First Time Rustoleum Attempt

[CarLikerer]

So it was that time to repaint my car because pretty much every panel was damaged and I decided that it would be an awesome idea if I saved money and learned a new skill with the Rustoleum (in Canada it's called Tremclad) painting with a roller method. So I bought a new fender so that I could practice and I just finished today and I'm not all that impressed with the results, as I knew I would be for a first attempt. But I'm pretty sure if I just figure some things out and reformulate my plan I can do this thing perfect.

For my first attempt I tried to replicate what was done in this tutorial video on how to paint with Rustoleum



and I had to do a few things differently.

I didn't sand the original paint off good at all and I think I srewed up the clear coat too because when I did it it had all these white streaks on it. So I tried sanding with 1000 grit but that didn't work so I went to 800 grit and then unearthed a really smooth, orange peelless, flat black. I put the maguiars compound + pollish stuff with a drill and this big foam ball thing made for pollishing cars.

This is the end result:

The full image.


I sanded through all the paint on a lot of the edges on this fender by accident. Does anyone know any techniques to make this not happen?


This orange peel just came up when I finished polishing the fender, not sure why.


Then here's some scratches that I believe are are just from using 800 grit to sand the clear coat.



So I need to figure those problems out before I do the real car and I also want to know how to paint in between panels like between the fender and door for example, all the while keeping those edges protected from me sanding through them.
I also made a list of steps I will take the next time I do this but I'm open for changes so here goes:
1-wash hood well
1-sand with 80 grit to get rid of the most paint possible
1-sand with 220 grit
1-sand with 320 grit
1-prime with some spray on primer
1-wetsand with 400 grit (no longer with power tools but meguires sanding tool)
1-prime
2-wetsand with 400 grit
2-roll one Tremclad/mineral spirits 65/35, 3 coats
3-wetsand with 600 grit
3-roll on 3 more coats
4-wetsand with 800 grit
4-roll on 3 more coats
5-wetsand with 1500 grit
5-wetsand with 2500 grit
5-compounded with M105
5-compounded with M105 again
5-polished with M205


Any advice or anything is greatly appreciated, thank you!

[rst08tierney]

Re: First Time Rustoleum Attempt

My advice is not to paint your car this way. I dont want to come off sounding like an *** but this is not a skill you want to learn. Why not learn proper body repair techniques and be 100% satisfied with the work and pick up the trade while you go. Rolling on paint just spells disaster.

Also your painting with black, correct? Black is the hardest color to get right even when its done by a professional. You have all the odds stacked up against you.

Step back and rethink and research the process. Focus more on the body work and getting the car prepped for paint. With the proper prep I have seen a $200 Macco paint job looks like a $3200 custom job.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: First Time Rustoleum Attempt

Don't know if this will help, but I think many of your questions might already be covered in this thread: Rustoleum $50 roll-on paint job

[CarLikerer]

Re: First Time Rustoleum Attempt

Yeah I've read that thread. That's what my new formula is sort of based off of. I think I'm going to need more coats than him though so I'll do the 3 a day method.
I sanded down my fender and I put on some tremclad grey spray primer yesterday but then I went to put on another coat at like 2:00 am and fudged it up by accident. So I'll try to sand this thing down but if not maybe I'll put on another coat of primer and wait till tomorrow to do coats 1-3.