My $57 paint job...

Only including paint which consisted of $35 quart of white high gloss WestMarine SeaPro Single Stage Poly Marine Paint w/UV inhibitors + $9 can of Duplicolor truck bedliner (wheel wells and bottom cladding) and 2x $6 cans of Duplicolor flat black wheel paint. If you include mineral spirits, rollers, foam brushes, sand paper, masking tape, and any other minor odds and ends you're looking at $100-$120 but you'll have a bunch of materials left over for later use around the house so they're not a total loss, and many people have these or some of these already so it makes it that much cheaper...

I know there are examples all over the internet but I wanted to show my total support and belief in this system after doing it once, for a track rat there's nothing better. If this were a DD I would spend the time to do proper body work, filler, primer, sand sand sand, instead we just scuffed it up (after some priming) and went to town, it shows flaws, but not as bad as you might expect as the paint really self levels nicely, and if kept to a thin coat won't run on vertical surfaces. Enjoy!

Before:

After:

I cut the paint 3:1 to the consistency of skim milk and rolled it on with a 4" white high density foam roller from Home Depot. The first 3 coats went on smooth with no orange peel, I began wetsanding w/800 grit after the 3rd coat. I then got lazy and tossed on 2 more coats at 2 times the thickness (just put more paint on the roller) and ended up with some orange peel. I didn't bother wetsanding the 5th coat and instead buffed it out and then waxed it. The pictures represent a full quart of paint and realisitically are around 7-9 actual 'thin' coats. In the spring I may hit it with some more as it's so easy a caveman can do it...

There are more pics in the reader's ride section.

wow, that looks great from the distance of a photo. How does it look up close, having been rolled on?

Ours is a 10-15 footer, closer than 5 feet you start seeing where I got lazy and or rolled 2 coats on wet and ended up with spots of orange peel. That being said, cleanup is easy, some mineral spirits will clean any overage off or some light sanding with some mild grit ~200 will chew any drips or runs very nicely. I am convinced that if I did proper body prep and didn't get impatient/lazy the results would have been better, but for literally 6 total hours of work including masking (easy since it's just masking trim with tape, no paper or plastic) scuffing, rolling, rolling, rolling, wetsanding, rolling, wetsanding, rolling, wetsanding, rolling, remove tape, buffing, waxing, I'm very happy. Granted it requires you to do it over a number of days so each coat can fully dry but you really can do it in your garage with bare minimal materials which if cleaned properly each use can be reused each coat with good as new results.

If you took your time like the fella who started this craze did, I'm convinced it could turn out with better gloss and looks than most spray jobs. I'm not against spraying, they're obviously the best solution if you have all the right equipment and know what you're doing, but for the average joe with a project car he can't toss a $500-2000 paint job this is a great option.

One of my buddies who's garage I painted it in has hosted more pictures on his site: http://www.petermwhite.net/coppermine/index.php?cat=8

Nice, gotta remember that for the challengers.

That's what I'm hoping, you could seriously kill the concourse with this method if you were methodical and careful, though how many GRM builds are either or both?

Why marine paint? I'm asking because the mazda I bought recently was painted this way (he did a pretty good job too). There are a couple of areas I need to touch up, and was sent to a boating supply store to find the paint.

That rickwrench link is pretty cool - did you see the air conditioning fix he hooked up for the Tyvek suit?

Lesley,

Marine paint for a few reasons, 1) already has UV inhibitors in it, 2) designed for harsh environment, 3) needed to be easy to repair due to track use,

And yeah I saw the A/C suit, that dude is McGyver...

Thought I'd add some more pics:

For even more including build pics go to my buddies website who's hosting them all: http://epilonicast.net/coppermine/index.php?cat=8

What's the secret to getting a nice even coat in all the nooks & crannies?

thin, thin, thin, thin, thin coat + high density foam roller and foam tip brushes for the details, thats right, you actually brush the nooks, and don't dab as it leads to run, ask me how I know?

Basically if it looks like an inadequate amount of paint for any given coat, you're doing it right. Some say they can do 4:1 paint to thinner or 5:1 paint to thinner, i found 3:1 was best as the little bubbles would pop themselves immediatley and self level, I would go over a spot 2-3 times until there were no bubbles though just to be sure, and 6 oz of paint + 2 oz of thinner could do a full coat...

looks killer. one day ill try it.

Kudos

Lesley wrote: Why marine paint? I'm asking because the mazda I bought recently was painted this way (he did a pretty good job too). There are a couple of areas I need to touch up, and was sent to a boating supply store to find the paint.

Got more pics? I've only seen a Honda with marine paint any other color than white on the interwebs, yours is the first red one I've seen and I searched for a couple weeks...

In reply to Raze:

Looks good. My FC is in desperate need of new paint, so this seems like a good, cheap solution for my future auto-x/track rat.

Looking good. Cheap paint jobs FTMFW!

Here's an idea, something that I applied to some aluminum valve covers. Your aluminum wheels (IMO) would look good if you sanded some of the black off to expose the aluminum again like around the outside ring, maybe even the flat front of the fins. Just a thought.

If you look at Rickwrenches Corvair up dates he has a "cross eyed 3d shot" looks very cool if you- well cross your eyes.

Looks awesome ... I will do this to something someday, right now it's just sooooo white!!

Are you finished? I agree with CLynn ... needs some pop ... like the wheel suggestion or some stripes. You said this is a track car right ... so mabe just some numbers and stickers would do the trick.

littleturquoiseb wrote: Looks awesome ... I will do this to something someday, right now it's just sooooo white!! Are you finished? I agree with CLynn ... needs some pop ... like the wheel suggestion or some stripes. You said this is a track car right ... so mabe just some numbers and stickers would do the trick.

It's definatley not done yet, I have GRM stickers in the mail Along with plenty of others to put on. Also I think the inner stripe on the molding may get a red or black treatment, the hood is getting vented (black) as the Holset under the hood gets mighty toasty on 100°F days. As for the wheels we're going to leave them be, not because I wouldn't mind them looking a bit cooler, but because as soon as I take the lip off I'm afraid it will flake/chip so it's really for ease of maintenance to just leave them. Definatley going for function over form...

I did an S10 with Tremclad, and it turned out so good, that nobody, even pros, could tell. I thinned it out just like that, but sprayed it on with a Wagner electric gun. I maybe put it on a little thick, and it took 3 days to dry, but it lasted and looked good for a long time.

Yeah, after rolling this paint and how well it turned out it makes me wonder what it would look like sprayed on, I've seen rustoleum and tremclad jobs sprayed and they look sweet, but this stuff is different so it really makes one wonder...

looks very sweet.. I wish the job I did to my saab last year would have been so nice. I think I did not cut it thin enough.

That said.. I really want a merkur now

I LIKE it! (The car and the cheap paint!) Thanks... I have a Safari with paint peel and roof rust I need to tackle. This may be just the ticket... But I might need 2 quarts of paint...

I paid too much for my $57 paint, but I am sure I failed to thin it enough.

So how does this compare to painting the walls in your house?

zombie thread and nobody noticed. Who's buying the drinks

you