Hello। My name is John and I have recently came across a forum where some do-it-yourself'rs found a easy and cheap method to paint their autos without having to pay the associated costs to those commercial auto paint stores that are believed by many to be monopolizing the industry and cheating customers on quality and durability। From what I got from this forum the quality of the paint used and by doing-it-yourself you'll save $$$ and put more care into your car than any paint shop would be willing to do. This will, in-turn, give you more appreciation for your vehicle and give you the ability to do it whenever you like and the best thing is .... you will be able to drive it the same day, if you need to.
I have started my painting job last week on Sat. 29 Dec 2007, I started off by taking it to the car wash and giving it a good scrub, then I began sanding the roof with 150/220/320 grit sand paper (progressively) and then priming it with Rustoleum Grey Primer/Filler aerosol can. I will only do this for spots where there's oxydized paint or baremetal/previous rust spots sanded down. Otherwise ...I am using the base paint as my primer for my Black Rustoleum Professional 7779 paint I have bought at HomeDepot for $7.87 (1 Qt). Yeah ...believe it, or not, that's the durable-quality paint many of the do-it-urself'rs have been using to paint there autos. And I am doing it too. From the results ...you can see why anyone would not do it ....trust me!
Before I sanded the roof of my Isuzu truck .... I used Acetone to take off any wax and particles residing on the surface ...what is left is a surface that's needed for a durable-quality paint job for any car। I recommend everyone do this ॥this is, from my research, what many paint shops don't do and the wax and particles stay in the paint which holds moisture and oil under the new paint which makes the paint chip/bubble in an moment of time (that's as much of a gamble with your money as giving it to a slot machine)। After I sanded, I clean the surface again with the acetone। Then I sprayed the primer and let it dry for a couple of hours before I painted. I coated the surface with 3, very thin, coats. After that I prepped my paint supplies: A 9" roller pan, 9" roller, 1 1/4 nap quality foam roller, 3 small-medium-large high-density hand foam paint sticks, 1 Qt Rustoleum 7779 Black paint, and the KleanStrip 100% Mineral Spirits. What I did was combine the paint with the mineral spirits in a quart sized mixing-bucket to a ratio near 4-to-1. 4 parts black paint to 1 part mineral spirits ...the paint is supposed to be a thin and runny as water and when spread should be smooth and sooo thin that it is just translucent over the surface. I did this with only one coat and then using my roller ...I made sure I rolled the roller slow ...so the paint thickness was consistent without any bubbles and then went over it again and again with the small foam sticks for the smalls hard parts and where some of the surface wasn't covered. ......I have some photos that'll post later to show you what the first layer looks like. To be continued .......... soon!
