RUSTOLEUM 56kDeath RUST-OLEUM KRYLON DUPLICOLOR CAR AUTO RATTLE SPRAY CAN HOW To

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

THANKS TO MY WIFE AND KIDS WHO LET ME USE THE GARAGE FOR OVER 2 MONTHS, LOST ME TO THIS PROJECT EVERY WEEKEND, MOST WEEKNIGHTS,
AND MADE THE HOUSE STINK




















First off, I couldn’t find anyone who sprayed their entire car with off the shelf rattle can
paint so I decided to it myself.
Figuring that it was a complete rattle can job, I decided to make sure the entire process
was done BY HAND.
Yeah, no sander, no compressors, nothing electric, all manual.
BTW I do have access to my buddy’s compressor, HVLP spray gun and Sherwin Williams
paint, and I am by no means super poor,
but I wanted to go old school and disassemble, sand, and spray it all by hand and try to
do a job good enough to post on CRSX
without getting flamed too badly.

The total cost for this project was well over $200. It won't be a budget $80 job, but if you
want to skip steps to save money,
that's up to you. It's still a lot cheaper than paying $3000-$5000 for a shop to do it. Not
worth it to me on a $8-10K car (as of this writing).

I didn’t see this done anywhere else on the web, I did see some Rustoleum jobs with
rollers, and thinners, but I wanted to spray it all. I don't have any experience with rollers
but I do have some experience around a spray gun and cans, but never painted a car before.

Disclaimer:
I am in no way responsible for you screwing up, breaking or permanently altering and
mangling your car and its appearance.
I am in no way affiliated with clubrsx except I am a shopper on here.
You choose to follow this guide VERBATIM or suffer ridicule and consequences of fellow
members.

Go ahead and ridicule me, or say how much you hate my paint. How it will peel off in a month
or fade in a week.
I did my research and found a UV resistant spray in a can that will last for years if prepped
correctly.
I am happy with the results and will report back to how the paint is holding up in Nor Cal sun.
Yes I spent too much on paint that I could have sprayed by gun.

On the plus side, I had great satisfaction on completing this project and I also know that I
know how to color match by bumpers perfectly if I ever hit a deer.


I hope this inspires somebody to take on painting their car and to update this post on
success stories and pictures. Just take your time, don't start this project if you will never
complete it, and make sure you know exactly what you're doing before you start.

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Materials

18-20 Acrylic Enamel Spray cans – Use Acrylic Paint for Automobiles like
Duplicolor Pro,
,Duplicolor SUV
Rustoleum Automotive, or
Krylon Tough Coat .
I do not recommend the regular “stops-rust rustoleum” alkyd resin cans (although there are many domestic guys
who have successfully painted with it. Modern car paint uses acrylic).
18-20 cans! ALWAYS buy more paint than you think you will need. I cut it close with 18 cans.
You may need less if you don't use white.

8-10 cans regular primer

2-3 cans plastic (flexible) primer-

possibly 1 can of bare metal primer

4 cans or more adhesion promoter- use liberally, (when in doubt if your paint will stick,
just use it)

10-12 cans acrylic clear coat


OR: Buy everything in non aerosol quart/pint cans and buy an HVLP Sprayer or rent/ borrow one


Masking tape 1” and 2” rolls

Respirator or Tshirt

sanding paper- 60-150-220-400-800-1000-1500-2000 grits

Bondo and hardener for dent repair

Polishing compound 1 tub/ bottle

Rubbing compound 1 tub/bottle

Tack rags 2-3

Wax remover- please see Car Care for info

Plastic tarp 8- 10 (I found mine at the dollar store bought ten of them)

Ratchet wrenches and sockets

Radio

Beer

Advil and/or Tylenol

Lots of elbow grease (free) and time

Patience

Before I decided on a Rust-oleum car, I painted the roof with black Duplicolor.
It was my practice run, and needed to be done anyhow as I started to have some
bubbling and peeling issues in the oem paint on the roof. It came out very smooth
and problem free.
I decided to go gloss white on the body, closer to the type r color scheme, and I
would pretty much be keeping the car as stock as possible.

I also decided to paint an eBay type r lip and 05 spoiler as well





Step 0-
Mental prep

Drink beer, lots of it
Drink some more,
Convince yourself you want to do this and it is a good idea
Take Advil prior to each day of work for the joint and muscle aches that will pop up in a few days
and linger until you see your chiropractor



Step 1 15 min
WASH
wash with dish soap to remove bird crap, bugs and pee from homeless bums and stray dogs.
You do not want to sand these into your paint.







