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-The Poor Mans Paint Job-

 

The Trunk Lid Paint Test
Chevy Beretta Trunk Lid

I found a write up online that explains how to paint your car yourself for about $50. Needless to say I was very interested to see what it had to say. The name of the write up is the 50 Dollar Paint Job It is a very comprehensive write up on how to paint you car yourself at home. The photos I saw of the final result were amazing, simply unbelievable really. The results were too good to be true to have come from thinned out paint literally rolled onto a car. It turns out it is true and it is pretty simple. I tried it out myself as you can see here in this simple write up. Everything I learned here I used to create my own method of do it yourself automotive paint. The Poor Man's Paint Job requires far less sanding and yields the same results in far less time!

 

First, I had to find a trunk lid. This test was the precursor to me painting my entire car so I wanted to use a lid I could use once the whole project was finished. I went to the junkyard and scored myself a trunk lid, but the paint was pretty chipped up so there was extra work to be done there. I sanded the entire trunk lid down with 600 grit paper, wet. This is to help remove any imperfections, dirt, etc. from the paint. Then on the chipped spots I sanded down the edges with 400 grit wet to try to create a smooth edge where the paint meets the metal. The goal is to create as smooth a transition as possible. If this is not done and done well, the finished product will have craters in the paint where the metal was. Not the end of the world, but if you can avoid it, you might as well. If you are not a fan of this prep work (I was not), then you might as well just strip the paint all the way off leaving a clean metal surface. Then you can paint even coats onto it very easily.
In these photos, the sanding work has been completed and a layer of spray primer has been applied to help the paint grip.

 

 

Once the surface has been properly prepped, you can begin to apply the paint. I used a mix of Rustoleum High Gloss White paint and Odorless Mineral Spirits. The mix is made at 50/50, that's half Rustoleum and half Mineral Spirits. The final mix should be about the consistency of milk. Thin like water but with a slight bit of body to it. As for how to mix it? Well, I simply took the can of Rustoleum paint and poured half of it out into another container. Then I added the Mineral Spirits directly to the paint can. Mixed that up real well and I was good to go. Now, to apply the paint.

Using the roller and paint tray just as I would if I was painting a house I went to work. Got some paint on the roller and rolled away. Starting at one edge of the trunk lid and moving to the other with quick, precise rolls of the brush. I was rolling from front to back on the trunk lid as I moved right to left. Making sure to end with a nice smooth stroke with little to no weight behind it to help ensure a flat finish. Well, needless to say it worked out rather well.

 

 

As you can see above, the paint dries pretty wavy even with some care taken to try to avoid it. This is only the first coat, but in order for the following coats to turn out properly this coat must be sanded flat first. The the next coat sanded and the next and the next and so on. This is as good as I was able to get it with this method.

Although it does look pretty damn good, it came with a lot of sanding time... A Lot. The second coat of my method looked nearly this good with no sanding!
The $50 method, using the roller brush simply lays down too much paint at a time creating the need to sand between coats.
Click here to see the Poor Man's Paint Job write up. A method of do it yourself auto paint with less sanding involved yet yielding the same results.