TM reader BlindTreeFrog directed our attention to a site where the owner of the above-pictured Corvair — who knew he’d never have the cash to give his ride a real paint job — describes (in detail with photos) his $50 paint job applied via a technique borrowed from a net-renowned Moparts.com forum thread.
The trick? Thinning Rust-Oleium 50% with mineral spirits, applying it with a roller, and sanding a lot. Incredibly, his results don’t look that bad.
Would I do this to a car that had a decent paint job already or that I could afford to paint professionally? Hell no. But this looks like a pretty decent technique to spruce up a beater — assuming you have a lot of spare time on your hands.
A $50 Corvair Paint Job [RickWrench.com]
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12 Responses to How To Paint Your Car For $50
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{ Dead dead dead.... still dead. } – Aug 10, 2:17 AM
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Hey that’s me 😀
Yeah, I wouldn’t do this for a show car or anything, but for a beater or a work vehicle it seems like a good enough idea. Hell, for a show car it might be just unique enough of a finish for it to stand out.
It’s hard to say without seeing a vehicle in person that was done this way. The charger in the Moparts thread looks pretty good, so maybe it is worth a serious look.
But it’s still a Corvair…
😉 J/K on that last comment. Paint do looks decent. Can’t believe those results are possible.
This method was detailed in last month’s Hot Rod too.
The above referenced thread is ridiculously long, as are a few follow up threads started after that one was closed. For anyone interested, you can find some more info at http://rollyourcar.com which offers a quick summary of those threads including an alternate marine grade paint. There are also plenty of pics of finished and in-progress paint jobs.
Any info on doing this on plastic?
Anyone have the link to the corvair guys site?
Oops! Found it, nevermind 🙂
I saw this on Digg.com. It looks sweet the price is event sweeter. (I’m a cheapskate, I know.) I wish I had an old beater of a car now to try it.
Yeah, but Duplicolor now has their new lacquer series that is very cheap. It won’t be $50 but much easier than rolling and much less work…
Hey all! I have created my own method of do it yourself auto paint based on this original write up. I have termed it The Poor Mans Paint Job. The write up can be found here:
http://www.stylusscustoms.com/poorMansPaintJob.html
My method uses a foam brush instead of the traditional roller used with this type of at home auto paint. This helps to eliminate a lot of the sanding involved with doing this. I laid down 6 coats of paint and only sanded the car 2wice!
How many hours did it take him to complete?