Help me help the neighbor boy get into cars.

Help me help the neighbor boy get into cars. The neighbor kid has finally become of age to drive. His family got him a $500 94 Acura Integra. The paint is completely shot. The clearcoat is bubbling, there is rust, there are plenty of places missing paint entirely. And there are dents galore. I told him I would help him paint it, and he has his heart set on plastidip. He already watched all the videos, and has already bought the plastidip. 
 

so that is the situation that we are in. The main question I have is how I would go about cleaning up the edges of where paint exists and paint does not exist. Ideally, I would like to smooth those edges out so it looks like a smooth finish. So I am thinking I will clean up the bare metal, shoot primer down, And then sand the existing paint so that the edges do not exist and show through the plastidip. Sound logic? Suggestions? I am going to be doing Supervising on this project. I told him I will have him do most of the work and I will supervise to make sure he does it correctly. I just want his paint project to turn out well since it is his first car project he will be doing.

How bad is the rust?  Would the plastidip hide the unevenness or maybe a skim coat of bondo?

In reply to Vajingo :

Yep. Good time to get into the garage and start working on stuff. 

You don't want my advise though. I suck at bodywork. 

Vajingo said:

Damn ghost town around here these days. Everyone probably glued to the TV, wondering if America will exist tomorrow. 

The Challenge is this weekend.  Everyone is driving or doing last minute work. 

For what its worth, I dont see any issues with your plan.  Curing the paint for long enough as it gets colder might be a concern?

let the boy decide how smooth it should be, then let him rework it when the finished job doesn't meet his standards.  ;-)

Parents got him a '94 Acura Integra.  There are many worse cars they could have gotten him!  At least a car with sporty intentions. 

The kid's done some "work" watching the videos about PlastiDip, that's good.   Furthermore, he has then taken the action to acquire the Plasti-Dip!

I would say the kid is well on the way to "car guy."   From here, then, just guide him past the pitfalls of a tough job (harder than the videos make it look) and keep him from falling off the path and giving up.  It is my understanding that Plasti requires more small coats than what people realize.  The videos tend to gloss over this because who wants to watch many small coats being applied.  Therefore, with editing, they generally show what looks like "one and done."  

This is similar to how my wife thinks a bathroom remodel takes 30 minutes because those damn shows always get it done that quickly.  

I think you'll want to protect the material after cleaning up the rust/paint edges.  Use a metal etching primer

I might look at some rustoleum either spray or thinning it and rolling it on after applying the primer.

Don't just leave it in primer as that can allow moisture to get into the metal, even with plastidip

Hope they didnt go glossy. The mat colors hide imperfections very well. I wouldnt worry about perfect more than stopping the rust progression as much as possible. Maybe a rust converter? Can always peel sections and redo when needed. Just do atleast 4 layers of dip!

Vajingo said:

I just want his paint project to turn out well since it is his first car project he will be doing.

Wow... jumping straight into the deep end!  Good luck.

Next time I'd suggest a small repair, or maintenance to start with :)

Vajingo said:

Damn ghost town around here these days. Everyone probably glued to the TV, wondering if America will exist tomorrow. 

You asked a minor question, during challenge prep time, waited a whopping hr and a half, and turned to cussin’ and insulting. Real classy. 

I've heard that PD doesn't release from primer as well as a nice smooth clear, so hitting that 6+ coats will probably be important if removability is a concern. Additionally, there's this:

DipYourCar said:

Pay special attention to a vehicle that has damaged clear coat, compromised/oxidized clear coat, was repainted, repaired or refinished. Although seeing damage when applying or removing Plasti Dip® is extremely rare, almost every time it occurs it occurs over a vehicle that did not have good condition OEM clear. 

Now if there is no pretense of this being anything more than an alternative to a Rust-Oleum paint job on an otherwise disposable car, then none of that really matters.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

let the boy decide how smooth it should be, then let him rework it when the finished job doesn't meet his standards.  ;-)

I like this idea. 
 

also, thanks,  forgot the challenge is this week

03Panther said:

Vajingo said:

Damn ghost town around here these days. Everyone probably glued to the TV, wondering if America will exist tomorrow. 

You asked a minor question, during challenge prep time, waited a whopping hr and a half, and turned to cussin’ and insulting. Real classy. 

Who shiat in your fiat? Settle down bro. 

I have no particular expertise regarding plasti-dip, but I would be remiss if I didn't post this, based only on the thread title ;)

Driven5 said:

I've heard that PD doesn't release from primer as well as a nice smooth clear, so hitting that 6+ coats will probably be important if removability is a concern. Additionally, there's this:

DipYourCar said:

Pay special attention to a vehicle that has damaged clear coat, compromised/oxidized clear coat, was repainted, repaired or refinished. Although seeing damage when applying or removing Plasti Dip® is extremely rare, almost every time it occurs it occurs over a vehicle that did not have good condition OEM clear. 

Now if there is no pretense of this being anything more than an alternative to a Rust-Oleum paint job on an otherwise disposable car, then none of that really matters.

Thanks! For him I don't think this paint job is anything other than "let's make it look less ugly". And if anything ever happens he will probably just paint another color pd over all those layers.

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

lmao! I didn't even think of that

Get the neighborhood girl into cars if you want to get him into cars. I can't help you on how to explain to him that he'll never have the funds to take her out, as he will have spent them all on the car, but it'll get him into them at least. 

We've had that discussion. I told him it comes down to girls or fun cars. Then told him cars don't break hearts. And you can brag about the ones you get rid of. 

Vajingo said:

Then told him cars don't break hearts.

You did, huh?

So mean.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Saving that lesson for later. Right now I'm Mr. Miyagi, so I need to play the cards right to remain "that mysterious old man next door that knows a lot of stuff", otherwise he will know I'm just some dude that googles things on the internet. 

Find and send him to your local autox

Maybe post up some pics of the car. Show the rust, and dents and dead clearcoat. Remember, a rusty car in Alabama is damn near mint in Wisconsin. 

In reply to ztnedman1 :

That starts this coming summer. I'm even paying for his first event.