So I Want To Paint A Car Flat Black

In reply to irish44j:

Awesome! Thank you!

How many cans of paint did you need to do your GT6? What was the last grade of sandpaper you used before spraying the paint? What brand of paint did you use?

It was a few years back, but my recollection is that it took 4-5 cans total (was already primed mostly black/dark gray). I think I used Rust-oleum professional flat or semi-flat black, but could be mistaken.

I hate sanding, so I'm sure I did a half-assed job using whatever relatively fine grit I had sitting around the garage, lol. Probably 220 wet-sanded, but don't quote me on it. The plan was always to do more sanding, and then get a "real" paint job, but I never got around to it and the car still has the rattle-can on it.

Again, it looks fine from 10 feet and in photos. In person it doesn't looks quite as good. Plus it shows scratches/scuffs pretty easily since it has no clearcoat to protect it (though I think you can get matte clearcoat).

rustoleum 7777 satin black

So you had a red car, and you want to paint it black...

Sure, but maybe not flat... Try Semi Gloss...

In reply to noddaz:

No colors anymore, he wants them to turn black.

I have nothing else to add other than flat white would be a better gig for reasons mentioned upthread. Also, satin black can look good when done well. But it is also apparently very, very, very easy to do poorly (in a "holy crap just scrap the car to preserve its dignity, it looked better when it was four colors" poorly)

What grades of sandpaper should I use? From an old (1981) Hot Rod Magazine article, it looks like 220, then 320, then 400, then paint. But way back in 81, I don't think cheap paint and bodywork came out as nice as it does today. Suggestions?

M030 wrote: But way back in 81, I don't think cheap paint and bodywork came out as nice as it does today. Suggestions?

Quite the opposite. Back then you could glom on umpteen coats of lacquer and then wet sand it to perfection.

How bad is the orginal paint? Surface texture wise? If its fine, just scuff it with the 400 and give the new paint something to bite into.

In reply to Appleseed:

I would never do this to a car with original paint. This crapcan has about three cheapie resprays covering its original paint already.Were it a more valuable car, I'd strip it down and do it right.

Appleseed wrote: Bedliner if you have the balls.

Real men use chalkboard paint.

Another vote for agricultural paint

I've used all three options (flat black spray, bedliner, and tractor enamel). Here are some examples.

The first is bedliner, from our 2000 Impala 9C1 (front and back ends) - and also 99 GMC Z71 (front bumper, hood, roof, "wheel flares", and bottom section):

Here is a flat black spray can example, using Lowe's Valspar Satin Black spray cans. The roof was left as is, the fiberglass hood I used Rustoleum Hammer Tone black to help cover up flaws with some added paint thinner to give a weathered look (before and after pictures):

I had a couple of projects (about 15 and 20 years ago) that I used Tractor enamel on. The 80 Dodge Power Wagon was three tone brown/orange/rust, with a red/while passenger door and black tailgate. I removed all of the trim, sand/bondo/patched the rust - and used Orange tractor paint. The grille and emblems scrubbed clean and painted chrome paint in a can. The rear agri hitch bumper painted with black grille paint.

The 69 Buick Electra was two shades of beige with gold spray paint in spots when I bought it. It became International Harvestor White, emblems cleaned and chrome painted spray can.

Both at the time cost 20 bucks for paint and 10 bucks for thinner.

Burnout photo on the Buick is and add just for fun

I hear that Orange is the new Flat Black.

I say loose the while in front (paint it red)(Ninja Edit: Or black) and keep the red and black theme. Kind of BMW "Art car" meet rat rod. I like it!!!!

Edit:

Then add a black strip o[ the center carried through the grill and over the roof through the trunk. If the trunk is black flip the stripe to red. That may actually look cool. Then do some "M" logos and those funky M angle lines on the fenter hood using flat clear coat. That would actually look kind of cool.

If you went flat black (or any color) you can do ghost logos with the clear

I would paint it whatever color the inside of the door jams and engine bay is. Presumably that's red, given the roof and a-pillars?

In reply to codrus:

Surprisingly it's silver underneath.somebody went to. Great lengths to make their (probably attractive) silver E36 this hideous

In reply to M030:

I was told on GRM that silver is a horrible color for European cars because most of them are silver or gray or silver-gray.

(owner of a silver-gray European car)

(two, come to think of it)

Your price is too low. Raise it, and you will sell the car without painting it.

A $500 BMW is presumed to be crap, no matter what the condition. Anyone who wants basic transportation won't call, because they think it is nothing more than a parts car.

Bump it to $1250, and I'll bet it will sell.

If you do paint it, please don't use flat. Use satin (aka, matte finish).

Flat always looks like cheap primer. Satin (or matte) is a pretty good look on almost any car.

In reply to dean1484:

I'll make you a deal, Dean. You come here and get creative with it, make it awesome and I'll split the sale price of the car with you. We'll put it on eBay with great pictures of your custom work and no reserve.

White is the most forgiving. That BMW would look great in all white.

Paint it all white and ask for $3000

TIGMOTORSPORTS wrote:

How did that orange look in person? The pic makes it look a little too 'flourescent' rather than the more 'burnt' color that most good looking oranges have. I'm thinking about it for the rally car...

I refuse to believe you can have a bad looking orange on a car.

ssswitch wrote: I refuse to believe you can have a bad looking orange on a car.

I am most certainly not going to disagree.