First off I really want to thank 69chargeryeehaa for this awesome post. I had gone to a little body shop down the road and they quoted me $2000 to paint and do the body work on my 96 Tacoma.

I found this post over at www.customtacos.com and like many places they were talking down to the idea but I came over here to check it out anyway. Good thing I did. It has inspired me to attempt to do my own body work (which is almost done) and to paint my truck myslef. I took a week of leave in May and plan to paint her up then.

I have a question though. Can you mix the mineral spirits and the all the rustoleum in another container and just use that or does it have to be mixed before use everytime? I would go with the brightside but I havent found a place online with a reasonable price and no place around here carries it (I am in South Dakota afterall....not many boats).

Thanks again to 69chargeryeehaa and all the people who have risked alot by trying this.

You can premix it, but in my experience it seems to still need a splash of mineral spirits.

When I was using the brightside, I had one mason jar that I mixed the paint/spirits in and one of pure paint. before painting i'd just make sure I had enough of the mixed stuff in there, then what I didn't use I'd put back, adding mineral spirits when it needed it.

thats what I was hoping to hear....the week of may 14th is already scheduled as leave....got 9 days all scheduled to repaint the truck black....I will post pics when done.

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Nice find thanks!!! 30 bucks!!!

On ebay you can get them for 20$ but they only have 2 color choice

I heard that the orange only is available in Canada

I can't make my mind up for the color.

What colors do you guys think look good on a VW bug?


thanks

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When i got my bug it was silver, and my dad's was white. Light colors on a bug in my opinion don't look that great. The white was actually horrible, and i repainted my bug silver using single stage auto paint. That lasted a year, when a old lady hit my rear fender in a parking lot i tried to buff it out and went thru the paint. So within 30 mins i decided to paint it orange as the silver just was'nt doing it for me, my wife did'nt even know i left, i went to home depot, got the orange, quickly prepped the pannel and painted it ornage. And i liked it alot, (the original color of the car), so i stripped the car that day, all the glass, rubber, handles, chrome, were taken out of the car and i was prepping the rest of the car that night. The silver was a perfect paintjob, but i did'nt like it on a beelte. The one thing about beetles is that they are practically the only cars that can get away with crazy colors and actually look good, bright colors in my opinion allways look great on bugs, like yellow, red, orange, lime green, blue, ect....black, white, silver, don't suit a bug at all. Also different colors like sand/creme, dark hunter green, and other odd colors like that really look good on bugs. I just went with orange because it was the original color, and i can tell you it will forever be orange!!!

You can get the rustoleum orange in the USA; called #7555 Safety Orange, that is the same color i used, here's a pic:

Been said before, I'll say it again. WOW. Can't wait to get started painting my K5 Blazer. I've been following it as a guest for about 8 months now as I finish up the mechanical phase of my build.

One question that I don't think has been asked.

Has anyone found a rattle can equivalent of Brightside Flag Blue? I absolutely love that color. Or should I go to Harbor Freight and pick up a cheapie HVLP gun and just shoot thinned brightside in the jambs and whatnot?

Many thanks to all the great contributions in this thread, particularly to 69Charger for starting it all, Marq & Exit for their early work and AussieDriver for his fine example of what a little patience and buff job can do. If I get half the results Aussie got, I will consider myself a very happy man.

Here's a suggestion for the guys who want a flat finish. A guy on another forum who does a lot of "rat rod" work (and is very knowlegeable)uses John Deere Blitz Black tractor paint and swears by it. Goes on looking like black primer, but won't weather and fade the way primer will. Very durable and inexpensive. Not sure how it responds to rolling, but it seems like it's in the same arena as the others. Worth a try!
Just my FWIW.
LanceB

I just realized that the pictures I posted of the McLaren Mustang, painted in Brightside Fire Red, was no longer accessible to people. (The domain I posted it to moved IP's and so you have to access the old server directly using its IP address instead of its domain name )

So here is a link that will get you temporarily to the pics and videos of the car. This is a finished paint job ( as of August 2006 ) polished and waxed )



http://209.40.128.48/AugWaxedMcLaren



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ON THE TOPIC OF FLAT PAINT...

I was listening to an amazing set of interviews with the paint gurus at GM, Ford, Porsche and Nissan... and look for FLAT PAINT to be making a splash on new cars starting in 2009-2011 models.