Step 2 20-40min
WAX REMOVER

Spray wax remover and wipe down.
do it again, you don’t want to sand wax INTO the paint. This will prevent proper adhesion .
I used carb cleaner, works great but a lot of fumes and evaps very quickly.
Use gloves if using something toxic like this. Paint thinner works as well. Or you can buy
the legit stuff.




STEP 3
ORGANIZATION

get 10 Ziploc bags and label them with stickers or sharpie-
hood/front bumper/ rear bumper/, hatch/, license plates/, side mirrors/, headlights/,
use these bags to hold all of the various pieces of hardware, screws and bolts you will remove.
Get a milk crate or box and place larger trim piece items in here. DO NOT LOSE ANYTHING!



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[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Step 4:
Remove exterior pieces




(Consult Helms manual for these steps)



4a 10 min Remove the hood,

4b 40min Remove the headlights (this would be a good time to black out the headlights)

4c 15min Remove the tail lamps

4d 20 min remove side moldings optional

4e 20 min remove rear bumper

4f 15min Remove the side view mirrors

4g ???Min Remove the doors, (I didn't do this, didn't know where the connectors were)

4h ???Min Remove the hatch

4i ??? Min Remove doors (I obviously didnt do this)

4j 30min Remove the black exterior trim pieces

The rubber ones on the roof come off by pushing on the ends toward each other

The windshield side trim pulls straight out

4k 15min Remove door jamb gaskets and interior door trim pieces

Door jam side sills pull straight up and so does the interior door trim piece

Remove the rubber gasket around the doors and trunk

Remove the trunk gasket and hatch trim pieces




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[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Step 5 :
SANDING STAGES

40min-1hour per sanding stage

I have seen people just go at it with the 320 grit to get the gloss off.
Then 400 to smoothen out the grit and spray the primer.

I went about it the hard way- sand down with 60 grit,
then 150, then 220, then wet sanded with 400, 600, 800 grit.
Its overkill, but I wanted to ensure that there would be good adhesion and absolutely
no glossy surfaces that won’t let paint adhere. I also had to take off some respray on the
driver's side door from my first botched attempt at color matching Silver

This whole process took 8-10 hours by hand for me, I alternated between straight sanding
and then cross sanding (perpendicular to first sand) w/ same grit and then circular motions.

Seriously, Save yourself a lot time by using the power sanders.

If you burn through the paint, you will need to buy some clean metal primer.


















At this stage I bondo’d the rear emblem and any high/low areas that needed to be repaired.
Again, take your time, and when you are done, spray some primer over the area to make sure it is flat and smooth.


DIY Rear Emblem Shave
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[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Step 6.
MASKING AND COVERING
5-6 hours A LOT longer than I had anticipated!

6a Drape the tarps over the engine bay,

6b Mask off all of the trim with the 1” tape first as a border, then apply the 2inch tape over that.
Lift up a little on the tape and tape down the plastic tarps.

6c Cover your wheels

6d To seal off the interior from the outside, I used the rubber gasket that goes around the doors.
Seal the edges of the tarp in the edges of the rubber gasket and press the gasket back it into place.
This helped me avoid masking off the whole interior.

6e Do this for the trunk area as well.

6f Similar idea for the doors and hatch.

Pop out the fasteners on the door/hatch interior trim piece (do not remove this trim piece), and place the tarp around the trim piece.
Fasten down the trim piece by popping it back into place.
This will reveal the door jambs for painting while protecting the interior and trim from overspray.

6g Use clear tape to mask off all of the stickers and VIN numbers.

6h Mask the door latches and hooks (I forgot to do this)

You may think at this point that nothing is coming together.




__________________________________________________ ______________________

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Step 7:
PRIMERING


Almost there

Wear gloves, long clothing and a respirator


Get a large box to toss your cans into as you go through them.


40 min- I used adhesion promoter over plastic surfaces, i.e. the bumpers, type r lip and spoiler.
You may also want to use some over bare metal surfaces to help give the bare metal primer
a thin substrate to adhere to.
I used a bare metal primer over bare metal surfaces and flex primer over the bumpers.

2-3 hours - Primer the car. This is almost like practice for your actual color or base coat.
Use long even motions in steady pacing to avoid drips and runs.
Start and end your passes outside of the sprayed part. NEVER spray directly onto a spot. This
will always run or drip. Be very patient and learn this technique!
You should move at about 1 foot/sec. I found it helpful to just stare at my hand while making
passes, that way; I was focused on the speed and coverage. Be patient and learn this
technique! I cannot stress this enough!

