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Speaking of Maaco, I'm curious as to how much the roller technique is saving us. It'd be grateful to get feedback from those of you who have contacted the Maacos and Earl Scheibs, especially those who had really bad clear coat peel. Roughly how much have those paint companies quoted you to sand away the peel and paint your car? When I see their quotes of around $200, I'm thinkin that's probably just to throw paint over a body and nothing else. Thanks guys!

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My tale of the McLaren Mustang is probably representative of a lot of people...

Once upon a time (2001) there was a basket case of a McLaren Mustang.



I did the bodywork, replaced the front nose, repaired a destroyed cowl, installed a new hood, etc.



And so I went proudly to Maaco and a number of other paint shops.... and they all came in with the very same estimate to give it a final sanding and spraying it : $ 3500 (US). I was living in Pennsylvania at the time.

And so the car sat in the driveway because my budget just couldn't cover that kind of hit.

Here is a link with pics and text dealing with the initial restoration to give you an idea of what stage the car was at when I got it and fixed it up initially...

http://www.itsottawa.com/McLaren/howitstarted/

Well... $ 3500 bucks was way out of my budget. I was hoping for about $1000. So I gave up on my hope to get the car painted like so many other people do...

But I loved the car and there was always the hope that I might somehow scrape up $3500 in the future. So I just parked the car.

But fate stepped in and I had to move to Canada. Naturally I took my little unfinished project along with me.

And once I was settled in to the new house I went around to three local Ottawa paint shops ( including yet another Maaco ). And again the magic dollar figure of $ 3500 (CDN) kept popping up. I was broken hearted and so the car was tucked away in my garage and left to sit.

When I first stumbled on this thread my hopes were raised. I had NOTHING TO LOSE trying out the Rustoleum/Tremclad. In midstream of the process I switched over to Brightside paint...

Here is the car at the end of its coats of Brightside... prior to polishing and waxing :







And you can visit the following picture gallery to check out the videos and pictures I took of the car after all the parts were reinstalled and the paint was polished and waxed...





Click here for the full gallery and videos :

http://www.itsottawa.com/McLaren/

Overall... my total cost in the end was $ 200

Marq

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The paint that is on those new parts is basically a primer anyway so you shouldn't need to primer them, I think 1200 is a bit light, you might try 600 or 800 if you think 400 is to harsh. Try to avoid sanding to bare metal if you can avoid it.

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And don't forget to wipe down the entire surface after with a cloth dampened in mineral spirit to remove any debris or dust after your sanding. You don't want anything left behind that will interfere with you paint adhering to the subsurface.

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it better not be!!!!!!!! i havent opened it yet this weekend i will spray it on..

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You had better brace yourself then- I got mine in yesterday and cracked open the can- it is not crystal clear as in you can see to the bottom of the can. In fact it looks very dark looking through that much of it.

However, in the thickness that one would apply it it looks fine. You might notice a slight tint if you applied it over white but other than that it should be OK.

Let us Know how it goes for you,

-Nathan

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wonder if macco is going to go out of bisness?

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Speaking of Maaco, I'm curious as to how much the roller technique is saving us. It'd be grateful to get feedback from those of you who have contacted the Maacos and Earl Scheibs, especially those who had really bad clear coat peel. Roughly how much have those paint companies quoted you to sand away the peel and paint your car? When I see their quotes of around $200, I'm thinkin that's probably just to throw paint over a body and nothing else. Thanks guys!

(Oh, and congrats for making it on HRM! This is history dudes!)

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MyBuick,

What equipment are you using to spray with?

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The guys at Sheib and One Day told me that for the $200 paint that they don't even wash the car. They just tack it down and shoot it. Typical lifespan of that job is months to a year. He said the people who get that job are the guys selling used cars.

...I got NO discounts for me doing the prep work and a lot of masking either... The old tale of do your own prep and get a cheaper job is a myth from my experience.
-Nathan
Albuquerque New Mexico

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Thanks for the feedback Nathan! Brrrrr. That's a horror story if I ever heard one!

Hey dudes, I went down to the local 7-11 and picked up the July copy of Hot Rod Magazine. It's a great article! It starts out just the way I thought it would. "The $98 Paint Job. When (the author) pitched a story on painting his Falcon with a roller, we about fired him on the spot. But d*mn, it turned out good." Also, "For the past couple of years a rumor has been circulating around the Internet that there is a way to paint your car using common enamel paint and- get this- a roller...After a good full-body cringe, our curiosity took over and we began ...to find out more about the 'legend of the roller paint job.'"
(DUDES! We're freakin' Urban Legends!) The author illustrates the method pretty much outlined by Exit in his excellent web site. There were a few interesting points and variations. Although they use 100% mineral spirits, they also found no difference in using the odorless kind. They used an air gun to blow out the bubbles. For polish they used a $25 bottle of Norton's Liquid Ice- a polish for synthetic enamel. I liked how they prepped a first timer on what to expect. "That first roll is by far the worst part, and the finish that greets you immediately afterward will likely make you want to reconsider the whole affair, but keep the faith!" The author's final assessment was also realistic. "The finished car has plenty of flaws compared to a well-sprayed job...We'd rank (it) several notches above the typical quickie one-day budget deals. Honestly, for less than $25 in paint it's hard to fault it too much." The author finally tells us not to go overboard in our expectations. "If you're a real perfectionist, trying to get it flawless will drive you crazy."

Wow! This article brought to mind two words. The first is VALIDATION. To have a prestigious magazine like HRM put out an article like this is like flipping off all the "professionals" who have thumb their noses at this technique. I especially remember the moderator snobs on Samba.com (a VW version of Moparts.com) who thought Charger's roller idea was so vulgar, they SHUT DOWN their roller thread. I was so disgusted that I defected to this site.

The second word that comes to mind is GRATITUDE. I can't stop thanking the moderators and the other members of this board for being so open minded and welcoming to this fantastic technique. Hey, you guys thought you generated worldwide traffic to Moparts.com before, wait 'till the HRM article REALLY catches fire! Get those ads ready! You're marketing department might as well make use of this opportunity! Cheers!

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i sprayed mine on today

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