First I would just like to thank everyone who put the time into this thread. Before I read this a few months ago I was just going to spray bomb my car flat black!

Background: I have owned this car for nearly four years now. The previous owner had cheaply resprayed over the factory paint. Over years of sitting outside in the sun the paint began to peel off and scatches became more severe. It looked terrible! I had some free time and needed to repaint the car on a poor college student budget.

My steps and method I used:
Prepping:
*Sanded entire car with 120 grit sandpaper with random orbital sander, long block sander, and by hand until car was even to the touch. On extremely bad areas i used 50 grit sand paper, then used 120 grit to even it out.
*Next used Bondo fix a rust bubble and any obvious dents. Sprayed the dried Bondo with 3 coats of Rustoleum Automotive spray primer.
*I did a basic job of masking off lights, door handles, trim, and glass instead of removing them.
*Washed entire car with dishsoap and water. Once completely dry, wiped car down with tack cloth.

Painting:
*Thinned Rustoleum Professional Smoke Gray to just slightly thicker than water using 100% Mineral Spirits (not the odorless kind).
*Sprayed car lightly using Black and Decker Pro paint sprayer and wiggly thing attachment. (1st coat was extremely light and careful to avoid and dripping. In a few instances there was slight dripping which could be lightly smudged out, once paint leveled it was nearly unnoticeable.)
*After a night of drying, I wetsanded the car using 400 grit sand paper to remove any orange peel.
*Applied a second coat of paint using same method.
*Let dry another night, wetsanded using 600 grit sand paper to smooth remaining orange peel.
*Applied a third coat of paint extremely thin and fine.
*Another night of drying, then carefully wetsanded the car using 1500 grit sand paper, then 2000 grit sand paper.

After the final wetsanding, I polished the car using Turtle Wax polishing compound and a cheap orbital buffer.

Results were 1000% better than the car looked before. There is some areas where light orange peel is still noticeable and you can tell we messed up in the painting process. But overall I am extremely satisfied with the outcome!

Total Cost: Around 200 dollars (after many trips to the Ace I stopped keeping count of small expenses) including everything mentioned except the Black and Decker paint sprayer, which I got for free in a promotion.

My initial plan was to roller the car, but after I got the sprayer i decided to experiment a little after doing some reading here and on the Honda forum.






After one week the paint is hard and survived a 200 mile road trip with no unobservable issues or flaws. The paint still has a slight paint smell if you put your nose to it, but I suspect that will go away as the paint continues to harden.

Once again, big thanks to those who pioneered the way and gave me the confidence to do this crazy scheme in my driveway!

oh and sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, its late lol

Edit* I had planned to show pictures from various stages of the project, but until i re-gain my old knowledge of BB code one finished picture is all i got: