Paint your car for fifty dollars
Everyone who’s had a project car and is a little strapped for cash has been at the point where the car/truck’s ready for paint. This is usually the point in the project that people really dread. Not only do you have the prospect of your car being in “paint jail” for six months or longer, but you also have to swallow a big pill when it comes to the cost of decent looking paint.
The lowest quality professional paint jobs out there are from places like Maaco and Earl Scheib, and the lowest you can generally go is about $300. Personally, I’ve never heard of anyone being quoted less than $500. Mind you, that’s for single stage paint that’s generally just shiny enough to get the customer out the door in a fairly good mood. Most of the jobs at that price are going on cars that are about to be sold, so the current owner doesn’t really much care how the paint will look in a year.
What would you say if I told you the Corvair above has a $50 paint job that the owner did in his driveway?
That’s right, fifty dollars. Five-zero. American currency. Not only is it possible, but it requires no special tools, no air compressor or spray guns or paint booth. I’m talking about painting your car in your driveway for $50. Check out this $50 paint job:
The secret? Rustolem mixed very thin and applied with a roller. I happened upon this website on Friday and after checking a few links like this one I had emailed a gazillion people I know who are in the same limbo of needing average to decent paint on their rides on the cheap.
It turns out the whole thing started in this thread on Moparts.com. A year and a half and 80 pages later, there were a whole lot of disciples, including a writer for Hot Rod magazine, who did a feature for the July issue that’s in stores as we speak.
Take a look at some of the pictures posted up by folks who have tried it, including this one (Martin is the guy who got all this started on Moparts.com) and check out the wicked satin black job on the Mustang here. Here’s a preview:
As it’s stated many times in the links I’ve listed on this post, this isn’t something you’d want to do with your super rare 70 Hemi ‘Cuda. However, if you have a driver and don’t want to spend at least $3K in paint, what do you have to lose by trying this?
–Will
50, fifty, dollar, paint, Moparts, Hot Rod, roller, driveway, paint job, do it yourself
May 29th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
This is really very good from the photographs. Of course it takes lots and lots of surface prep and sanding & polishing afterwards. I wonder if a clearcoat would eleminate the polishing and make it hold up even longer? George B.
May 29th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I dunno if a clearcoat would help or not, George. Might be fun to try, though. What’s the worst case scenario, you’d be out another $50?
–Will
May 29th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
The car used in the Hot Rod Magazine is a ‘62 Falcon…killer job. Besides the paint they dropped the front end, which gave the car a nice stance.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:25 am
[...] Source [Automotive Blogger] [...]
May 30th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
[...] found out about a growing trend in DIY auto painting. You can thank the power of the Internet. Many bloggers and automotive journalists are raving about the results that are being achieved with Rust-oleum and mineral spirits mixed 1:1, [...]
June 10th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Can the same rustoleum and mineral spirits mixture be sprayed with an automotive paint sprayer? Thanks for the info.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
From what I read they can be applied with an automotive paint gun, but the point was that it was possible to apply a decent looking paint job yourself without having to have that stuff.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:14 pm
$50? hmm.. that wouldn’t cover even a third of decent materials..and where is the labor? but ok, your solution can be good for some situations..
September 1st, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Hey guys
I paint cars all the time at my house. If what you want is a cheap one coat paint job it can be done for $600 if you do all the sanding and body and rust repairs yourself. I do one a month that way, but all I do is shoot enamel on the car after I tape it off. The owner does the sanding and other prep work. It comes out very well and looks great for years if they do a good job of preping the car. i have a hand out on what they need to do before they bring me the car
ed
September 16th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I have a 1999 crown vic that has the beginnings of door edge rust and a number of scratches made by the cops who owned it before me. Most of it is easy enough to hand-sand down to shiny metal but the wheel well’s lip’s upper and lower sides have areas that are crusty rusty. I think there is enough real metal left to avoid any replacement metal. My goal is to stop as much as is feasible the rust from progressing. I want the paint job to make the car look nice for five or more years but do not need to create a “perfect” showroom paint job.
So someone suggested Rustoleum and I found this blog in searching about the idea.
Ed said “If what you want is a cheap one coat paint job it can be done for $600 if you do all the sanding and body and rust repairs yourself. … if they do a good job of preping the car. i have a hand out on what they need to do before they bring me the car”
So, Ed, would you be willing to send that hand out to me in plain text form?
Thanks!
November 27th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I ahve also done this at home, but with a different methos of applying the paint. I used a foam brush to apply the paint and it really helped to eliminate a lot of the orange peel associated with performing this sort of at home auto paint. In fact, I laid down six coats of paint, and only had to sand the car 2wice!
Here is a write up on how I did it:
http://www.stylusscustoms.com/poorMansPaintJob.html
April 19th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hey Will, just wanted to let you know the roll on paint job is the best thing ever man. The reason for me saying that is it takes away over sray and allows all of the paint to be applied to the car. I’m currently trying the $50 paint job on a 1968 olds cutlass and it is turning out very good so thanks for the information Will.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:14 am
I have recently updated my write up. There is now a six month update on how the paint is doing, as well as some more in depth tips to getting the job done.
http://www.stylusscustoms.com/poormanspaintjob.html