the least.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

My paint is shot. It's not going to get worse. It would cost $2k+ to re-do the whole car (hirricane scuffs, primer lifts, uneven UV fading, etc.) and that would be approaching the car vaule.

So I have 2 choices
1) sell the car (I want $3k+)
2) flat spray paint it for a uniform look.

Seth


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## b14sleeper (Dec 31, 2004)

i plan to paint my car flat black just like mike did. i will be using around 15-20 cans. i think that should be more than enough. honestly i think you would be fine with around 10. but i will most likely be doing around 2-3 coats, and then maybe put a clear coat on it. the cc they sell in spray cans, just to protect it a little, doesnt really give it a shine


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## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Sell the car then, spray paint isn't going to make the situation that much better, and it will be a long process if you want to completely respray the car.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Hmm,
Well before I sell the car I need to do 2 things.
1) fix the sun visor. I need a new one.
2) fix the button on the sill which turns on the interor light when the door is open and turns it off when closed.

Oherwise there isn't that much prep to painting the car.
remove all lights.
Then just mask door handles, trim, and windows. Tires/undercarriage from overspray.
Just do one section at a time. R fender, r door, r passenger door, r quarter panel, then the other side, then the bumpers. Then the roof and pillars. Last the hood or trunk.

Seth


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## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

Go to MACCO, get the $200 presidential paint job or whatever its called, and sell it if it's that bad.


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## xt_out (Jun 23, 2003)

well maaco sucks. im not sure anyone wants them touching their car. they might 'prep' it by a 15 minute mask and some steel wool  
debating sucky pro job vs. good ghetto job. maacos paint'll probably look better than spraypaint. don't know how bad though.


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## DRUNKHORSE (Mar 6, 2005)

Well, you make it sound easy, but its a lot of work. I was going to do that, but then I got tired and just painted the hood and trunk, now I have a blue/white car, hehehe. DONT DO THE MACCO THING...MACCO SUCKS (you probably already know that) unless your gonna sell it. If your gonna keep it use them $200 and do it urself...you'll do a better job depending on ur skills and how carefull you are. As for how many cans you need depends on how many coats you want to put on. I bought 3 cans of primer and 3 of paint and that did it for both the trunk and the hood. I got 3 good coats out of them aswell. If I were you, I would get around 10-15 cans of paint and maybe 5-10 of primer(once again decide how many coats you want). Here's some pictures of the car I did...



















Notice how I have maxima wheels on 

Your plan is what I would do. Do one section at a time. *Do the roof and pillars first* and yes, do sand the whole car untill you see metal.


Chemical strippers do a nice job, but require careful washing of the car to
remove all residue and they make a mess on the floor. Any small amount of
stripper left in some corner can ruin a paint job. And besides they are
smelly and burn the skin. Also, strippers will damage any plastic filler
so all filler must be removed and replaced. So I recommend sanding.

Use a 9 inch sander with 24 or 36 grit paper, and once you hit the metal use 80 grit paper.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

First off, Maaco isn't THAT bad, it's all about which maaco you go to. My buddy had his 240 done in purple (stock color). There is no orange peel, the coat is glossy and professional, they even did the door jams, all for about $200. You'll be fine if you stick with the stock color.

2nd, if you're choosing between spray paint and Maaco, durrrrrrrrr, go to fuccin Maaco. Nothing looks worse than spray paint, not even macco, and it'll prolly cost the same when you consider sandpaper, primer, and top coat.

Lastly, why does everyone say flat black when it comes to spray paint? Flat black looks like shit, I don't care what car it is. I'd take my chances with a glossier spray paint and some clearcoat, possibly a different color than black.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

oh, and if you sell your car, I want the ballasts.


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## DRUNKHORSE (Mar 6, 2005)

^^^Ill agree. Not every maaco sucks. The ones around here in IL suck, ill tell you that tho.

Now, spray paint doesnt look bad. It all depends on the person's skill. Of course if you spray paint without a spray gun it will look shitty, but if you attach one to the can, its not that much different from the ones used with compressors.

When you take a car for collision repair some shops (not many?) use this method simply because its easier and you won't notice the difference. If there was a significant difference, I dont think they'd use it.

As for the paint, I hope you dont go flat black cause like mentioned above, it looks like shit.

If you look at my car you can see that the blue part compared to the white part doest shine/ isnt glossy that's because I never added the top coat. hehehe. It still looks fine tho.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

What I'm thinking is a 'satin' finish which is just basically touch up spray paint without the clear on top. It will be the same burgundy. Not the identical color, just whatever is similar in a can large enough that it is economically rational.
I'm not unfamiliar with paint (For my models I use an airbrush but won't on the car, no ladies on the hood).

Seth

P.S. The HID's were sold long ago.


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## silpena (Dec 7, 2005)

[hey u can allways look for the nearest high school near and see if they have a autobody program. Most will dp it praticly free just buy the paint, clear and supplies. thast what we do at my class. It helps kill time having cars to work on for cheap prices.


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## Dustin (Dec 14, 2003)

seth, if you do the majority of the prep, you can take it to maaco and have a nice looking job, a lot of the problem with maaco is sheer volume of cars they have to do so they get rushed, so if you do most of the prep, and taping beforehand, it should be fine


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

that's an interesting idea.

So if I remove the hood and trunk and front and rear bumpers, then mask the windows, trim, and door handles,
just have them remove the antenna (needs a funky tool), and rims (they can do it faster) I should be good? I wonder if they'll do flat?

I'll make some calls. I'm more concerned with the quality/cost of the job. If the cost they offer is of sufficiently low quality I'll just find somewhere else or do it myself.

Seth


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## Dustin (Dec 14, 2003)

well, if it's going to be the same color, just leave everything attatched, and just use some paper to stop the paint from killing your engine, and what you should do is take a long block and start wet sanding it down, you may need to go to the metal in some places because of primer issues, and you dont HAVE to remove the rims, just get some paper again, and mask EVERYTHING. trust me with this, overspray gets everywhere, you have to make a skirt for your car, but just sand it smooth, tape it up and use the paper for larger areas that need to be covered, and take it down, and always go with a UV protectant clear coat, otherwise the sun will fade it while it cures.


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## labrat (Feb 15, 2005)

Dustin said:


> well, if it's going to be the same color, just leave everything attatched, and just use some paper to stop the paint from killing your engine, and what you should do is take a long block and start wet sanding it down, you may need to go to the metal in some places because of primer issues, and you dont HAVE to remove the rims, just get some paper again, and mask EVERYTHING. trust me with this, overspray gets everywhere, you have to make a skirt for your car, but just sand it smooth, tape it up and use the paper for larger areas that need to be covered, and take it down, and always go with a UV protectant clear coat, otherwise the sun will fade it while it cures.



better than a long block is break a paint sturring stick in half and roll your sand paper around it tightly and wet sand with it than just move the stick at a 45 dagree angle to the contours of the car and it wont dig in 
example on the front fender keep the stick like this ---(horizantal) and move like this \ down and forward 

garbage bags work really good for the rims just open the bag tear it on one side and slip it over the tire if it fits loosly wrap with tape 
all clear for autos has uv protectant

if u hit metal and u touch it with your hand even indirrectly it will rust in a day or so. before u call it quits for the day take some spray paint primer and just cover the metal then the next time u sand smoth out the primer


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