I know nothing about polishing/buffing. Tried different pads, foam pad, cotton pad with Turtle Polishing Compound as Charger69 advised and results were terrible - cloudy and velvet area. much worse than it was before wetsending and buffing. I kept the bonnets pretty wet, didn't force it, took my time...what gives? Any input is welcome.
Thanks

you have to wait!

fresh paint doesn't buff to well, give it about a month to fully cure before you try buffing again. All is not lost, it can be fixed.

Thanks bro, that helps a lot!

not a problem, glad I could help

Stopped by and read this thread when it was only the middle of Part I! And now it's still going!

The biggest hurdle is the prep. It'll save time if you don't use too rough a grit for prep. Not much discussed on the threads about especially what grit to use for the sanding. You can run into a lot of extra work by using too rough a grit to prep. This person tried to remove the entire clear coat by wet-sanding at first! Lots of pictures, too, from a novice's perspective. Using Rustoleum and 100% mineral spirits and roller, but it turned out nice. www.moparts50dollarpaintjob.webnode.com

Hey all, new here because of this thread. I've read almost every single page and I absolutely love everyone's work! Awesome cars and paint jobs. You all have given me hope that I can pull this off.

I do have a few questions, if I may:

1)Where can I find Brightside paints in Ohio, if anyone knows?

2)Is brightside paint superior to Rustoleum Professional?

3)I have a white car, and am debating doing black. Looking it over, there are a ton of rubber seals - do I just tape those off and paint? Won't the white show a bit next to those seals? Or do I just need to get my tape PERFECT and it will fix that issue? This is a big one for me, and I'm leaning to just doing white to make it easy.

4)My wheels are painted white right now, will these paints be safe to paint on the wheels? I seem to recall reading it's not a good idea, is that true? If I can't paint them, then that makes my color choice easy and I'll stick with white.

Thanks in advance!

Will

1) you should be able to find it at most boat supply stores

2) I've heard that it can be, but I got great results with rusto

3)getting the tape perfect is ESSENTIAL, allong with proper prep work. For easy masking I suggest the professional grade 3M tape, its usually green, and its about $7 a roll, but way worth it.

4) I've seen guys get great long lasting results on their wheels with Rusto, some prefer it over powder coating!

black is an awesome color, but, it shows defects in the paint and body work much more, its a little harder to keep clean, and it can be VERY hot in the summertime.

hope this helps some!

Has anyone had any experience with racing stripes on their cars after rusto? Do the adhesive ones mess with the top coat? I'm contemplating adding stripes but I think using spraypaint would be difficult and subpar. Thanks all.

thats something I've been wondering myself, as I plan to do the same.

I would think after the paint is dry it would be fine. Like after buffing. But otherwise solvents might be weird.

I know this is slightly off topic, but has anyone ever used the rustoleum Hammered? I got a can of rustoleum hammered black to use on my rims and recently applied two coats. They seem to stick well but I am worried about nicks and scratches. I have some clearcoat in a can that is like ace brand. How long should I give the color coat to cure before spraying clear on it? Thanks!

well if your going for that "hammerd" finish, then putting clear on it sort of defeats the purpose, it would end up making it glossy.

Might I suggest the rustoleum BBQ paint, it comes in flat black and its very durrable. Withstands the brake heat to.

My rims actually turned out fairly decent.
Before:

After:


The texture hid the *many many many* flaws in the metal and I wet-sanded the outer ring to get a faux-chrome appearance. I was gonna clear coat just the outer ring but turns out the clear coat reacts with the hammered paint =P.

Also, just put the first layer of paint on my car.
After sanding and bondo:

After second coat of primer:

After wetsanding with 400 grit and more bondo patching and dent pulling. First color coat:


Didn't achieve full coverage but I rolled it on pretty thin (1:1 ration paint to thinner). Any thoughts/comments? Thanks!

looks pretty good for a first coat, hopefully the blotchyness and flat spots will go away after the second or third. It usually does, if not you may be thinning the paint a little to much.

Good job so far, the rims look great

Thanks younggun! I was surprised on how well the rims were for just spraycan and they seem fairly durable. Did you ever post completely finished pics of your car?

well I would, but its not finished yet !

really it looks exactly the same except I have the steering column put back in.

Does anyone have suggestions to reduce roller marks? I'd like my paint to lay down as one coat and not be like more glossy in some areas than in others. I have complete coverage and I'm about to wet sand with 1000 grit before my fifth coat. Currently I mix the paint with mineral spirits 1:1 and roll it on pretty thin, wringing the paint out of the roller until I have to apply a fair bit of pressure to get it onto my car. What am I doing wrong that makes it look uneven from certain angles?

due to the warm weather and time of the season, try thinning the paint a little less and leaving more paint on the roller. I had the same problem but that combo seemed to fix it.

Joeshmo, use two rollers, one for paint and one to level and knock down the bubbles.
I didn't mix 1-1 but used a screwdriver to stir after adding thinner. I'd stir then lift the screwdriver out of the paint and count 1, 2, 3 etc watching for when the piant coming off the tip went from a stream to drips should be around a count of 8 this worked well for me when I did my truck.