Practice on a cardboard box if you need to.
If you jack up on the primer, you can always sand it down and start again.


Start first coat on one end of the car, and by the time you finish the car, you will be able to
add the second light coat to the car.
Be patient and learn this technique! Ok I'm done saying it now(20-30 min)


First coat should still be somewhat transparent, the second coat a bit more coverage. And
the third coat, a “wet” or wetter heavier coat.
You should not be able to see your previous color under the primer any longer. If you wish,
you can do 3 or 4 light coats.

I achieved this by making a pass then directly making another pass over the same area I
just painted, it was enough to give a smooth wet appearance without being too heavy.

Wait 3-4 hours then sand with 400 grit paper, then 800 or 1000 grit. Wipe off excess dust
with a tack rag. I was actually thinking of leaving my car just like this- primer gray. Looked
like a great beater car.


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[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Step 8 BASE COATING (COLOR COAT)
2-3 HOURS

NOW IT’S TIME TO TRANSFORM YOUR CAR!

Shake up your rustoleum cans, using the same exact technique, start spraying the color.
Light transparent coat so you can still see the primer through it; follow up with another
light coat of color, then a nice wet coat that ends up glossy and wet, about 30-50 min in
between coats.


Shoot door jambs and hard to reach areas first.





Light coat #1





Light coat #2



You may get some drips and runs here and sorry to say, there’s not much to do about them.
You can try to spray some more paint on it to even it out, but you might just get a huge run.
DO NOT TRY TO SOAK IT UP WITH SOMETHING, YOU WILL REALLY FOCK IT UP.
You will get some dust and little hairs here and there, too bad! You can try to sand them
out later when the paint dries.
Trust me!

The side mirrors were a bit tricky to paint. They are 3 dimensional pieces to paint.
I disassembled them from the mounting bases and hung them to paint them from a ladder.
I also used the empty cans to elevate the pieces to paint.











If you did a great job on making the coats super glossy, you can try to spray the clear in
the exact same way, 2 or 3 light coats, 1 heavy coat and call it a day. Let it dry for an hour
or so, then remove the covers.

If the paint is slightly grainy, you will need to be patient.
Peel the masking tape edges from the painted portions of the car.
If you wait too long, the paint will form a layer on itself and will make it difficult to remove the
tape and flake badly if you do.
Don’t completely remove the tape off, you still need to apply clear.

Wait a full 24 hours (2days to be absolutely sure)
lightly sand the base coat with 1000, then 1500 grit and spray the clear. Same directions as
previously.
This stuff runs really easily, and becomes yellow if applied too heavily.

I didn’t use adhesion promoter, as I sprayed over a new tack coat of base, but I would advise
to use it if you are spraying over a dried basecoat.


Now you need to wait ----At least a week for the paint to harden before buffing and polishing.

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Step 9:
Buff and Polish
8-10 hours MINIMUM depending on your results


So First I wetsanded,
Some of the rougher spots, I used 800 grit VERY lightly,
Then over the whole car, 1000 ->1500->2000grit-
Bakasam says to be patient and use only 1500 or higher




Then onto the rubbing, then polishing compounds. I buffed over the car twice with rubbing compound, and twice with
polishing compound. I used el cheapo Turtle Wax Liquids from Pep Boys. You can still see some on the car. I wanted to
purchase 3m rubbing, polishing and glaze, but it seemed to be pretty steeply priced.

I purchased cheap rotary as well at Harbor freight for $35-
RPMs max at 3000. My friend has a 10,000RPM buffer but that would be dangerous for a first timer I think.
I still need to manually polish hard to reach areas like door handles and body lines that I couldn't hit with the rotary.
Polishing white is very hard, you can't see what you still need to polish until you are almost done and notice some uneveness.
OCD sufferers need not apply


Sorry for the crappy pics, I am still finding it very hard to take adequate pics of the car because pics don’t do it justice really.
In the sun, it is really hard for the camera to catch all of the white, it is just too bright
During the day, capturing anything else in the background, it zooms the auto exposure making the car super white. If it was
any other color, it would be much easier to photograph.
I tried taking pics at about 8pm, but all I could see were shadows, I'll try again tonight


Like I said previously, not a show car by any means, but for a daily driver parked outside 24/7, I don’t think it’s too bad.








