a_shirey

I have a red 96 cherokee, however, i hate red. My favorite color is blue. Is it possible to do a blur paint job by myself with just cans? Im on a minimum wage budget. Id like to protect it somehow too. Any help?

diskman

The problem with spray cans is that it's always gonna look like it was done with spray cans. You will need ALOT of spray cans to get the new paint thick enough to cover AND polish out. Plus, spray cans are not the highest quality to spray from. lol.

You can purchase a cheap HVLP gun from any home improvement store for about 50 bux. OR, toss an ad on craigslist to borrow one and a small compressor for a few beers.

The PREPERATION is where the details are tho. About 99% of vehicle painting is the prep. You should remove all the trim, handles (they will break as you remove them) and such.

You will need to sand the original paint a little bit to allow your new paint to adhere to it. Also maybe fix any little dings etc.

To do it sorta half-assed you will be into it for about $400 with very cheap paint and supplies.

OR you can go fully half-assed and do the $50 paint job. I have done 2 of them now and they both turned out great.

HOWEVER....

You will need ALOT of time. The vehicle will be DOWN for a while as you paint. You will be trading TIME for $.

Here is some food for thought:

First way:

1 quart can of Rustoleum Dark Hunter Green Gloss
1 quart can of Rustoleum RED primer
1 can of mineral spirits. Not that wimpy low-odor crap. Get the good stuff.
1 4 inch high density roller set with about 10 refills
1 plastic tray for said roller set
1 1 gallon empty paint can (purchased at the same home store)

Stir the little cans and dump them BOTH into the empty 1 gallon can. Stir well.

Draw off a little into your tray and thin with the mineral spirits will its nice and runny.

ROLL ON to half-assed prepped Jeep like I did. Sorta sanded with 220 and wiped down with laquer thinner. Masked as much as I could.

Allow coats to dry. Takes about 1 hour or so between coats. Apply as necessary.

Here are the ingredients I used. about $25 bux for the paint and crap.



Here is the victim.. My free 1984 XJ 4 banger..



During the painting.. Did it over a few days.



Final product.. I sprung for some stencils and sprayed on the various labels..




SECOND WAY:

1992 XJ..

Repair ALL the rust you can by welding in new metal. Slowly and carefully shaping and sculpting as you go. First time I have EVER done major body work like this...






When done with the rust fixin'.. Tape and sand. using a flat sander and 220 grit, I went over everything. Removing dead paint and pits as needed..




2 Quarts VALSPAR OSHA SAFETY YELLOW enamel. Oil based same as the rustoleum.
1 can of mineral spirits. Once again, no low-odor crap.
1 The high density rollers from the first jeep and new pan

Thin the pain till it's like milk..

Apply first "coat" and stand back as you say "AAUUGGHH! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!".



KEEP GOING! This is coat #7. WET SANDING between every 2nd coat. It dries FAST so no waiting.



23! coats later and LOTS of wet sanding with 1500 and 2000 grit. Shes done. I Herculined the bottoms of the doors and the new 2x6 rockers I made..



That was 3 years ago now.. Here is a current picture with my home brewed lift.




Yes, you need to rub the paint out once a year with rubbing compound and apply 2 coats of wax. But it's tough as nails now and easy-peasy to fix if needed.

All of the black trim on BOTH XJs was painted with the cheapest Gloss Black paint from Wal-Mart. .92c a can and still is! Holds up GREAT and sticks to everything. Better than the $8 a can Rustoleum "Heavy Duty" I used on my 1999 XJs parts.

Anywho, just a few ideas for painting an XJ on the cheap.

Low Profile

Those are some pretty great looking brush-on paint jobs. Makes me want to give it a try on my raggedy-*** '95. I have a good compressor. I just don't want drifting paint to dust half the cars on the block.

Hmmm. Maybe I could make a temporary spray booth out of tarps and PVC pipe.

a_shirey

my dad says he always wanted a compressor and could get a nice one for 100 bucks. how could i do it then? would it look better?

KD3NE

A friend of mine does paint work on the side for extra income.

He made a portable paint booth to use at customer locations with PVC pipe and heavy gauge plastic drop cloth material.

Another thing he does is wet down the property surrounding his paint booth, grass, trees, driveway ... anything in the vicinity. This helps to keep down and flying material. ( dust )

caged

i've done the 50 dollar paint job also. it turned out great. but took the better part of a week. only decided to do it cause my axles were out for a rebuild.

if you're a good taper, you can tape all the trim. i didn't remove anything except for the emblems, which i didn't want on anyways. i only left the ones on the header panel.

i used spray can to get under the door handles and around the mirrors and any of the tough spots the rollers couldn't do a good job at.

this is the thread i followed when i did mine about 5 years ago.
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...Number=2338616


that hundred dollar compressor most likely won't run a paint gun. you need something around 10 cfm with a large tank. unless an hvlp gun uses less, but still think that compressor will be too small. but grab it anyways, it's always handy to have one around.

a_shirey

he said he has a gun at work(penske truck leasing, mechanic stuff) and that we could borrow it. its a five gallon bucket.

OttawaXJ

for the Compressor buying new you're talking probably about 200-300 on sale I'd say. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. That being said, being that I'm an idiot I just recently passed up a compressor I found at a flea market for 150$ that was a 10 gallon tank and a 2hp Belt driven motor. No Idea why I didnt buy it.

a_shirey

idk what to do. i want blue, but how much would it run me in the end?

a_shirey

how do you went sand?

DaddyCat

Might be easier/cheaper to sell/trade your red cherokee for a blue one.

gpeade

Wet sanding is just that, Sanding with a wet piece of sandpaper. Anywhere you buy automotive paint supplies will have wet sanding paper. It has a special glue in it so once you get it wet it doesnt fall apart. You just keep the paper and body wet as you sand. It helps it mave a smoother finish.
Another option, around here places like MAACO will shoot a car for a couple hunderd bucks but all they do is paint it. You have to bring them the vehicle primed and prepped for paint. Don't know it that would be of interest to you. I have never done any real body work but I have always heard the secret to a good paint job is the prep work before the paint goes on.

caged

prep is the key. bad prep, bad paint.
every little chip, dent, etc has to be perfect, or it will show up in the new paint.
feather edge all hard chips and smooth out all fill on dents with no hard edges.

takes time, lots of time. i put on 5 coats, wet sanded between each coat. lucky for me, i didn't have any rust or dents really to worry about.

a_shirey

i have one two inch spot of bad rust and a few little dents that are only noticable at certain angles.

caged

if it's rusted through, you could cut a small piece of metal, stick it in through the hole, hold it with a magnet and tack weld it in place, then grind, fill and sand smooth. or cut piece to fit, weld/grind/fill/sand smooth. use a grinder with an 80grit flap disc
as for the small dents, you can remove all paint down to bare metal, fill and sand smooth.