Hey guys, this link was passed on to me from a friend of mine. I have a ’95 honda civic cx in navy blue that I need to repaint due to old age and the 402,000km that it has on the body and original paint. Now I went to my local Canadian Tire at Laird/Eglinton and tried to look for a gallon of the Tremclad paint that’s my colour and clerk told me that they have to mix it to get the navy blue. They only carry black/white/gray and a few other ordinary colours that are already pre mixed.

Now since 69chargeryeehaa is saying you can’t mix the paint, what am I supposed to do? The clerk said if I want my colour, they combine a bunch of other colour together and then shake it…that’s how I get the colour. Would that still be ok, or do I need one already done by tremclad?

These are the following steps I’ve summarized for anyone that’s trying to follow this process. Please help me elaborate on all of them to make this a good/informative read for everyone.

By biggest trouble area is the paint thinning?!?! How is it done with these mineral spirits, and I also read somewhere through the thread that you have to wipe the paint after it’s done with these mineral spirits again? I am not quite sure, can someone clarify?


- Tremclad acrylic/enamel paint
- 4" professional FOAM rollers, it's tiny and has one end rounded off, and the other cut straight, and is a very high density foam.
- Jug of mineral spirits to thin the paint



Painting process:
- Thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker I don’t understand what is meant by “as thin as water”
- Get out the roller and paint away, don't get the paint shaked when u buy it, enamel is stirred, otherwise you'll have bubbles in the paint for a week
- Apply 2 coats, wetsand with 600grit, apply two more coats, wetsand with 1000 grit, apply last two coats, and wetsand with 1500 grit
- Using a high speed polisher i use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound


Sorry for the long post, I’ve never painted a car in my life nor do I know much about body work/paint so please be patient with me.