Hood




Clearcoat burn through on the black roof while on last polishing stage. I thought you couldn’t burn through on polish? BE CAREFUL






I’ll post up again when I take out all of the swirls and wax it in a month.


Hatch and door jambs

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

.Resources:

Rick Wrench Corvair

Blue Miata

The General Lee

Spray Techniques

Rustoleum site

How to Cut and Polish

Polishing Ninja gas tank

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

REBuff and Polish

So I decided to sand again I went the 1000-1500-2000 route and I finally figured out that you need to
apply a lot of pressure while sanding to make the gloss really come out,

I also rubbed and polished again as well

It looks much better now, and much more mirror

There are still a couple of spots to buff out still, but I really can't believe that I was able to do this with
Rust-oleum spray

[02Blktypes]

you have alot of patience to do that with spray cans. Looks good!

[jmiranda3]

Wow! That looks great. I've heard of people painting their cars with rollers and I thought to my self how stupid they must be. You took your time and made sure everything was perfect. Nice color choice by the way. I wanted a white RSX but tan interior ftl

[Xqzrt]

Wow. This is pretty crazy, but pretty awesome!

[MyFaultDC5]

sweet. i did this to my 93 accord- but a much more rushed, hurried production. In for how it looks a year down the road, after washes, wax etc. Good job though. More patient than i could be.

[ghostDC5]

i need to do something like that for my hood (color badly faded)...good job on the diy.. cant wait to see the outcome on the final polish

[02DC52121]

i would never take the chance of doing that shyt..... hopefully it wont fuk up

[remyrounds]

Holy shit, Looks great in pics, up close?

[toastman91]

in for better pics, your balls must take a wheelbarrow to lug around

[bakasam]

lol gj, on the diy. but the acrylic clear is not flexible and will be prone to chipping. Damn, what part of CA are you from, i dont know why but i've always wanted ot do something like this lol. I'm a painter and i could pitch on some detailing and help if you would ever like any

[k20vteck20]

looks good in for the polishing update and 6 month update

[ajigga]

dude ur sick

[killertofupanda]

damn! how much did the supplies cost you in total? if this proves successful, i want to do this to my car in bronze color one day after the paint fades.

[3rdGearGRNDRR]

Thanks for all of the positive feedback. You may not believe that the car really looks like that, but it really does.
I did not retouch any photos. There is still some orange peel and slightly rough areas that should sand and buff out to mirror gloss. Like I said, just waiting for the Cali Summer sun to fully bake the paint
I’m considering borrowing my friend’s DeWalt 12000 rpm buffer.
All of that sanding strained my rotator cuff.

Originally Posted by ghostDC5

i need to do something like that for my hood (color badly faded)...good job on the diy.. cant wait to see the outcome on the final polish

Consider Gloss black- it might be really hard to perfectly match your paint
If not, you will need to carefully color match your paint at expresspaint.com or automotive touchup.com.
slightly overspray your fenders with the can. That paint is expensive - $25 a can plus 10 s&h- and you would likely need 3 cans total.

Originally Posted by killertofupanda

damn! how much did the supplies cost you in total?

18-20 Acrylic Enamel Spray can- $4.25 at Lowes each

2 cans plastic (flexible) primer/ 1 bare metal / adhesion promoter - $6.99 each
10-12 cans acrylic clear coat $4.99 each lowes

Tape- 2” $7- 1” $4

Respitator- borrowed but $17 if purchased


Sandpaper- $3.99 per pack at Walmart/ autozone for 60, 100, 150, 800,1000,1500,2000 grit
$5.99 multipack autozone (220-400-600 in pack)

Rubbing compound/polish $4 each

Tack rags $1 each online but $2 in the store

Tarp $1 each-

Hours of obsessing, planning and mental prep for arduous endeavor- $0

9% California Tax FTMFL

You can do the math- I don’t know why I did this really,
It would be easier to just get some paint, mix it and spray it. They have mix in catalysts so they harden up super quick. No baking in the sun required

Originally Posted by killertofupanda

if this proves successful, i want to do this to my car in bronze color one day after the paint fades.

I actually considered that, I think it would look sick
But It needs an aggressive body kit to pull off the look. I considered the C2 front bumper and 05 headlight conversion paired with some bronze Mugen knock offs. But ultimately decided against it.

[RicerDC5]

good job on the paint and nice write up

[Angelo118]

Looks good for a rattle can job congrats. I can't wait to see how it comes out after the polishing.