The story goes that this is the next 'big thing' in the evolution for paint jobs on new car models.

The interviews were mentioning that currently in this coming model year, they are expecting burnt orange ( a blackish copper color like when a shiny copper penny starts blackening ) to be the hot color for 2008. ( that is a shiny paint )

BUT what is taking up the most of their time right now is developing FLAT PAINT JOBS for the 2009-2011 model years.

From what I gathered from the interviews... even these paint gurus are having a problem nailing down the flat paint jobs to a point where it can maintain 'good looks' and durability over the years.

They are having to develop not only new flat paints... but also new procedures for the customers to be able to properly maintain and clean these flat paint jobs. For example, you would have to take the car to a 'brushless' car wash - as the brush type eventually turn patches of the paint job shiny.

And you obviously can't just polish or wax a flat paint job because the more porous surface traps stuff in it. Similarly, it is harder to remove traces of bird poop and other road grime that gets embedded into the pores.

But there my friends is the future in automotive paint jobs in the next few years. Flat paint.

They also mentioned that they were putting a fair bit of effort into 'color shifting' paint jobs... and so you will probably see those becoming more mainstream ONCE they figure out a way to do it cheaply on the assembly line.

Once last thought about this 'flat paint job' topic... is that the folks at Interlux sell an ADDITIVE that can be mixed in with the Brightside paint to make it FLAT. You gotta remember that not all surfaces on a boat are ultra shiny and slippery. They also have flat paint on spots where you need some surface traction. So that might be a way to get a Flat Brightside finish with a bit more range in colors than just a flat black. And at least we know that Interlux has been doing 'flat paint' on boats for many years - so I figure it must be fairly easy to maintain and keep clean without losing its flatness over the years...


They also sell an additive that gives Brightside a 'gritty' finish (sort of like embedding sand in the paint ). But I don't think there is much need in the automotive scene for a paint job that is capable of sanding your pants off when you lean against the gritty finish...

Nuff said. Hope this info gives some folks some insights...

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First time poster, long time lurker. Everyone's cars look great, I actually just received a quart of Brightside Fire Red in the mail yesterday so I can do some experimenting with it. I have an old VW decklid I'm going to paint and then leave out in the elements for the summer while I do some bodywork on the project vehicle.

McLaren looks great, Marq! Funny, I spent a good amount of time yesterday trying to find pics of it again and there it is now! Curious, do you have any recent pics of it?

Thanks

Marq, thanks for the info ref flat paint.

I'm actually wondering whether or not this is going to make my car look completely rubbish.

Maybe I should consider a gloss finish.

Hi All, NooB here I've read both parts of this massive thread over the last month, like several others I came over here from the guys page with white corvair. when I saw that car I was instantly hooked and knew I needed to try this method on my 90 Probe. I also knew I needed more info, which I have most certainly aquired from all of you. I have been anxiously awaiting this day when I could join the discussion with you guys since after a month of reading I feel like I know some of you. Thanks to Charger for this awesome idea!! Like others, I had resigned myself to driving the car with it's crappy paint. because of you guys, I feel I have the power to make her shiny once again. Although I have not started my project(probably in June on vacation)I have scouted out the local stores to make sure I can obtain all the needed materials. I may be the first here to attempt this method with the Ace "Rust Stop" paint that was mentioned earlier. Since this car is my daily driver and I commute 84 miles round trip each day I think the "Rustoleum" type paint will be sufficient since the paint will most likely outlast the engine and trans. Not to mention there isn't anything remotely resembling a "Marine" store for at least 150 miles. Anyway, for now I will continue to follow the thread and I will post my progress pics when I do get started on the Probe. But I wanted to jump in here now that I'm caught up and say Hello to all, and my Tremendous Thanks to those of you who are such huge contributors(I think you guys all know who you are). I'll be lurkin and posting soon!!

On the subject of color: Maybe you guys can help me out. So far I have been quite indecisive as to what color to paint the Probe. I have gone so far as to Photoshop 20 different colors onto the car to try and help me decide. I posted those twenty images in a set at Flickr. If anyone wants to take a look and give me their I would certainly welcome the input. Here's were you can find those images:
Probe Colors